Guys, let's not forget that he is coming off major surgery. His power will start coming around, IMO, in August/September, just in time for the playoffs. He'll be fine.
Wouldn't mind Kemp hitting 5th. Have Gonzo, Dre, then Kemp. When HanRam comes back HanRam, Gonzo, Kemp, and Dre. If Kemp still sucks by then, if he gets better bat him 3.
I think the biggest problem at the moment with this offense is the XBH. the RISP gets highlighted a lot cause obviously, you need to hit with RISP to score. But also, getting XBH is huge in having a good offense It's incredibly hard in the major leagues to string together a rally with a lot of consecutive singles and walks. (I'm about to use the stats to this point, it's a small sample size but just to get a quick glimpse as to what is going on) We're getting on base fine enough, 7th in MLB in OBP with a .339 But our Slugging % is .367, good for 26th in MLB We are getting on base a lot, which is good, but these guys aren't gonna come in unless everyone hits a single together. You need a few doubles here and there to bring in runs. Only 26% of our hits are Extra Base hits, MLB average right now is 34% (I'm not going to look at past years to see what MLB averages are, I'm just looking at this sample size from 2013) Since the sample sizes are small, it just takes a few more XBH here and there to raise the % up a good amount. just something to think about
Our biggest problem is that we have a below average 2nd baseman, a minor league SS, a minor league 3B, and Kemp has been the 2nd worst player in baseball behind Aaron Hicks of the Twins.
This is actually not a bad idea. I'm trying to remember the name of the Cornerback who was wildly average/below average his first like 7 or 8 years in the NFL then he signed with the 49ers and they had his eyesight checked and it turned out he needed glasses/contacts and he was a pro bowler the same year.
Game tying HR by Loney last night. 3 hits. ( 9 RBIs, I believe). Sure, Agon's better than Loney, of course. That wasn't why I mentioned it. I even mention it just an illustration of LAD luck. And taking whatever away from Loney as pleases anyone, minimizing anything he does as useless, all the more makes my point.
Watching the team lately has been excruciatingly frustrating experience. I certainly thought we'd have some power to depend on, and some real slugging happening nightly. Pretty bad. Hard to imagine a team being worse. But to me, the worse thing I saw, was Kershaw being shelled....just a rotten thing to watch. It's like a classically beautiful work of art being spray painted by some idiot goons. Whatever he didn't have or the reasons may have been, to watch that team pound him was nauseating. And to watch his manager put him out there for more, when there was little reason or no hope of a comeback, was jaw dropping and ignorant.
I agree but the bullpen was absolutely worn out. Kershaw had to eat at least 100 pitches. He did his job and he at least improved our chances for the next game. A true team player.
This. I'll even go one step further. If you give up after 5 innings of a 4-1 game vs the padres, Don Mattingly isn't your problem.
