Dodgers Week 8 In Review: The Gap Gets Bigger

by Eric Stephen on May 31, 2009 9:41 PM PDT in Weeks/Months In Review Comment 2 comments

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Matt Kemp had a big week for the Dodgers, providing the club's only two home runs of the road trip.

Previous Weekly Recaps: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Dodgers started out the week on fire, scoring 31 runs in a sweep in Colorado, then split a four-game series in Chicago, giving the club a 5-2 record and yet another week in which they widened their division lead. Here are the Dodgers' division leads at the end of each week this season:

Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8
(1 GB)	up 1	up 2½	up 4½	up 4½	up 6	up 7½	up 8½

Dodger Batter of the Week: Matt Kemp ended May on a high note, hitting .407/.484/.630, with a couple of Bison Bombs at Wrigley Field.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: Eric Milton hadn't won a major league game since August 8, 2006, partially due to injury and partially due to ineffectiveness, but he rebounded with a vengeance this week, picking up two wins with two strong, control-laden starts on the road, walking only one in 10.1 innings.

Week 8 Record: 5-2
42 runs scored (6.00 per game)
25 runs allowed (3.57 per game)
.738 pythagorean winning percentage

Overall Seasonal Record: 35-17
287 runs scored (5.52 per game)
200 runs allowed (3.85 per game)
.673 pythagorean winning percentage

The Dodgers have the best record in baseball, the best run differential in baseball, have allowed the fewest runs per game, and are fourth in runs scored per game.

Manny Suspension Countdown: 23 games down, 27 games to go; 33 days until July 3 at Petco Park

Upcoming Week: The Dodgers return home to start a nine-game homestand. This week, they welcome the Diamondbacks to Dodger Stadium for three games, and the Phillies for four games. Hiroki Kuroda will make his return Monday night against Arizona.

Week 8 Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
Kemp	27	5	11	0	0	2	5	4	.407/.484/.630	1.114
Pierre	33	7	11	1	2	0	7	1	.333/.353/.485	.838
Martin	23	4	8	1	0	0	2	4	.348/.444/.391	.836
Blake	18	2	5	3	0	0	5	3	.278/.381/.444	.825
Furcal	12	2	4	0	0	0	1	2	.333/.429/.333	.762
Loney	31	4	10	2	0	0	6	2	.323/.364/.387	.751
Ethier	20	3	5	2	0	0	0	1	.250/.318/.350	.668
Hudson	27	5	7	0	0	0	4	6	.259/.394/.259	.653
Castro	16	4	6	0	0	0	3	1	.375/.412/.375	.787
Ausmus	6	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	.333/.429/.333	.762
Loretta	11	2	3	1	0	0	3	2	.273/.385/.364	.748
Hoffmann	9	1	1	1	0	0	3	0	.111/.091/.222	.313
Pitchers	16	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000/.059/.000	.059
Totals	249	42	73	11	2	2	39	27	.293/.364/.378	.742

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Milton	2	2-0	--	10.1	13	3	3	1	7	2.61	1.355
Wolf	1	1-0	--	7.0	6	1	1	1	7	1.43	1.000
Billingsley	1	0-1	--	7.0	8	2	2	2	7	2.86	1.429
Kershaw	1	1-0	--	6.0	4	3	3	4	4	4.50	1.333
Stults	2	0-1	--	7.1	9	8	8	9	5	9.82	2.455
Troncoso	3	0-0	1	5.0	5	0	0	4	6	0.00	1.800
Leach	3	0-0	--	2.2	0	0	0	2	2	0.00	0.750
Mota	2	0-0	--	2.0	3	0	0	0	2	0.00	1.500
Wade	2	0-0	--	2.0	0	0	0	1	2	0.00	0.500
Belisario	3	0-0	--	5.2	2	1	1	2	5	1.59	0.706
Broxton	2	0-0	--	2.0	1	1	1	3	4	4.50	2.000
Weaver	2	0-0	--	3.2	6	5	5	6	2	12.27	3.273
Ohman	2	1-0	--	0.1	1	1	1	2	1	27.00	9.000
Totals	7	5-2	1	61.0	58	25	25	37	54	3.69	1.557