California Dreamin'

Dave Paisley

First of all, a moment of silence for Darryl Kile and Jack Buck and a prayer for their families...

... there’s really not much more to say.

There aren’t a whole lot of surprises this year in Major League Baseball. Sure, the Pirates leading the NL Central was a shocker, but eventually most of these things return to normal. A couple of those oddities that haven’t are both down in southern California, Los Angeles and its environs to be exact. Both of the West divisions are host to a mild shock as the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers are both staking claims as legitimate division contenders.

The Angels figured to be a team in trouble, what with Seattle and Oakland remaining strong from last year, and the Rangers completely retooling their team. In this era of unbalanced schedules, the task facing the Angels was quite daunting. Sure, they went out and got Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele, but they’re past the age where they strike terror into the hearts of opposing batters. The addition of Brad Fullmer as the DH was good if also somewhat unspectacular. But really, that was about it. They overachieved a bit last year (relative to meager expectations), and much of the credit was given to hard-nosed manager Mike Scioscia.

With few real changes, though, the most likely scenario was that the Angels would get left in the dust of their three division rivals. What has happened, though, has been anything but. The Angels rank second in scoring in the AL with 5.5 runs per game, just 0.1 runs per game behind the Yankees, and a little ahead of Boston and Seattle. They rank fourth in runs allowed behind, well you guessed it, Boston, Seattle and the Yankees. So it’s perhaps no shock that the top four teams in the league are all in the top four of offense and pitching (if we set aside Oakland for just a second.) What is surprising is that the Angels are one of those four.

If the Angels are second in offense, who’s the big gun? Their top OPS guy is Garrett Anderson, who sports a decent .868 OPS. But still, that’s the best they have. Here’s the rub, though – they have four guys all in the mid-.800s and another bunch just below that. With Fullmer (.866), Salmon (.858), Glaus (.820), Spiezio (.785), Kennedy (.780), Erstad (.772), and Eckstein (,.769) they have a very well balanced attack. In many ways it’s the Mariners plan from last year and this – don’t go overboard on the big bopper superstar – just nickel and dime the opposition with relentless above average hitters.

Really, there’s not much to choose from between Salmon, Glaus and Anderson in terms of contribution, and its nice to see Tim Salmon turn around a horrible start to the season.

On the pitching front, there’s no doubt that Sele and Appier have made a difference. Their contribution, though, has been more the average ERA inning eater type. Ramon Ortiz and Jarrod Washburn are the two pitching studs, with ERAs in the mid 3.something range and records of 8-5 and 7-2 respectively. A rock solid bullpen has also helped, with Lou Pote, Ben Weber and Troy Percival the mainstays. Overall, this is much like the Mariners – slightly above average just about everywhere. The nice thing about it is that you can lose a couple of guys and not plunge to the depths of despair.

Over in the NL< the Dodgers have taken the NL West by storm. Well, maybe it’s more a heavy shower, but you get the idea. The Giants and Diamondbacks seemed poised to continue where they left off, and the Dodgers were a franchise lost at sea. At 46-29, though, they just snuck into the lead in their division.

Unlike the Angels, the Dodgers aren’t excelling at everything. They’re third in pitching behind Atlanta and San Francisco, but they’re the epitome of average on offense. Still, average is better than expected, so it is one of the factors driving them to exceed expectations.

Runs allowed as a team doesn’t quite tell the whole story, though, because the Dodgers have exceptionally strong starting pitching. The highest ERA of any of the six guys who have started for them this year is 4.06, and that’s the oft-injured Kevin Brown. Four guys have started 15 games each – Perez (8-3, 2.52 ERA), Ashby (7-6, 3.11), Ishii (11-3, 3.36) and Nomo (7-5, 3.62). Even allowing for the pitcher friendly confines of Chavez Ravine that’s pretty solid. Add Eric Gagne with his 1.14 ERA and 27 saves, and that’s money in the bank.

An interesting point about the pitchers’ records – Ishii has had the best run support of the top four at 5.7 per nine innings, so it’s not a shock he’s doing well. Ashby, however, is second at 5.1, but just manages to lose those close 2-1, 4-2 games. Perez and Nomo are getting 3.6 and 3.9 runs support respectively. That makes Perez’ W-L record more impressive than Ishii’s in my book (even more so after a 4-0 complete game one hitter Tuesday night.)

And what of that dead average offense? How many guys with more than 200 AB have an OPS over .800? All of two. How many over .900? Only one. That one is, of course, Shawn Green, who checks in with an even 1.000, 23 homers, 57 runs scored and 59 RBI, if you care for that sort of thing. His only friend who appears to know with which end to hold the wooden stick is Brian Jordan, sporting an .849 OPS with 42 runs and 38 RBI.

After that it’s pretty slim pickings, with Eric Karros and Paul LoDuca being the only reasonable facsimiles of major league hitters. Adrian Beltre, Cesar Izturis and Mark Grudzielanek have all managed to soak up significant playing time without striking terror into the heart of any opposing pitchers. And the offense will remain the weak link in the Dodgers push for the playoffs.

about the author

Questions? Thoughts? Requests for loans? Maybe Dave Paisley will respond and maybe he won't. But why not try to raise him at drdjp@strikethree.com?