Dodgers September In Review: Saving The Best For Last
by Eric Stephen on Oct 5, 2009 10:12 PM PDT
in Weeks/Months In Review
11 comments
The Dodgers had another solid month, not letting a slide in the final week prevent them from accomplishing their goals. By finishing with a pair of wins, the Dodgers ended up 17-13 for the month, winning the National League West and securing home field advantage in the NL playoffs with the best record in the league.
For the second straight month, the Dodgers wrestled with Pythagoras, posting a winning percentage well under their expected win-loss record based on their runs scored and allowed. In August, they posted a .630 pythagorean win percentage while finishing 14-15. During the September/October period, they were 17-13, despite a .624 expected winning percentage. Over their last two months, the Dodgers had an expected record of 37-22, and an actual record of 31-28.
For the first time all season, the Dodgers didn't get much production from their outfield. Manny was ordinary, if not a tad unlucky, with a .218/.384/.449 line for the month, while Andre Ethier (.729 OPS) and Matt Kemp (.637 OPS) produced well below their seasonal norms.
Dodger Batter of the Month: Rafael Furcal got the job done, hitting .300/.400/.491 with 21 runs scored for the "month." A healthy and productive Furcal at the top of the lineup could do wonders in the playoffs.
Dodger Pitcher of the Month: Clayton Kershaw sat out a lot of the month, nursing a right shoulder injury, but when he pitched he made it count. Kershaw threw 18 innings, had a 1.50 ERA, and struck out 21 batters for the month. In game 161, he threw six superb innings, striking out 10 batters without allowing a run, keeping the Dodgers in the game in what beame their division clinching game.
September Record: 17-13 (.567)
145 runs scored (4.83 per game)
110 runs allowed (3.67 per game)
.624 pythagorean winning percentage (19-11)
| September NL West Standings | |||||
| Club | W-L | Pct | GB | RS | RA |
| Rockies | 20-11 | .645 | --- | 150 | 133 |
| Padres | 18-11 | .621 | 1 | 121 | 104 |
| Dodgers | 17-13 | .567 | 2½ | 145 | 110 |
| Giants |
16-15 | .516 | 4 | 127 | 115 |
| Diamondbacks | 10-20 | .333 | 9½ | 188 | 156 |
Overall Record: 95-67 (.586)
780 runs scored (4.81 per game)
611 runs allowed (3.77 per game)
.610 pythagorean winning percentage (99-63)
| Final NL West Standings |
|||||
| Club | W-L | Pct | GB | RS | RA |
| Dodgers | 95-67 | .586 | --- | 780 | 611 |
| Rockies | 92-70 | .568 | 3 | 804 | 715 |
| Giants | 88-74 | .543 | 7 | 657 | 611 |
| Padres |
75-87 | .463 | 20 | 720 | 782 |
| Diamondbacks |
70-92 | .432 | 25 | 638 | 769 |
Favorite Game of the Month: That would be True Blue LA Night at Dodger Stadium, which also happened to be the division clincher. A great time was had by all. Details here, here, and here.
Previous Monthly Reviews: April | May | June | July | August
September Stats
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SB/CS | BA/OBP/SLG | OPS | wOBA |
| Blake | 47 | 14 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 0/0 | .362/.474/.553 | 1.027 | .449 |
| Furcal | 112 | 21 | 37 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 6/1 | .330/.400/.491 | .891 | .395 |
| Loney | 101 | 17 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 13 | 0/1 | .317/.391/.455 | .847 | .363 |
| Manny | 78 | 14 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 0/0 | .218/.384/.449 | .833 | .360 |
| Ethier | 104 | 15 | 23 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 19 | 13 | 0/1 | .221/.325/.404 | .729 | .320 |
| Hudson | 66 | 4 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 1/0 | .227/.354/.364 | .718 | .309 |
| Martin | 87 | 11 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 2/0 | .207/.327/.345 | .672 | .296 |
| Kemp | 116 | 18 | 26 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 6 | 6/1 | .224/.266/.371 | .637 | .279 |
| Starters | 711 | 114 | 185 | 33 | 7 | 23 | 100 | 98 | 15/4 | .260/.357/.423 | .781 | |
| Belliard | 73 | 12 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 6 | 1/0 | .356/.405/.616 | 1.022 | .440 |
| Hu | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | .400/.333/.600 | .933 | .358 |
| DeWitt | 17 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0/0 | .294/.316/.588 | .904 | .369 |
| Ausmus | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/0 | .333/.400/.333 | .733 | .338 |
| Mientkiewicz | 13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/0 | .308/.400/.308 | .708 | .334 |
| Pierre | 57 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 7/2 | .228/.302/.333 | .635 | .295 |
| Loretta | 19 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0/1 | .263/.250/.368 | .618 | .234 |
| Thome | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0/0 | .235/.235/.235 | .471 | .210 |
| Ellis | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | .167/.167/.167 | .333 | .149 |
| Castro | 15 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | .133/.133/.133 | .267 | .119 |
| Repko | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1/0 | .000/.000/.000 | .000 | .140 |
| Bench | 236 | 29 | 65 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 33 | 15 | 9/3 | .275/.316/.415 | .732 | |
| Pitchers | 53 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0/0 | .094/.158/.094 | .192 | |
| Totals | 1000 | 145 | 255 | 45 | 10 | 28 | 135 | 116 | 24/7 | .255/.338/.404 | .742 | .326 |
| Pitcher | G | W-L | Sv | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | WHIP | FIP |
| Kershaw* | 3 | 0-1 | -- | 16.0 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 1.69 | 1.125 | 2.15 |
| Padilla* | 6 | 3-0 | -- | 32.1 | 30 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 32 | 3.34 | 1.237 | 3.68 |
| Garland | 6 | 3-2 | -- | 36.1 | 37 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 26 | 2.72 | 1.266 | 3.74 |
| Kuroda | 5 | 3-2 | -- | 29.0 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 24 | 2.79 | 1.103 | 3.92 |
| Billingsley* | 5 | 0-3 | -- | 28.0 | 25 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 29 | 4.82 | 1.357 | 4.34 |
| Wolf | 5 | 2-1 | -- | 31.1 | 23 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 20 | 3.16 | 1.021 | 4.39 |
| Starters | 30 |
11-9 | -- | 173.0 | 151 | 76 | 61 | 55 | 148 | 3.17 |
1.191 |
3.84 |
| Broxton | 14 | 0-1 | 7 | 13.2 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 21 | 1.98 | 0.878 | 0.52 |
| Kershaw* | 1 | 0-0 | -- | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0.00 | 0.500 | 0.66 |
| Weaver | 5 | 0-0 | -- | 7.1 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 4.91 | 2.045 | 1.52 |
| Mota | 4 | 0-0 | -- | 3.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5.40 | 1.500 | 1.65 |
| Sherrill | 15 | 1-0 | -- | 12.1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 0.73 | 0.811 | 2.10 |
| Padilla* | 1 | 0-0 | -- | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.00 | 0.500 | 2.66 |
| Troncoso | 12 | 1-2 | 1 | 10.1 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 3.48 | 1.935 | 2.67 |
| McDonald | 9 | 1-1 | -- | 10.2 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 3.38 | 1.500 | 2.78 |
| Kuo | 11 | 1-0 | -- | 10.1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2.61 | 0.968 | 3.05 |
| Belisario | 16 | 2-0 | -- | 13.0 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 1.38 | 1.231 | 3.07 |
| Elbert | 10 | 0-0 | -- | 4.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5.79 | 1.714 | 3.15 |
| Haeger | 3 | 0-0 | -- | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.00 | 0.750 | 3.16 |
| Billingsley* | 1 | 0-0 | -- | 1.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10.80 | 3.600 | 14.56 |
| Relievers | 30 | 6-4 | 8 | 94.0 | 81 | 34 | 28 | 41 | 104 | 2.68 | 1.298 | 2.47 |
| Totals | 30 | 17-13 | 8 | 267.0 | 232 | 110 | 89 | 96 | 252 | 3.00 |
1.228 |
3.36 |
*The pitching stats of Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, and Vicente Padilla were split into their starting and relieving duties.
Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs for help with the data.
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Kershaw
Maybe Kershaws injury will turn out to be a blessing. A little rest at the end of the season can work in his favor. He certainly didn’t seem to be rusty
by David in Florida on Oct 6, 2009 4:47 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I'd have gone with Belliard as hitter of the month
he had many more key hits then Rafy did and that .616 slug% in 78 at bats was fun to watch.
Some very nice pitching in Sept from the rotation. Those numbers from Kuroda will be missed in the playoffs.
by meercatjohn on Oct 6, 2009 8:17 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
I think I had a brain fart on that one. Oh well. Belliard can channel his anger into a few playoff bombs :)
by Eric Stephen on Oct 6, 2009 8:35 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I wonder if that is the lowest batting average in a month for Manny ever. Probably not but .218 is pretty bad for him.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
by Phil Gurnee on Oct 6, 2009 8:59 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Bob Brenly was on “Mason & Ireland” yesterday, and claimed Manny was purposely letting fat pitches go by trying to bait the Cardinals into throwing more fastballs. I don’t buy it, but it would be awesome if that were true.
by Eric Stephen on Oct 6, 2009 9:06 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
If that were true, his plan would work for about one at-bat. :)
by Tripon on Oct 6, 2009 9:08 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
It does seem weird how he went from striking out every PA
to hitting the ball hard almost every at bat in one night.
But probably the more rationale explanation is that he is Manny Ramirez and had a bad night. I think every Dodgers and Red Sox fans fully expects Manny to have a big post season, because we just don’t know that there is any alternative.
by Dodger Dude on Oct 6, 2009 9:14 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I might go with Blake
He got the offense going again after recovering from his days out, but Belliard and Furcal did well, hopefully they keep it going.
I think Pythagoras hates us because we don’t have enough home runs and our pitching staff is too good. Too many good innnings scoring multiple runs making blowouts and very few blowouts against us even when we throw the bottom of the barrel out there (don’t count the Pirates).
What happened to Arizona, you know the team that was “supposed” to win the division? (I kept on scratching my head on that one) It wasn’t even close. What is up with the Padres pitching and is it sustainable?
Having two really great pitching clubs to play against in the division will be tough (but maybe are hitters will get better at hitting tough pitchers) if the Padres keep it up.
by Dodger Dude on Oct 6, 2009 9:11 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs
Pythag likes the Dodgers.
According to Pythag, the Dodgers should have 5 more wins then they do.
by Tripon on Oct 6, 2009 9:24 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think Pytahgoras is the baseball God who punishes teams by making them have inferior results than they theoretically "should" have because they haved done something to anger him.
It either Pythagoras, luck, or we are just not that good at applying math to baseball.
by Dodger Dude on Oct 6, 2009 9:30 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs
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