LOS ANGELES — As summer announced its arrival, the Los Angeles Dodgers had not. The team with the $217 million payroll was languishing in last place in the National League West, nine and a half games out of first. Many of the Dodgers’ high-priced players were hurt, questions were being asked about Manager Don Mattingly’s future, and not even a couple of bench-clearing brawls against division rivals had awakened them.
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The arrival of the rookie Yasiel Puig in early June had sparked interest but not a resurgence.
But it was on June 22, a Saturday in which the Dodgers were in San Diego, that they appeared to be on the brink of a new low: Padres pitcher Edinson Volquez carried a no-hitter against them into the sixth inning. At that moment, the Dodgers looked to be the latest failed experiment in team building in Los Angeles, following the Angels and the Lakers, who each assembled star-studded rosters last season and had no playoff victories to show for it.
Five weeks later, the outlook is decidedly different.
As the Dodgers prepared to meet the Yankees on Tuesday night for the start of a two-game series between baseball’s two highest payrolls, at least one team is playing up to its payroll. The Dodgers entered Tuesday as the hottest team in baseball, having won 26 of 32 games to leapfrog four teams in the N.L. West and take a two-and-a-half-game lead over second-place Arizona.
They went on to win that game against Volquez and the Padres, and their latest victory came Sunday when Puig homered in the 11th inning to lift the Dodgers over Cincinnati, 1-0. He punctuated the celebration by sliding across the plate and having his teammates rip off his jersey.
“It’s a lot more fun,” Dodgers second baseman Mark Ellis said. “Not just from the outside, the inside, too. When you show up at the ballpark every day expecting to win, it’s a lot more fun.”
While the Dodgers fell 12 games under .500 by late June, Stan Kasten, the team’s president, offered his public confidence in Mattingly. The manager preached patience, saying that once the injured players like Hanley Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford and Zack Greinke returned, the Dodgers would be a much better team. At the time, it seemed to be wishful thinking, as the Dodgers also seemed to lack enthusiasm.cheap nike nfl jerseys
But Mattingly has been proved correct, or mostly correct.
While Ramirez, the shortstop, has been a huge lift to a sputtering offense — he was batting .407 with 10 home runs and 36 runs batted in since returning to the lineup regularly in a doubleheader June 19 at Yankee Stadium — and Greinke has bolstered the rotation after missing five weeks with a broken collarbone sustained in a brawl, the Dodgers are still far from healthy.
Of their 10 highest-salaried players, pitchers Josh Beckett ($15.75 million) and Chad Billingsley ($11 million) have had season-ending operations; another, Ted Lilly ($12 million), was released. Kemp, who is starting an eight-year, $160 million contract this season, is on the disabled list for the third time in two months. Even when healthy, Kemp has just five home runs in 62 games. Crawford ($20 million), who was supposed to create a spark at the top of the order, missed a month with a hamstring injury and has since sat out with a back strain and illness. Since returning from the disabled list July 5, Crawford had one stolen base and three extra-base hits (all doubles).
Despite the litany of injuries, the return of Ramirez and the emergence of Puig have lengthened the Dodgers’ lineup and stabilized the defense. The bullpen was bolstered when Brandon League was replaced as the closer by Kenley Jansen, and Ricky Nolasco was acquired from Miami. League has since found his form, and on Tuesday, the Dodgers signed the former Giants closer Brian Wilson, who is returning from elbow surgery.
“The easiest thing for me to look at is to put a consistent lineup up,” Mattingly said. “Everybody’s in the right spot.”
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