The Horror of American League Parks

by Eric Stephen on Jun 11, 2009 3:00 PM PDT in Research Comment 9 comments

U.S. Cellular Field is one of three AL parks the Dodgers will try to conquer this month.

Since the beginning of the 2005 season, the Dodgers have played 33 games in American League ballparks. They have won only five of those games. They haven't been terribly unlucky either. They have scored 100 runs (3.03 per game) and given up 190 (5.76 per game), so their pythagorean record is only two games better, at 7-26. They have only had five one-run games, and they've lost them all.

They have been victimized by a vengeful Jose Lima, ran into Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano at their peaks in Minnesota, been bested by Mark Buehrle on the South Side, had their asses handed to them by Roy Halladay north of the border, lost to former farmhand Edwin Jackson in St. Petersburg, and been demonized by many Angels in Anaheim.

Part of the reason for this awful stretch has been poor starting pitching. In those 33 fateful games, Dodger starting pitchers have lasted 5.74 innings per start, which is decent enough, but they have a 5.61 ERA and a 1.468 WHIP.

The bigger problem is the Dodgers' utter inability to fill the designated hitter role with any production. Over this dreadful period, Dodger designated hitters are "hitting" .203/.266/.289, with one home run (by Luis Gonzalez) in 33 games. The chief culprit has been Olmedo Saenz, who has started 14 of the 33 games at DH, but he has been joined by such luminaries as Juan Pierre, Marlon Anderson, Antonio Perez, Kenny Lofton, Mark Sweeney, and Andruw Jones.

Here's a quick rundown the Dodgers' last 11 interleague road series.

Year	Opponent	W	L	Comment
2008	Detroit	0	3	The low point of 2008; the Kershaw rain start
2008	Angels	1	2	At least they won one
2007	Tampa Bay	1	2	The revenge of Edwin Jackson
2007	Toronto	2	1	Only series win; Chad Billingsley rejoined the rotation for good
2007	Angels	0	3	Dodgers scored 4 runs in 3 games
2006	Angels	1	2	This snapped a 15-game AL road losing streak
2006	Minnesota	0	3	Johan and the peak of Liriano
2006	Oakland	0	3	Included a 17-inning loss
2005	Angels	0	3	Dodger starters went 7 each game; still got swept
2005	White Sox	0	3	Two last-AB wins for Chicago, including a 4-run 9th off Brazoban
2005	Royals	0	3	The Lima Game II
Totals		5	28	The Dodgers are due

This year's AL gauntlet takes the Dodgers to Texas and Anaheim during the next two weekends, followed by Chicago to play the White Sox from June 23-25. But this year's Dodger team has been the best team in baseball so far. They have met just about every challenge thus far, so how about some wins in an AL park, huh?

0 recs | Comment 9 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Can we pitch in Arlington

we have our best three pitchers going (Kuroda, Wolf, Chad). They are missing Hamilton, we are missing Manny.

WE CAN DO IT

Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen

by Phil Gurnee on Jun 11, 2009 3:43 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Derek Lowe started 8 of the 33 games, and the club was 1-7 in those starts as Lowe had a 5.85 ERA.

Penny was next with 6 starts, and the club was 2-4 in those starts (the last of which Penny was already done, in Detroit last year)

by Eric Stephen on Jun 11, 2009 3:49 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

And now they are gone

So basically this Aaron Miller is what we got for Lowe. Not a big fan of players with the first name of Aaron. If you throw out anyone who hit 300 home runs, whose first name has hit the most home runs.

Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen

by Phil Gurnee on Jun 11, 2009 3:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was just playing off the “our best pitchers are going” theme. Lowe & Penny were our best pitchers, mostly, during this run, and even they got their asses handed to them.

by Eric Stephen on Jun 11, 2009 4:05 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs