ESPN

LOS ANGELES – Should the Dodgers have pushed harder for homefield advantage last week?

Going into their Tuesday game at AT&T Park, they trailed the Atlanta Braves by two games and the St. Louis Cardinals by one. The Dodgers went 2-4 from that point. They weren’t going to catch the Cardinals, who won all five of their remaining games. And they weren’t going to catch Atlanta, which went 3-2, but held the tiebreaker over the Dodgers.

So, the answer to that question is a fairly definitive, “no,” unless you think that by half-stepping in the final two series, the Dodgers lost their edge heading into the playoffs. That could well be true, but it didn't feel that way. We'll find out if the Dodgers can flip the switch again Thursday.

Overall, it was a pretty bad week and a continuation of the Dodgers’ lackluster September, but you could also argue, who cares?

SCORING

Here’s where the worriers might have some justification. The Dodgers’ lineup didn’t look dangerous last week, scoring an average of 3.5 runs per game and batting .222. Yasiel Puig (.167, five strikeouts in six games) struggled badly. One of the few Dodgers swinging a hot bat in San Francisco, Matt Kemp, was shut down for the entire postseason with an inflamed ankle.

And it won’t get any easier Thursday, when the Dodgers face Braves right-hander Kris Medlen, who is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA against the Dodgers.

Of course, the counterargument to the worriers is that manager Don Mattingly continued to give his frontline players revolving days off. Beginning Thursday, barring a setback, Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Puig will all be in the lineup for every game.

While the loss of Kemp and, probably, Andre Ethier, will sap the lineup of some depth, the Dodgers have the names and resumes to do damage once again. If they can only find the spark they’ve been missing.

Grade: D+

DEFENSE

Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke finished up their regular seasons exactly as you would want them to, by dominating. Kershaw put a ribbon on his Cy Young-bound season Friday and Greinke pitched nearly as well the following day while, somehow, picking up the loss.

Hyun-Jin Ryu had another one of those starts where he gives up a bunch of hits, but generally pitches out of trouble. Ricky Nolasco’s slump is something of a concern, but if the Dodgers’ top three starters pitch to form, maybe they won’t have to worry about a Game 4, who knows?

It was that kind of week for Dodgers pitching, which lost four games while pitching to a 1.92 ERA.

Most of the key relievers seem to be sharp heading into the playoffs, Kenley Jansen has been unhittable, Brian Wilson continues to go strong and J.P. Howell has pitched well. Paco Rodriguez has been struggling, but Mattingly said he feels fine about his young lefty heading into the playoffs.

Grade: A-

DECISION-MAKING

Mattingly needs to keep his day job, because he would make a terrible psychic. All season, he has been asked to assess the severity of Dodgers injuries and, all season long, he has started out being as optimistic and conservative in his estimates as he can be.

Pretty much every time, the injury proved to be more serious than first hoped.
Last weekend, Mattingly thought Ethier was healthy enough to pinch hit, so he gave him an at-bat in San Diego. Ethier hasn’t been seen since. Going into Sunday’s game, Mattingly thought Kemp would be ready to go by Thursday. Four hours later, the Dodgers team doctor shut down Kemp for the remainder of 2013.

So, we have to assume that some of the aches and pains the Dodgers hitters have been dealing with are a bit more severe than the team has indicated. In that case, Mattingly was perfectly justified in fielding some watered-down lineups after the Dodgers clinched.

Grade: B

CHEMISTRY TEST

Kershaw is a good example of how players’ attitudes can affect the team’s performance. The Dodgers have provided Kershaw with awful run support all season, which means that his charmed season -- becoming just the second L.A. Dodger to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA -- only netted him 16 wins.

Now, whenever anyone glances casually at Kershaw’s baseball card, they’ll skim right over 2013 rather than recognize his brilliance this season.

All season, Kershaw has held his tongue when he was given an opportunity to criticize Dodgers hitters. Many a pitcher has admitted to frustration under similar circumstances.

People tend to focus on the big personalities -- players like Puig, Brian Wilson and Juan Uribe -- when talking about team chemistry, but a player such as Kershaw or Mark Ellis can contribute just as much by staying quiet sometimes.

Grade: A-

STATE OF CONTENTION

The Dodgers are in the playoffs and they don’t have to bother with a wild-card game.
That’s about as good as you can hope for right about now.

Grade: A

LOS ANGELES -- Matt Kemp wasn’t there the day Yasiel Puig arrived from Chattanooga, Tenn. In fact, had Kemp not gotten hurt, Puig might have spent the season in the minor leagues, or at least had his rocket ship of a rookie season stalled on the launching pad for a while.

Kemp was in the lineup for only 11 of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 42 wins from June 22 to Aug. 7, when their pace was the best 50-game snippet the National League had seen in almost 70 years.

He got there in time to celebrate in the pool and clubhouse during the Dodgers’ NL West-clinching party in Arizona, but just barely. It was his fourth game back after missing two months.

So, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is perfectly correct to say the Dodgers can not only win without Kemp, they have won without Kemp.

But the timing isn't ideal.

News that Kemp is lost for the postseason came at an awkward moment. The Dodgers were on the field whipping up fan frenzy for their first playoff appearance in four seasons Sunday at the exact moment Kemp, inside the Dodgers' clubhouse, was informing reporters he’d been shut down for the rest of the season.

Not exactly some happy news to go sailing with into October.

But the real reason Sunday’s news left such a mark was that Andre Ethier’s availability for the first round of the playoffs hangs by a thread. Ethier might not have been an impact offensive player this season, but he was a solid contributor to the offense and a reliable glove in center field. As long as other hitters were providing the power around him, Ethier kept the Dodgers’ lineup humming along.

Ethier hasn’t run since the Dodgers shut down his running program last week in San Francisco. If he makes the roster for the Dodgers’ series in Atlanta, it figures to be as a pinch hitter.

So, yeah, Kemp’s injury might have just reduced the Dodgers’ chances of advancing to the National League Championship Series by a few percentage points or so, depending on how healthy some of the other nicked-up Dodgers are.

“It’s not going to be easy. He does big things, but, at the same time, we just have to play as a team,” Hanley Ramirez said. “Everybody knows that Matt Kemp is a great player.”

In 2013, Kemp wasn’t a great player, actually. He was an average player, maybe slightly below average for an outfielder. In Kemp’s most recent stint on the disabled list, for the ankle, the Dodgers went 36-17 without him.

But his threat gave the Dodgers’ offense more length. Pitchers have reason to fear Kemp and, to some extent, Ethier.

Now, they’ll see either Skip Schumaker, who is virtually devoid of power, or someone such as Scott Van Slyke, whom they probably have never heard of. Plus, the Dodgers’ bench gets a little worse whenever Schumaker is inserted in the starting lineup.

The Dodgers, however, are far from doomed. If Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw pitch to their capabilities, you and I could probably take up a couple lineup spots and the Dodgers could survive.

Schumaker started in center field in Games 5, 6 and 7 of the 2011 World Series, and it didn’t seem to hurt the St. Louis Cardinals much. They were world champions. If the Dodgers can get by Atlanta, Ethier should be healthy enough to play in the next round.

At times, Kemp showed glimpses of his MVP-caliber 2011 and April of 2012, when he was, arguably, the best all-around player in the game. He batted .314 with three doubles and a home run in his last 11 games, but there were also troubling signs, even in the good times. In those 11 games, Kemp struck out seven times, three more times than he walked.

He would have been particularly useful against the Braves, who could use two left-handed starting pitchers against the Dodgers in Mike Minor and Paul Maholm. The other team the Dodgers could have played, the St. Louis Cardinals, have no left-handed starters.

Before Sunday’s game, Mattingly -- a onetime batting champion and longtime hitting coach -- talked about what he saw in Kemp’s swing over the past two weeks.

“It still looks, to me, like a spring training, because you’ll see bad days then good days, good days then bad days,” Mattingly said. “To me, that’s what the early season is. You see guys who one day look like they’re getting there and the next day are out of sorts again. We haven’t seen that locked-in look like what Matt had at the end of ’11 and beginning of ’12.

“But he definitely looked more like the beginning of ’12 than the beginning of this season.”

So, the Dodgers might have seen Kemp’s comeback forestalled. And, who knows, had his ankle held up, he might have been the one leading them to World Series glory. It just seems a tad ill-informed to suggest he was the only one capable of doing it.

LOS ANGELES -- Seems the Los Angeles Dodgers can’t even make it through pregame warm-ups without losing a key player to injury.

Matt Kemp was a late scratch Saturday evening against the visiting Colorado Rockies after feeling soreness in his left ankle. The Dodgers could have used his bat, as they were shut down by Rockies starter Juan Nicasio and a trail of relievers in a 1-0 loss in the penultimate game of the regular season.

Kemp returned Sept. 16 after missing two months with an injury to the same ankle and a hamstring strain that also popped up late in his rehabilitation. He's been hitting .314 since his return, though he’s hitless in his past nine plate appearances.

Kemp was penciled in to bat fifth and play center and was even announced on the scoreboard about 10 minutes before the first pitch, but it was Skip Schumaker who jogged out to center in the top of the first, with Nick Buss entering the starting lineup in right field.

Juan Uribe moved up one spot to No. 5 in the batting order and came up with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning. He fouled out to the catcher before left fielder Scott Van Slyke hit an inning-ending fly out to right. The Dodgers, who will open the NL Division Series on Thursday at either the St. Louis Cardinals or Atlanta Braves, remain the worst-hitting team in the majors with the bases loaded this season (.194).

Buss ended another Dodgers scoring threat by grounding out to first with runners on second and third and two outs in the second inning.

The loss prevented Dodgers starter Zack Greinke (15-4) from winning his eighth consecutive decision and matching his career-high win total. Greinke allowed one earned run on four hits and struck out seven without walking a batter. He lowered his ERA to 2.63, the second-lowest mark of his career after his AL Cy Young season of 2009 (2.16).

Greinke’s only miscue came against Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado with two outs in the fourth and Troy Tulowitzki on second base. Greinke left a 1-2 pitch over the plate and the Orange County native lined it into left-center field, where it fell just out of the reach of a diving Van Slyke.

Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was held out of the starting lineup for precautionary reasons after twice fouling pitches off his lower left leg in Friday’s victory. He pinch-hit with two outs in the seventh inning and struck out on three pitches.

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Dodgers first-base coach Davey Lopes was taking part in a word association game with a film crew prior to Saturday’s game against the visiting Colorado Rockies when Yasiel Puig’s name came up.

Without hesitation, Lopes answered, “Unpredictable.”

Puig has been with the Dodgers for nearly four months. In that time, they’ve climbed from as far back as 9 ½ games in the NL West standings to division champions. They won 53 of 66 games during their summer surge, including a franchise-record 15 consecutive road games.

Puig has his fingerprints all over one of the great turnarounds in franchise history, hitting .322 since his arrival with 19 home runs among his 42 extra-base hits.

Still, from listening to Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and his coaching staff, it's clear Puig still has a lot to learn.

“We see a guy with just a load of talent, but also you see the young player in him at times,” Mattingly said.

During the Dodgers’ previous homestand, Mattingly spoke of Puig’s lack of control in the outfield. His tendency to overthrow the cutoff man has been well documented, but on this night Mattingly was discussing Puig’s unbridled aggression when chasing down fly balls, saying his teammates don’t trust that he won’t run them over in pursuit.

His baserunning has been just as just as erratic. He’s stolen 11 bases but has been caught eight times. Even more disturbing, he has been picked off, doubled up and run through stop signs to record a number of other outs on the basepaths.

Puig also seems reluctant to take the advice of others. Against the Rockies on Friday night, he fouled a ball of his lower left leg in his first at-bat and hobbled around before eventually grounding out. Mattingly said he brushed off a recommendation to wear a shin guard and later fouled another pitch off the same area in the fifth inning, ultimately causing him to leave the game.

"I would think he would want to wear one, but ...," Mattingly said before just shrugging his shoulders.

Puig took batting practice Saturday and Mattingly said he would be available to play if needed, but is holding him out for precautionary reasons.

A more difficult decision looms Thursday. Who will be the starting outfielders when the Dodgers open the NL Division Series, either at the St. Louis Cardinals or Atlanta Braves? Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford appear healthy and ready, and another veteran outfielder, Andre Ethier, is wrapping up his rehab from an injured lower left leg at the team’s spring training complex in Glendale, Ariz.

With the Dodgers' playoff positioning set, Mattingly was asked if he planned to let the players manage the team in the final two games. Mattingly said he hadn’t thought about that possibility, but then asked reporters who they considered good candidates.

When it was suggested Puig could coach third base, Mattingly answered, “It would probably do him some good.”

Saturday's lineups:
Rockies
1. Charlie Blackmon RF
2. Charlie Culberson LF
3. Corey Dickerson CF
4. Troy Tulowitzki SS
5. Todd Helton 1B
6. Nolan Arenado 3B
7. Jordan Pacheco C
8. Jonathan Herrera 2B
9. Juan Nicasio P

Dodgers
1. Skip Schumaker RF
2. A.J. Ellis C
3. Hanley Ramirez SS
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Juan Uribe 3B
7. Michael Young 2B
8. Scott Van Slyke LF
9. Zack Greinke P

LOS ANGELES -- When Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for his next start Thursday in the opening round of the NL Division Series, he’ll have that same youthful-looking appearance.

He’ll just be a completely different-looking pitcher.

Kershaw has evolved into one of the top hurlers in baseball, proving so once again Friday night while throwing six shutout innings in an 11-0 victory against the visiting Colorado Rockies.

Kershaw improved to 16-9, but the stat that’ll likely stand out for years to come is his ERA. He dropped that mark to 1.83, the lowest in the major leagues since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2000, and the lowest by a southpaw since Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees in 1978 (1.74).

Kershaw also became the first pitcher since Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves (1993-95) to lead the majors in ERA for three consecutive seasons and just the second member of the Dodgers to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA. Sandy Koufax accomplished that feat three times in the 1960s.

The Dodgers made things easy on Kershaw by scoring four runs in the first, another in the third and three more in the fourth on Carl Crawford’s three-run blast. Kershaw had a hand in that, too, singling with one out before Crawford launched his sixth home run of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez and A.J. Ellis also homered for the Dodgers, and Juan Uribe had three hits and two RBIs.

Kershaw showed he was on his game right from the start, striking out Charlie Blackmon on three pitches to open the game. He twice struck out soon-to-be-retired first baseman Todd Helton. Kershaw allowed four hits among his 82 pitches, struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.

Of course, the Dodgers can’t seem to take two steps forward without taking one back this season. Yasiel Puig left the game in the top of the sixth after fouling a pitch off his left foot for the second time in the game. He returned to the batter’s box and hit the next pitch in the air to right field, limping noticeably as he jogged to first.

The injury brought back memories of the last weekend series at Dodger Stadium, when the hosts lost Puig, fellow outfielders Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford and shortstop Hanley Ramirez to injuries. Ethier remains sidelined with a lower left leg injury.

The other downside Friday night was the St. Louis Cardinals' beating the Chicago Cubs, assuring the Dodgers of a road game Thursday when they open the playoffs against either the Cardinals or Atlanta Braves.

But on this night, once again, it was all about Kershaw.

“He’s still the same kid who was tough and worked hard and was hard-headed, in a sense, with his stuff, but he’s come so far from the standpoint of his willingness to get better,” said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, who played five seasons with Guidry in New York.

Kershaw didn’t hold runners on base very well when he first joined the Dodgers. Now he does. He had only two pitches in his arsenal, a fastball and a curve, but has since added a slider and changeup. He dominated just one side of the plate. Now he owns both corners. He’s even become a better hitter.

“He has just evolved,” Mattingly said. “He’s a total different matchup for you as a hitter than he used to be. This is obviously the same guy, the same person, but you probably wouldn’t recognize him if you looked at the games he pitched then versus now.”

Kershaw was a wide-eyed 20-year-old when he made his first postseason appearance five years ago, pitching two innings of relief in a five-game loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series. He returned to the postseason the following year and made three starts before the Dodgers were again cut down in the NLCS.

Four years later, Kershaw gets another shot at winning a World Series. Just getting to the playoffs is no longer good enough.

“Nobody remembers second place,” Kershaw said. “Nobody remembers who won the American League or who won the National League, they remember who won the World Series. So getting to the playoffs is nice, it’s definitely a huge accomplishment, but at the end of the day, unless you win the whole thing, no one remembers.”

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barring some unforeseen circumstances -- or perhaps a misguided decision by the Los Angeles Dodgers to go with Ricky Nolasco -- Hyun-Jin Ryu will pitch Game 3 of the Dodgers' first-round playoff series.

If the Dodgers need that game to advance, or even if they need it to stave off elimination, it would appear they'll have the right guy on the mound. Ryu has certainly not looked overtaken by big moments.

Ryu pitched seven strong innings, giving up only four hits and a run in the Dodgers' 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday. It was certainly not a playoff atmosphere -- the Giants have been playing out the string since August -- but it was a game the Dodgers had to have if they want to maintain hope of opening the playoffs at home. The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals both won.

Ryu is 14-7 with a 2.97 ERA. Were it not for Miami phenom Jose Fernandez and the Dodgers' own Yasiel Puig, Ryu would have been a walkaway Rookie of the Year winner.

"I've surpassed my initial expectations," Ryu said through an interpreter. "Not that I thought it was going to be easy, but it's been much better than I thought. That's a good thing."

He had lost four of his previous five starts coming into Tuesday, but all four of those losses were quality starts. In a spotlight game in his native Korea, he pitched brilliantly in a Dodgers' win over the Cincinnati Reds and Korean superstar Shin-Soo Choo back in July. He gave up one earned run in his major league debut.

The Dodgers have gone 11-4 in his past 15 starts. Since the All-Star break, Ryu has walked nine batters in 11 starts while striking out 57. He can even hit a little, though his base running isn't exactly graceful.

"We couldn't have asked, really, for anything more," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

(Read full post)

The game that sent the Los Angeles Dodgers to the playoffs wasn’t particularly reflective of the kind of season that got them there.

It wasn’t very well-pitched, with Ricky Nolasco melting down and allowing six runs in the third inning. Its biggest hit came from a player in a deep slump, catcher A.J. Ellis, who swatted the go-ahead home run.

And in the days following the win, much of the attention went to how the Dodgers celebrated -- with a romp in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ pool -- rather than on the accomplishment itself.

But the one shining moment from an otherwise blasé week for the Dodgers was that afternoon game in Arizona. It guaranteed that the rest of the week -- in which the Dodgers went a pedestrian 3-3 -- really didn’t matter all that much.

The minute Kenley Jansen got that final out, the rest of the Dodgers’ season became about preparing for the playoffs. They were the first team in the major leagues to clinch their division. So, yeah, it was a good week.

SCORING

It was fairly evident before last week, but it became even clearer in the past seven days. The Dodgers are really good when their star players are on the field and average when they are not. If you were to fret about one thing going into the playoffs and next season it would be the lack of depth, a problem created by a mediocre Triple-A team.

Hanley Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier all missed time due to injuries, most of them the nagging kind.

The day after the Dodgers clinched, they started a lineup entirely of Triple-A-caliber players and bench guys and they looked incapable of scoring a run while losing 2-0. The next day, the Dodgers started most of their guys with Clayton Kershaw on the mound and hit a pair of home runs to get Kershaw some rare run support in a 4-0 win.

Which lineup do you think is more likely to be on the field on Oct. 3, when the Dodgers begin the post-season? If they’re fortunate and if manager Don Mattingly manages to keep everybody healthy, it figures to be the latter.

In other words, the Dodgers are still a dangerous lineup even if they haven’t always looked the part lately.

Grade: B-

DEFENSE

Until his last two starts, Nolasco might have been a candidate to pitch Game 3 of the Dodgers’ first playoff series, perhaps nudging ahead of Hyun-Jin Ryu if the Dodgers faced a team adept at hitting lefties (eg., the Pittsburgh Pirates).

Now, it looks like Ryu is the right choice no matter who the Dodgers face. Nolasco allowed 11 earned runs on 16 hits in his last 6 1/3 innings and that raises red flags at this time of year, particularly because Nolasco has never pitched in the post-season.

On the other hand, the rest of the Dodgers’ starting pitchers stayed true to form and the bullpen at times was dominant. Kenley Jansen, entering his first post-season, and Brian Wilson, a closer on a World Series team, could be a solid combination at the end of games. Together, Jansen and Wilson struck out eight batters in six innings, simply shutting down the final innings.

Another area of worry, of course, is fielding, which has been slightly below mediocre all season. There will be times in the playoffs, when Hanley Ramirez and Michael Young are in the game at the same time, when the Dodgers have a highly permeable left side of the infield.

And, while Dee Gordon is tempting to keep on the roster because of his value as a pinch runner, it might be tough to carry him because he looks like such a defensive liability.

Grade: B-

DECISION-MAKING

Mattingly has had some embarrassing moments lately. Two weeks ago, he gave the umpire the name of the wrong left-handed pitcher, meaning Paco Rodriguez had to leave the mound without ever throwing a pitch. Last week, he tried to remove a pitcher shortly after Rick Honeycutt had already visited the mound and was sent back to the dugout.

In neither case did it cost the Dodgers, but Mattingly and his staff aren’t going to want to be in those kinds of situations in October.

The front office is on a tear, with Wilson and Young both looking like excellent acquisitions and Carlos Marmol and Edinson Volquez even chipping in here and there.

Some people have been upset at Mattingly for resting his regulars so much, but it’s hard to knock him if you’re not sitting in on his meetings with the medical staff. And given the evidence about homefield advantage in the playoffs – it’s a 50-50 proposition in both the division series and championship series – it seems like the right course of action.

Grade: B-

CHEMISTRY TEST

The day after the Dodgers clinched, a group of players was lounging around the clubhouse in San Diego as TV commentators were discussing – what else – pool-gate. When the network showed Brian Wilson’s Twitter response to Sen. John McCain’s pointed criticism, the room erupted in laughter.

The Dodgers really don’t care what other people think about their celebration.

Their animosity with the Diamondbacks ran deep even before that incident, so it will be worth monitoring when the two teams face each other in spring training.

The Dodgers have become accustomed to deflecting criticism as a group this season. They’ve dealt with it after a series of brawls, when it was coming at rookie Yasiel Puig hot and heavy and, now, this. It doesn’t seem to have dented their sense of camaraderie. In fact, just the opposite.

Grade: A-

STATE OF CONTENTION

If the Dodgers don’t start playing with a bit more urgency, they figure to open the playoffs on the road. And this is a problem, because…?

It’s not as if Kershaw and Zack Greinke aren’t perfectly capable of keeping a stadium quiet long enough to let the Dodgers offense come to life. Meanwhile, Ryu has a 2.23 ERA at Dodger Stadium, so he could be poised to finish an opponent off.

It’s far more important who the Dodgers play than where they play them, but since they have limited control over that, they’re better off getting their players as physically sound than worrying about home field.

Grade: A-

SAN DIEGO -- Before the Los Angeles Dodgers took the field Saturday night to face the San Diego Padres, manager Don Mattingly gathered his players in the clubhouse for an impromptu meeting.

He didn't have a particularly long or motivational speech prepared. He simply outlined where the Dodgers are and what they have to do during the final games of the regular season before the playoffs start.

"They all know where we're at," Mattingly said. "It's about where we're going, not about where we've been."

Where the Dodgers are going will actually have a lot to do with how they play over the final week of the regular season. Despite clinching the NL West and their first playoff berth since 2009 on Thursday, the Dodgers still have no idea who they will play when the playoffs start and, more important, where they will be to open the postseason.

After Saturday's 4-0 win over the Padres, the Dodgers are tied in the overall NL standings with the Pittsburgh Pirates, one game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds, two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals and 2½ games back of the Atlanta Braves.

It would be natural to assume the Dodgers are still eyeing to claim the best record in the National League and home-field advantage in the playoffs, but the truth is they are more concerned about going into the playoffs healthy and rested.

"We feel like we can win anywhere," Mattingly said. "We feel like we can win on the road, but you want to be healthy. I would also like to be at home. I would much rather have home-field advantage but do I want home-field advantage and not have Hanley [Ramirez] or Adrian [Gonzalez] in the lineup? No. The priority is I'm going to try to get these guys as healthy as I can and keep them sharp."

The Dodgers have certainly been a strong road team this season. They have the best road record in the National League and the second-best road record overall. They won a franchise-record 15 consecutive road games this summer and celebrated clinching the division on the road by celebrating in the Arizona Diamondbacks' pool.

So Mattingly is more than comfortable taking his team on the road to open the postseason as long as his team is healthy.

"We're going to play, we're going to keep playing," Mattingly said. "But not at the risk of [playing someone hurt]. When medical says Hanley is a little tight, I'm not going to use him. We're going to be more safe than sorry later."

(Read full post)

SAN DIEGO -- The old adage in football is you take 24 hours to enjoy a big win before moving on to the next game. That's not really possible in baseball in which the daily grind of the regular season forces you back on the field for the next game within hours of the final out of the last game.

Don Mattingly, however, made sure the Los Angeles Dodgers had at least 24 hours to savor clinching the NL West before moving on to the rest of the regular season and attempting to secure home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Mattingly's lineup Saturday for the Dodgers' 4-0 win over the San Diego Padres returned to normalcy one night after he went with a lineup more reminiscent of a spring training game in Friday's 2-0 loss to the Padres.

"We want to win every day and we want to have home-field advantage, but we've been at this for close to 200 games when you count spring training," Mattingly said. "It's one of those where you felt like these guys needed to sit there and enjoy that and now we have more work to do and we're going back to work."

The Dodgers didn't waste any time getting back to work with Clayton Kershaw on the mound. The Cy Young favorite pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up only three hits and striking out 10. With one start left in the season, Kershaw owns a 1.88 ERA and will likely be the first Dodger since Sandy Koufax to end a season with a sub-2.00 ERA.

A.J. Ellis, who hit the winning home run to clinch the division in Arizona, hit a two-run homer to left in the fourth inning Saturday to get the Dodgers on the board first and score all the runs they'd really need with Kershaw starting.

Yasiel Puig put the game away with a two-run blast in the seventh inning that could have easily landed in the Gaslamp Quarter. Puig's home run was calculated at 457 feet, making it the second-longest home run in Petco Park history. The first was a 458-foot home run by Adrian Gonzalez in 2009. The two friends and teammates will no doubt be debating that one foot for a while.

Mattingly will now go into the final seven games of the regular season not only looking to gain home-field advantage but also shore up any issues the Dodgers might have heading into the playoffs.

"One of our goals coming out of spring training was to win the division and set ourselves up where we could do what we're doing," Mattingly said. "We also wanted to set our pitching up the way we want it. We've at least accomplished that much of it. It's now an opportunity for us to touch on some other things. This is a great opportunity for us."

The Los Angeles Dodgers were not in any sort of position to anticipate being the first major-league team to clinch a playoff spot just a few months ago.

But a remarkable turnaround propelled them to their first NL West title since 2009.

Nearly unbeatable
The Dodgers are now 58-23 after their 30-42 start.

They've played at a 116-win pace in their last 81 games.

The 116 is notable because 116 is the MLB record for wins in a season, shared by the 1906 Cubs (in the 154-game scheduled and 2001 Mariners (in the 162-game schedule).

Spotlight Performer: Hanley Ramirez
Yasiel Puig and Clayton Kershaw have gotten much of the attention this season, but it was appropriate that Hanley Ramirez had such a big game in the division clincher, with a pair of home runs.

The Dodgers are 49-24 in Ramirez’s 73 starts this season. Ramirez has the highest batting average (.351) and slugging percentage (.656) of anyone with at least 300 plate appearances this season. Our video-review data has him registering a “hard-hit ball” in 30 percent of his at-bats, also the best in the majors.

Ramirez is currently hitting .351 with 20 homers. If he can maintain a .350 batting average, he’d be the first shortstop to hit at least .350 with 20 homers in a season since current ESPN baseball analyst (and former Dodger) Nomar Garciaparra in 2000.

Unsung hero
The Dodgers have also been a much better team when Mark Ellis has been next to Ramirez playing second base. They are 65-35 when Ellis plays. The key isn’t his offensive performance, but his defense.

Ellis has been credited with 11 Defensive Runs Saved in a little over 900 innings at the position. All of the others to play second base for the Dodgers this season have combined for -13 Defensive Runs Saved.

Circle These Wins
What were the most prominent wins of the 2013 season?

Opening Day would be one—when the Dodgers beat the Giants 4-0 behind both the arm and the bat of Clayton Kershaw, who pitched a shutout and hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning.

But the Dodgers didn’t really take off until the arrival of Puig. In Puig’s second game on June 4, he became the second player in major-league history with a two-homer, five-RBI game within the first two games of his career. The other was Dino Restelli for the 1949 Pirates.

The most dramatic among many dramatic comebacks during the 42-8 stretch that put the Dodgers in prime position was a 7-6 win over the Rays on August 9, a game won with four runs in the bottom of the ninth against Rays closer Fernando Rodney (who committed the game-ending error).

Another would come five days later against the Mets, when Andre Ethier hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning and Adrian Gonzalez drove in Puig with a game-winning double in the 12th.

Elias Sports Bureau Stats of the Day
The Elias Sports Bureau noted that this is the earliest the Dodgers have clinched a postseason berth by calendar date since the Brooklyn Dodgers clinched the National League title on September 8, 1955. The Dodgers went on to defeat the Yankees 4-3 in the World Series.

The Dodgers are the fifth team in the Divisional Era (since 1969) to win a division in a season in which they were at least 12 games under .500 at one point.

The others are the 1974 Pirates (14 under), 1973 Mets (13), 1981 Royals (13), and the 1989 Blue Jays (12).

The Dodgers are the third team in major-league history to be in last place on July 1 and win their division, joining the 1973 Mets and 1995 Mariners.

The Dodgers were 47-47 at the All-Star Break, becoming just the sixth team in the Wild Card Era to win a division title after entering the break with a non-winning record. None of the previous five teams went on to make the World Series.

PHOENIX -- Whether it's because everyone's paying closer attention, because the games often are well-pitched and close or because of the pressure everyone is under, postseason games often boil down to one moment so memorable it freezes in time.

It's often a mistake.

There is Jeremy Giambi electing not to slide. There is Nelson Cruz misplaying a David Freese line drive. If you want to go all ESPN Classic, there's always Bill Buckner, of course. Pick your favorite or least-favorite team. You can probably rattle off a list.

Wednesday's 9-4 Los Angeles Dodgers loss at Chase Field -- keeping them frustratingly stuck on the brink of clinching the NL West -- didn't feel much like a playoff game. For one thing, the stadium was about two-thirds full and one of the teams had virtually nothing at stake.

But it illustrated the peril of the ill-timed mistake twice, in fact -- once by a player, the other by an umpire.

A year from now, the Dodgers wouldn't have had to worry about Jim Joyce blowing a call when he called out Michael Young after he slid into home in the sixth inning. Don Mattingly could have challenged it, the umpires would have reviewed it and -- if they trusted the replay everyone else saw -- they would have reversed it.

Instead, Young was called out, the Diamondbacks retained a 4-3 lead and the game went downhill from there.

(Read full post)

ESPNLA's Mark Saxon chimes in on a debate that is on the minds of many Southern California baseball fans: Mike Trout or Yasiel Puig?

PHOENIX -- For months, it has been out there and, at times, the question has been -- absurdly -- posed as a dilemma. How will manager Don Mattingly deal with having four everyday outfielders for three spots?

First of all, it has happened for only 10 innings out of the 152 games the Dodgers have played this season. Matt Kemp was injured in both games the Dodgers' four outfielders were all healthy, first aggravating his shoulder during an at-bat in San Francisco and then spraining his ankle sliding into home in Washington.

Second, the last thing to call it is a dilemma. When the playoffs start, it could be a massive advantage for the Dodgers. They have two right-handed hitters and two left-handed hitters, allowing them to line up favorable matchups for every game. Should they advance to the World Series, it will give them a bonafide threat at designated hitter that so few National League teams have.

So, yeah, it's not a problem.

"I like that, obviously," Mattingly said.

One would hope that, should the Dodgers have a legitimate shot at a World Series ring, the player who is benched that night would have the good taste to hide his disappointment.

"Somebody's not going to be happy," Mattingly said, "but at that point, you can't worry about that too much."

The St. Louis Cardinals' Shelby Miller has held right-handed hitters to a .202 batting average. Kemp would quite likely sit that game or, possibly, Yasiel Puig if his slump drags on that long. Pittsburgh Pirates lefty Francisco Liriano has held left-handers to a .213 average. Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier would miss that game.

"When Matt wasn't part of the equation, it puts you in a little bit of a bind with the lefties and it showed. I don't think we were really successful off lefties in general," Mattingly said.

The Dodgers have batted .258 against lefties this year.

It could be a matter of days before the Dodgers have all four players healthy. Ethier (ankle) is expected back some time next week. Crawford was back in the lineup Wednesday after missing time because of lower-back tightness.

How was Crawford's back feeling?

"Good enough," he said. "You've just got to do what you can this time of year."

* Hanley Ramirez was held out of the lineup, but Mattingly said he didn't re-injure his tight hamstring. Mattingly said it was part of the pre-planned program for Ramirez, who likely will play one out of every four games or so. They're trying to keep him sharp while avoiding a major injury.

"Play a day, off a few days, try to keep him sharp," Mattingly said. "I don't think anybody feels like Hanley's 100 percent."

Here are lineups for a game in which the Dodgers can clinch the NL West:

Los Angeles

1. Yasiel Puig RF
2. Carl Crawford LF
3. Michael Young 3B
4. Adrian Gonzalez 1B
5. Matt Kemp CF
6. Mark Ellis 2B
7. Nick Punto SS
8. Tim Federowicz C
9. Stephen Fife RHP

Diamondbacks

1. Adam Eaton LF
2. A.J. Pollock CF
3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
4. Aaron Hill 2B
5. Miguel Montero C
6. Matt Davidson 3B
7. Gerardo Parra RF
8. Chris Owings SS
9. Brandon McCarthy RHP

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks play the third game of a four-game series in Phoenix tonight (10 ET on ESPN/WatchESPN). Arizona needs only one win in the next two days to win the season series for the third straight year.

Here are a few storylines you might hear about during the broadcast.

1. The Dodgers magic number to clinch first place in the NL West is two, meaning they can clinch with a win tonight.

This would be LA’s third division title in the last six years. However, in each of the last two instances (2008, 2009) the Dodgers were eliminated in the NLCS by the Philadelphia Phillies.

2. The Dodgers have overcome a number of injuries this season. In fact, they’ve used the DL 25 times, more than any other team in the Senior Circuit.

Matt Kemp made his first start off the DL Tuesday night and posted his first four-hit, three-RBI game since Sept. 26, 2012. This was also the fifth such game of his career (four have come against NL West opponents).

3. Paul Goldschmidt has belted five home runs and 18 RBIs off Dodgers pitching this season. His RBIs are tied with Colorado's Michael Cuddyer and San Francisco's Hunter Pence for the most among all players against Los Angeles this season.

In addition, Goldschmidt is riding a seven-game hitting streak that has seen him hit .566 (15-for-27) with nine RBIs.

4. The Diamondbacks have won their share of dramatic games this season. Arizona has 16 extra-inning wins, most by an NL team since the 1999 Atlanta Braves (17) and their 13 walk-off wins are a club record.

Misc. Notes
• Yasiel Puig is hitting .554 on the first pitch of an at-bat this season, the highest average in the majors (minimum 50 plate appearances).

• Arizona’s Didi Gregorius has had a solid rookie season. Among NL rookies, only Yasiel Puig (.401 to .328) has posted a higher OBP (minimum 300 at-bats).

• Opponents are hitting .071 (4-for-56) with runners in scoring position this season against Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen.

PHOENIX -- Yasiel Puig is back.

Matt Kemp is back, sort of.

Carl Crawford might be back soon. Hanley Ramirez could be days away. Andre Ethier could be right on Ramirez's heels.

But the Los Angeles Dodgers are looking far from healthy as they try to close out the NL West. Kemp pinch hit in the ninth inning -- the only duty he is yet cleared for -- and struck out to end the game in the Dodgers' 2-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

That kept the Dodgers' magic number stuck on 4. It was the team's ninth loss in the past 12 games and fourth loss in a row.

The Dodgers have taken beatings from two hitters in the NL West above all others: San Francisco’s Hunter Pence and the Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt.

Of course, it’s a bit more excusable in Goldschmidt’s case, since he’s a bona-fide MVP candidate. Goldschmidt hit a two-run home run about 420 feet to center field in the first inning to get Hyun-Jin Ryu’s night started poorly.

After that, Ryu -- as he normally does -- stabilized. In fact, he did more than that, pitching seven scoreless innings after that, retiring 19 straight batters and allowing just one more baserunner the rest of the night.

Ryu had lost three of his past four starts going into Monday, but three of those qualify as quality starts, so it has been more a reflection of diminishing run support.

Arizona starter Trevor Cahill was cruising right along until he walked Ryu leading off the sixth inning. That sent his outing cascading, and he was out of the game four batters later. Cahill gave up a double to deep center field to Nick Punto and walked Mark Ellis on four pitches.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a fly ball to medium-deep left field, but with Ryu running, third-base coach Tim Wallach didn’t take a chance. That proved wise because Cahill walked Puig to force in a run.

The Dodgers have been struggling in the clutch lately -- as they did the last time they were depleted by injuries -- and reliever Josh Collmenter got Cahill out of the jam by striking out A.J. Ellis and shattering Skip Schumaker’s bat for a groundout.

It’s still worth noting: Of all Puig’s exploits this season, the most surprising might be his willingness to draw a walk. He left spring training without a single walk, but he has 32 walks in 92 games for the Dodgers.