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What A Difference A Year Makes

One year ago today, the NL West standings looked like this:

Team Record GB Pythag Rec
D-Backs 21-9 --- 20-10
Dodgers 17-13 4 19-11
Giants 14-17 11-20
Padres 12-19 11-20
Rockies 11-19 10 11-19

Fast forward one year, and a different juggernaut is ahead of the pack:

Team Record GB Pythag Rec
Dodgers 18-8 --- 17-9
Giants
12-11 11-12
Padres 11-14 10-15
D-Backs 11-14 11-14
Rockies 9-14 12-11

The Dodgers' foundation seems a bit more solid this season, relative to the division, than that of the Diamondbacks last season. This season's Diamondbacks make their first visit to Dodger Stadium tonight, for a brief two-game series.

Tonight's game, featuring Eric Stults vs. Doug Davis, starts at 7:10 on Prime Ticket.


Next Game

Arizona Diamondbacks
@ Los Angeles Dodgers

Monday, May 4, 2009, 7:10 PM PDT
Dodger Stadium

Doug Davis vs Eric Stults

Partly cloudy. Game time temperature around 70.

Just A Bit Outside - May 4

Complete Coverage >


Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive, but I have seen a lot of complaining about Juan Pierre's nonzero playing time of late. However, only the Phillies and Astros have started their top three outfielders more often than the Dodgers this season:

Team Top 3 OF Starts Backup OF Starts Top 3 Start %
Phillies 65 1 98.5%
Astros 71 4 94.7%
Dodgers 73 5 93.6%
Brewers 70 5 93.3%
Giants 63 6 91.3%
Marlins 68 7 90.7%
Braves 63 9 87.5%
Mets 60 9 87.0%
Padres 63 12 84.0%
Pirates 59 13 81.9%
Rockies 55 14 79.7%
Cubs 57 15 79.2%
D-Backs 59 16 78.7%
Cardinals 59 16 78.7%
Reds 55 17 76.4%
Nationals 52 17 75.4%
NL Totals 992 166 85.7%

If the Dodgers were to start their backup outfielder(s) at the same rate as the NL average, Pierre would have started 11 times by now. Instead, he has started five games. There is no need for the pitchforks anytime soon.

Get your guesses in for our May contest, "Just A Bit Outside," by clicking here.

Box Score | Gameday