Since You've Been Gone

Using a Kelly Clarkson song as my post title? I think I have hit a new low.

Anyway, the 21-8 record that the Dodgers amassed before Manny's suspension has predictably since regressed to 29-21 over the last 50 games. However, it's more than a bit unfair to say the Dodgers have been a 94 win team without Manny, but were a 117 win team with him. After all, the Dodgers were not going to continue that pace whether he was with the team or not.

So what happened? Well, it certainly wasn't the pitching, as the staff was only marginally worse after Manny's suspension (3.8) than it was before (3.7). However, while the offense got heavily credited for hardly missing a beat initially, those media fluff reports ended soon after. In the first 25 games without Manny, the Dodgers averaged 5.4 runs per game, but that performance is in stark contrast to the last 25 games, in which the Dodgers averaged 3.4 runs per game.

Fact is, no matter how well Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre, and Orlando Hudson started out the season, it won't matter in the end if their recent struggles continue. Similarly, while Casey Blake came on strong during Manny's absence, his slide cannot continue for the Dodgers' offense to be productive. And ironically, the only consistent performer in this whole mess of Dodger offensive streakiness is the man thought to the least reliable of all, Matt Kemp.

These seem like obvious points to make, but I think fans can become irrationally enamored with players who seem to carry the team at certain points, while ignoring the times in which they produce nothing. Everybody is human, and thus prone to those beliefs, but I think it's important to recognize that production is cumulative, and a steady 50 games can be just as valuable as a hot 25 games and a cold 25 games. Either way, with Manny back, the Dodgers are hoping to achieve more offensive production than they have been getting of late.

They better.