Countering Helene Elliott, Steve Dilbeck Profiles The Dodgers' MSB

When talking about baseball players 5' 8" and under, it inevitably becomes about hustle, right? About spunk and grit and intangibles?

Enter Steve Dilbeck's profile on our own MSB, Jamey Carroll, whom Dilbeck wishes was like a disease:

If only Jamey Carroll were an infectious disease. If he carried the hustle virus.

If only his unmitigated effort and energy would translate to the rest of the Dodgers.

Then they would have something going. Then they would never, as James Loney suggested, claim that at times other teams played harder.

Carroll plays with the pedal to the floor. Hustles like it’s all he knows. Ran all out to first in April when the season was full of promise and in September after it had slipped away.

Granted, Carroll does lead the Dodgers with a .383 OBP (which isn't saying much, given our offensive woes). But before we get carried away and revive the Admiral Ackbar campaign, let's remind ourselves that Carroll--whom I like on the team and have appreciated as a pleasant surprise this year as a Dodger--still has an OPS+ of 103 this year (against a career average of 85). So don't let the small stature fool you into thinking they're disproportionately big achievements. Please, let's keep our eyes wide, open.

FYI, Carroll went 0-for-4 last night in the two-hole. I know, it's a small sample size; but isn't any sample size of Carroll's bound to be small?