Weiss offers praise for Dodgers' Hanley

LOS ANGELES -- As fans entered Dodger Stadium and were presented giveaway Yasiel Puig T-shirts on Sunday, Rockies manager Walt Weiss' focus instead was on the Dodgers shortstop.

"Everyone talks about Puig, but [Hanley] Ramirez is as big as anybody on that club," Weiss said. "Him being out there every day is huge for them."

Since Ramirez was reinstated from the disabled List on June 4, the Dodgers are nine games over .500 entering Sunday and climbed to second place in the National League West.

In that timeframe, Ramirez is hitting .389 and has an on-base percentage of .444.

While the Dodgers recent resurgence has garnered a lot of attention and taken the baseball world by storm, Weiss said their presence in the NL West race is not unexpected.

"They're a talented club," Weiss said. "They dealt with some injury issues early, got off to a slow start. They struggled in the first month or so, but they got healthy. They added Puig and Ramirez is healthy now. He's the piece that I don't hear a whole lot about."