Dodgers’ outfield of Kemp, Ethier and Ramirez __ best in the game

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Best outfield in baseball.

Got that? Not in the division, not in the National League, but in all of baseball.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have the best overall outfield in the game. Period. Not even all that close.

Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez give the Dodgers the kind of outfield other teams dream about.

They have it all -- they can hit, hit with power, run and play defense like no other outfield trio around. And, yes, that counts Manny in left.

You have your Phillies (Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, Raul Ibanez) and Angels (Torii Hunter, Juan Rivera, Bobby Abreu) and Red Sox (Jacob Ellsbury, J.D. Drew, Mike Cameron). All terrific outfields, just not in the Dodgers’ class.

The Dodgers have three guys who could hit 30-plus home runs. Who could bat over .300. They have a guy in center who can steal 40 bases. They could each finish with more than 100 RBIs.

In a column at yahoo.com, Tim Brown not only called them baseball’s best outfield, but made another interesting observation.

‘In fact, even as Ramirez’s defensive skills skitter from distracted to damaging, there is no better outfield trio in the game, end to end. And Ramirez, going on 38, looks to be the least of them.’’

Yeah, that’s right. The guy the Dodgers are paying $20 million may prove the least productive of the three. Then again, he could have a monster bounce-back season.

Together, Brown said, they could produce more than 100 home runs. What other team can say that about its outfield? And we’ve only seen the beginning from Kemp and Ethier.

‘I mean, these two kids are going to get better,’’ said Dodgers Manager Joe Torre. ‘Yeah, we’re pretty good. I guess we can measure up.’

Now, certainly, Manny is not going to make many defensive highlight reels. Defense was never really his thing anyway, and the years are taking it in the wrong direction.

But in the speedy Kemp, the Dodgers have a Gold Glove winner in center field to help cover ground. And Ethier continues to improve defensively.

So they’re not on a par with the best defensive outfields, but everything added together?

Best outfield going. And still getting better.

‘I really don’t know about the American League anymore, as far as knowing each team’s outfield,’ Torre said. ‘But when you talk about the limited experience these two guys have in center field and right field, I don’t think they have to take a back seat to anybody.’

--Steve Dilbeck