DENVER -- Go through the list of all-time Dodgers sluggers, from Duke Snider and Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges to Mike Piazza and Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green, and nobody has started a season like
The Dodgers have hit more homers than every team except Seattle, which opened the season early in Japan. The Rockies, who lost out on the NL West crown to the Dodgers last year in Game 163, have five.\n\nBellinger leads MLB in home runs. Platooned last year when he struggled against left-handed pitching, he isn't struggling this year. The home run came against lefty Tyler Anderson, and Bellinger is 6-for-16 against southpaws this year with two homers. Against left-handers last year, he had six homers and hit .226. \n \n\"It's confidence and being mechanically sound to a point where I'm able to go against different pitchers and know what I want to do,\" said Bellinger, who is batting .417 with a 1.364 OPS.
\n\nCheck out all of the photos from today on the #Dodgers Photoblog: https://t.co/6xTk87g6Sy pic.twitter.com/WoFR4B2Vxe
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 6, 2019
Just as telling is that Bellinger has only five strikeouts in 36 at-bats (14 percent). Last year he struck out in 27 percent of his at-bats.\n\n\"I don't think anybody expects to be like this,\" he said of the records. \"I was feeling good in Spring Training and just wanted to do what I could to carry it over to the regular season.\"
While Bellinger is breaking records, the team home-run rampage is evidence of what manager Dave Roberts promised, that the club would display consistency throughout the lineup.\n\n\"It's a tough lineup to navigate,\" Roberts said. \"It's good to see us after an off-day to continue to swing the bats well.\"
\"Everyone was feeling good in spring, everyone put in a lot of work in the offseason with our hitting coaches and feeling good and all the hard work is paying off for a lot of people,\" Bellinger said.\n\nMuncy came a double shy of a cycle, walking in his ninth-inning at-bat to finish 3-for-4 with three RBIs. He also lined into a double- play.\n\n\"Starting with the Freeway Series we started to make serious strides,\" said Muncy, who had a rough Spring Training, batting only .208 without a home run. \"The past couple games I've really felt good at the plate. It's one of those things where you have to stay focused on the process, not the result. In a sport that's solely based on results, sometimes it's hard to do that.\"
Despite the final score, there was a price paid in hitter-friendly Colorado, as winner