Kobe Bryant took his front-row seat behind the Dodgers dugout before the first pitch, and to his credit he stayed until the ninth inning. The sellout crowd at Angel Stadium serenaded him with "M-V-P" chants, and his team beat the home team.
"I come to a bunch of his games," Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp said. "He can start coming to a bunch of our games. You've got to show some love."
You've got to show the Dodgers some love, all of you. We keep wondering whether the Dodgers have the best team in baseball or just the best record, and the Dodgers keep wondering why we might not believe.
The Dodgers spotted the Angels one victory in the weekend series in Anaheim, in the game started by ace Chad Billingsley, then won the series anyway.
They won a series against the first-place Rangers, in Texas. They won a series against the first-place Phillies, in Philadelphia. They haven't lost a series in a month.
"I don't see anybody out there we can't play with," Manager Joe Torre said.
They have not just survived the suspension of Manny Ramirez. They have thrived. They're 25-16 in his absence, the best record in the major leagues during that span.
When Ramirez returns next week, they'll have their best hitter and their opening-day starter, Hiroki Kuroda, in the lineup for the first time since opening day.
"If somebody would have told me Manny would miss 50 games and Kuroda would miss a month and a half and we would be in first place," coach Larry Bowa said, "I would have said, 'Yeah, right.' "
They're in first place, with a bigger lead than when Ramirez last played, with the biggest division lead in baseball.
They have a deep and versatile lineup. Kemp, who leads the team in stolen bases and has the second highest slugging percentage among the regulars, smartly dropped a bunt single to start a rally Sunday.
On Saturday, he batted ninth.
"It would be hard to put a better nine out," said one American League scout, who is not authorized to discuss his evaluations publicly.
They have a stout defense. On Sunday, first baseman James Loney turned what could have been two throwing errors and a sharply hit grounder into three outs.
The pitching, well, that's why you might hesitate to believe. In spring training, the Dodgers never identified Ronald Belisario, Brent Leach and Ramon Troncoso as their setup men. The coaching staff barely could identify them at all.
