Dodgers Dugout: Fantastic start, but let's not get ahead of ourselves

Assistant Sports Editor

April 8, 2019 8 AM PT

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and the Dodgers remind me a lot of the 2017 team. Hopefully with a better ending.

Realistic expectations

The Dodgers are playing some incredible baseball right now. They can’t possibly keep up this offense, but if they do, they will shatter almost every record imaginable. Cody Bellinger is playing like Babe Ruth on steroids. All of which is a long way of saying: Don’t get too mad when the inevitable slump happens. Because it will.

I am really enjoying this. Watching them destroy opponents is a lot of fun and makes every game seem to last 20 minutes. But there’s something preying on my mind: At some point this season, the Dodgers will lose five out of six. Bellinger will go 0 for 12 with a bunch of strikeouts. The bullpen will get someone out (sorry, couldn’t resist). So, while we all enjoy this current run, let’s keep that in mind and don’t overreact when they have a dip.

In the meantime, enjoy what is happening. My apologies for the brevity of this newsletter, but Sunday was my youngest daughter’s senior prom. Plus it was WrestleMania day. I won’t say which was more important.

By the way, the Dodgers sent Brock Stewart, who got lit up in all three appearances this season, to the minors and recalled Dennis Santana. He didn’t pitch too well Sunday. The bullpen will be a lot better when Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill get back, putting Ross Stripling and Julio Urias in the pen.

Security

I got over 1,000 emails from readers who had ideas on how to improve security at Dodger Stadium. Here are the ideas most often sent by you.

— Don’t sell alcohol at all (this isn’t happening).

— Stop alcohol sales after the fifth inning instead of the seventh.

— Stop selling alcohol at the seats.

— Have a security guard in every parking lot (Lot D, Lot C, etc.).

— Have more security inside the stadium. Many readers told me stories of a fight happening on the first-base side, but security was on the third-base side and took too long to respond.

— Have all the lifeguard towers manned after the game.

— Provide much better lighting in the parking lots.

That was the one mentioned the most. And it’s the first thing my wife said. The lighting in the parking lot is horrible. There are areas of the parking lot that have no lighting whatsoever. This seems easy to fix and should be Priority One.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to write. There are several of you who haven’t gone to a game in years because you’re too afraid. That’s just sad.

Let’s face it, it would be impossible for the Dodgers, or any team, to prevent fights 100%. It can’t be done without turning the stadium into a high-security, draconian fort. No one really wants that. But the Dodgers can do a much better job than they have been doing.

Anyway, this is the last time I will be writing about security for a while. I’d rather focus on what happens on the field, but this was too important to just ignore.

And although we are early in the season, too early to really know how everyone is doing, I thought it was the perfect time to bring this up. For those of you tired of the topic, we’ll start focusing more on the team in the next newsletter, when I list the Dodgers’ top 10 prospects and take a look at what the future may hold.

These names seem familiar

What recently departed Dodgers are doing around the league (through Saturday):

Brian Dozier, Nationals, .050 (1 for 20)

Kyle Farmer, Reds, .100 (1 for 10, 1 homer)

Logan Forsythe, Rangers, .286 (4 for 14), 1 double

Yasmani Grandal, Brewers, .308 (8 for 26), 1 double, 1 homer

Matt Kemp, Reds, .091 (2 for 22)

Manny Machado, Padres, .286 (10 for 35), 1 double, 2 homers

Yasiel Puig, Reds, .133 (4 for 30)

Alex Wood, Reds, on IL with sore back

TV schedule

KTLA will televise nine more Dodger games during the season. They are: