Games 33-47 Dodgers stud and dud roundup (3rd edition)

Well (…drums…) it’s time for the third Dodger studs and duds round-up. Scores are based on my subjective, non-stat-only judgment (open for questioning), resulting from whatever I have seen (most of the games), read and thought about. The report covers the period of 9-24 May, 2006. Let's see if we agree – if not, shoot away J.

Just a quick note: I must say that due to our winning ways, it was much more difficult for me to pick the “duds” than previously. Which is good news by my standards.

Starting pitcher stud:
Aaron Sele takes the honors as he proves me wrong about the decision to move him to the staff and Odalis Perez to the bullpen. 2 Ws, going deep into the ballgames, allowing only 1 HR during on the season makes Sele a leader of a very good overall starting five in this period.

Starting pitcher dud:
None – no, really when you go on a roll, outscoring the opposition by such a large margin as the Dodgers have, with seven games with three or fewer runs allowed, no SP deserves to be punished.

Relief pitcher stud:
Jonathan Broxton – allowed three hits and one run only in seven outings since May 9^th. Unhittable is the right word. To add insult to injury, he’s sorted out a new pitch – a nasty slider…

Relief pitcher dud:
Dannys Baez – just to commemorate (;)) the series of poor outings that spans over from the Great Carter Implosion era. Apart from that, no Dodger reliever was consistently inadequate throughout the period in question (though a scary movie by Carter in one of the blowout games came close).

Hitter stud:
Nomar Garciaparra – Player of the month for May, surely. If not for the overall NL, then Dodger PoM hands down. Outstanding clutch hitting, extra base hits (SLG hovering in mid 650s), RBIs in key moments of the game. Can’t ask any more from this guy, really.

Photo, right: Nomah from his Red SuperSox days [http://charlieontheradio.net]

Hitter dud:
Nobody Really ;) – check the stats if you are a camper at Mt. Whitney and somehow missed the offensive firestorm for the last two weeks.

Fielder stud:
Russell Martin – what are the Dodgers with this guy behind the plate: 15-3? Martin has redefined great lateral movement after we had seen more stationary version from Dioner Navarro. Here’s more detailed defensive stat comparison for Russell and Dioner.

Picture, left: Russell Martin [www.minorleaguebaseball.com]

Honorable mention: Nomar Garciaparra, with his first error at his new (and very difficult) position coming after 29 games.

Fielder dud:
This is really a minor dud award, but young Willy Aybar looked quite shaky at times with the glove at 3^rd. I know he’s a greenhorn, and spent most of his time playing 2^nd but still his team-lowest fielding PCT sticks out against pretty steady defense (can you hear me, Raffy?) we’ve been getting lately.

Managerial staff wow:
Regardless of the above fielder dud, giving pretty consistent shot at 3^rd to Aybar, even though we’ve had at least three other (two vet) players that could have subbed for the injured Bill Mueller (Saenz, Martinez, Robles). Another plus for not hitting the panic button when both Repko and Ledee went out with injuries and not rushing Joel Guzman to the majors (we’ve alternated four Ofs instead).

Series won: vs HOU, @SF, @COL, vs ANA (sweep), vs COL (sweep)
Series lost: none (yuppi!!)
Series tied: none
Overall record after 47 games: 27-20 (2nd in NL West, 0.5 GB to Arizona)