In spite of injuries to key players and a lack of starting pitching, the Los Angeles Dodgers enter the second half of the 162-game grind just two games behind the division-leading San Diego Padres.

They aren’t in first place, but the Dodgers are seemingly right where they want to be. Why? Because they have a dominant 23-6 record within the confines of the National League West, easily the best mark in the division. In fact, the next best record within the division belongs to the Colorado Rockies, who have managed 21 wins but have also suffered 16 losses.

Luckily for the boys in blue, they will see a steady diet of NL-west foes, 40 games to be exact, from here until September. That includes 13 meetings with the Padres, leaving the Dodgers plenty of opportunity to make up ground in the standings.

It won’t be easy, though.

The Dodgers have the toughest second-half schedule of any team in baseball, playing 58 of their remaining 74 games against clubs with records of .500 or better.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at how the Dodgers got to this point.

First Half Review

 The Dodgers have been anything but consistent this season. They have won as many as nine games in a row while losing as many as six straight. They have been in last, and they’ve been in first. They just haven’t stayed anywhere for very long.

 If you are looking for a culprit, look no further than the dreaded injury bug.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, injuries have been the only constant in an otherwise inconsistent season. Joe Torre has looked more like a clown doing a circus act than a manager as he has juggled his lineup and rotation with bench players and minor league call-ups.

 Manny Ramirez kicked off the injury festivities with a 15-day DL stint just three weeks into the season because of a bum hamstring. Less than two weeks later, All-Star Rafael Furcal followed suit.

 But the most costly injury of all was Andre Ethier fracturing the bone at the end of his right pinkie while taking batting practice before a game with the Padres in mid-May. At the time, the Arizona State alumnus was absolutely on fire, leading the league in each of the Triple Crown categories. Without veteran bench players to pick up the slack, the offense struggled.

Throw in a lengthy absence for Opening Day starter Vicente Padilla and a two-week DL stint for Chad Billingsley and it is no wonder the Dodgers have yet to hit their stride. 

Hitting

Last season, the Dodgers were tops in the NL with a .270 team batting average and more than 1,500 hits. This year is no different. They are currently in the Top 5 in the league in most offensive categories, including: hits, batting average, RBIs and runs.

This is in large part to a standout season by first baseman James Loney that has largely gone under the radar. Not only has Loney been an iron man for the Dodgers, appearing in all 88 games, he is also hitting .310 with an impressive 25 doubles and 63 RBIs.

But he hasn’t done it alone. Ethier has also had a stellar season. The lefty ranks second in the NL with a .324 batting clip, just one 1,000th of a point behind leader Martin Prado of the Atlanta Braves, and has 14 home runs and 54 RBIs despite missing significant time due to injury.

Furcal has been no slouch either. The Dodger’s defensive anchor is hitting .333 with 5 home runs, the same amount he had at the end of the 2009 campaign. But it’s what he’s done lately that has started to turn heads. Since coming off the bereavement list on June 17, Furcal is a blazing 30 for 72, a .422 clip, with 17 RBI and 5 stolen bases, good enough for NL Player of the Week honors and his second All-Star appearance.

While the Dodgers' offense seems to have left off where it finished the season prior, the same cannot be said for its pitching.

Pitching

There were major concerns about starting pitching heading into the regular season. Three months later nothing has changed.

One year ago, the Dodgers led all of baseball with a 3.41 team ERA, more than a full tenth better than the Giants, without a so-called ace on the staff.

The Dodgers continue to lack a front line starter to anchor their starting rotation, though, and it is finally starting to show. The staff currently has a 4.09 ERA, 10th best in the NL, and has struggled to fill the fifth starter hole. Eight different guys have taken the mound for the Dodgers this season, including two non-roster invitees and two Triple-A call-ups.

One of those call-ups was rookie right-hander John Ely, who has an admirable 4.63 ERA in 14 starts for the Blue Crew. While his numbers certainly don’t blow you out of the water, his unexpected contributions as a fill-in for Padilla are a welcome sign for the future.

Meanwhile, young lefty Clayton Kershaw has emerged as an ace under the tutelage of pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. He is second in the NL with 128 strikeouts while posting a 2.96 ERA. Kershaw has also been able to keep his walks to a minimum, a problem he has had in his first few seasons in the majors, which has allowed him to pitch deeper into games.

Middle-of-the-rotation starters Hiroki Kuroda and Billingsley have been unable to find a rhythm. Every good outing is seemingly followed by an early inning exit.

Looking Ahead

The Dodgers have been to the postseason in each of the last two seasons and have no intentions of breaking their streak. A midseason pitching acquisition may be just the thing to push the Blue Crew into the playoffs yet again. But with the top arm already off the market after the Seattle Mariners dealt ace Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers last week who else is out there?

The top two names you keep hearing are sinker-baller Dan Haren of the Arizona Diamondbacks and staff ace Roy Oswalt of the Houston Astros.

It has been rumored that teams seeking to land Haren would essentially have to wipe out their farm system. Los Angeles has traded away a bevy of young talent over the years to acquire veterans for the postseason push, leaving the farm system thin. That, and the fact that Haren plays within the division, means he is an unlikely candidate to be taking the mound in blue for the last few months of the season.

As for Oswalt, the situation is less clear. Nobody really knows what the Astros are looking for in return for the their ace.

Even if the Dodgers had the pieces to obtain one of those elite arms, it’s not a sure thing that they could pull the trigger considering their lack of payroll flexibility due to the ongoing divorce battle between owner Frank McCourt and his wife, err ex-wife, Jamie. The Dodgers' lack of offseason activity is a testament to that.

While it remains to be seen if the Dodgers will acquire an impact arm for the stretch run, one thing is clear: they will certainly need at least one more pitcher to get over the NLCS hump (see Cole Hamels in the 2008 postseason and Cliff Lee in 2009) and back to the promised land of great Dodgers teams from the past.

 

To reach staff writer Chris Pisar, click here.