"On the Dodgers' last road trip of 2010, with his team long since eliminated from playoff contention and his own season mired in underachievement, Matt Kemp stood in a clubhouse in Denver and promised better things.

Forty home runs and 40 stolen bases, to be precise.

"I've got to pay back the fans," Kemp said then. "... They've been mad at me all season. I've got to do something for them, something special."

As the Dodgers near the midpoint of the 2011 season, it appears Kemp knew what he was talking about. He hit his 20th home run on June 12 -- the earliest date a Dodger player has ever reached that milestone. He also has stolen 16 bases and is among the league's batting leaders at .331, with 20 home runs and 57 RBI, after Friday's game.

"This is one of the best starts I've seen in our league, in every facet of the game, period," Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker, a Riverside native and former Dodger, said when his team was in town last week. "He may be the best player in the game right now."

Kemp's own manager is thinking in similar terms.

"You've got to talk about him when you talk about the best player in the league," Don Mattingly said, "because of all the things he does. ... He's kind of doing everything you ask of a guy."

In doing all that, is Kemp driven by his prediction of last September?

Well, no. Asked about that prediction last week, Kemp not only did not remember it, but seemed doubtful it had happened."