Dodger Stadium, the best place to hit as homefield!

[mtortolero]

The most weird thing this year is happening in front of us: Dodger Stadium, a traditional pitchers friendly park has become in one of the better places to hit.
Let me list how are doing each team home and away:
.....................Home............... Away.............Gap
...................Avg OPS........Avg OPS.........Avg OPS
LA Dodgers....296 .841.......254 .718...........052 .123
Cinncinati......273 .817.......243 .730...........030 .087
Colorado.......291 .815........249 .723..........042 .092
Arizona.........286 .812........250 .708..........036 .104
Philladelphia...270 .807........259 .774.........021 .033
Atlanta.........281 .800........257 .768.........024 .032
Pittsburgh......285 .776.......245 .687.........040 .089
Chicago.........279 .771.......259 .715.........020 .056
St.Louis.........275 .771.......265 .765.........010 .006
Milwaukee......256 .765.......256 .717.........000 .048
NY Mets........255 .765.......272 .795.......-.017 -.030
SF Giants.......270 .763.......252 .769.........018 -.006
Florida...........257 .760.......269 .767.......-.012 -.007
Washington....264 .757.......260 .763.........004 -.006
Houston.........250 .756.......257 .725.......-.007 .031
San Diego.......245 .703.......278 .792........-.033 -.089

Probably this list tell us a lot about how is playing baseball in the NL with lousy offensive teams as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati or Houston and great surprises as the best team away in San Diego. But for me the weird thing happening this year is Chavez Ravine becoming in a hitters place.
What happened to Dodgers Stadium?
BTW, oppsosite teams hit .264 and .740 in Dodger Stadium, which means Dodgers overmatched them at home by .032 avg and .101 OPS; however as visitors are the Dodgers overmatched by the opposite teams in .021 avg and .052 OPS.

[Mattingly]

What's the link to this article and stats presentation?

Since the vast majority of "away" games would be in other NL parks, does this indicate that Dodger Stadium isn't as pitcher-friendly as once thought? Are "sure fire longballs" being caught at the warning track?

I'm curious, has anyone ever conducted a study whereby opposing hitters hit better at Dodger Stadium than at home?

Sometimes I wonder why the "road offense" would be higher, since teams generally win more on the road. Perhaps because they know their own park better defensively, so that instead of winning, say, 7-5, they may win 4-2.

Just throwing out a few theories.

[mtortolero]

What's the link to this article and stats presentation?
.
Sorry about the presentation. I was fixing the post because columns were not aligned.
I got the stats directly from ESPN adding the gap between home and away:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?statType=batting&group=8&seasonType=2&type=type1&sort=OPS&split=34&season=2006

[Elvis]

Dodger Stadium used to have the most foul territory in the NL along with Candlestick. Since they added the Dugout Club and more recently, the Hollywood Bowl Boxes down the lines, the foul ground is very small now. The dugouts themselves are 16 ft closer to the diamond than they were before. I've seen dozens and dozens of foul pop-ups that have carried into the seats that a couple of years ago would've been caught for outs.

The outfield fences themselves haven't been altered since 1969.

It was a very hot and balmy summer here in Los Angeles with some very warm evernings, which is abnormal.

[Mattingly]

Sorry about the presentation. I was fixing the post because columns were not aligned.
I got the stats directly from ESPN adding the gap between home and away:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?statType=batting&group=8&seasonType=2&type=type1&sort=OPS&split=34&season=2006
Thanks for this. I always want to know the source of these things, so that viewers can see where they'd originated. If someone has a different interpretation of the stats, then they can look at something perhaps not seen by the original presenter. I just consider it to be "showing your hand" for your source, that's all. :)
Dodger Stadium used to have the most foul territory in the NL along with Candlestick. Since they added the Dugout Club and more recently, the Hollywood Bowl Boxes down the lines, the foul ground is very small now. The dugouts themselves are 16 ft closer to the diamond than they were before. I've seen dozens and dozens of foul pop-ups that have carried into the seats that a couple of years ago would've been caught for outs.

The outfield fences themselves haven't been altered since 1969.
I hadn't even considered foul territory as a part of the calculation into team offense. I always thought it was simply measuring the distances from home to LF, CF, RF, as well as the alleys between CF and the corners. I've heard people say, "There's a lot of foul territory there", but never considered that to factor in.

When you say there's been lots of foul balls that dropped into the stands that were previously caught, I'm guessing those were equally for home and road teams, right?

A related ballpark question: when the stat called "park factors" are calculated, that includes the offense of both home & road teams there, right? Does it measure (and thus include) the distance to the OF fences? Foul territory?

[Elvis]

I hadn't even considered foul territory as a part of the calculation into team offense. I always thought it was simply measuring the distances from home to LF, CF, RF, as well as the alleys between CF and the corners. I've heard people say, "There's a lot of foul territory there", but never considered that to factor in.

When you say there's been lots of foul balls that dropped into the stands that were previously caught, I'm guessing those were equally for home and road teams, right?



My bad. I thought we were talking about a stadiums themselves being either hitter-friendly or pitching-friendly.

[mtortolero]

This is the last four years home figures for LA Dodgers:
G Runs Avg OBP SLG R/G
2006 80 433 .293 .372 .464 5.34
2005 81 343 .248 .331 .399 4.23
2004 81 363 .260 .328 .417 4.48
2003 81 271 .238 .294 .373 3.34
2002 81 314 .252 .313 .356 3.87

Big jump this year.