After three years of failing to meet his full potential for various reasons and cultivating a reputation for being somewhat hard-headed and uncoachable, Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp has been much more open since the start of spring training to the hitting approach coach Don Mattingly has been trying to get him to adopt.
The result has been amazing. Kemp went 3-for-5 with a double and two home runs, one of them a grand slam, in Sunday's demolition of the Colorado Rockies. He has now hit safely in all 13 of the Dodgers' games this season, the longest hitting streak to start a season by a Dodgers player in, well, one year (James Loney hit in 15 in a row in 2008).
"I know he talked to Donnie over the winter about certain things that had to change," manager Joe Torre said. "It was basically about trying to stay in the zone a little bit longer swinging the bat. This kid needs to hit the ball to right-center and left-center, through the middle. Last year, he saw a lot of pitches where he took the approach of just see the ball and swing at the ball."
Kemp is hitting .383 for the season, with a .434 on-base percentage and a .723 slugging average. He has struck out 12 times in 53 plate appearances, an average of once every 4.4. That is down slightly from last year, when he struck out once every 4.3 times he stepped into the box.
DODGERS 14, ROCKIES 2: The Dodgers continued their recent offensive surge, completing a three-game sweep in which they outscored the Rockies 27-10. Matt Kemp (five), Andre Ethier (three) and Orlando Hudson (three) drove in 11 of the Dodgers' runs. Manager Joe Torre declared it a "bullpen day" before the game, but reliever Scott Elbert went 2 1/3 innings in relief of James McDonald, allowing the Dodgers to get through with just three pitchers.
The 14 runs were the team's highest at home since Sept. 2, 2006, also against the Rockies.
