One player the Dodgers won’t bring up to fill gaps is Yasiel Puig. It’s nice to dream of the day they do though… By Owen Main

When it came to the Dodgers of the past few years and even this year’s Lakers teams, my rants about injuries of players on my favorite teams have been pretty steadfast. In a nutshell, here’s my prevailing thought:

If you sign players who have a history of injury and pencil them in to play 90 percent of the games in a season, PLEASE don’t insult my intelligence and act completely surprised and taken off-guard when said players are injured and the season doesn’t go like you would have liked it to. (see Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, and a less recent baseball example: Rafael Furcal).

My point is always that if you have players like this on your roster, have a backup plan.

The Lakers of this past season had a hard time with a back-up plan for Steve Nash and Dwight Howard’s injuries. When Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol also went down, their chances went (in the words of the great Chick Hearn) “from slim to none. And Slim just left the building.”

Which brings me to this year’s Dodgers roster. One of the reasons why I bought into the “Whole New Blue” mantra was because these guys seemed to have a plan. Players were treated conservatively in the preseason and there seemed to be a solid, quality backup everywhere you turned.

Matt Kemp seemed to be getting healthier by the day. Carl Crawford was developing back into the Carl Crawford fans in Tampa Bay knew so well. Hanley Ramirez was on-track to get back from a World Baseball Classic injury that forced him to be out until April 29. The team had EIGHT starting pitchers to help account for any potential injuries. Yasiel Puig, Dee Gordon, Tony Gwynn Jr., Scott Van Slyke, Elian Herrera, and Justin Sellars are all players who have spent time in the minor leagues this season and, with the exception of Puig and Van Slyke, have significant major league experience.

The team had insurance policies on insurance policies, or so it seemed.

It started with the rotation.

First, Aaron Harang was traded. Who needs eight starting pitchers? Seven is more than enough. Then Zach Grienke went down (Carlos Quentin has been playing for weeks…). Then Chad Billingsley needed Tommy John surgery. And then there were five.

Chris Capuano was rushed into duty and looked all right, but then he got hurt, too. Ted Lilly came off the Disabled List and quickly returned to the trainer’s office after only a few starts. The mantra that you can never have enough pitching has proven true for the boys in blue, but that’s only been half the battle when it comes to injuries.

After only 12 plate appearances, Hanley Ramirez went back on the disabled list. Luis Cruz may as well have been injured for as much production as he’s given the Dodgers. Adrian Gonzalez injured his neck and Mark Ellis is now on the disabled list too.

Yes, the Dodgers still have Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford, sometimes Gonzalez, and Clayton Kershaw healthy and they don’t really have an excuse to be as bad as they’ve been.

At this point, when the team is forced to start a number of reliable utility players throughout the infield, this fan is willing to give them something of a pass.

They had quality back-ups, but having to play them all at once wasn’t in the plan. In the midst of getting swept by the Giants, the Dodgers started Juan Uribe, Nick Punto, Gordon, and Cruz in the infield. Cruz was probably the weakest option of the bunch and he’s the only one who was penciled in as a starter at the beginning of the year.

With a lineup like that, all Dodgers fans can do is wait and hope that time doesn’t run out on guys getting healthy. In this case, the injury bug really has been more like a plague.

Really? Who saw this one coming. Who could have ever known that an infield that includes 37 year-old Casey Blake, 33 year-old and oft-injured) Rafael Furcal, and 32 year-old (and out of shape) Juan Uribe wouldn’t be together for 162 games? By the time the season is over, the Doders would privately be happy with even 80 games together for the group.

For the last few years, owner Frank McCourt has not made any big free agent acquisitions with the exception of the dumpster fire that was Manny Ramirez’ contract. Instead, the Dodgers have openly touted a group of young players as the direction the team was headed. That included Russell Martin, Jonathan Broxton, Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Hong Chi Kuo, and Andre Ethier.

Knowing what we know now, the motivation for the focus on youth couldn’t possibly have been related to the fact that young players are cheap right? The Dodgers aren’t a cheap organization, are they? Not Frank McCourt…

While Kemp, Ethier, and Kershaw have turned themselves into very good players, the Dodgers have been patient — even to their detriment with players like Loney. While it was clear after a few seasons that Loney was not

Despite the purported Dodgers youth, they have the fifth-highest average age in the majors. Usually, teams that have high average ages are serious contenders. Teams at the top of the list tend to bear this out. The Red Sox, Yankees, and even the World Champion Giants are at or near the top of the list.

But not the Dodgers. Anyone who says they are serious contenders right now is crazy. Los Angeles is the second-oldest team under .500 in the majors and I don’t think that’s a place any team wants to be.

Talking about injuries to Casey Blake and Jay Gibbons, Bolch quotes Ned Colletti, Dodgers GM, as saying, “Those are unluck of the draw, I guess.”

Right, Ned. Who could have thought that guys in their mid to late 30’s could get injured during the season.

At a time when the Dodgers should be locking up players like Kemp, Loney, and Kershaw with long-term contracts, the Dodgers could see their best young stars become free agents and sign with other clubs during the next few years. If they lose some of those good “young” players, the Dodgers’ front office may talk about other factors they couldn’t control. Another team overspending is always a favorite excuse.

The point is that there are things the Dodgers could and should be doing now — and with a sense of urgency that is sorely lacking. Their roster is built to win now, but they’re not winning now. As currently constructed, their roster wasn’t going to get them to a World Series. So I guess I’ll take it as a blessing-in-disguise that injuries are allowing Dodgers fans to get a glimpse of Russ Mitchell, Jerry Sands, Javy Guerra, Kenley Jansen, and Rubby De La Rosa. If they’re going to be bad, at least these guys are getting a chance to show whether they can play every day at this level.

Already old, injured and not a very good team, things might have to get a whole lot worse at Chavez Ravine before they get better. The turnaround could take several years. And that’s just on the field…

On Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers pitching again held up their end. Chad Billingsley didn’t allow any runs through eight innings. Unfortunately, the scene was all-too familiar. Including the game in Colorado, I had seen the Dodgers score exactly zero runs through the first 17 innings I watched live this year.

I saw Juan Uribe swing at pitches I quit swinging at when I was 11 years old. I saw Matt Kemp thrown out trying to steal on Yadier Molina. I watched horrible at-bats from Rafael Furcal, Tony Gwynn, and even Andre Ethier. A few guys got to third base. Rod Barajas’ 400 foot foul ball in Colorado was the highlight through almost two games.

In the top of the ninth inning on Sunday, Jonathan Broxton brought my Dodgers happiness to rock-bottom. I hadn’t been high on them (in case you haven’t noticed), but I was about to reach a new low in watching them get shut out 3-0 and 1-0 in consecutive games I’d seen in-person.

Then Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp brought me back from the brink. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Ethier led off with a double. Not trying to do too much with the ball, Ethier drove it into the right field corner and hustled to second base. After a pitching change, Kemp continued his patient approach. After working the count in his favor, Kemp drove a pitch over the left-center field wall. All my frustration with the Dodgers, momentarily at least, vanished. I jumped around in circles in the aisles at Dodger Stadium and screamed like a girl. One swing. And all was well again.

And it was as hot as it looks...

It was as hot as it looks....

As Kemp came to the plate, the thought did cross my mind to take out my Droid and start videotaping the at-bat. I have done that in the past with no positive effect on what happened in the game. Instead of doing so, I put myself in the moment. Too often I’ve tried to record things only to have them come out worse than expected. And then I’m left with a compromised fan experience.

So I watched as Kemp hit his home run. And I wasn’t any less excited that I couldn’t show it to my readers- sorry folks. I’m sure you can see the highlight on MLB.com if you really want to. It was pretty awesome.

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But enough about the Dodgers. We are in my FAVORITE sports time of the year. March through the beginning of June. March Madness, the start of baseball season (with the promise of Spring), 40 games in 40 nights, the Kentucky Derby, the Indianapolis 500, the Masters, the NHL Playoffs, the beginning of MLS, and so many other great sporting events dominate evenings and weekend days.

Especially when you’re on the Central Coast, the option is always there to stay outside all day in the sun and then spend the evening relaxing with a cold beverage and enjoying some of the best sports times of the year. And I’m loving every minute of it. I’ll say it again- what a great time to be a sports fan.