Dodgers Need Kemp To Win

Hopefully Kemp and the Dodgers
will have reason to smile in
2011.

The 2009 season seems so long ago, yet, not so far away for Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp.

During the '09 campaign Kemp, 26, put together his best big league season by posting a .297 average with 26 home runs and reaching the century mark for the first time in his career, driving in 101 runs.

While being productive at the plate, winning his first career Silver Slugger, Kemp was also among the game's elite on defense, capturing his first Gold Glove.

He showed he could rise to the occasion and play at his best when the pressure was at its highest, homering off St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, helping the Dodgers advance to their second straight NLCS.

2010 came with high expectations for Kemp and seemed as if he could become only the fifth member to join the exclusive 40/40 club in Major League Baseball history.

With that came a lot of pressure and disappointment.

Despite Kemp seting a career-high in home runs with 28, every other offensive category dropped off significantly from his previous season totals. Kemp's average dipped all the way down to .259 with an on-base percentage of .310. After stealing a career high 34 bases in 42 attempts in '09, Kemp's base-running also took a hit, being caught stealing 15 times in only 34 attempts. Most people around baseball even thought Kemp took a step back defensively.

Whatever happened last year, Kemp is determined to put it behind him and live up to the expectations the Dodgers have set for him, losing 16 pounds by cutting ice cream out of his diet. There was a different type of energy with the club this spring, an energy not felt not since Joe Torre's first year as manager back in 2008.

Kemp enjoyed a wonderful spring, launching five home runs and hitting .290. The Dodgers and rookie skipper Don Mattingly will need Kemp to rebound if they want to capture their third NL West title in four years.

So far the season looks promising for Kemp and Co. beating the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants on Opening Night, 2-1. Kemp went 1-for-1, scoring both Dodger runs and drawing a career-high three walks in a game.