L.A. Dodgers Have Plenty of Experienced Bench Options for the Postseason

With only one game remaining in the season, and Nomar Garciaparra manning the dugout con, with only the proviso from manager Joe Torre that Manny Ramirez will sit this one out, the reserves will be auditioning for postseason roster spots when Hiroki Kuroda faces the San Francisco Giants this afternoon at AT&T Park.

The best news for the Dodgers is that veterans Rafael Furcal and Jeff Kent are again both available and will likely start in the middle infield positions in the Division series, meaning that their replacements, a resurrected Angelo Berroa, surprising rookie Blake DeWitt, and utilityman Pablo Ozuna are vying for the maximum of two available infield slots.

Barring recurrence of his nagging injury problems, Garciaparra, who has played third and first, in addition to his once-natural shortstop position, has the first reserve slot locked up by dint of his great versatility and his previous postseason experience with the Boston Red Sox.

Chin-lung Hu, a shortstop that has filled in as a late-inning replacement for Kent at second base, appears to be on the outside looking in. His light bat doesn't warrant him postseason-roster consideration.

Although the 34-year old Ozuna was given two stints totaling five innings in the outfield (where he remains untested), he'll probably join Hu as a spectator, leaving Garciaparra, Berroa, and DeWitt as the infield bench reserves behind James Loney, Kent, Furcal, and third baseman Casey Blake.

Behind the plate, this season's Russell Martin backup, Danny Ardoin, will continue to serve in that capacity.

As it was when the season started, the outfield is a question of fitting four into three positions, the big difference being that while all eyes were on big-ticket free-agent signing Andruw Jones, who had displaced speedy Juan Pierre in center field, the perennial Gold Glove-winning slugger in Atlanta showed up in Los Angeles overweight and indifferent.

He appeared in less than half of the games played, barely slugged his weight, and was placed on the 60-day disabled list to preclude any further on-field activity.

The new man in town, of course, is Manny! A trade-deadline acquisition, Ramirez exceeded all expectations and quickly erased the sour taste left by Jones' three (3!) home runs, 14 RBI (which Manny surpassed his first two weeks in L.A.) and .158 batting average.

The starting outfield will almost certainly see Ramirez in left, five-tool Matt Kemp in center, and emerging Andre Ethier in right, once again leaving unlucky Pierre riding the bench.

He'll definitely see some action as a pinch-hitter and perhaps as a fill-in for Kemp, whose inexperience and questionable decision-making processes have surfaced at various inopportune times throughout the season.

The other outfield reserve possibilities are switch-hitting Delwyn Young and enthusiastic, but oft-injured, Jason Repko, who, like the great Pete Reiser of the '40s Brooklyn Dodgers, has shown as much promise as he has an affinity for hustling himself onto the D.L.

Young, carried all season for his bat (14-for-48 as a pinch-hitter) as he has no natural position with a glove (at one point he was third on the catching depth chart) will probably see no playing time in the field, but Repko can be a late-inning replacement for Ramirez in left if the Dodgers have the lead; his arm strength is superior to that of Pierre.

Then there's Mark Sweeney, like Jason Schmidt, another former Giants player acquired by General Manager Ned Colletti. Sweeney, second on the all-time list of pinch hits, did well enough in limited action over the last six weeks of the 2007 season that Colletti signed the 39-year old for 2008, and then watched his ace-on-the-bench fail to make contact 28 times!

With no homers, only five (5!) RBI, and a .130 batting average (12-for-78 in the pinch-hitting and, in interleague road games, designated hitter role), if the popular Sweeney makes the postseason roster, it will be on the strength of his personality.

If Garciaparra doesn't start, he will be Torre's first right-handed pinch-hitting option, with enough extra-base power to keep the opposition deep in the outfield. Leftie Pierre lacks power but makes contact, and he loves to drop one down and beat it out, something at which he is extremely skilled.

But, as the Dodgers have shown all season, they must hit to support their excellent starting staff. Manny can't do it by himself, even if he is able to continue his near .400 power-hitting!