Whicker: Dodgers' fate rests with quirky, resurgent bullpen

2013-07-15 20:52:33

LOS ANGELES – Chris Withrow was stuck in Chattanooga longer than the Choo Choo.

Paco Rodriguez rolled through the minor leagues like a tour bus.

Jose Dominguez might be the major league leader in mph per pound.

Kenley Jansen was a catcher until 2009.

J.P. Howell throws the slowest of the group but had the most furious fists when the Dodgers brawled with the Diamondbacks.

Ronald Belisario has been suspended more often than Harold Lloyd, but always pitches his way back to relevance.

And Brandon League, the most likely to pitch big ninth innings when the season began, might be the least likely at the All-Star break.

A typical major league bullpen is a sock drawer, with leftovers and outliers from everywhere. The Dodgers' chances of winning the National League West seem much better, now that they've organized theirs.

"The bullpen is a big key in the second half, always," said General Manager Ned Colletti. "When your starters get a little tired and can't give you the length they've been giving you, you need to have a lot of guys down there."

This bullpen was supposed to be a Dodgers bullet point in the spring. But it hasn't been a good year for assumptions. The Dodgers were definitely going to hit, remember, but how would they handle eight starting pitchers? By June they were dealing for Ricky Nolasco because those eight were down to four.

After Yasiel Puig sprinted into the Dodgers' life, Colletti and Manager Don Mattingly sat down with Puig, Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier and explained how a four-outfielder system would work.

"And those four are now down to one," Mattingly said a week later.

So it's all written in water. Nevertheless, at this very moment, the Dodgers' bullpen mound has become a speed bump.

The 160-pound Dominguez regularly throws 100 mph, but, in the minors, was instructed to use off-speed stuff every other pitch. Now he has a wicked speed differential, as long as his frame can handle his G-forces.

Jansen, League, Belisario and Withrow live in the mid- to high-90s, and Rodriguez, drafted by the Dodgers only 13 months ago, throws in the low 90s with movement and variety.















Contact the writer: mwhicker@ocregister.com

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