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Veterans spark Dodgers’ resurgence
- Updated: August 12, 2016
LOS ANGELES — When Clayton Kershaw hit the disabled list with a herniated disk in his back, it was hard to see how the Dodgers could cope with losing their ace and MVP candidate for any extended period of time.
With a loss on June 26 in Kershaw’s final start before he went on the DL, the Dodgers fell to eight games behind the Giants. At that point they were 14-2 in Kershaw starts and 27-34 in all other games.
Without Kershaw the team had a lineup full of veterans posting low numbers and an injury-laden rotation incapable of going deep into games. Corey Seager was a Rookie of the Year favorite and is the team’s new candidate for MVP, but he could hardly drive the entire offense by himself.
And yet a month and a half later, the Dodgers are just one game behind the Giants in the National League West. The reason for their surge is clear: The veterans are hitting again.
The post-June 26 OPS totals of Howie Kendrick, Justin Turner, Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal are all at least 200 points higher than their marks entering that day. Grandal in particular has been hitting out of his mind, posting a monstrous .320/.445/.732 line since then.
The improvement is a …
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