Dodgers are hot again; everyone can relax
LA enters May with best record in baseball
May 1, 2003
Shame on all of you gloom-and-doomers who bailed on the Dodgers when they started 1-4. What do you have to say for yourselves now?
LA enters the month of May with a 20-9 record, the best in the Majors. Only Atlanta (19-9) still has single digit losses. Yeah, it took a week or so for the Dodgers to find their rhythm, but aside from maybe Damian Jackson’s bat this team is playing at the high level everyone expected of the defending World Champions.
Josh Hamilton? He’s got 45 hits already and a .359 average. A-Rod? Smooth as silk on defense and a nice offensive line to boot -- .299 average, 7 HR’s, 19 RBIs, 6 stolen bases. Paul Lo Duca (.355 average), Johnny Damon (.344) and Albert Pujols (.305)? Yeah, go ahead and pitch around Hamilton and A-Rod and see where that gets you.
The pitching is among the best in the Majors thus far. Dan Smith, he of the plain name, carries a 2.43 ERA with four wins. BK Kim, he of the strange sidearm form, also has won four times, with an even better ERA (2.13), averaging more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Trevor Hoffman, who recently re-signed with the club for the next three years, has eight saves.
Ramon Martinez, last year’s Cy Young winner, is only 2-3 but his last outing was a one-hit shutout against Philadelphia two days ago. He struck out 12. Smith held the Phils to just three hits the day before that, with 11 K’s. (Then again, maybe it’s the Phillies).
Right now, the team is doing a lot of things right. They are 6-2 in one-run games and 3-0 in extra-innings affairs. They defend their home turf (10-3 at Chavez Ravine) and lead the Majors in hits.
Now all this doesn’t guarantee a World Series championship come October. But good grief. Can the folks who were ready to fire Jim Tracy after the first week of the season please calm down now?