Thursday, July 02, 2009

Fifty Games Later, A Widened Divisional Lead

Record during Manny Ramirez' suspension: 29-21

NL West standings on May 6, 2009:

Dodgers, 21-8, .724
Giants, 13-13, .500, 6.5 GB
Padres, 12-16, .429, 8.5 GB
Diamondbacks, 12-16, .429, 8.5 GB
Rockies, 11-15, .423, 8.5 GB

NL West standings on July 1, 2009:

Dodgers, 50-29, .633
Giants, 42-35, .545, 7 GB
Rockies, 41-37, .526, 8.5 GB
Padres, 34-43, .442, 15.0 GB
Diamondbacks, 31-47, .397, 18.5 GB

We've played our last game without Manny Ramirez, having widened our lead versus every other team in the NL West. In addition, even with the widely publicized Rockies' streak under Jim Tracy's tutelage--the Rockies have only maintained pace (8.5 GB) with the completely underpublicized Dodgers. Even down this last stretch, as we dropped two of the last three series and our bats seemed to go on ice, we seemed to just have enough to take four of the last nine games. And Manny's return can't come soon enough; it's like we limped our way to the finish line a bit in our last lap.

But here come the reinforcements. And the rest of the NL West can only lament opportunities lost.

Applause to Juan Pierre for batting .318 with 21 RBIs, 31 runs scored, 15 walks and 21 stolen bases as a sudden starter in left field. Those numbers are so far beyond expectations, they're silly. Way to go, Juan!

And welcome back, Manny!

4 comments:

koufax said...

on the day manny got suspended barry zito tweeted something like, "manny suspended 50 games, lets take advantage giants". whoops!

Rob said...

It will be interesting to see whether Manny stumbles some out of the gate. Not that I expect it, but if he does ... what then?

Josh S. said...

Rob, he wasn't particularly sharp during the first couple of weeks of the season either, and the team fared pretty well. I think just having him around will elevate everybody else's game.

Rob said...

... or maybe, just maybe, the Dodgers were a pretty good team without him.