A Sea World Series, and floundering Dodgers
BILL SHAIKIN / ON BASEBALL
As the Marlins and Devil Rays pose the possibility of an all-Florida matchup in October, Los Angeles is poised for mediocrity, or worse, at .500
A quarter of the way into the baseball season, with the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays jockeying for an all-Florida World Series, could you call such a matchup the Sunshine Series even though one of the teams plays indoors?
Some other questions, with answers:
The Dodgers are at .500 today. Are they a .500 team?
They are, so long as they are without power and pitching. The Dodgers rank last in the National League in home runs, and it's not all on Andruw Jones and his one home run. It doesn't help when leadoff batter Rafael Furcal leads the team in home runs, or when cleanup batter Jeff Kent has gone 71 at-bats without one. Kent, 40, has a .296 on-base percentage and .397 slugging percentage.
The Dodgers' starters have thrown the fewest innings of any team in the league, but only the Braves' relievers and Mets' relievers have made fewer appearances than the Dodgers' relievers. If that pattern isn't broken, Manager Joe Torre could wear out his few trusted relievers by the All-Star break.
Are the Rays for real?
Yes. It's a stretch to imagine them maintaining the best record in the American League, but they won Tuesday by scoring the first run this season off Mariano Rivera. The Rays are 17-11 against their American League East opponents, the only AL East team with a winning record within the division.
They're seven games over .500 for the first time in club history, and they're winning with pitching. They just got ace Scott Kazmir back from the disabled list, James Shields has two shutouts, Andy Sonnanstine is 5-1 and former Dodgers phenom Edwin Jackson has pitched 15 consecutive scoreless innings. The bullpen, anchored by ex-Angel Troy Percival, has a 3.16 earned-run average.
The Diamondbacks have the best record in the major leagues. Are they the best team in the major leagues?
Too soon to tell. The Diamondbacks could have the best story and the best starters in the majors, with Doug Davis already on a rehabilitation assignment after surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid and Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Randy Johnson and Micah Owings waiting to welcome him back into the rotation.
The Diamondbacks have scored more runs than any team besides the Red Sox and Cubs, with a balanced attack led by right fielder Justin Upton and first baseman Conor Jackson, each batting .331. But the Diamondbacks are 18-5 against the NL West and 6-10 against the rest of the league, so is Arizona an elite team, or just the best in a bad division?
