Dodgers April In Review: MLB As Proclaimers, .500, Miles

The Dodgers had an up and down April (which includes opening day on March 31) on the field, but ended up breaking even at .500. Breaking even was actually a feat, as the club lost 149 games to the disabled list. Starting infielders Casey Blake (infected left elbow) and Rafael Furcal (broken thumb) both missed time and are expected to be out for quite some time, and the depth chart was so tested in April that even Aaron Miles started 15 of 28 games.

Off the field, owner Frank McCourt took out a personal loan to cover expenses for the month, and then MLB decided to take over the day-to-day operations of the club. It's a weird time to be a Dodger fan, but hey, at least there are good seats available; the Dodgers had less than 30,000 tickets sold three times during the month, the first time in seven years the club saw a single-game attendance that low.

Dodger Batter of April: I am not a fan of splitting the award, but I have to give this to both Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. They both carried the offense, and both put up a .446 OBP; Ethier has the hitting streak (26 and counting), while Kemp supplied the power and two walk-off home runs.

Dodger Pitcher of April: Hiroki Kuroda led the staff in wins, ERA, and innings pitched, so he gets the nod over Clayton Kershaw. The starting staff started out slow, but over the final 13 games of the month put up a 2.77 ERA while averaging 6.74 innings per start.

April Record:  14-14
111 runs scored (3.96 per game)
129 runs allowed (4.61 per game)
.432 pythagorean winning percentage (12-16)

Game of the Month: The Dodgers entered their game on April 17 having lost five straight contests. Chad Billingsley and Chris Carpenter were embroiled in a pitchers' duel, with neither pitcher giving up a run. Billingsley struck out 11 in his eight scoreless innings, putting up the highest game score (85) of the season by a Dodger. Things looked bleak when Jonathan Broxton gave up the first run of the game in the top of the ninth inning, but Matt Kemp sent the crowd home happy by depositing a pitch from Ryan Franklin onto the batter's eye in center field for a 2-1 Dodger win.

Welcome Aboard: The Dodgers had a pair of major league debuts in April. Second baseman Ivan DeJesus made his debut on April1 and while he was mostly forgotten on the end of the bench all month, he did manage to start five times. The Dodgers had different plans for Jerry Sands, who made his debut on April 18. Sands started 10 of the final 12 games of the month, nine in left field and one at first base.

Pinch Hitting:  For the month, Dodger pinch hitters had 10 hits in 40 at-bats, with a double, a triple, two home runs, and two walks, hitting .250/.302/.475.

Runners in Scoring Position:  In April, the Dodgers hit .233/.329/.321 with runners in scoring position in 286 plate appearances.

They had a runner on third base with less than two outs 57 times, and got the runner home 32 times, or 56.1% (the entire NL scored 458 of 878, 52.6%).

They had a runner on second base with nobody out 38 times, and the runner advanced 25 times, or 65.8%, tops in the league (the entire NL advanced the runner 311 of 577 times, 53.9%).

Upcoming Month:  The Dodgers had an even schedule in April with 14 home games and 14 road affairs, but get to play 16 of their 29 games in May at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers play just six of 29 games in May against National League West foes. They open interleague play with a three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox from May 20-22.

April Weeks in Review:  April 4 | April 11 | April 17 | April 25

April Stats