Dodgers’ Makeup Is Just Right

The hottest team in the major leagues does not have a $200-million payroll. It does not have a guy named Big Papi, or Pedro, or Pudge.

Ladies and gentlemen: Your Los Angeles Dodgers.

When General Manager Ned Colletti made two trades at last week’s deadline, with the Dodgers in last place and five games out, he said he had no doubt they could make up five games by the end of the season. They’re more than halfway there in a week.

The Dodgers extended their winning streak to nine Sunday with a 7-3 victory that completed their first road sweep of the Florida Marlins in six years. They’re now tied for second, two games out of first place in the National League West, and they play 16 of their next 19 games within the division, starting tonight against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

“The National League West is going to see the new-look Dodgers,” Manager Grady Little said.

They’ll see Mark Hendrickson and Toby Hall, the June acquisitions from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Hendrickson got his first victory for the Dodgers on Sunday, giving up three runs in six innings, and Hall doubled home two runs in a six-run seventh inning. For the ex-Rays -- even for Hall, who isn’t thrilled about his reserve role with the Dodgers -- a pennant race is pretty cool.

“This is obviously a different world than we came from,” Hall said.

They’ll see Wilson Betemit, acquired two weeks ago from the Atlanta Braves, who singled home two runs. They’ll see Julio Lugo, acquired last week from Tampa Bay, who reached base twice. They’ll see Greg Maddux, acquired from the Chicago Cubs, who threw six no-hit innings Thursday in his Dodgers debut.

They’ll see a team that outscored the Marlins and Cincinnati Reds, 41-14, on a perfect six-game trip, a team that put up big numbers without what might be their two top hitters, Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra.

That doesn’t seem to make sense. To reliever Brett Tomko, however, it makes perfect sense. The Dodgers had lost 13 of 14 games and lost Kent and Garciaparra to the disabled list, but Tomko said the players didn’t give up because the front office didn’t give up and wasn’t content to tread water with minor leaguers until the injured players returned.

“I think it was the fact that Colletti went out and got Betemit and Lugo, proven guys,” Tomko said. “That’s what you need to win. You need to have those guys to fill in when people get hurt, and the people that have come in have definitely picked up the slack.”

The Marlins did what they could do to help the Dodgers on Sunday.

The Dodgers scored once in the first inning, on no hits, two errors and a wild pitch. They scored six runs in the seventh, an inning that included three consecutive walks, two with the bases loaded. Florida used four pitchers in the inning, including Logan Kensing, who hurt his elbow on his fifth pitch and left the game before he could walk anyone.

What the Dodgers’ streak foretells for the future, well, who knows? Kent said he had no idea. “Buy a ticket and show up,” he said.

This is the National League, after all, where four of 16 teams opened play Sunday above .500. But the Dodgers moved one game above .500 on Sunday. If they win tonight, they’ll have their first 10-game winning streak in three years, one shy of their first 11-game streak in 13 years.

Makes you wonder, at least for a moment, whether Little would mess with success by returning Kent and Garciaparra to the lineup before the Dodgers lose again.

“I’m sure,” Little said, “we can find something for them to do.”

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Cloud nine

Comparing the Dodgers’ statistics from the first 14 games after the All-Star break with those from their current nine-game winning streak:

*--* BEFORE CATEGORY AFTER 1-13 Record 9-0 222 Average 310 2.07 Runs per game 7.2 7.71 Hits per game 11.2 5.41 ERA 2.55 1.52 WHIP* 1.15 1.48 HR per 9 IP 0.67

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* -- Walks plus hits per inning pitched

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Los Angeles Times