James Loney 09 = James Loney 08

2008: .289/.338/.434/.772 13 homeruns 90 rbis 35 doubles 6 triples 45 walks 85 ks (161 games)
2009: .286/.364/.409/.772 13 homeruns 90 rbis 25 doubles 2 triples 70 walks 62 ks (151 games)

As you can see, James has the same exact OPS (.772), Homeruns (13), and RBIs (90) in 2009 as he did in 2008.  The differences from last season to this are that he has 10 less doubles, which account for the .025 point drop in Slugging Percentage from last year to this, and 25 more Walks (not to mention 23 less Strikeouts) which account for the .026 points in OBP.

I hadn't really paid attention to his exact numbers recently until I was checking the team stats page for the Dodgers tonight, and I thought it was great to see his numbers nearly exactly the same as his 2008 numbers.  It would be great to have more homeruns or more doubles, but I think it is huge for Loney to see such a huge jump in walks from last season to this season, along with cutting down on the strikeouts.  I think with these improvements, it's worth waiting a couple more seasons to see if his power ever really comes around.

I looked further into it, and looked at his game log since the last time I had checked his stats.  The last time I checked his stats he had a .724 OPS, and this was on August 25th, a game in which Loney went 0-5.  These are Loney's numbers since then:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?n1=loneyja01&t=b&year=2009&share=0.06#428-456-sum:batting_gamelogs

Loney has been an absolute beast from August 26th till yesterday (September 26th), hitting .340/.440/.557 going 33 for 97 with 6 Homeruns, 3 Doubles, 18 RBIS, 17 Runs, 18 Walks and 9 Strikeouts.  This hike in his numbers has come at the perfect time, with the playoffs just around the corner.  Here is to hoping that he keeps it up for the next month and a half!