Adrian Gonzalez has averaged a homer every 25.1 at-bats in his year and a quarter with the Dodgers. In Wednesday’s Game 5 victory, he hit his second and third in 35 postseason at-bats.
Carl Crawford hit a total of six homers in 435 at-bats in his first year with the Dodgers. On Wednesday, he hit his fourth in 39 postseason at-bats.
It was supposed to be Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig supplying the Dodgers with most of their power this month, but while Ramirez came up big in the NLDS, it’s been Gonzalez, Crawford and Juan Uribe combining for nine of their 11 homers overall. Ramirez hit his lone bomb in Game 2 against the Braves. A.J. Ellis hit the remaining homer in today’s Game 5.
Crawford is the bigger surprise. Of his six homers on the season, four game in April. He hit one in his final 328 regular-season at-bats. But Crawford had shown power in the postseason before, hitting two homers for the Rays in the World Series loss to the Phillies in 2008. Overall, he has seven homers in 122 postseason at-bats, or one every 17.4 at-bats. In the regular season, he’s hit a total of 124 homers in 6,050 at-bats, or one every 48.8 at-bats.
Both Gonzalez and Crawford were, of course, picked up from the Red Sox in last summer’s megadeal, with the Dodgers also getting Josh Beckett and Nick Punto in return for salary relief and prospects. It will be the go-to narrative if the Dodgers and Red Sox happen to advance to the World Series from here. The Red Sox have no one they acquired in the trade on their postseason roster, but they used all that freed up cash to sign free agents like Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, Stephen Drew and Jonny Gomes . The Dodgers didn’t get outstanding seasons from either Gonzalez or Crawford, but both were solid enough and they’re making a bigger impact now. Neither team has any regrets at this point.
