Dodgers August In Review: The Ethier, Kemp, And Wolf Show
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 9:01 AM PDT
in Dodgers Weekly Reviews
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PrintThe Dodgers had their first losing month of the season, going 14-15 in August, but all is not as bad at it appears. The division lead got as small as two games over the Rockies, but a late surge allowed the Dodgers to expand back to a 5½-game lead entering the final month (plus four days) of the season.
The Dodgers outscored their opponents by 33 runs in month, the third best run differential in baseball for August, behind the Yankees (+52) and Braves (+43).
Dodger Batter of the Month: The award for August is shared by Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp. Ethier led the club in hits (38), doubles (11), batting average (.333), on base percentage (.411), OPS (1.034) and wOBA (.438). Kemp led the club in runs (22), home runs (9), runs batted in (27), stolen bases (6), and slugging percentage (.634). The two have been the club's two best hitters all season, and August was no exception.
Dodger Pitcher of the Month: Randy Wolf had a spectacular month, averaging seven innings in his seven starts, and had a 2.76 ERA and 3.01 FIP for the month. Wolf had a personal four-game winning streak in the middle of the month that was snapped on Monday night.
August Record: 14-15 (.483)
131 runs scored (4.52 per game)
98 runs allowed (3.38 per game)
.630 pythagorean winning percentage
| August NL West Standings | |||||
| Club | W-L | Pct | GB | RS | RA |
| Rockies | 16-12 | .571 | --- | 146 | 124 |
| Giants | 16-12 | .571 | --- | 123 | 117 |
| Diamondbacks | 15-14 | .517 | 1½ | 144 | 137 |
| Padres |
15-14 | .517 | 1½ | 126 | 141 |
| Dodgers | 14-15 | .483 | 2½ | 131 | 98 |
Overall Record: 78-54 (.591)
635 runs scored (4.81 per game)
501 runs allowed (3.80 per game)
.607 pythagorean winning percentage
| NL West Standings (thru August 31) |
|||||
| Club | W-L | Pct | GB | RS | RA |
| Dodgers | 78-54 | .591 | --- | 635 | 501 |
| Rockies | 72-59 | .550 | 5½ | 654 | 582 |
| Giants | 72-59 | .550 | 5½ | 530 | 496 |
| Diamondbacks |
60-72 | .455 | 18 | 602 | 626 |
| Padres |
57-76 | .429 | 21½ | 517 | 665 |
Favorite Game of the Month: Andre Ethier's three-run walk-off home run to beat Atlanta was great, but I'm going with the final game in Colorado as my favorite game of the month. Facing the prospect of leaving Denver with only a two-game lead, the Dodgers used some timely hitting to get Vicente Padilla a win in his first start as a Dodger, and the best bullpen in baseball slammed the door on the Rockies, securing a 3-2 Dodger win and a four-game lead.
Bench Production: After nearly three months of nothing from pinch hitters, August was a good month for Dodger pinch hitters, as they hit .349/.391/.419 for the month, with 15 hits in 43 at-bats. Juan Pierre led the way, garnering eight hits in 16 pinch at-bats, hitting .500/.529/.625 in that role for the month.
Welcome Aboard: Ronnie Belliard, acquired Sunday from Washington, homered in his first plate appearance as a Dodger on Monday night, making him the first Dodger to homer in his first Dodger plate appearance since Garey Ingram on May 19, 1994 against the Rockies.
Hello & Goodbye: Jason Schmidt was transferred to the 60-day disabled list on August 27, effectively ending his Dodger career. Charlie Haeger made his Dodger debut on August 17 against the Cardinals.
Upcoming Month: I'm counting the four days of October in the final month, and the Dodgers have a relatively easy schedule for the home stretch, which includes 15 home games and 15 road games. Outside of a home and away series with the Giants and the final three games at Dodger Stadium against the Rockies, the Dodgers play 21games against teams with a winning percentage of .455 or lower.
Previous Monthly Reviews: April | May | June | July
August Stats
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SB/CS | BA/OBP/SLG | OPS | wOBA |
| Ethier | 114 | 18 | 38 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 11 | 2/0 | .333/.411/.623 | 1.034 | .438 |
| Kemp | 112 | 22 | 35 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 27 | 6 | 6/3 | .313/.342/.634 | .976 | .405 |
| Manny | 103 | 16 | 31 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 0/1 | .301/.405/.476 | .881 | .362 |
| Hudson | 88 | 9 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 1/1 | .295/.354/.409 | .763 | .336 |
| Blake | 95 | 14 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 1/0 | .221/.306/.411 | .717 | .309 |
| Loney | 90 | 8 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 1/0 | .222/.327/.333 | .660 | .300 |
| Martin | 88 | 10 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1/0 | .239/.295/.330 | .624 | .282 |
| Furcal | 119 | 16 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 0/1 | .218/.277/.286 | .563 | .251 |
| Starters | 809 | 113 | 218 | 45 | 3 | 30 | 107 | 83 | 12/6 | .269/.341/.444 | .785 | |
| Belliard | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | .250/.250/1.000 | 1.250 | .502 |
| Pierre | 41 | 8 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0/1 | .366/.413/.439 | .852 | .365 |
| Abreu | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0/1 | .250/.455/.250 | .705 | .308 |
| Loretta | 42 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1/0 | .238/.283/.262 | .545 | .253 |
| Ausmus | 22 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | .227/.227/.227 | .455 | .202 |
| Castro | 20 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | .200/.200/.250 | .450 | .196 |
| Bench | 137 | 15 | 37 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 1/2 | .270/.315/.328 | .643 | |
| Pitchers | 61 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1/0 | .180/.194/.262 | .456 | |
| Totals | 1007 | 131 | 266 | 50 | 4 | 32 | 127 | 92 | 14/8 | .264/.329/.417 | .747 | .345 |
| Pitcher | G | W-L | Sv | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | WHIP | FIP |
| Weaver* | 2 | 0-0 | -- | 8.1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 2.16 | 1.320 | 4.83 |
| Kuroda | 3 | 2-0 | -- | 17.1 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 2.60 | 1.154 | 3.21 |
| Wolf | 7 | 4-1 | -- | 49.0 | 38 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 41 | 2.76 | 1.020 | 3.01 |
| Billingsley | 5 | 2-2 | -- | 28.0 | 25 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 3.21 | 1.214 | 3.73 |
| Padilla | 1 | 1-0 | -- | 5.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3.60 | 1.400 | 2.09 |
| Kershaw | 6 | 0-2 | -- | 32.1 | 25 | 13 | 13 | 18 | 47 | 3.62 | 1.330 | 2.66 |
| Haeger | 3 | 1-1 | -- | 16.1 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 3.86 | 1.102 | 6.09 |
| Stults | 1 | 0-1 | -- | 5.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5.40 | 1.200 | 5.69 |
| Schmidt | 1 | 0-1 | -- | 3.2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9.82 | 2.182 | 5.27 |
| Starters | 29 | 10-8 | -- | 165.0 | 141 | 63 | 61 | 56 | 145 | 3.33 |
1.194 |
3.62 |
| Sherrill | 14 | 0-0 | 1 | 14.1 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0.63 | 1.326 | 4.35 |
| Belisario | 10 | 1-0 | -- | 9.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0.96 | 0.857 | 4.70 |
| Kuo | 14 | 0-0 | -- | 11.2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 20 | 2.31 | 1.114 | 1.81 |
| Broxton | 14 | 0-1 | 5 | 14.2 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 2.45 | 1.159 | 4.39 |
| McDonald | 13 | 1-2 | -- | 17.1 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 2.60 | 1.500 | 3.38 |
| Weaver* | 3 | 1-0 | -- | 9.1 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 2.89 | 1.179 | 3.47 |
| Mota | 12 | 0-2 | -- | 11.2 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 4.63 | 1.457 | 5.49 |
| Troncoso | 13 | 0-2 | -- | 10.0 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 6.30 | 1.500 | 2.89 |
| Elbert | 3 | 1-0 | -- | 3.2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7.36 | 1.091 | 5.82 |
| Relievers | 29 | 4-7 | 6 | 102.0 | 91 | 35 | 33 | 39 | 94 | 2.91 | 1.275 | 3.77 |
| Totals | 29 | 14-15 | 6 | 267.0 | 232 | 98 | 94 | 95 | 239 | 3.17 |
1.225 |
3.68 |
*Jeff Weaver's stats were split into their starting and relieving duties.
Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs for help with the data.
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My favorite part of last night’s trades:
Center fielder Matt Kemp(notes) said he found out about the deals when the young sons of CNN’s Larry King shouted the news into the Dodgers’ dugout.
"They give us a big boost," he said. "We’ll take anything they can help us to win games. It lets us know they want to win and they’re doing whatever it takes. I’m excited to have them."
Arizona injures Kuroda
Ned Colletti feels like he’s forced to trade for a starter. Arizona’s starter.
Arizona now has Tony Abreu.
coincidence?
Last night feels like July 31, 2006 to me
We made two trades:
1) Got something for nothing (in this case, Thome plus cash for Fuller, in 2006, Maddux plus cash for deadweight Cesar Izturis)
2) Got something for depth at a price probably too high (losing Abreu isn’t suicide-inducing or anything, but it seems too high a price to pay for someone who has only a small chance of making a playoff start for us, and in 2006 it was acquiring Julio Lugo for Guzman. Guzman was overrated, but I think he could have been used to get something better than Lugo)
I remember reading some comments after that year's Futures Game
That Guzman played, they were not favorable of his development and his character. And I know this is where I differ from most people on this and other sites, I almost never believe you can someone better for the player you just dealt, I don’t think how scouts view players are much different throughout baseball and really don’t think how players are evaluated (by major league teams, not by media and/or fans) is that different.
So the Dodgers traded Guzman partly for his character problems
But they traded Lugo, a guy with documented character problems, including spousal abuse?
Garland isn’t there to be a playoff starter, he’s there to give people like Kershaw rest, Kuroda time, and the bullpen less innings. Absolutely hurts to lose Abreu, but it’s not for a playoff starter, it’s to make our real playoff starters more reliable. And insurance in case of injury.
by LA Taco on Sep 1, 2009 9:59 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I agree with you, and spelled that out last night. But Abreu seems a steep price to pay for insurance. I wonder what level of prospect we could have gotten away with by taking on the ~$3.6 million it would have taken to pay Garland the rest of this year plus his buyout.
It comes down to would you pay $3.6 million to have Abreu in your organization right now. I would.
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:02 AM PDT up reply actions
I wouldn't pay $3.6MM for Abreu; I would have just rolled the dice with Stults/Haeger/Padilla/Elbert...
by Michael White on Sep 1, 2009 10:03 AM PDT up reply actions
I’m assuming the trade for Garland was inevitable in my scenario. I also would have taken the “War Games” strategy as my first choice. :)
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:07 AM PDT up reply actions
2009-10 LA Kings Hockey: Where Smyt Happens!!
by DodgerBlueBalls on Sep 1, 2009 10:36 AM PDT up reply actions
I agree
I have thought Abreu was a legitimate starter at 2B for the Dodgers for awhile now. If that is truly the case, then he’ll be worth quite a bit more than $3.6m over the next few cost-controlled years. But baseball economics are screwy and it’s hard to know exactly how it works.
+ ∞
2009-10 LA Kings Hockey: Where Smyt Happens!!
by DodgerBlueBalls on Sep 1, 2009 10:33 AM PDT up reply actions
Here's why they did the Garland deal
1. They really did not want to go into September having to depend on Charlie Haegar and/or Vicente Padilla as their 4th and 5th pitchers.
2. Kuroda has not thrown a competitive pitch yet and this gives them more flexibility on when to bring him back to the rotation.
3. Chad just hasn’t been Chad in a while, perhaps he may need a September blow.
4. This could revive the Kershaw skip a start or two thought process they had.
5. When the Dodgers bought Haegar’s contract and then went out and brought the “cancerous” Vicente Padilla, you knew that Eric Stults, James McDonald and Scott Elbert were not destined to start a meaningful game this season.
Right now, if the Dodgers did not skip any starts, Garland would have 4 starts in LA, 1 start in AZ, and one in Washington DC. Right now he would be likely candidate to stay in the rotation if Kuroda is deemed to be okay.
That would probably mean a short time visit for Vicente Padilla since the Dodgers may decide they can use the extra 40-man spot. But I think we have another week or so before that could be really put into play.
I think number 2 and 4 sealed the deal for them.
Since they haven’t given Chad rest even when they could. They could have easily given Chad the start on Sat for instance and let Heager start on Friday, putting them both on 6 days rest, but chose to start Chad on his normal 5 days.
But saving innings on Kershaw’s arm, so they can give them post season starts without worrying overing 180-190 innings seem kinda huge in the long run, and nobody really knows if and when Kuroda comes back.
off topic
did something change with the formatting of this site? the left and center columns aren’t showing correctly anymore (this happened between yesterday afternoon and this morning). maybe my computer is just crazy.
Now that you mention it, my computer is having the same issue
and the other SB Nation sites I frequent are not having this issue.
by Michael White on Sep 1, 2009 10:17 AM PDT up reply actions
What columns? the stuff on the front, down the sides (fan posts, 50-walk club, payroll, etc)?
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:20 AM PDT up reply actions
the tbla top dodger prospects box
is extending out way further than the other boxes on the lefthand side, which i think is making the center column (articles like this one) appear below the lefthand side boxes for me.
Hmm, I will put in a help ticket. Have you tried using the “narrow” or "wide"options to see if that changes things?
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:25 AM PDT up reply actions
where's that option?
it might just be my work blocking some content on here and messing things up.. i’ll see when i get back to my home computer, i guess.
on this page, it should be on the top right, just below the “new fanpost / new fanshot” stuff.
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:46 AM PDT up reply actions
eyechart canceled his twitter account.
diamond83So when did @Dougiebaseball cancel his account? Dodgers have no more players actively using Twitter. There is a fake @JimThome.2 minutes ago from web
I saw that last week. He was tweeting too much about getting tickets for his window tinting anyway. :)
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:24 AM PDT up reply actions
August was the rise and fall of Charlie
Who may well still have been our #5 at the very least if not for throwing that one slider.
or the two NASA launches to St Louis :)
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:25 AM PDT up reply actions
pujols doesn't count
same goes for broxton!
by stillnotah8er on Sep 1, 2009 10:29 AM PDT up reply actions
Just make sure you live to see next June then :)
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:33 AM PDT up reply actions
I like how the fanshot photo of Audrina Patridge I just posted
is cropped to only show her breasts in the sidebar.
from Diamond? That is an awesome photo. I’m waiting for the Dodgers to send us some hi-res shots :)
by Eric Stephen on Sep 1, 2009 10:49 AM PDT up reply actions
You can find them on Yahoo, you have to search a bit though. There’s a great picture of Dodgers Stadium too.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/gallery;_ylt=ApbvO3Lq3uas8HnDhdC3TRwRvLYF
hah.
diamond83#Dodgers giving up Tony Abreu would mean one less Boras client on the team. Just pointing that out.4 minutes ago from web
Homepage formatting
is all messed up on my browser. If I click on the “Home” tab the formatting is all messed up. Not sure if it’s one of the charts or not.
vr, Xei
The PLTBL for the Garland deal is confirmed to be Tony Abreu.
In return, the White Sox will receive Minor League infielder Justin Fuller. The D-backs will receive a player to be named, who, according to several Dodgers, will be Tony Abreu, but Abreu needs to first clear waivers. Abreu once was considered a top infield prospect, but his progress was stalled by three years of injuries.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090901&content_id=6726228&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
So that just leaves the PLTBL in the Belliard deal and we’re done raiding the farm system for this year.
Nice pick up by the ’Backs
2009-10 LA Kings Hockey: Where Smyt Happens!!
by DodgerBlueBalls on Sep 1, 2009 11:43 AM PDT up reply actions
vicente padilla vs the Dbacks tonight
he faced them one time earlier in the season and Outdueled Dan Haren…
7 inings 6 hits 1 ER 2 walk 3 Ks
haren went 7 innings 2 ER and the rangers won 2-1…
so if we score some runs tonight we will have a good chance to win against this petit guy
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