Examining the Dodgers’ Fast Start

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters Dodgers Manager Joe Torre congratulating second baseman Orlando Hudson. The team is undefeated at home this season.
When the Dodgers set the National League record for home victories to start the season Monday night, they passed a team their manager, Joe Torre, was awfully familiar with: the 1983 Atlanta Braves, whose manager was Torre.
The Dodgers’ 11-0 start at Dodger Stadium pushed them past those Braves, who began 10-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, but Torre told reporters afterward that the comparisons ended there. He said the 2009 Dodgers were a much better team.
Torre should certainly hope so: the 1983 Braves finished second to the Dodgers in the N.L. West and did not make the playoffs. But he has little proof: the 2009 Dodgers have not yet played a team with a winning record. Their 19-8 record,Cheap 2010 New Arrival Hats, the best in the majors, has come largely at the expense of their division rivals, San Francisco, Colorado, San Diego and Arizona.
The Dodgers will play sub-.500 Arizona (11-15) again Tuesday night in an attempt to tie the major league record of a 12-0 home start, set by the 1911 Detroit Tigers in their final season at Bennett Park before it was torn down and replaced by the building eventually named Tiger Stadium.
Clearly,Baseball Hats, Chavez Ravine has become a very comfortable home for the current crop of Dodgers, who are 34-9 at home since last year’s All-Star break. And it is even cozier since they traded for outfielder Manny Ramirez, going 29-7 since he arrived in August.
The Dodgers’ best home season was in 1953,Red Bull Hats, when they were still playing in Brooklyn, going 60-17 at Ebbets Field on their way to an N.L. championship and an eventual loss to the Yankees in the World Series. Their best home record since the team moved to Los Angeles was 55-27 in 1980, when the Dodgers finished second to Houston in the N.L. West and missed the playoffs.
The lesson: the Dodgers will have to win on the road, too, and will have to beat the good teams.
ED note: An earlier version of this post said Bennett Park was replaced by Tiger Stadium. It was replaced by the ballpark that would eventually be called Tiger Stadium, but initially its name was Navin Field and then Briggs Stadium.
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The Perez Bullpen Experiment 13 Comments 1. May 5, 2009 3:23 pm
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Who are the “good teams” in the NL? Why are the Dodgers held up to a higher standard on the road than other teams off to good starts at home such as the Red Sox?
Or perhaps this will end up with yet another New York Times rehashing of the “soft” teams in the West of any sport as opposed to the “tough” teams in the East of any sport.
— BobT 2. May 5, 2009 3:49 pm
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I totally agree. Every team the Dodgers plays against seems to have loosing records. I just can’t figure it out. Why are they winning so many games against teams who loose to them.
— Crash Burn 3. May 5, 2009 3:53 pm
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Dodger fans know well enough that fast starts do not equal future success. The team opened up 12-2 in 2005, only to finish up 71-91. The manager and GM both lost their jobs.
Also,Wholesale Boss Sunglasses, the Dodgers will certainly fall off of this pace. They are on pace for 114 wins. That is an overly optimistic prediction.
Still, saying “the Dodgers will have to win on the road and beat the good teams” is shallow advice.
First, doesn’t every team need to do that?
Second, isn’t one reason why the Dodgers’ opponents’ records in the NL West are so poor is that they have played the Dodgers so often already? The NL West has fared fairly well against the other divisions so far.
Third, while it’s a mistake to judge teams based upon less than 1/4 of the season, who, exactly, do the Dodgers need to beat in order to prove themselves? The Cardinals, surely, but who else? The Marlins have a good record so far, but they have been streaky. The Mets, Braves, and Cubs are all supposed to be the class of the league, and of those, only the Cubs have a winning record so far. They should all get better, but they have more to prove (by beating the Dodgers) than the Dodgers have to prove (by beating them).
The Dodgers’ fast start can be explained due to — in no particular order –
1. Luck. Any time you get a streak like this, luck plays a factor. The home win streak can end at any moment.
2. Having everything click. The Dodgers are allowing fewer runs per game than anybody else in the NL and have scored more runs per game than anybody in the NL except Philadelphia.
3. Being better than their opponents. They HAVE largely beat up on the NL West, which most observers predicted that they would do. No surprise there.
And finally,Snapback Hats Sale, I’ll note this —
If the NL West is as bad as you say it is, then I contend that the Dodgers neither have to beat the good teams nor win on the road in order to make the playoffs. That’s an overstatement, but it’s no less true than the converse.
— Todd Kaplan 4. May 5, 2009 3:54 pm
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Um the teams in the West ARE soft, if by soft you mean not very good. The only reason the Dodgers were in the playoffs last year is because their division was horrible.
The Mets and Yankees, both teams that the Times has a bias for (why would that be the case?),Red Bull Hats, had BETTER RECORDS than the Dodgers and didn’t make the playoffs. Nothing to do with other sports.
— CJ 5. May 5, 2009 4:03 pm
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CJ-
I believe that the previous comments were in regard to the teams playing baseball this year, not last.
— Travis 6. May 5, 2009 4:19 pm
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Small sample size but the Weak Sisters of the West (the non-Dodgers) are 9-9 against the Mets, Phillies, Cubs and Cards. (The Marlins and Braves have not faced an NL West team yet.)
— El Lay Dave 7. May 5, 2009 5:28 pm
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The Gods of Baseball want Joe Torre to be a winner just to stick it to the Yankees. Part of the rancor against the Yankees is caused by the shabby treatment of Joe. Of course, the greed demonstrated at the house that welfare built is the latest mishap.Last night.’s abuse of the fans will ensure that the Gods will stay angry and Joe will see a World Series before the Yankees will.
— c. perry 8. May 5, 2009 5:47 pm
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That the offense is putting up such great numbers should not have come as a surprise and while perhaps not sustainable at the present levels I think is a safe bet (barring injury) to continue as they play more teams, both good and bad.
But besides Billingsley and Broxton, the Dodger pitching staff is populated largely by question marks, especially with Kuroda sidelined for the forseeable future. Them being so good so far this season (top WHIP in the majors, for example) is really a bit of a surprise and does seem ripe for a return to Earth. If the pitching staff continues to excel then that is clearly the story and this team will be tough to beat, in the East or West or anywhere in between.
— JimBilly4 9. May 5, 2009 6:26 pm
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Dodgers strength of schedule according to ESPN.com has them at 14th. Not the toughest mind you, but not as easy as the Yanks or Red Sox, who can be found at 25th and dead last (and easiest in this case) respectively. Guess that was accidentally left out of this post. A nice objective examination here for Lynn. But hey, these west coast teams play way too late to actually watch anyway…
— EJM 10. May 5, 2009 6:27 pm
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Like a previous poster has stated, a large reason the NL west teams are under .500 is because they have faced the Dodgers so many times. Also,Houston Astros Hats, the NL west teams that have played the “good” teams, like the Cubs and Mets, have fared well. So by your logic,Scarves, since the Padres took 2 of 3 from the Mets, and 2 of 3 from the Phillies, they must be superior and the NL East inferior as a result.
It is also worth mentioning that the Dodgers played 16 of their first 26 games on the road. They have a 34-9 record at home since last years all star break, and 29-7 since Manny joined. And that includes playing some of the best teams in the NL.
— boomer 11. May 5, 2009 8:23 pm
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Hilarious (and inspiring!) hearing Dodgers gettin’ support here on the pages of the NYTimes… Go Dodgers!
The proof is in the pudding… the season’s long – we’ll see where we’re all at in Sept. – much too soon fer discounting any team yet.
Dodger fan in Berlin
— TThorson 12. May 6, 2009 3:24 pm
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If the Dodgers play .500 ball from here on out, a fairly assured result barring a catastrophic string of injuries, they will finish with 87 wins, which is probably enough to win the NL West.
Presumably, they hope to win few more games than that, and gain homefield advantage in the playoffs, something they’ve not had in the postseason since the 1988 World Series.
— Chucko 13. May 6, 2009 5:46 pm
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Go Dodgers,Versace Scarves!
— Lucas Add your comments...
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