Green Runs Ice Cold to Red Hot

The Dodger clubhouse erupted in laughter recently because All-Star right fielder Shawn Green was featured on the cover of a national baseball magazine, and former Dodger Gary Sheffield was on the back page.

A player opened a copy to display the pages and put it in Green’s dressing stall, reviving an inside joke about Green supposedly needing Sheffield, traded to the Atlanta Braves in January, in the lineup to succeed.

Green chuckled at the layout and beat his teammates to the punch line, saying, “Well, I guess everybody thinks I can’t hit without Sheff behind me.”

Green has proved he doesn’t need Sheffield to continue delivering for the Dodgers, providing the power behind their surprising first-half performance, and emerging from a second-half slump with a National League playoff berth at stake. However, the eight-year veteran has been uncharacteristically inconsistent in his third season with the Dodgers.

He has assumed greater responsibility in a batting order that lacks another major run producer, putting pressure on himself while the club’s other heart-of-the-order hitters have struggled. And teams have often pitched around the admittedly impatient Green, contributing to his frustration.

The Dodgers acknowledge Green is the only player capable of carrying them offensively, and the strength of his shoulders could determine whether they qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 1996. Green understands the situation and accepts the challenge, but would welcome more help.

“Without question, if you’re hitting in the middle of certain lineups, like the [New York] Yankees and [Texas] Rangers, teams that are known as offensive teams, everyone’s individual success is going to improve greatly,” said Green, who has primarily batted third this season. “It’s hard to get something going when you’ve got two quick outs, and there’s no one on base. It’s just a different mind-set as a hitter.

“Ideally, every team would love to have a lineup like the Yankees, but that’s just not realistic. At the same time, this team is centered on pitching and defense. We’ve just got to find ways to manufacture runs.”

Green, considered the consummate teammate, did not single out other players, blaming much of the problem on his inconsistency.

He wonders whether the Dodgers, 11-17 since the All-Star break, would be six games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the West and leading the NL wild-card race by only 1 1/2 games through Friday, if he had not batted .237 in April, .250 in July and hit six home runs combined in 193 at-bats. Green was four for 35 without a homer and had only one run batted in during his worst stretch in July, coinciding with the Dodgers’ worst month (10-16) of the season.

Then again, where would the Dodgers have been without Green’s contributions in May and June?

He hit 24 home runs in 43 games from May 21 through July 6, including the May 23 game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park in which he hit four homers and set a major league record with 19 total bases. Green’s batting average increased from .231 to .283, and the Dodgers went 29-14 during that span. He also had 46 RBIs in May and June.

Overall, Green was batting .274 before Saturday night’s game with a .373 on-base percentage and .568 slugging percentage. The left-handed batter has 34 homers, 87 RBIs and 80 runs--putting him in the top five in the NL in all three categories--and is on pace to join Hall of Famer Duke Snider as the only players in franchise history with consecutive seasons of at least 40 homers.

Green has six home runs already in August.

“It has been real hot or real cold,” Green said. “I’ve had seasons where I would have a good half and a bad half, but nothing like this. I’ve never had just a great four or five weeks, bad four or five weeks, great four or five weeks. That hot streak I had earlier in the season could be a once-in-a-career spurt, and during the times when we’ve struggled, I’ve put added pressure on myself.

“Like a lot of the guys, I’m trying to hit that five-run home run. I try to be patient, but patience definitely isn’t my best attribute as a hitter. I continually say to myself, ‘Wait for a good pitch to hit, and just try to hit line drives.’ Once the game is going on, I’ll get those thoughts in my head during the heat of the moment, and then I start trying to do a little extra again. It has been a constant battle this year.”

His teammates could make things easier down the stretch.

First baseman Eric Karros and left fielder Brian Jordan had no home runs and 12 RBIs combined through Friday since the break. Catcher Paul Lo Duca was batting .193. Third baseman Adrian Beltre, rebounding from an unproductive first half, was batting .333 with a team-leading nine homers and 26 RBIs, and leadoff batter Dave Roberts has been consistent.

“When Greenie is going, he’s the one guy on this team that has the capability to carry a club,” Karros said. “But the first month and a half, he really struggled, and we stayed right there. The reason we stayed right there is because we were getting contributions from myself, from Jordan and from Lo Duca.”

But the perception is it’s Green or bust for the Dodgers.

“That’s unfair,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “It’s unfair due to the fact that what we’re suggesting is that he’s the only guy who goes out there on the field every day. One of the things that helped him go on that tear earlier in the year was that there were several people on in front of him.

“Is he a guy for the rest of our guys to rally around? Yes. Do we expect him to hit at the same pace that we saw him go on over the course of a six- or seven-week period? I don’t expect that. That’s just unfair expectations of one of your players.”

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Power Surge

Shawn Green has hit 27 of his team-leading 34 homers in four stretches covering 28 of the Dodgers’ 117 games. A look at his hot and cold home run streaks.

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