Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Yankees thrive while Dodgers dive

Yankees thrive while Dodgers diveThe New York Times has a fancy live graphic showing how much money the Dodgers are bleeding on the disabled list, through which you’ll find that only one team has more players on the DL: the New York Yankees.

So why are the Yankees (24-14) in first place in their division while the Dodgers (15-22) are in last?

You can find stats that differentiate the two teams, though you might be surprised how similar they are in some respects.

The Dodger offense has an adjusted OPS of 99, according to Baseball-Reference.com, while the Yankees’ is 98.

Los Angeles ranks 29th in OPS with runners in scoring position, but New York only ranks 27th. The Dodgers actually have a higher batting average in those situations.

The Dodgers have 20 quality starts in 37 games; the Yankees 22 in 38.

Opponents have a .711 OPS against Dodger starting pitching, better than the .724 allowed by the Yankees.

All that being said, you can also find spots where the Yankees have outshone the Dodgers, such as relief pitching. In general, the Yankees are sixth in the majors in ERA, while the Dodgers are 20th.

But I’m not sure you can actually explain why there is such a gap between the two teams, or be sure that it would continue.

• 2013 Dodger runs scored vs. runs allowed: -0.92
• 2013 Yankee runs scored vs. runs allowed: +0.66

You glance at the Dodgers, and they just awful. Awful. Since sweeping Pittsburgh in the first week of the season, Los Angeles is 3-13 against teams that currently have winning records.

Could it possibly be Joe Girardi, pushing all the right levers in such a way that the Yankees win despite their uneven statistical profile underneath the runs? Could it be that the Yankees have just been luckier? Is the best theory that of Michael Schur, passed along by Joe Posnanski: that the Yankees are “a magical species, not unlike house elves?”

Is the entire season going to resemble the first quarter? The answer to that, I believe, is no.

* * *

Nationals at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Kershaw CLVIII: Kershawo, Pioneers

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55 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    Injuries. In game managing. Brandon League. Clutch hitting. An 0-5 #3 starter. Karma. All of the above? Only some of these can be addressed quickly; others need time to work out.

    But we still have the best home unis in baseball despite getting seeded #6 in the ESPN uniform ranking!

  2. KT

    I have no idea who the Yankees sold their souls to but we need a little of that magic…how about we sell a few of the non-needed individuals ( you all know who they are) just to get us through these tough times. If we are going to keep them around we might as well put them to good use.
    On another note I have less than 3 hours before I got to get ready to go to tonight’s game. I won’t be posting so all of you have a good night and here is to us winning!!

  3. Timothy Myung

    I’m willing to wager the Yankees have a better fielding percentage than us. Our defense is horrid

    • Anonymous

      Not sure on the percentages, but Yanks have 17 errors to our 28 (Snakes, only 9!).

  4. No power hitting from Kemp and Ethier has to be added to the mix.

  5. Anonymous

    Yanks, as well, have been playing some pretty tough teams up to this point, with only TOR and HOU having losing records.

  6. Anonymous

    While I’m sure this helps the “Hire Girardi, not Mattingly” crowd in both cites, it sure looks to me like Yankees pitching is the difference. Which is what you’d expect with three Dodger starters on their DL chart. Makes me miss Kuroda.

    • Anonymous

      Hiroka is amazing. He has an ERA+ 132 with the Yanks.

      • Anonymous

        Can’t agree with so many poor decisions the non-signing of Kuroda, while not a good decision, is not one of the poorer. Uribe, League’s unnecessarily generous 3 yr contract, Ramon Hernandez, 3 yrs total $33 million to Lilly when he was 3 months from 35-these from just the current roster

        • Anonymous

          My thought is colored by the notion that it was a no-brainer in his lap for a guy who was the #2 in the rotation.

  7. Anonymous

    Jon, I think you just gave Mattingly a vote of confidence. Those are scary things to get.

  8. Anonymous

    Have you all seen the line-up with Kemp 2nd and Gordon 8th?

  9. Anonymous

    A Willa Cather reference! How can we go wrong? (Don’t answer that.) Like KT, I’m going to the game tonight. I’ll be wearing my original Dodger Thoughts T-shirt, and hoping for the best.

  10. Anonymous

    When Ryu grounded out without the bases loaded on Sat Vinny said we were 4 for 30. Don’t know what we are right now but that sounded atrocious. Wonder what the yanks are hitting in those situations.?

    • Anonymous

      Starting tonight’s game, the Yankees were 6 for 29 with the bases loaded.

      • Anonymous

        They’re out hitting us!
        Are we still 4 for 30?

  11. Anonymous

    last 3 starts for AA- Lee 5 walks in 3 2/3, Reed 5 walks in 3 2/3, Santiago 6 walks in 4

  12. Anonymous

    Gonna listen to the first 3 innings on my mlb app before I conk out. Go Dodgers!

  13. That’s yesterday’s Gameday link. Here’s today’s: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2013_05_14_wasmlb_lanmlb_1

    And why is UFC fighting on Prime Ticket rather than the Dodgers? Why, oh cable company, why?

  14. Anonymous

    Pleased we escaped with 0 that half innings

  15. Anonymous

    Did Vin just say that Adrian Beltre was on deck?

  16. Anonymous

    KKK Kershaw!

  17. Anonymous

    Adrian trying a little bit too much on that one.

  18. Anonymous

    Andre!!!!!

  19. Anonymous

    Haren falling apart a bit here

  20. Anonymous

    Old friend F.P Santangelo is the Nat’s TV color guy.

    • Anonymous

      Not an old friend. Borderline acquaintance at most.

      • Anonymous

        In any event, he does a good job. Not a homer and does his homework.

  21. Anonymous

    I predict 15 K’s before Clayton is done

  22. Anonymous

    We have to make him work more than 9 pitches for the 3 outs

    • Anonymous

      Yes, he is not doing too shabby tonight.

  23. Anonymous

    Let’s shock the Kid and give him some runs to work with!

  24. Anonymous

    Gotta hand it to the pen?

  25. Anonymous

    Fast game!

  26. Anonymous

    Big grin from the Kid.

  27. Anonymous

    Another grin.

  28. Anonymous

    Standing ovation!

  29. Anonymous

    Darn!

  30. Anonymous

    NO!!!! Let the Kid finish!

  31. Anonymous

    I don’t think it was wise to let Kershaw throw more than 130 pitches. The lack of a reliable closer prompted that. Is that Kershaw’s most pitches ever?

    • Anonymous

      Can’t fault the move, especially since it is Kenley. (plus, maybe he is being annointed)

    • Anonymous

      Totally agree, Scooplew. Afraid there’s too much Joe Torre influence on Mattingly’s pitching decisions.

    • Anonymous

      He threw 122 in April 2011. Next game he was taken out after 5 innings and 88 pitches, giving up 4 earned runs.

      • Anonymous

        Oops, Jon found a later game in 2011 with more pitches.

  32. Anonymous

    Ahhh! Please let this be the right decision!

  33. Anonymous

    One more strike!

  34. Anonymous

    Happy Happy Happy!

  35. Anonymous

    Yay’nn

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