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Dodgers August In Review: The Ethier, Kemp, And Wolf Show

The 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 MonthRandy 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 .517 144 137
Padres  
15-14 .517 126 141
Dodgers 14-15 .483 131 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 .550 654 582
Giants 72-59 .550 530 496
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 ReviewsApril | 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.