At Home Plate
| Mannywood to Pierrewood |
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Written by Matthew Geer (Contact & Archive) on May 10, 2009
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50 games. Nearly a third of the season will be Manny-less. People are already talking about the Dodgers’ fall from first place without their key offensive catalyst Ramirez. I doubt that happening. Manny Ramirez is a great player, perhaps the best offensive player on the team. It will be a great loss for the Dodgers, but Manny really hasn’t been the main reason why the Dodgers are winning. Leave that to EVERY batter in the Dodgers lineup and the Dodgers home pitching. The Dodgers have a very solid lineup around Manny. James Loney, Matt Kemp, Orlando Hudson and Andre Ethier have put up red hot offensive numbers this season so far, which has been the main reason for the Dodgers’ high run output. Key hits from Russell Martin, Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake have also added to the mix of runs this year. Now it looks like Juan Pierre will replace Manny for the 50 games. Us Angelinos aren’t the biggest fans of Juan for five Pierre, but he’ll have to do. I even think he can add something to this lineup that is heavy on power. An interesting lineup could possibly be 1. Rafael Furcal 2. Juan Pierre 3. Orlando Hudson 4. Andre Ethier 5. James Loney 6. Matt Kemp 7. Russell Martin 8. Casey Blake The top three batters here are all leadoff caliber batters, which in my opinion will add some quick base runners to set up Ethier, Loney and Kemp. The lineup most likely won’t look like this. Pierre will probably bat in the eighth spot, and everyone else will move up a spot. And as long as the Dodgers’ pitching at home can stay as strong as it has been, three or four runs will be good enough for a win, rather than smacking ten or eight every night. The Dodgers will remain at the top of the West until Manny’s return. This team isn’t being carried by Manny, and they won’t fall apart without him. How do you think the Dodgers will fare without Manny? Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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