LOS ANGELES _ As the Los Angeles Dodgers have crossed these United States this month, from Missouri to Wisconsin, to California and then through Ohio, Cody Bellinger hears the same question.
Home run derby, yay or nay?
There is a third option, one so audacious that few would dare attempt it. Bellinger has, with enviable success.
See, Bellinger doesn't need a batting-practice pitcher to go deep just about every night. He is turning the Dodgers schedule into his own home run derby.
He does not need to go to the actual derby to make people take notice of his slugging prowess. He makes people go back, back, back into the record books every time he circles the bases.
Bellinger hit two more home runs Monday, driving in four runs and powering the Dodgers to a 10-6 victory over the New York Mets. Justin Turner had four hits, including a home run, drove in four runs and lifted his batting average to .399.
For the second straight day _ this one in a game started by Clayton Kershaw, no less _ the Dodgers opened up a seven-run lead but could not complete the game without closer Kenley Jansen getting loose.
Chris Hatcher walked the bases loaded in the eighth inning, bringing Jose Reyes to the plate, representing the tying run. Reyes had homered twice against Kershaw. Hatcher struck him out.
Bellinger spotted the rest of the National League three weeks, and leads the league in home runs. He has 21, the first major league player to hit so many in the first 51 games of his career.
Mike Piazza holds the Dodgers rookie record with 35 home runs.
If he keeps hitting homers at his current pace, Bellinger would finish with 58.
The franchise record _ Brooklyn, Los Angeles, rookie, veteran, whatever _ is 49, by Shawn Green in 2001.
The franchise player on display Monday was Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young Award winner. The problem for Kershaw on this warm night was that the ball was flying for both teams.
For the first time in his career, Kershaw gave up four home runs. He has given up 17 home runs this season, a career high in a season not quite to the halfway point.
He started the seventh inning at 100 pitches. He did not finish the inning, yanked after Reyes took him deep for the second time in the game.
Kershaw walked off the field, stomped around the dugout, then kicked the bench with his right foot.
He gave up six earned runs, the first time he had done so in more than three years. He started the day leading the NL with a 2.23 earned-run average; he finished in second place at 2.61.
He made 112 pitches, the second-most in his 15 starts this season.
He also walked one and struck out 10, meaning the stuff was fine but the location was not, and the fly balls that might have otherwise been caught kept on going in the warm atmosphere.
Besides the home runs, the Mets went two for 20 against Kershaw, with no extra-base hits.
Bellinger brought a buzz to the evening. He homered in his first two at-bats and, if Scooter Gennett could hit four in a game, why not Bellinger?
In the fifth inning, Bellinger struck out, twice swinging from his heels.
In the seventh, he lined out.
In the eighth, in his final at-bat, he singled.
Before Bellinger's fourth at-bat, Dodgers co-owner and Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson tweeted his congratulations to the rookie.
Two home runs, the major league record for fastest to 21, and the NL lead in home runs? As Johnson is well aware, the two words that might best describe Bellinger at this point are these:
Big baller.
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