Dodgers Are Suddenly Hitting, Loney and Ethier Included

The Dodgers are suddenly hitting, winning, and most importantly, hitting. The biggest contributor not named Matt Kemp? James Loney. The once left-for-dead first baseman was batting .514 in his eight previous games coming into tonight’s affair with the Padres.

The biggest feather in Loney’s cap however, is that he’s finally slugging this season, with four homers in the previously mentioned stretch, including at least one RBI in all but one game, August 22 in St. Louis when he went 3 for 4.

Mike Petriello over at Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness went deeper with Loney’s sudden surge, originally hypothisizing over a change in mechanics, before deciding the real culprit in Loney’s case. Here’s what he had to say (And by the way, if you’re not reading MSTI on a daily basis, you’re missing out in the most in-depth, Dodger analysis on the net. Seriously.):

"For the moment, I’m leaning towards our subconscious perception of Loney as being the main culprit. As hot as Loney as been lately – and make no mistake, he’s been excellent – it’s also been eight games and 35 at-bats. In his previous 37 at-bats, leading back to the beginning of the month, he’d hit .243/.341/.351 with two extra-base hits. In all of July, he hit .176/.225/.230 with four extra-base hits, all doubles. So as much as I’m enjoying the new and improved James Loney, this level of production is going to need to last for at least another week or two (if not the rest of the season) before I’m able to chalk it up to anything more than a very welcome hot streak.That’s what brings me back to perception. Streaks happen in baseball. Anyone can have one, in either direction. Just as Loney is absolutely not as good as he’s been over the last week, he’s also not really as bad as he showed in April when we were all calling for his head. It won’t take too much more for this hot streak to basically counteract his frigid start; as Jon Weisman rightly mentioned at Dodger Thoughts, since Loney’s low point on April 24, he’s essentially been standard-issue Loney, with an OPS similar to his career marks.The problem for Loney was the timing, since due to the daily nature of baseball, first impressions sometimes count for too much. Other than fewer RBI, in large part due to the low-OBP crew the Dodgers have assembled this year, Loney is probably going to end up with a season line very similar to what he’s put up in each of the last three seasons."

Petriello’s point is rightfully made with Loney, and if use the same model towards Andre Ethier it gets interesting. The Dodgers have had a couple different issues tied to their performance thus far, with injuries and underperformance being the main culprits.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images via Zimbio

Loney has been classified as an underperformer, and now Ethier has entered that discussion, batting a lowly .239 in 38 games after the All-Star break coming into Tuesday night’s game. Ethier was brought into the forefront over the weekend with LA Times controversial columnist’s TJ Simmers’s piece that called ethics into play over a pseudo-plagued Andre Ethier. ESPN’s Mason and Ireland talked about him at length Monday afternoon, suggesting that the Dodgers cut ties with Ethier.

But the Simmers piece is more of a question of speculation and out-of-context quotes than anything, especially since Ethier had a trio of hits on Monday night, and through five innings, has gone 3-for-3 with a Grand Slam during Tuesday night’s game with the Padres.

Again, is it a question of perception as Petriello puts it? It definitely seems so, when you figure that two months ago Ethier made a strong, but ultimately unsuccessful bid to be an All-Star, only to be added to the roster later, due to an injured Shane Victorino. Ethier’s season numbers in terms of production (11 home runs, 56 RBI) are far from what anyone expected for him this season, especially when last August 30, he was sitting on 20 home runs and 71 RBI.

But going back to perception, Ethier’s 38 game slump has completely altered the perception of his season thus far. At the All-Star Break, he was on pace for 16 home runs and 79 RBI, with would-be career highs batting average(.311 ) and on-base percentage (.383). A lot of that was thanks to his 30-game hitting streak, which fails to now cancel out his even longer slump.

Andre Ethier and the Dodgers have a month left, and if these last two games are sign of what’s to come, it’s definitely possible that Ethier can finish at right around his career averages, and the Dodgers can finish at .500. Who would have thunk it?

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