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It is an odd coupling, no question, the stern no nonsense Jeff Kent batting third  ahead of the the happy-go-lucky Manny Ramirez. It’s a strange, oil-an-water mixture in the clubhouse for sure, but on the field it has been gold for the Dodgers, and the combination is leading LA’s offensive resurgence.

While Manny is bashing home runs at a pace not seen by a Dodger since Adrian Beltre’s contract inspired year in 2004, it is the old man who is getting on base seemingly every time he steps to the plate and making those home runs count. Since Ramirez’s arrival, Kent has a very impressive triple stat line of .409/.458/.568 (Avg/OB%/Slug%).

Not bad for a guy who headed into August seemed intent on proving his doomsayers correct as his productivity had fallen so low that for the first time in his career, Kent was ranked near the bottom of nearly every offensive category relative to other starting second basemen (and was arguably the worst everyday cleanup hitter in baseball).  Kent had a few hot streaks over the course of the season, but they were all overshadowed by longer cold ones.

Things had started, slowly perhaps, to turn around for Kent earlier in July, but then Manny came to town and ignited a fire not only under the fans, but also under the ornery veteran.  The Dodgers needed someone to hit in front of Manny and get on base, and Kent has stepped up, meeting and surpassing the challenge.

Jeff Kent has one more chance to win a world championship and must know that getting Manny has increased the odds dramatically in his favor.  He’s certainly playing like it.

This is not typical.  40 year old second basemen do not normally make an impact.  It’s a position- a game, for that matter, skewed to the young.  Rarely does someone of Kent’s age get to play every day, let alone play and thrive.  Since Jackie Robinson broke down the color barrier, 40 has been a tough number for even the best at Kent’s position. HOFer Ryan Sandberg didn’t have a good year after the age of 33 and retired at 37.  Sweet Lou Whitaker was still stroking at age 38 but he decided to hang it up before his production embarrassed his legacy. Bobby Grich, the great Angel second baseman, never had more than 400 ABs after turning 36. Only HOFer Joe Morgan was able to post an OPS+ greater than 100 at age 40.

It’s not just the old timers, either. Future HOF Craig Biggio last cracked an OPS+ of 100 at age 38 and then watched it plummet to 84 at age 39 and then tumble to a dismal 71 before he retired.

Jeff Kent is hoping to rewrite history and show that he is a unique talent capable of defying the inevitable decline.  Last season, he posted the greatest offensive season ever for a 39 year old second baseman since integration, and if he can keep up this pace just might do the same in the 40 year old category.  He’s been the best offensive player at his position of his era.  As we near the end of 2008, Kent has 982 extra base hits and has 1000 in his sites. Only two other second basemen had over 1,000 extra base hits, and they only accomplished that goal while playing over 500 games at other positions.

Yours truly wrote last November that Kent might see a steep drop in his offensive numbers (which were already on the decline, it’s worth noting) and that the Dodgers might very well be better off with a second baseman better on both sides of the ball, who wasn’t a disruptive force in the clubhouse.  Many fans including the main author of the Dodger Blog TrueBlueLA told me I was wrong, and that the Dodgers in 2008 would need Kent’s bat.

Turns out we were both right.

Kent was remarkably unproductive for a player of any age, but now he has found (maybe for the last time?) another reserve in the reservoir of talent that has served him over the course of his career.  For the Dodgers to win the NL West, they will indeed need a productive Kent to help drive the offense, one bent on re-writing history and proving that sometimes precedent has to take a back seat.

So far in August he is doing exactly that.

Phil Gurnee is a host at TrueBlueLA.com, and a lifelong Dodgers fan.  

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