Matt Kemp is giving Los Angeles Dodgers fans something to applaud in the final five games of the season. Kemp is on an historical mission to capture the first Triple Crown since 1967 and to become the fifth constituent of baseball’s 40-homer/40-steals club.

The Dodgers center fielder’s 37 home runs are tied for first place in the National League with Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals. In addition, Kemp leads the NL in RBIs with 119, which happens to be six more than the next closest hitter to him. The statistical category that may possibly halt Kemp’s Triple Crown pursuit is batting average; as he is three points behind co-leaders Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and Jose Reyes of the New York Mets.

Kemp’s quest to join Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano in the 40-40 club will have to witness the Dodger slugger knocking three balls out of the park within a five-game stretch. It’s a barrier indeed, but when fans and MLB analysts point out that Kemp has hit four home runs in his last five games it becomes that more conceivable why such a feat could be accomplished.

The odds are against Kemp to accomplish both of these historical monuments individually, but it’s still exhilarating for a fan of baseball to root for something magical in a season where all the divisions were won early and wild card races are mostly not in doubt.

According to Elias, not since 1967 has any competitor been leading the league in batting average or been within five points, leading the league in homers or been within one and leading the league in RBIs or been within one in the final 15 games of the season. Kemp is doing this with five games left and also leads the NL in runs with 105.

Regardless of if Kemp falls short of winning the Triple Crown or joining the 40-40 club, it should be put into perspective that a player that just turned 27-years-old is beginning to scratch the surface. How many times are we fortunate to see a player atop of the league in five statistical categories? Nevertheless, the Dodgers might want to resolve their financial mess and keep No. 27 around for the years to come and build on this season. I’m certain the Dodgers Blue Crew would not want to lose this special player to the money of New York or Boston in 2012 free agency.

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MLB divisions are being clinched, and wild card births are being decided as the clock ticks down on another baseball season.

The American League MVP race seems likely to stoke the fires of debate about pitchers and their place in the MVP voting, and Rookie Of The Year honors seem up for grabs in both leagues. As this season comes to its conclusion there’s certainly plenty to talk about.

So why aren’t more people talking about this? Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers has a very real chance to win the Triple Crown in the National League. Consider this, the last offensive Triple Crown to be won was by Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox in 1967.

The last National League Triple Crown was won by Joe Medwick of the Saint Louis Cardinals in 1937! 

Check out this list: Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Joe Dimaggio, and Stan Musial. That’s an impressive list isn’t it? Not one of them ever won a triple crown. Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams won two Triple Crowns. They’re the only two players in all of Major League history to ever win two.

That brings up to Matt Kemp, who as of Saturday Morning September 24th 2011, has a six RBI lead—119-113—over Prince Fielder. Furthermore, Kemp is tied for the league lead in home runs with Albert Pujols (they both have 37 round-trippers) and is three points, .329 to .326, behind Jose Reyes and Ryan Braun for the National League batting title.

These numbers with less than one week to go in the regular season paint a picture of not just one of the most all-around dominating seasons in recent memory, but also of a player on the cusp of an indisputably historical accomplishment.

Let the MVP debate begin also, because frequently, and with good reason, the MVP award is often given to a player who is on a team that makes the playoffs. The Dodgers have been out of the playoff chase since before the All-Star break.

In fact, it’s been a historically bad season for one of Major League Baseball’s proudest franchises.

The Dodgers are a team of proud tradition dating back to its days as the centerpiece of the burgeoning borough of Brooklyn, NY. A borough that was inundated with a diverse group of immigrants in the beginning of the 20th century that rallied around the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.

A franchise which ushered in the breaking of the color barrier in professional sports by bringing Jackie Robinson to the big leagues in 1947, the Dodgers would continue to be at the forefront of baseball expansion by moving to Los Angeles and bringing baseball to the west coast.

This season has been the worst in Dodger History. It started with the brutal beating of a Giant fan in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium on the night of the home opener. The fan, who is just beginning the long recovery process, was severely injured. Questions regarding fan behavior and stadium security rightly ensued.

The season only got worse as the divorce proceedings between the owners of the team Frank and Jamie McCourt revealed major financial problems within the organization and led to the team filing for bankruptcy and a lawsuit by Frank McCourt against Major League Baseball.

Now, as the season mercifully ends, it appears there may be a very real ray of light on this otherwise forgettable season as Kemp has positioned himself to once again place the Los Angeles Dodgers in the favorable view of baseball history.

The Triple Crown really is an accomplishment to be appreciated. While modern stat geeks may claim that the three categories of batting average, home runs, and runs-batted-in (RBI) aren’t quite as relevant as they were once thought to be, the fact remains that these numbers aren’t to be taken too lightly.

No National League Triple Crown since 1937? Think about how long a period of time that is. Seventy-four years.

The Milwaukee Brewers popped champagne last night to celebrate their first divisional title since 1982. I’m not sure what the Dodgers should do to celebrate Kemp if he can claim the crown this Wednesday, but it’s safe to say that Dodger—and baseball aficionados alike—fans should keep in mind just how rare an accomplishment this is.  

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It is hard to believe that after everything that has gone wrong for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, after Friday’s game they were only 10.5 games off the division lead.

I know, 10.5 games out of first place seems like a lot, but when you break the season down month-by-month, it really isn’t.

Imagine if the Dodgers could have won just two more games in each of the first four months of the season. If they had done that they would have had 75 wins after Friday’s game. That would put them with two more wins than the San Francisco Giants. The Giants were five games out of first after their game on Friday.

Yes, just two more wins each month in April, May, June and July and the Dodgers would be right in the NL West divisional race.

With six games left against the Giants, and seven games left against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers would not only be in the race for the division lead, their destiny would be in their own hands.

When you look back at the season, there are so many games the Dodgers could have won with just a little better offense, pitching, baserunning and defense. And they only needed to improve by just two games a month.

Sometimes when a team loses a game early in the year, fans don’t worry that much about it. But a loss in April is just as important as a loss in September.

Looking back at each month of the season with this in mind makes you realize how easily the Dodgers could have been right in the middle of the fight for the NL West title.

Just two more wins a month. And imagine where they would be if they had three more wins each month.

I don’t even want to think about it.

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Is it possible for a player to be one of the consensus top five players in his league and still be underrated?

If that player is Matt Kemp, then the answer is an unequivocal Yes.

Last season I took Matt Kemp to task not once, but twice, for being one of the worst regular everyday players in baseball.  

You see, Kemp was in the middle of a bad season; he was getting caught stealing way to much (15 times in 34 attempts), his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage were all on the decline, and he was not scoring, driving in or creating as many runs as he had in the most recent previous seasons.

And, for the most part, I will stand behind those assertions.

The mistake I made, though, was assuming that these aspects of Kemp’s season reflected who he was as a player rather than simply reflecting a bad season.  And on that note, I was wildly incorrect.

Because in 2011, Matt Kemp is back, with a vengeance.

So far in 2011, through 111 games, Kemp is setting full-season career highs in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which necessarily means OPS and OPS+ as well.  After hitting 25 doubles in each of the last two seasons, Kemp already has 23 doubles this year. He has already topped last season’s total of 19 stolen bases by stealing 28, and he has only been caught four times.

Kemp also has 26 home runs. Let’s put that in perspective: last season, he had 28 dongs in 162 games, and the year before he had 26 dongs in 159 games.  This year’s pace, so far, is well ahead his career best pace, and him on course to top 40 for the first time in his career; not bad for a guy who has never hit 30.

Kemp also leads the NL in total bases, with 235, and (for those who care), he is going to run away with the league lead in WAR, which measures a player’s overall value.

He is, truly, having an amazing season, and at only 26, there is no reason not to believe that Kemp’s prime may just be getting going.

So . . . .

How can Matt Kemp be underrated even as he establishes himself as one of the dominant players in the National League?

The answer is a simple, two word answer: Dodger Stadium.

There are certain stadiums in Major League Baseball which suffer from a presumption of skepticism, stadiums which are so decidedly pitcher-friendly or hitter-friendly that we must look at a player’s home/road splits to verify the validity of their performance.

For example, if a player enjoys a monster offensive season playing at Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Coors Field or Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, chances are there is a home-field explanation.

By the same token, if a hitter has a down season at Petco Park, Safeco Field, Citi Field or Dodger Stadium, chances are he was swimming upstream and walking in mud for most of the season.

Knowing that Matt Kemp plays his home games at Dodger Stadium we must naturally suspect that his numbers are being suppressed, even despite the amazing year he is having.

So, let’s take a look at Kemp’s home/road splits so far this year (care of baseballreference.com):

The evidence, as they say, speaks for itself.

So far in 2011, Kemp is hitting 34 points higher on the road than he is at home. His on-base percentage is over .400 on the road, and his slugging percentage is over 600 on the road. His OPS is nearly 200 points higher on the road (1.070) than it is at home (.892), which is quite literally almost unheard of.

And, of course, Kemp has three more doubles and four more home runs away from Dodger Stadium, in seven fewer games and 16 fewer plate appearances.

Put quite simply, in 2011 Matt Kemp has been one of the best players in the National League despite playing his home games in Dodger Stadium.

In all likelihood, Matt Kemp is a far better player than his 2011 stats, as good as they are, make him out to be.

And oh by the way, Kemp’s current contract is up after this season, but he has one more year of arbitration eligibility left before hitting free agency in 2013. This means that, with Kemp’s true value being under-represented and with him being captive for another season, this would be an excellent time for the Dodgers to ink him to a comparatively cheap, comparatively short-term deal.

If Matt Kemp would re-sign, right now, for something in the three years, $30-40 million range, it would be an absolute steal.

And if some other team, perhaps one in a hitter-neutral or hitter-friendly park, could trade for him and get him to sign a similar deal, well, the windfall would be unbelievable.

You heard it hear first.

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Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers leads the way in our group of award winner from the first half of the 2011 Major League Baseball Season.

Baseball has suddenly become dominated by pitching as there are only seven players in the entire league with at least 20 home runs.  

It’s a fascinating statistic when you think just 10 years ago, Alex Rodriguez hit 52, Luis Gonzalez hit 57, Sammy Sosa hit 64, and Barry Bonds hit 73—the most home runs for a season in the history of baseball.

Now that we’ve officially reached the half-way point of the season, let’s take a look at the MVP’s and Cy Young Award winners of the first half.

Begin Slideshow

It’s nearly impossible to pin down even just a few reasons for the struggles of the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, much less a single problem that has Don Mattingly’s club hanging so tenuously above the cellar of the National League West.

Some may point to the long-running fiasco known otherwise as the divorce proceedings between owners Frank and Jamie McCourt, with the involvement of MLB commissioner and noted administrative sloth Bud Selig taking his sweet time to do anything of consequence.

Others may look to problems on the field, where the Blue Crew is average or below average in just about every important statistical category.

Even with stellar everyday play from Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier coupled with the continued improvement of staff ace Clayton Kershaw, Don Mattingly’s club still can’t seem to come through in the clutch.

All of that still leaves out consideration of injuries and the bullpen—two things that seemingly go hand in hand with this year’s club.

I had a chance to catch up with “Donnie Baseball” and team trainer Stan Conte to get the latest on rash of injuries that has turned the pitching mound at Dodger Stadium into a veritable infirmary.

Read on to find out when the team’s walking wounded are due back. 

Begin Slideshow

It didn’t happen on Memorial Day weekend, and it was a long time ago, but the day Rick Monday saved an American flag from being burnt in the outfield at Dodger Stadium still resonates with baseball fans thirty-five years later.

It is remembered as one of the most patriotic moments in Major League Baseball history, but it wasn’t a planned celebration or moment.

It just happened.

On April 25, 1976, Rick Monday was playing center field for the Chicago Cubs in a game at Dodger Stadium when two protesters, William Thomas and his 11-year-old son, ran onto the field and attempted to set fire to an American flag. They laid the American flag on the field and doused it with lighter fluid.

However, before they were able to get a match lit, Monday ran over and took the flag away and carried it off the field. Thomas and his son were arrested and taken from the stadium.

In a story by Tim Dahlberg of the Associated Press, Monday, who spent six years as a Marine Corps reservist before beginning his baseball career said,

“I thought, they can’t light it if they don’t have it. I reached down and took it away from them. It happened so quick they were putting the match on what they thought was the flag on the ground.”

A story on azcentral.com quotes Monday as saying,

“It angered me what they were trying to do with the American flag. This was in 1976, it’s the bicentennial year of our country.”

After Monday saved the flag, and the crowd at Dodger Stadium realized what had just happened they cheered Monday’s effort, and broke out into spontaneous singing of “God Bless America.”

Dodger coach Tommy Lasorda was in the third-base coaching box when the incident happened. He ran past Monday toward the men, yelling profanities at them. Lasorda would say later that he planned to grab the flag, but Monday beat him to it.

The Baseball Hall of Fame named Monday’s act as one of the 100 Classic Moments in the history of the game.

But Monday has been quoted as saying, “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t have done the same thing.”

Even though Monday wasn’t a Dodger at the time, many Dodger fans who are old enough to remember the incident consider it one of the most patriotic moments to ever occur at Dodger Stadium.

While the incident wasn’t part of any Memorial Day observance, I did think about it as I was reflecting about the meaning of Memorial Day.

I thank all our veterans, especially those men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Do you remember the day Rick Monday saved the American flag? Do you have another sports related patriotic moment that you remember? Let me know in the comment section below.

Follow me on Twitter, I am  @garyburzell.

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Note: This is part of a series for Baseball Digest in which I pick each Major League team’s best player/coach at every position. The complete Yankees list is up on the website. The complete Dodgers list will go up early next week. Some of it can be viewed early at SoapBoxSportsByte.

Roy Campanella

Of anyone on this list, Campy might get the strongest challenge from a fellow Dodger. Mike Piazza was only with the team for five years, but his Dodgers WAR is just 8.6 wins short of Campanella’s career mark.

In those first handful of years of his career in Chavez Ravine, Piazza put up some of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of the catcher position. He clubbed at least 30 home runs in four of the five years, never batted under .318, and had four seasons over 6.0 WAR (including an insane 9.4 win 1997 season when he put up 40 HR, 121 RBI and a .362/.431/.638 line).

In all five seasons, Piazza finished in the top-10 of the MVP voting, including two second-place finishes.

Over those five seasons, Piazza was by far the most valuable catcher in the Majors, with WAR that topped second place Pudge Rodriguez by 33 percent. He was the fifth most valuable player in the entire major leagues, just a half of a win behind third-place Jeff Bagwell and about ten wins short of Barry Bonds.

His .331/.394/.572 line speaks a few thousand words that aren’t worth taking the time to write.

Moreover, his skills as a receiver had yet to deteriorate. Fangraphs has him at around defensive replacement level for four of his five years in Dodger blue. He was actually well above average in his rookie campaign.

By contrast, Campanella was the second ranked Major League catcher over his career. He was also the 12th-ranked batter. His defense was likely not as good as everyone perceived it to be; he only had one season that ranked well above replacement level in this regard.

So why does the Majors’ first black catcher get the nod over it’s first catcher to marry the Playmate of the Millennium amid rumors of homosexuality?

Let’s take a look at the names that were ahead of Campanella. The one catcher who finished ahead of Campy in WAR was Yogi Berra, who (according to messianic statistician Bill James) is the most valuable player in the history of the position.

Of the 11 batters who finished ahead of him, only teammate Gil Hodges was not a Hall of Famer.

The catching position has generally been one where any substantial hitting ability is viewed as a godsend. Hodges played first base, a position where offensive production is an expectation rather than a bonus.

Campanella, along with his contemporary, Berra, was a revolutionary of the position. For the first time, teams were began to try to extend their futile pursuit away from primarily defensive receivers and towards backstops who could provide some pop.

Realizing that an offensively capable catcher would give their prospective team a massive advantage over other teams and their anemic backstops, front offices began to place emphasis on coaxing production out of the second half of their batteries.

From the beginning of professional baseball to when Campanella retired in 1957, just five catchers had a higher WAR than Roy’s career mark of 43.1. All five are Hall of Famers.

From 1958 to the present day, 14 different backstops have reached that mark.

Only Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter are Hall of Famers. Thanks to his disastrously non-commital response to questions about testing positive (“Only God knows”), Pudge may or may not join that club.

Thanks to his mind-blowing statistics, Piazza would have likely gotten the nod had he stayed with LA for his entire career.. But even such, he played in an era where those stats were far from aberrational.

It’s simply hard to be that wowed by his achievements, given the fact that he played in the era of bloated biceps, cap sizes and statistics, an era when even Brady Anderson could be confused for Babe Ruth.

If that’s not enough, to lend a grain of salt to Piazza’s achievements, consider the fact that Jason Kendall finished his career just half of a win shy of Roy Campanella’s career mark.

Yes, that Jason Kendall.

Jesse Golomb researches and writes for BaseballDigest.com. He is also the creator and writer of SoapBoxSportsByte, a blog that incorporates statistical analysis as well as fan perspective into daily pieces on the MLB, NFL and NBA.   He can be followed on Twitter @SoapBxSprtsByte, or contacted by email at golombjesse@gmail.com.

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Los Angeles Dodgers OF Andre Ethier extended his hitting streak to 30 games last night with a 3-for-5 performance against the New York Mets. His 30-game hitting streak is the longest since Washington Nationals 3B Ryan Zimmerman had a 30-game hitting streak in 2009.

Now things are getting interesting. Any hitting streak past 30 becomes fun to follow. We’ll follow Ethier’s streak on a day-by-day basis from here on out.

Next pitcher up for Ethier will be Chris Young. Ethier is 12-for-29 lifetime versus Young with six HRs and two doubles. He also has walked five times against the former Princeton basketball player.

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Major League Baseball released its ballot for the 2011 All-Star game this past week. It may be a little early to label a player’s 2011 season as All-Star caliber, but nevertheless votes casted today are worth just as much as those in late June. 

Last season, we saw a noticeable shortage of star talent at the National League outfield spots. There were so few All-Star worthy outfielders in the N.L. that Atlanta Braves rookie Jason Heyward was voted into the game, despite a mediocre first half in which he hit just .251 with 11 home runs.

On the other hand, there appear to be several N.L. outfielders that are poised to have great 2011 seasons. Currently, five different N.L. outfielders possess an OPS greater than 1.000, namely Matt Holiday, Lance Berkman, Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. All five of them are hitting at least .350 with 13 or more RBI.  

Berkman is the most surprising of the bunch. The five-time All-Star is coming off an injury-ridden 2010 season, in which he hit just .248 with 58 RBI in 122 games. He turned 35 years old before the season and is looking to make his first All-Star appearance since 2008.

Meanwhile, both Kemp and Ethier had disappointing 2010 seasons for the Dodgers, but have responded in a big way in the early going. If the two of them are voted into the All-Star game by the fans, it will be the first time that the Dodgers have had two All-Star starters since 1995 when the battery of pitcher Hideo Nomo and catcher Mike Piazza each started the Midsummer Classic.

Assuming that Kemp and Ethier are each named All-Stars one way or another, Los Angeles would have two All-Star outfielders for the first time since 1991. Also of note, the last time that two Dodger outfielders were voted into the All-Star game was back in 1954 (Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson).

If not for the early success of Kemp and Ethier, the Dodgers (13-13) could already be far out of playoff contention. The two outfielders have combined for nearly one-third of the Dodger hits this season, as well as eight of the 20 team home runs. 

Besides Kemp and Ethier, none of the other Dodger hitters have been particularly impressive. The Dodger pitching has been solid overall, but there has been no standout up to this point. Therefore, unless one of the Dodgers not named Kemp or Ethier tear it up over the next couple of months, we may see just two Dodgers in the Midsummer Classic. 

Currently, Braun and Holiday appear to be the front-runners to finish No. 1 and No. 2 in N.L. All-Star voting among outfielders, but it is far too early to tell.

The 2011 MLB All-Star Game will be played on July 12th at Chase Field in Phoenix.

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