Dodgers Dugout: Is relief help on the way?

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell,  with a message for Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist: You may think you're all that now, but I once saw a horse try out for the Dodgers and hit a home run. Top that.

How they match up

We are 31 games into the season, so let's see how the Dodgers rank among the 15 teams in the National League.

Runs per game: 4.29 (10th)

Batting average: .241 (10th)

OB%: .317 (10th)

SLG%: .371 (12th)

Steals: 7 (tied for 14th)

Homers: 23 (14th)

Left on Base: 224 (7th most)

Batting average with runners in scoring position: .255 (10th)

With two outs and runners in scoring position: .172 (15th)

ERA: 3.62 (4th)

WHIP: 1.130 (2nd)

Saves: 11 (tied for 3rd)

Blown saves: 5 (tied for 3rd most)

Inherited runners that scored %: 41% (3rd worst)

Starter's ERA: 3.43 (4th)

Relief ERA: 4.02 (6th)

What conclusions can we draw from this? Well, so far the Dodgers are middle-of-the-pack or worse in almost everything and are horrible with runners in scoring position. However, because there is room to improve and their team WHIP is so good, they have yet to play to their potential. Again though, is this a team that is good enough to win the World Series? Seems unlikely. But they might soon be getting a shot of adrenaline for their bullpen. Read about that in the next item.

Urias on the way?

Remember the last newsletter, when I mentioned how I would bring up Julio Urias in August to give the rotation a boost? I must have sensed a disturbance in the Force, because it looks like the Dodgers might bring him up even sooner than that, but not to bolster the rotation. They want him to bolster the bullpen.

"We're looking through a lot of options," Manager Dave Roberts told Bill Shaikin on Friday "Urias is definitely at the top of the list."

The Dodgers need a dependable left-hander in the bullpen with J.P. Howell and Adam Liberatore struggling. If the Dodgers do bring him up, I'd like to see them used as a set-up man, pitching the seventh and eighth innings ahead of Kenley Jansen.

You might remember the Dodgers doing a similar thing in 1980, calling up a 19-year-old left-hander who pitched 17 2/3 innings without giving up an earned run. His name was Fernando Valenzuela, and his career turned out to be pretty decent.

The magic number

Each week I will look at a uniform number a current Dodger is wearing and go through the history of that number with the Dodgers. When I was a kid and went to games, I was always curious as to who wore the number of my favorite players. Then again, I was a strange kid. For best Dodgers to wear the number, only the stats you compile while you are with the team and wearing that number count.

Next up is:

No. 10 (Justin Turner)

Best Dodgers to wear No. 10: Al Lopez (1932-35), Ron Cey (1971-82), Gary Sheffield (1998-2001).

Others to wear No. 10 with the Dodgers: Ray Berres (1936), Freddie Fitzsimmons (1937), Randy Moore (1937), Roy Spencer (1938), Ray Hayworth (1939), Carl Doyle (1939), Gus Mancuso (1940), Mickey Owen (1941-45), Ernie Rudolph (1945), Earl Naylor (1946), Lew Riggs (1946), Bruce Edwards (1946-51), Rube Walker (1951-58), Jeff Torborg (1964-70), Dave Anderson (1983-89), Juan Samuel (1990-92), Chris Gwynn (1994-95), Chad Curtis (1996), Otis Nixon (1997), Jose Vizcaino (1998), Hideo Nomo (2002-04), Jose Valentin (2005), Danys Baez (2006), Wilson Betemit (2006-07), Andy LaRoche (2007), Tony Gwynn Jr. (2011-12), Michael Young (2013).

What Vin Scully means to me

I asked you to tell me your best Vin Scully memory, and I got a lot of responses. I will publish selected ones in each newsletter. And keep emailing them to me.

Jack Winn: I fell in love with baseball when I was about five years old and became a devotee of the great Mr. Scully a few years later when the Dodgers came to California. I am from San Diego and we could pick up the games on KFI. Then we moved to Long Beach and felt so close to my heroes. 

When I graduated sixth grade in 1963, my grandmother gave me a small transistor radio in a brown leather carrying case. I thought I had died and gone to heaven because that radio fit under my pillow so that I could fall asleep every night listening to the mellifluous tones of the wonderful Vin Scully. No other sportscaster I have ever heard even comes close to combining a love and respect for a game with the prose and polish of a poet.

The TV situation

If you would like to complain about the Dodgers’ TV situation, here’s who to contact:

For the Dodgers, click here or call (866) DODGERS ([866] 363-4377). (I hope you like form letters).

For Time Warner, click here.

For your local cable or satellite provider, consult your bill for the customer service number and for the website.

And finally

Zach Lee would love for the Dodgers to give him one more chance, even if they do have a crowded rotation. Read all about it here.

Have a comment or something you'd like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me and follow me on Twitter: @latimeshouston