The Perfect Lineup

In my years of following Baseball I don't know if I have ever seen a more complete and balanced line up then the Dodgers team this season. They literally have no holes or flaws at any point. Manny's effect on the Dodgers last year was as great as any on team in recent history. His presence gave the Dodgers a massive lift to get them to the NLCS last season. When he went down many people expected his loss to sink the Dodgers. However, there is a massive amount of talent on this team and have experienced no drop off what so ever. Juan Pierre, his replacement, has hit a whopping .323 in his absence! Furcal has had a disappointing year hitting only .245, but his back up Juan Castro is hitting .345. Kemp and Ethier have also provided some power for LA, both with double digit homeruns. Casey Blake has also unexpectedly had a great year for the Dodgers with 11 homeruns. Then throw in James Loney, who always hits well, and Orlando Hudson, one of the most complete players in baseball and that is a stacked line up. Russell Martin has struggled but has plenty of talent and will surely get hot at some point to send his average soaring. With Manny coming back on July 3rd it will add one of the most feared hitters in baseball. Having an incredible slugger like Manny added into a line up filled with consistent high average hitters is a virtual perfect line up. In addition to that, the Dodgers have one of the best coaching staffs in baseball lead by Torre and Matingly.

The Dodgers weakness is that they are 15th out of 16 in defense in the NL. However, they are first in the NL in pitching which makes up for a lot of their miscues. They are first despite not having a very deep staff, therefore it makes it unlikely that they can maintain that position for the whole time. If the Dodgers can add another great arm at the trade deadline, their will be no stopping them on the way to the World Series.