Ethier: NL Player of the Week; Kemp: Season MVP To Date

While I was excited to see Andre Ethier named as the NL Player of the Week, I would submit that Matt Kemp is the true MVP of the Dodgers over the course of these first 13 games.  First, let’s look at the stats:

                AVG   HR   RBI   Runs    SB   OBP

Ethier    .298     4     16       11       1     .424

Kemp    .383     3      14      12       4     .434

Kemp’s swing just looks better this season and he’s clearly more patient (as Bill Shaikin notes).  Now let’s take into account their defense.  At least twice this homestand, Kemp has made a huge inning-saving catch that would have dramatically changed the course of the game, or at least the momentum, if the ball had dropped.  One of these occurrences happened yesterday, and allowed the Dodgers to maintain their lead when the Rockies had the bases loaded.

And while this is a little off subject, I think the arrival of Orlando Hudson (along with the return of Manny Ramirez) has really kept the team loose.  Don’t they just look like they’re having more fun?  While it’s by far too early to begin to make predictions about where this team can go, I definitely feel more confident than in past years that they can hold things together.  Now if they can just bolster that pitching staff a little….