Los Angeles Dodgers: 6 Early Surprises

Are the Los Angeles Dodgers (19-11, first in NL West) the biggest surprise of the 2012 baseball season?

Next to the Washington Nationals, who also somewhat surprisingly lead their division, the Dodgers are definitely the front runner to slide as the season progresses—at least according to the gurus, who picked the San Francisco Giants and/or the Arizona Diamondbacks to win the NL West.

The Boys in Blue have combined all the elements of their game—pitching, hitting and defense—and look like the team to beat.

Of course they did have it pretty easy, playing the San Diego Padres and the Pittsburgh Pirates at the beginning of the season. 

As the season moves on and the competition get tougher, will their success continue?

Will Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier continue their terrific run production?  Can the Dodgers' journeymen group of pitchers continue their mastery of the strike zone and their low ERA?  Can the Dodgers continue to win with guys like Juan Uribe at third base, James Loney at first and A.J. Ellis at catcher?

Is it truly surprising that the Dodgers are in first place?

Will Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier Continue Their One-Two Punch?

Currently, the Dodgers success is being fueled offensively by Matt Kemp (with Triple Crown numbers) and Andre Ethier, who bats behind Kemp in the order.

They are one-two in the National League in RBIs, with Ethier leading the way with 30 and Kemp with 27.

Ethier is notorious for his great starts to the season. After a stellar beginning to the 2011 season, he was shut down due to injuries. The 29-year-old right fielder is in the last year of his contract and is playing like he is looking for a raise.

With Kemp putting up MVP numbers and Ethier batting behind him, the Dodgers may have the best three-four batting tandem in the game.

Kemp's numbers are somewhat predictable—perhaps not to this extent, but it seemed likely the runner-up in last year's MVP race would do well in 2012.

It is Ethier who the Dodgers are banking on to continue his timely hitting.

With the way things are going, don't be surprised if the Dodger Duo has a great year.

Will A.J. Ellis Continue at Catcher?

One of the nicest surprises on the Dodger roster is catcher A.J. Ellis.

Ellis replaced Dioner Navarro as the team searched for more consistency at the position.

No one gave much thought to Ellis other than to say he would be another in a long line of catchers who didn't make the grade.

Many wrote off the idea that he would contribute to the offense. 

Ellis worked his butt off in the offseason and spring training perfecting his ball-blocking ability. The result is a catcher who can really catch.  Many of the Dodger games have been one-run affairs, and Ellis' ability to keep runners from stealing or moving up on passed balls has been duly noted.

Yet, it is his offense that has been most welcomed. Currently, his stats are 2 HR, .297 BA and 10 RBI, but those seem to be an anomaly for the light-hitting number 8 batter in the line-up.

Suffice to say, the Dodgers will be counting more on his defense as time goes by and his offensive numbers wane.

Juan Uribe Sure to Be Replaced at Third Base

The above photo of Juan Uribe looks as if the Dodger third baseman has hit one over the fence or in the gap—but more likely than not, it was just another blooper to the shortstop.

Uribe is the epitome of a big bust.  He has not lived up to the big three-year, $21 million contract the Dodgers threw at him when he left the San Francisco Giants.  It's almost as if the Dodgers' archrivals breathed a sigh of relief when Uribe signed with the Dodgers and were smiling knowingly about the big infielder's declining abilities.

The 33-year-old Uribe—who has played with the Chicago White Sox (winning a World Series), the Houston Astros and the Giants (another WS ring)—is big, fat, slow and out-of-sync at the plate.

He is batting a meek .246, with only 7 RBI's to his name. 

On the other hand, Jerry Hairston, Jr.—who replaced Uribe when he injured his wrist—not only made big athletic plays at third, he hit for average in a timely fashion.

Uribe doesn't have long in the regular Dodger lineup, and will soon take his fat butt and even fatter paycheck to the bench.

What Will Dodgers Do with James Loney?

James Loney may be the best-fielding, worst-hitting first baseman in the game.

In a game against the San Francisco Giants this past week, he made what could be one of the best fielding plays you will see all year, extending his body in mid-air to snag a sure double on the line and stop two runs from scoring. 

If defense was offense, he would be as valuable as Matt Kemp.

But Loney is off to another awful offensive start, batting only .198 with one HR and only six RBI's.

First base demands power, and the Dodgers have given Loney a very long leash over the past few years waiting for him to produce.

They have been lucky to get one good month out of him per season.

The surprise is that they have stuck with him this year, as they have more depth at the position than in years past. They are likely to replace him with Juan Rivera.

Can Dodgers' Pitching Maintain Its Stellar Pace

If you ask a baseball fan what the Los Angeles Dodgers are best known for, they will invariably answer "great pitching."

Last year they produced another Cy Young Award winner (they have had nine) in Clayton Kershaw, who is off to another great start.

And, although LA is known as a pitcher's mecca, it has got to be a huge surprise to the baseball world that a bunch of itinerants named Ted Lilly, Aaron Harang, Chad Billingsley and Chris Capuano are pitching lights out for the Dodgers.

Ted Lilly, who has played for five other teams, has an ERA of 1.41 and is 6-0.

Chad Billingsley, whose career most resembles a roller coaster ride, is keeping them in every game with a 2.19 ERA and a 2-2 record.

Chris Capuano, who played with three other teams, is 4-0 with a paltry 2.26 ERA and 36 strikeouts.

Only Aaron Harang, who has played for four other teams and was known more for the home runs he gave up than for his strikeouts, is living up to his previous billing with an ERA of 5.46 and a 1-2 record. Yet he's still tough to hit, with 32 strikeouts in 34 innings.

What the heck has gotten into the Dodger staff?  More importantly, how long can it last?

If previous records are any indication, not long.

Winning at a .633 Clip

The Dodgers began the 2012 season on a very lucky winning note.

They played the San Diego Padres, then the Pittsburgh Pirates, then the Pads again. By the end of the April, they were 14-4.

A lot of those games were one-run affairs which can be read a couple of ways. Winning tight games is a sign of a good team that can win the close ones—or a sign of a bad team that can barely win.

No matter how you view it, it looks like a tough road ahead.

Neither the Arizona Diamondbacks nor the San Francisco Giants, both of whom were picked by those in the know to win the division, have done much.

Both teams have been beset by injuries, so unless the Dodgers go up by a dozen or more games, they better watch out for their worthy competition.

The NL West seems fairly mediocre in the greater scheme of things, which does not bode well for the Dodgers going forward. They have yet to go on the road to play some of the tough competition in the Central and East, including the Cardinals, Braves, Nationals and Phillies.  (They have played a couple of those teams already, but there is much more of that to come.)

It will come as no surprise should the Dodgers start to lag.

It will be a huge surprise if they continue their winning ways, win the West and move on to bigger, better things.