One Month In

[Silas]

The end of April finds the Dodgers at the .500 mark and in 4th place in the NL West. Considering the pitchers lost to injury, the absence of Hanley Ramirez until recently, the struggles of a recovering Matt Kemp, and the hole at 3B, I suspect we can be pleased that we are within 3 to 4 games of 1st place.

We will have a chance to field our primary lineup in May now that Ramirez is back and once Mark Ellis is healthy again. The starting pitching is still in a state of unrest and won't see the return of Greinke until probably June.

We need Josh Beckett to step things up, Matt Kemp to regain his power stroke, and someone to play 3B and produce on a consistent basis. The Dodgers need to avoid another .500 month.

May should be another challenging month. How the Dodgers fare may well dictate how things unfold for them over the Summer.

 

[Old1949]

The farther into the season we get, the more Beckett is starting to look like a bust. Lilly and Capuano are big question marks at this point, but I really don't expect much from them. I look for the Dodgers to make a trade for one or two starters by the AS break. It partly depends on how effective Magill, and when he returns, Fife prove to be.

The Dodgers now have Puig playing left field in case Crawford hits the DL. Gordon is practicing at 2B in case Ellis goes down long term. 3B is an obvious black hole, although with his surprising number of walks, Uribe now has the highest OBP on the team.

All in all we're lucky to be only 3 1/2 games down. April was a horrible month, and May almost has to be better (cross fingers). We'll soon find out.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

3B is an obvious black hole

I don't know, Luis Cruz didn't get into the game last year until quite a few games had already been played. Maybe he is a slow starter? Never started a full season before. Not giving up on him quite yet but it's looking bad.