The Los Angeles Dodgers started the season as the favorites at the bookmaker to win the National League West. That is no longer the case as the Dodgers have not played well early in the season. The Internet bookmaker now lists the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies ahead of the Dodgers in baseball odds.
Bookmaker odds on a popular team like the Dodgers will be adjusted slowly. Rarely will you see the odds rise a great deal on a popular team. The Dodgers have really played poorly though and an adjustment had to be made. In fact, the Dodgers have been so bad vs. odds at the Internet bookmaker that general manager Ned Colletti recently ripped his team, including center fielder Matt Kemp. After 20 games Colletti had some harsh words for his team. “I’m not satisfied with how our club has played.” Colletti said, “We could have a record of 12-8 [instead of 8-12], and I would still feel that way. It’s about the presentation, the execution and the thought process.” Colletti was not at all happy about Kemp’s play.
The Dodgers gave Kemp a new a two-year, $10.95 million deal and Colletti is concerned that Kemp is not playing as hard as he could. Manager Joe Torre somewhat defended his player though. “He is here early, and he gets a lot of work in,” Torre said, “Again, that is physical stuff. A major part of this game is the mental part and being able to deal with failure. Most of us have an easy time dealing with success. But dealing with failure is important.”
The Dodgers did nothing in the off-season to upgrade their team and it is now looking like the Dodgers are in trouble vs. the bookmaker odds. Torre is an excellent manager but his pitching staff is weak and his lineup has some holes. Manny Ramirez was on the DL and that was another major problem. The Dodgers lost Randy Wolf in the off-season and now there is no one on the staff to eat innings and solidify the starting rotation. The Dodgers can still hit but their ERA is poor and their defense is horrible. “If they had a category for execution, we would be in the bottom half of that, too,” Colletti said, “It is just time to get better. It is basically the same club with rare exceptions. We won 95 games with Manny missing 50 of them, with one of our top pitchers in Chad [Billingsley] having a tough second half and with Russell [Martin] having a tough time. For me, it’s all about presentation and effort.”