In six games, the Dodgers have scored 37 runs. At that pace, that would win the AL East. The bullpen is the problem and TrueBlueLA says Joe Torre is a big part of that. He misused Brox and Jeff Weaver was the wrong guy to bring in. George Sherrill looks like crap so far. Ronald Belisario and Hong-Chih Kuo are sorely missed and we await their return. 

Can Blake DeWitt play second? He hasn’t looked that good so far but as a proponent of DeWitt, I think we should give him more time. Ronnie Belliard has done well at the plate. If he keeps it up and Blake DeWitt is still playing sub-par second, it may be DeWitt coming off of the bench. 

Andre Ethier is alright healthwise as he has pinch-hit the past couple of games. It just isn’t fun seeing a lineup without Manny and Dre. 

That Matt Kemp dropped fly play was disappointing. Yes, the man got a Gold Glove last year but you don’t get another if you make enough of those plays. I understand that these guys are professionals but, if you don’t put your non-glove hand on that ball and reel that in, you should and will catch a lot of hell. 

As for the opposition so far, the Pirates have a good thing in Garrett Jones. I hope he does that to other NL pitchers. I think the Pirates will be better than they were last year and better than the Astros this year but that is about it. It seems they will have a phantom good start and then normalize near the cellar. The Marlins will be pretty decent. They have a solid 3-4-5 in HRam, Cantu and Uggla. I see guys like Cameron Maybin and Gaby Sanchez and they are pretty decent but what will the Marlins be when Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison start hitting the hell out of the ball? 

Congrats to Charlie Haeger for striking out 12 guys today. That was quite a start. Padilla doesn’t look that good but CBillz does and Kersh put it together after the first three batters he faced touched home plate. Kuroda went 7 innings which is a good sign. We have more starts to see out of these guys but this bullpen has to do better than this. Don’t panic, Dodger fans – there’s a lot of baseball yet.