This train is picking up some momentum

Ever since Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez picked up their shovel and started pouring coal into the furnace of the Dodger train, the locamotive has been picking up momentum.

The already-surging Dodgers could get another boost when Matt Kemp returns. By Owen Main

It seems like yesterday that the Dodgers were mired in last place, Puig was in Chattanooga, and the outlook seemed bleak. As of yesterday morning, the team was 9 games above .500, 27-6 over their past 33 games. They are 3 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks and 11 games up on the last-place Giants. If this isn’t blue heaven, I don’t know what is.

To turn a turd into something positive, their potentially best player has been on the disabled list for most of their run. If Matt Kemp comes back healthy, this lineup could be devastating.

The clubhouse is as good as the team is playing right now. Veterans like Clayton Kershaw, Zack Grienke, Mark Ellis, Jerry Hairston, A.J. Ellis and Skip Schumaker must be doing something right. Their experience mixed with the youthful exuberance of players like Puig are creating a combination tastier to Dodger fans than ice cream out of a blue helmet on a hot summer day.

Yes, there are still a lot of games to be played. Yes, this team is quite capable of losing 12 out of 15 games and dropping back into a battle for the NL West. But I’m going to be an optimist here. I said earlier in the year that I thought the National League West winner would win 90-93 games. I stand by that. As of this morning, the Dodgers sit at 8 games above .500 (57-49). That would get them 85 wins on the season. To win 90 games, you have to be 18 games above .500. With 56 games left to play this year, the Dodgers would have to go 33-23 the rest of the year. I think this train has enough to get over the hill this year. I think they can, I think they can… .

Do you?