DODGERS News/Rumors Thread

Dodgers on a historic run
By Mark Saxon | ESPNLosAngeles.com
August, 13, 2013, 9:55 PM PT

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers are on one of those rolls in which nothing -- not even simple logic -- can slow them down.

With an injury-riddled lineup playing against one of the most intimidating pitchers in baseball, the Dodgers beat the New York Mets 4-2 Tuesday night for their seventh straight win.

The numbers are becoming staggering. The Dodgers are undefeated in their past 16 series. They have won 39 of their past 47 games. They're the first team since the 1951 New York Giants to win at such a high percentage over a 47-game stretch.

And the how is becoming as interesting as the what.

There aren't many mismatches more glaring than Matt Harvey versus Nick Punto, the National League's second-most dominant starting pitcher against the 5-foot-9 career utility guy, who turns 36 in November.

The way the Dodgers are going, they win the unfavorable matchups as frequently as they win those in their favor.

The Dodgers weren't making much headway against Harvey, but he also wasn't dominating them by the time Punto came up with runners on in the fifth inning. Aside from the first inning, they were hitting balls hard, just to the wrong places. Harvey got double plays to escape trouble in the second, third and fourth innings.

The Dodgers finally made something stick in that fifth, after A.J. Ellis walked and Juan Uribe singled. Punto slapped a ball into the left-field corner, scoring Ellis easily and, after Eric Young Jr. had to retrieve it deep in the corner, Uribe lumbered home.

Punto has been filling in for slugging shortstop Hanley Ramirez (and batting .450 in his stead) for the past nine games, over which the Dodgers have gone 8-1. They also played Tuesday without Andre Ethier, who met with a doctor about his tight left calf.

Ellis, who ranks second on the Dodgers with 42 RBIs, later singled up the middle to drive in two more runs against Harvey.

It wouldn't have mattered if Hyun-Jin Ryu hadn't pitched as well as he did. Things started off slowly. Juan Lagares homered and Daniel Murphy lined a single to left. But Ryu got rolling after that. His only real challenge was a two-on, one-out jam in the fourth, but he got Justin Turner to pop up and John Buck to ground out to end it.

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Three Strikes: Those streaking Dodgers
by Jayson Stark/ESPN | August, 15, 2013



Do the Dodgers ever lose? Seriously.

They've lost only eight times in eight weeks. They've gained 17 games in the standings in eight weeks. They've gone from 12 games under .500 to 20 games over .500 in eight weeks.

There's a word for that, you know:

Impossible.

Well, just about. So let's take a look at how impossible (or close) it really is:

• They're 40-8 in their past 48 games. That's 40 and 8. Amazing. They're the first team to run off a 40-8 streak (or better) at any point in any season since Stan Musial's 1942 Cardinals, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That was 71 years ago, friends.

• And these Dodgers and those Cardinals are the only National League teams to rip off a streak like this in the past 100 seasons. And yeah, I said 100. Fred Merkle's 1913 Giants were the last to do it before those two.

• And other than that group, the only teams in the past 100 seasons that had a 40-8 stretch (or better) in either league were Jimmie Foxx's legendary 1931 Philadelphia A's and three great Yankees teams that made it look way too easy -- by doing it three times in four years (in 1938, '39 and '41). So take away those Yankees, one of the all-time superteams, and this is a feat duplicated four times in the past 100 seasons. Incredible.

• Now let's remember something truly mind-boggling: These Dodgers were 12 games under .500 before all this started -- 72 games into the season. And now they're 20 over. How crazy is that?

I asked Elias to determine the most games over .500 any team has ever finished after being 12 games under .500 (or worse) that late in a season. And the answer is 14 -- by Wilver D. Stargell's 1974 Pirates (88-74). That team was actually 12 under as late as its 86th game before getting its act together.

But now digest this: That's the only team in history that ever finished even more than eight games over .500 after having a record that bad that late. And these Dodgers are now 20 over. Holy schmoly.

• Another thing to keep in mind: Even as late as the All-Star break, the Dodgers' record was only 47-47. Since then, they're a ridiculous 23-3. So that puts them in line to make yet more history.

According to Elias, the best post-break winning percentage ever, by a team that was at or below .500 at the break, was .684 -- by Dizzy Trout's 1944 Tigers (52-24 in the second half, 36-42 in the first half). Of course, these Dodgers (.885) are blowing that percentage away by a mere 201 points at the moment.

Now obviously, they won't keep that up. But to set that record for second-half winning percentage, this team has to go a mere 24-18 (.571) the rest of the way. You've gotta like its chances.

• All right, here's another one: The Dodgers are 20 games over .500 since the break after not even having a winning record when they reached the break. So what's the record for something like that (best record after the break by a team that was .500 or worse before it)? Elias says it's 28 over -- by that 1944 Tigers team and Johnny Mize's 1940 Cardinals (27-40 in the first half, 57-29 in the second). The Dodgers need to go 26-16 to break that one. I'll take the over.

• And finally, how tough is it to make up 17 games in your division in under 50 games? Well, you sure don't see it much. Last team to do it: Fred McGriff's 1995 Braves, who headed into July four games behind the Phillies and found themselves 13 games up after games of Aug. 10 -- a mere 37 games later.

You know where that Braves team wound up that October. We're about to find out where this Dodgers team winds up. But why, at this point, would you put anything past this juggernaut?

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