Getting all thematic on the 2011 Dodgers

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Novels have themes. Movies have themes (unless maybe it’s ‘Country Strong’). Raising three teenage boys has a theme (does screaming to the heavens count?).

And good teams can have a theme. Maybe it’s a fast-break basketball team or a running football team or a slugging baseball team.

Something core to how they’re built, that unifies their approach to winning.

Anybody see a theme to this season’s Dodgers?

Must be in the subtext, because right now, they seem something of a mishmash. Some of this, some of that, not a great deal of anything in particular.

The Dodgers’ winning teams of the ‘60s were built around starting pitching and speed, which made them seem perfectly suited to then-cavernous Dodger Stadium. The ‘70s Dodgers added power to the mix.

These Dodgers don’t have an abundance of power or speed. They are not impressive defensively. Their team strength is starting pitching, or so they hope.

But a unifying method to winning is not obvious in the way this team was built, at least in the lineup. It’s General Manager Ned Colletti’s job to build the Dodgers into a winner. And it’s not as hard for him to identify the principal characteristic of these Dodgers.

‘I think in ’09 it was really pitching and defense, with a real solid offense that executed,’ Colletti said. ‘I still think that’s our best approach. Especially in this division.’

Certainly, a particular approach as to how a team wants to win is not completely necessary. The New York Yankees want to have it all, and usually do. Of course, they have a $200-million-plus payroll to prove it.

Last season, the Giants won with dominating starting pitching and very good defense. Offensively, they were mediocre in almost every category; they were last in all of baseball in stolen bases.

But with their pitching and a defense that had the fourth-fewest number of errors (73) in baseball, they won a World Series.

The Dodgers’ pitching is good but still doesn’t appear at the Giants’ level. And their defense is highly suspect.

‘I think in ’09 it was exceptional, and ’10 it faltered,’ Colletti said. ‘I think we’re better than we played last year, including defensively. I think there’s improvement to be had with who’s here. I think defense is sometimes contagious, being it good or be it bad.’

Exactly how do the Dodgers want to win, in what way? If there’s a theme, it’s a work in progress.

-- Steve Dilbeck