They have had the best record in Major League Baseball all season long. They have the lowest team ERA in the league. They have a top-notch closer with 18 saves.

Despite all of the above-mentioned success, the Los Angeles Dodgers have something in common with Rodney Dangerfield: They get no respect.

When you hear “experts” on television or read them on the Internet, many want to talk about how the Dodgers have been winning with smoke and mirrors. They want to talk about how the Dodgers are 27th in the league in team home-runs.

Naysayers like to talk about all of the low-scoring games that the Dodgers have won. But guess what? To win a low-scoring game, your team has to pitch well. It has often been said that pitching and defense win championships.

If that holds true, then the Dodgers are in pretty good shape. In addition to having the best team ERA in all of baseball, the Dodgers have the most saves (23), are third in hits, third in stolen bases, and third in on-base percentage.

What kind of story do these stats tell about the Dodgers in 2009? They reveal that when you play the Dodgers, you are going to face solid pitching, you are going to have a tough time keeping them off the bases, and they aren’t going to beat themselves by making errors.

And the most amazing thing about the Dodgers’ 47-26 record is the fact that they’ve done it for the most part without their biggest offensive weapon, Manny Ramirez. When Ramirez comes back from his 50-game suspension the first week of July, it should do nothing but help the Dodgers’ offense for the second half of the season.

One concern for the Dodgers after Ramirez comes back, though, is how to get Juan Pierre playing time. Ramirez will most certainly send Pierre to the bench when he returns.

Pierre will never be mistaken for Ramirez at the plate, but he does lead the Dodgers in average (.327), has 17 stolen bases, and a .384 on-base percentage.

Here are the keys in order for the Dodgers to ride the wave of their first-half success to a postseason berth in October:

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?