On July 22, the Manny Bobbleslam win gave the Dodgers their fifth straight win, and provided them with a nine-game cushion in the NL West. Since then, the Dodgers have a 13-18 record, despite outscoring their opponents, 129-119. Even if we remove the 17-4 drubbing of the Brewers (which I don't believe we should), the club, given their run differential, should have split 30 games instead of winning 12.
The pitching has been outstanding, posting a 3.45 ERA over the last 31 games. The Dodgers have given up more than four runs only eight times during that span, and they are 0-8 in those games. Still, pitching hasn't really been the problem over the last month or so.
The Dodgers have been absolutely wasting this good pitching. The offense simply hasn't been pulling its weight. From July 24 to present:
Player | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SB/CS | BA/OBP/SLG | OPS |
Ethier | 122 | 20 | 45 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 25 | 16 | 1/0 | .369/.458/.639 | 1.097 |
Blake | 107 | 18 | 32 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 1/1 | .299/.366/.514 | .880 |
Kemp | 121 | 18 | 35 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 23 | 5 | 7/2 | .289/.313/.488 | .800 |
Hudson | 102 | 10 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 1/1 | .294/.363/.373 | .735 |
Manny | 114 | 11 | 29 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 0/0 | .254/.346/.377 | .723 |
Martin | 98 | 12 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 1/0 | .245/.308/.357 | .666 |
Furcal | 133 | 18 | 34 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 1/1 | .256/.306/.331 | .636 |
Loney | 106 | 7 | 26 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 11 | 1/1 | .245/.316/.292 | .609 |
DeWitt | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | .333/.333/.667 | 1.000 |
Pierre | 38 | 7 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0/2 | .368/.419/.447 | .866 |
Abreu | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0/1 | .250/.455/.250 | .705 |
Ausmus | 20 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | .300/.300/.300 | .600 |
Loretta | 39 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1/0 | .179/.233/.205 | .438 |
Castro | 15 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | .200/.200/.200 | .400 |
Pitchers | 64 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1/0 | .188/.212/.266 | .478 |
Totals | 1090 | 129 | 300 | 59 | 8 | 21 | 125 | 93 | 15/9 | .275/.338/.402 | .740 |
Outside of Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, and Matt Kemp, the offense has stunk for the past month or so. The club is averaging 4.16 runs per game during this time, compared to 5.03 in their first 95 games.
James Loney, Rafael Furcal, and Russell Martin are automatic outs right now, and Manny Ramirez isn't far ahead of them in terms of production. We can complain all we want, but our starting eight is pretty much set for the remainder of the season. Its time for them to start producing, because if they don't, the Dodgers' October calendar won't have many dates.
With Josh Fogg, who has pitched in relief all season, slated to start today for the Rockies, the time is now for the Dodger offense to hit or get off the pot.