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The city of Los Angeles can go back to spinning. After spending a couple weeks on the disabled list with a bad hamstring, Los Angeles Dodgers star centerfielder Matt Kemp will be making his return on Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Dodgers did pretty well in Kemp’s absence, but he’ll be a sight for sore eyes anyway. At the time he went on the DL, Kemp was hitting .359 with 12 home runs. He was batting over .400 as late as May 8.

If Kemp picks up right where he left off, the good people of Southern California are going to get to see something that they haven’t gotten to see yet: Matt Kemp and Albert Pujols both playing well at the same time.

I won’t go so far as to say that the two of them are joined at the hip, but they’re without a doubt the two biggest baseball stars in Southern California. Kemp is arguably the best all-around player in baseball, and Pujols is one of baseball’s all-time great hitters.

We can debate which one of them is the biggest star for hours on end, but instead, let’s ask a different question: Which of them is the more important star in the greater Los Angeles area?

This is a complicated question, and the answer is equally complicated. Before we can get to it, we have to sift through the different circumstances surrounding both players.

Matt Kemp’s Place in Los Angeles

You know what the key difference between Matt Kemp and Albert Pujols is?

It’s simple: Kemp actually plays in Los Angeles.

This is both a blessing and a curse.

It’s a curse because, despite the fact the Dodgers have been there for decades, LA is a basketball town at heart. Everything revolves around the Los Angeles Lakers and, to a lesser extent, the Los Angeles Clippers. Guys like Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul are the biggest sports stars Los Angeles has.

I wouldn’t say Kemp’s quest in life is to take the LA spotlight away from the basketball stars, but he can do wonders for the Dodgers organization by achieving the same level of fame as Kobe, Griffin, CP3, et al.

The good news for Kemp is that the stars are aligned for him to do just that, if he hasn’t already. He is now under the employ of Magic Johnson, one of the most beloved basketball players ever and a huge fan favorite in Los Angeles. Johnson wants to make Dodgers baseball great again. If he succeeds, he’ll force the people of Los Angeles into loving baseball just as much as they love basketball.

So far, so good. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Dodgers attendance is up from 36,052 people per game in 2011 to 38,663 people per game this season. Fans are coming out to the park to watch the Dodgers in greater numbers, and the attendance numbers could only get better and better now that the Lakers and Clippers are both done playing basketball this season.

Kemp is a classic example of an attendance-driver. He’s a superstar player who can do it all on the field, and he also happens to have an endearing personality (his high-profile dating history is very much a plus). He’d bring fans to the park in any city, but he just so happens to be playing in a city that loves its stars (no matter what they do for a living). It helps that Kemp has a kind of swagger perfectly suited for the city of Los Angeles.

And of course, it’s not all about bringing fans to the park. Kemp must put eyes on TV sets as well. It was, after all, television money that paid for his big contract (see Forbes), and people can see the face of the Dodgers franchise better on TV than they can at Dodger Stadium.

All Kemp has to do is what he’s been doing over the last year or so. He’ll keep hogging the spotlight as long as he keeps dazzling out on the diamond, and his legend is only going to grow bigger as the Dodgers win more and more ballgames.

In the meantime, business will keep booming for the under-new-management Dodgers, and baseball’s influence in the city of Los Angeles will get stronger and stronger.

Kemp is the right player in the right place at the right time.

Albert Pujols’ Place in Los Angeles

When the Angels signed Albert Pujols to a massive 10-year contract this offseason, the pay-off was immediate. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Angels sold over 5,000 season tickets immediately after the Pujols signing.

But here’s the rub: Despite those sales, attendance at Angels games is way down this season.

The Angels drew an average of just under 39,000 people last season. So far in 2012, they’re drawing an average of just over 34,000 fans. That’s roughly 5,000 fans a night that aren’t showing up this season, and that’s a discouraging sign for a team that committed over $300 million to free agents this offseason.

To put this in perspective, the Detroit Tigers signed Prince Fielder to a huge contract this offseason, and they’ve benefited from a very impressive attendance spike so far this season.

Pujols’ struggles early in the season didn’t help matters for the Angels. He didn’t hit a home run until May 6, and his bat didn’t really come alive until the Angels fired hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. Up until then, he wasn’t worth the price of admission.

Things are different now, but it may take some time for fans in Anaheim and Los Angeles to start trickling back to Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Perhaps the article Ellen Bell of The Orange County Register wrote urging Angels fans to come back will help.

It’s not entirely up to Pujols to draw fans to the park, but he can definitely help. He just needs to show people that he’s still one of the greatest players of his generation, and he needs to keep showing them that day after day.

And yes, just like with Kemp, Pujols needs to put eyes on TV sets. According to the Los Angeles Times, Pujols’ contract came largely thanks to a new $3 billion TV deal with Fox Sports. The Angels paid for a new franchise face, one that they could show off via their shiny new TV deal.

This is a somewhat of a new challenge for Pujols. He’s an excellent player and a great human being, but he’s never really had to worry about selling a ballclub. For lack of a better word, he was spoiled in St. Louis, as he got to play in front of baseball-crazy fans on a consistent basis. More often than not, he also had the luxury of playing on great Cardinals teams. He was the face of those teams, but he didn’t have to worry about converting anyone.

So if we can take it for granted (or at least imagine) that there is some kind of friendly competition between Pujols and Kemp, Pujols is at a significant disadvantage.

Before he can worry about conquering Los Angeles, Pujols must first conquer Anaheim. And right now, indications are that the locals aren’t impressed.

The Grand Conclusion

Between Kemp and Pujols, there should be little doubt that Kemp is the bigger star in the LA area, but this isn’t a very fair comparison to make. Kemp has had a following in Los Angeles for several years, whereas Pujols is the new guy in town who who doesn’t even play in town. He plays for that other team that likes to act like it’s an LA team.

Kemp’s star status obviously makes him a pretty important figure in the LA sports landscape, but there’s far more at stake when it comes to Pujols and his current situation. It’s on him to sell Angels baseball to a fanbase that has been surprisingly indifferent towards the team so far this season.

If he manages to do that, then he can worry about selling Angels baseball in Dodgers territory, where basketball and Matt Kemp are king. 

The only way he’s going to do that is by letting his bat do the talking. He needs to convince everyone that he is the star baseball attraction in Southern California.

He can do it, but I, for one, wish him luck. He faces a long, uphill climb, and he’s already off to a slow start.

If you want to talk baseball and/or basketball, hit me up on Twitter.

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What had been a dream season for the Los Angeles Dodgers thus far took a major blow on Monday, with news that MVP favorite Matt Kemp would be put on the disabled list because of a strained left hamstring. 

Going into Tuesday’s play, the Dodgers had the best record in baseball at 24-11 and the largest first-place margin among the six division leaders. Perhaps that six-game lead over an increasingly weak-looking NL West is enough of a cushion for the Dodgers to withstand two weeks without their best player.

However, even without that cushion, the Dodgers should be able to get by without Kemp in the lineup temporarily. Obviously, they’re a lesser team without him, and no club can enjoy sustained success with their best player on the DL. 

Several things have to go right for the Dodgers to continue winning games while Kemp is out. But these three factors are working in their favor and should keep Don Mattingly’s club on the right path until their MVP returns. 

Pitching’s Been the Key

The Dodgers have been winning on the strength of their starting pitching all season long. Chris Capuano, Ted Lilly and Clayton Kershaw are currently among the top 15 in ERA in the National League. And Chad Billingsley’s 3.32 ERA certainly isn’t bad either. 

In their first game without Kemp on Monday night, Kershaw pitched seven shutout innings with six strikeouts, holding the Arizona Diamondbacks to four hits.

Asking for that kind of performance every night is a bit much (though maybe not from the defending NL Cy Young Award winner). But with that kind of pitching, the Dodgers can still win some games even with a Kemp-less lineup.

Look at the other games in which Kemp hadn’t gotten a hit while trying to play with a sore hamstring.

Billingsley allowed two runs against the San Francisco Giants. In a three-game sweep over the Colorado Rockies, Capuano and Harang each gave up one run. Lilly gave up five (four earned) in his start, but the Dodgers were able to put 11 runs on the board to give him a win.

Teammates Are Picking It Up

No one is suggesting that Bobby Abreu is a suitable replacement for Kemp in the Dodgers’ lineup. But picking him up after he was released by the Los Angeles Angels is looking like a savvy move right now. 

Since joining the Dodgers, Abreu is batting .296/.345/.444 in 29 plate appearances with four doubles and four RBI. When Kemp was taken out of Sunday’s game versus the Rockies, Abreu came in and gave the Dodgers a lead with a three-run double. 

But the batters who were already regulars in the lineup have picked up their game while Kemp struggled.

In the five games during which Kemp was either hitless or out with injury, Andre Ethier hit 9-for-18 with three doubles, two homers and three RBI. Catcher A.J. Ellis went 6-for-13 with a triple, home run and four RBI. James Loney hit 7-for-16. 

Can the other batters in the Dodgers’ lineup keep up that kind of production? Their history says no, but if they can do so while Kemp is out, his absence won’t be quite so glaring. 

Schedule is Favorable

There don’t appear to be many great teams in the NL, so the Dodgers may not have run into one over the next couple of weeks anyway. But the schedule looks pretty kind to them while Kemp is out. After finishing a two-game set with the D-Backs, the Dodgers play a pair against the last-place Padres.

A weekend series versus the St. Louis Cardinals will be a test, but the defending World Series champs have lost four of their past five games and haven’t played much outside the NL Central. Going out west will be a challenged for them, as well. 

Next week, the Dodgers have three more games against the skidding D-Backs, a trio versus the Houston Astros and a four-game series with a Milwaukee Brewers team that’s still trying to find its footing. 

Looking ahead to June, the schedule gets tougher with a 10-game road trip that includes a four-game set with the Philadelphia Phillies. But Kemp should be back in the lineup by then. 

Follow @iancass on Twitter

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Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp is in the midst of his first real slump of the season. The MVP candidate is one for his last 11 and has yet to hit a home run in the month of May (25 at-bats).

Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers is as hot as anyone has ever been in the history of the sport. Over his last eight games, he is 14 for 32 (.438) with eight home runs and 15 RBI. Overall, Hamilton is hitting .407 on the season.

It was only a couple weeks ago that Matt Kemp was on top of the baseball world. There were countless articles about him being the best baseball player on the planet, and many stated the MVP trophy should be given to him now.

That was so last week, right?

Baseball fans, and the media for that matter, have a “what have you done for me lately” kind of attitude. Not only has Kemp cooled off a bit on the field, but all the chatter about the slugger faded this past week as well.

Kemp is a phenomenal baseball player, but you knew that. Fans need to tone down their expectations of him a bit.

In Kemp’s five full seasons, his highest batting average at the end of the year was .324 and that happened last year. Chances are he is going to continue to come back down to earth, but a sensational season is still on the horizon.

If there is anything disappointing at all about Kemp so far this season, it has been his lack of aggressiveness on the basepaths. He is just two for five in stolen base attempts, but he has also been dealing with a tight hamstring for the last couple of weeks.

It is going to be interesting to see how Kemp and Hamilton compare to each other as the season progresses. Let’s not forget that at the end of April, Kemp was hitting .417 with 12 home runs and 25 RBI, compared to Hamilton’s .395 batting average with nine home runs and 25 RBI.

Fans in Los Angeles and Texas are going to see Kemp and Hamilton comparisons continue for most of the season, especially if they are each near the top of the triple crown categories.

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Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers exploded Tuesday night, hitting four two-run home runs. He becomes the 16th player in baseball history to accomplish the feat.

Hamilton’s 5-for-5 night boosted his already strong batting average to a robust .406, and he has now compiled 36 RBI and 25 runs scored. 

With 14 home runs, Hamilton has now taken over the major league lead from Matt Kemp (12), who has not homered since April 30 against the Colorado Rockies.

Kemp and Hamilton are currently dominating their respective leagues, and each has a legitimate shot at winning the Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown is obviously very difficult to achieve, as it has not been accomplished since 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski hit .326 with 44 homers and 121 RBI.

Hamilton currently leads the AL with a .406 average, 14 homers and 36 RBI. If the season ended today, he’d win the Triple Crown.

Kemp, on the other hand, leads the NL with a .406 average and 12 home runs, but he is currently second in the league in RBI with 27—teammate Andre Ethier has compiled 30 RBI.

Although Kemp doesn’t currently have the lead in RBI, he has a better chance than Hamilton at winning the Triple Crown.

The American League has much better competition than the National League.

While Hamilton may end up with the most RBI, Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista and teammate Michael Young all have the capability of producing high batting averages.

Bautista will also challenge Hamilton for the home run title, even though he has started the season in a bit of a slump.

Kemp’s real competition in the three categories is Ryan Braun.

Kemp beat Braun in the NL MVP race last season and topped him in both home runs (39 to 33) and RBI (126 to 111).

Braun had the edge in batting average, though (.332 to .324).

Hamilton’s injury history could also play a factor in his ability to win the Triple Crown, as any time he misses due to injury will severely hurt his chances.

He has not played in 150 games since 2008 with the Rangers when he played 156, and his next best mark was 133 in 2010.

In the end, both superstars will put together strong seasons. Each player will be in the running for their respective league’s MVP award, but Kemp most definitely has the better chance of winning the prestigious Triple Crown.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are on fire through the first five weeks of the MLB season. A big reason for this success is because of Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw. 

However, as discussed on the “T.J. McAloon and the Sports Half Hour” with Gabe Zaldivar, we take a look at which Dodger would be missed the most if they went onto the disabled list. 

As a fan you never want to think about losing one of your best players for an extended period of time. However, as discussed on the show, Gabe and I take a look at the pros and cons of each player and what it would mean to the Dodgers if one of those players happened to fall onto the 60-day DL.  

Looking at their stats through the Dodgers’ first 26 games Kemp leads the team in four offensive categories, while Kershaw only leads the pitching staff in one category.  

If the Dodgers lost Kemp, they would be without their leader in: batting average, home runs, runs and on-base plus slugging. If something would happen to Kershaw, though, the Dodgers pitching staff would only lose their leader in strikeouts.  

However, talking about injuries isn’t the only thing that is discussed on the podcast. We also talk about what is up with Dee Gordon, Magic Johnson butchering Vin Scully’s name and the joys of eating a Dodger Dog. 

So, which player do you think the Dodgers could not afford to lose for an extended period of time? Would the team struggle more if they lost their best offensive player or the reigning Cy Young winner? 

Be sure to hit subscribe on the home page for instant downloads of future podcast shows. 

Follow @tjmcaloon

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On a night that saw Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg run onto the same major league field for the first time, it was Matt Kemp that once again put his stamp on the moniker of  “best player in the game.”

Strasburg was his normal dominant self over the course of seven innings, giving up a lone run while striking out nine Dodgers and walking none.

Harper, who earlier doubled during what was his MLB debut, hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning to put the Washington Nationals up 3-2.

After adding another run to make it 4-2, the Strasburg/Harper hype machine was warming up in the visitors’ locker room until the Dodgers opened the ninth inning with three consecutive hits, eventually tying the game when a wild pitch plated Dee Gordon.

Leading off the bottom of the 10th inning, Kemp promptly deposited the game-winning home run 420 feet over the center-field wall.

As he rounded the bases to the sound of Dodger Stadium chanting “MVP…MVP…MVP,” Kemp threw his helmet towards the sky in celebration before being mobbed at home plate by his teammates.

That home run not only sealed the fate of the Nationals on Saturday night, but it was also the continuation of Kemp staking claim to what is arguably one of the best starts to a season in MLB history.

Kemp is only one of three players to have ever hit .400 with 10-plus HR and 25-plus RBI in the month of April.

• 1970 Tony Perez (CIN): .455/10 HR/26 RBI
• 1997 Larry Walker (COL): .456/11 HR/29 RBI
• 2012 Matt Kemp (LAD): .417/12 HR/25 RBI

To begin this discussion, let’s work solely with those three historic April performances.

Extending Walker’s 1997 numbers further, he also produced more extra-base hits (18) and runs (29) than either Kemp or Perez. Based on the numbers, it would appear Walker had the best start to the season of this group.

Attempting to be some kind of voice of reason, we are eliminating Walker from the discussion based on the fact he played 11 of his first 23 games in hitter friendly Coors Field, also pre-humidor.

Left with a Perez vs. Kemp debate and including the runs and extra-base hit totals to the mix, Kemp clearly gets the edge, as his 16 extra-base hits and 24 runs scored are both more than the total Perez (12 XBH, 21 runs) accumulated in 1970.

Others could argue Perez’s higher on-base plus slugging (OPS) of 1.428 compared to Kemp’s 1.383 is more impressive than Kemp’s edge in the counting numbers.

The “greatest month of April” discussion begins and ends with the 2004 version of Barry Bonds.

He amassed what amounts to historic numbers to begin a season, hitting .472 with an OPS of 1.828.

Even though Bonds’ counting numbers of 10 home runs, 15 extra-base hits, 22 RBI and 21 runs are all slightly less than Kemp’s 2012 totals, it has to be taken in consideration that Bonds put up his totals while being intentionally walked an incredible 18 times.

Unfortunately, if Walker playing his home games in Coors Field is cause for elimination from this discussion, so has to be Bonds’ admittance of having taken steroids, albeit “unintentionally.”

All that circles us back around to the Perez vs. Kemp debate.

Personally speaking, my vote goes to Kemp. Maybe that’s because I was unable to watch Perez play on a daily basis, or maybe it’s because I perceive the pre-humidor days of Coors Field and the Bonds steroid scandal to hold too much negative weight.

Regardless of which April each of us thinks is the best—including the performances of Walker and Bonds—what we as baseball fans have witnessed over the past month has to be considered among the greatest starts to a season in major league history.

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I hate Matt Kemp.

As a diehard San Francisco Giants fan, I’m contractually obligated to hate the best player on the Los Angeles Dodgers and that is, most definitely, Kemp. Right now, the 27-year-old is the best player in Major League Baseball and the competition ain’t particularly close. So, with all due respect to Clayton Kershaw, Kemp is the finest specimen the Bums have to offer and has been for several years now.

For most of those years, it was easy to despise Rihanna’s ex.

But as the man said, no good thing lasts forever.

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Voting for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game is underway.  There is nobody more deserving of making the trip to Kansas City for the midsummer classic than Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp. 

Kemp has started this season right where he left off a year ago.  The Dodgers are off to a fabulous 11-3 start and there is no question that Kemp is the reason. 

Kemp entered the 2011 campaign as one of the most hated players in Los Angeles, and came out beloved.  People blamed his romance with singer Rihanna for his awful 2010 season, and fans wanted him out of Dodger blue.  He dedicated that offseason to perfecting all of his skills and came out a new man the next year. 

Kemp put together one of the most balanced seasons in baseball history, by finishing in the top-three in every single major offensive category in the National League.  He led the league in home runs, RBI’s and runs scored.  His 39 home runs and 40 stolen bases nearly put him in the exclusive 40-40 club, but they were enough to make him the first Senior Circuit player to end the year in the top-two in those two categories since Hank Aaron. 

He also played in every single one of the Dodgers 161 games (one was cancelled due to rain), which helped him extend his baseball leading streak to 365 (now 379).  As much as he scared pitchers, he frustrated opposing hitters with his defensive work, which helped him win his second Gold Glove Award. 

Kemp was completely robbed of the NL MVP Award, which went to Ryan Braun.  Braun might have finished ahead of Kemp in a few percentages, but he got help with those stats because he played in fewer games.  Furthermore, Braun had Rickie Weeks and Nyjer Morgan at the top of his lineup and another MVP candidate, Prince Fielder as his support the whole year.  Pitchers never needed to throw to him, as he had the likes of James Loney and Juan Rivera behind him for most of the year. 

Braun likely won the award because his team made the playoffs, but the MVP is an individual award and not a team honor.  There was also Braun’s failed steroid test, but I will ignore that for the sake of sanity.  Kemp congratulated Braun for winning the award and thought that he was more than deserving of the honor. 

Kemp used his second-place MVP finish as a piece of motivation for 2012.  During the offseason, he jokingly said that he had his eyes set on a “50-50” season.  After what he has done in the first few weeks of this season, Kemp might not have been joking. 

The Dodgers outfielder has put together one of the greatest starts to a season in Dodgers history.  Through the first 14 games, he has tied Wally Moon’s 51-year-old franchise record for the most home runs in that span, with eight.  It should also be noted that all of those homers have gone the other-way.  Kemp also leads the league with 20 runs batted in, 16 runs scored, and 26 hits.  His 1.000 slugging percentage and 1.525 OPS lead the league and are also tops in all of baseball.  While he sits just behind Davis Wright with a still stellar .481 batting average through 54 at-bats. 

It is far too early to really make any fair judgments about this season, but Kemp has sure got off to a great start and proven that he should have been last year’s NL MVP.   In 2010, Kemp was booed at Dodger Stadium, but this year he gets that same response on the road, which is a sign that he has reached the stardom. 

Even though the Dodgers have played 11 of their games this season against three of the worst teams in the league a year ago, Kemp has had to play most of those games in two of the toughest parks to hit in—Dodger Stadium and Petco Park.  He has been a monster fair and square, and nobody should make any claims that state otherwise.    

With voting for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game already underway, I would like to make sure that Matt Kemp is a part of every single voter’s ballot.  There is no saying what this unreal athlete can do now that he has let “beast mode” off of its leash.    

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With the possibility of Miguel Cabrera missing Opening Day due to an orbital bone fracture, fantasy owners at the top of drafts must ask one vital question:

Should I care that one of baseball’s most destructive forces might miss a few games so early in the season?

The short answer is yes…and no.

With the move to third base to accommodate Prince Fielder’s arrival to Detroit, a first base/third base-eligible Cabrera (projections: 33 HR, 109 RBI, 112 runs, .327 average) holds slightly greater value than Albert Pujols, Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun, Jose Bautista and Troy Tulowitzki.

But that’s a statement contingent on Miggy playing 150 or more games. With a range of only 135-149 (factoring in regular days off), Cabrera might not garner enough at-bats to overcome the 155-game projections of Pujols, Kemp, Braun, Tulo and Bautista. The razor-thin margins separating the Round 1 elite just aren’t that profound.

Bottom line: If Miggy isn’t a lock to return for Opening Day by March 28—the day the Athletics and Mariners start the season in Japan—I would drop him to the three-to-six range with little remorse.

On the flip side, if Cabrera (30 HR, 105 RBI, 111 runs, .344 BA in 2011) starts taking live batting practice before March 28, he’d automatically return to the top spot in mixed- and AL-only league rankings. Lucky for Tigers and fantasy fans everywhere, Miggy was wearing sunglasses for the bad hop of all bad hops.

Although, Tony Kubek might disagree with that hyperbolic assessment. (Old World Series joke wasted on young readers.)

Jay Clemons can be reached on Twitter, day or night, at @ATL_JayClemons.

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In 2011 four players hit 30 home runs and stole 30 bases. 

• Matt Kemp (39/40)
• Ryan Braun (33/33)
• Jacoby Ellsbury (32/39)
• Ian Kinsler (32/30)

Considering Ryan Braun will play at most 112 games this season, I don’t see him being a repeat offender. The speed will always be there for Ellsbury, but only 20 home runs in 1,688 plate appearances prior to 2011. I don’t buy another 30 home run season for Ellsbury. 

These are the guys you need on your fantasy roster in 2012 to capture the elusive HR and SB categories. 

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