Dodgers Week 13 In Review: Beating Up On The West

What a difference a week makes. A week after licking their wounds inflicted during interleague play, the Dodgers returned to the friendly confines of the National League West. They took two more series, winning five of six games, pushing their record within the division this year to an amazing 23-6. The Dodgers have played nine series of three games or more against the NL West, and they have won them all.

The Dodger win Sunday moved the club to 21-21 on the road, the first time the Dodgers have been at .500 away from Dodger Stadium all season. After 13 weeks, the club has played 81 games, exactly half its schedule, and has won 45 games.

Dodger Batter of the Week:   Rafael Furcal is simply on fire, hitting a robust .538/.571/.923 for the week, collecting 14 hits in 26 at-bats. Honorable mention goes to Matt Kemp, who returned from his three games out of the starting lineup with a monster week, hitting three home runs and hitting .409/.458/.864. Manny Ramirez also deserves mention, who collected four hits in four at-bats on the week, plus a walk, before he injured his hamstring.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week:  Four of the five starters were great this week, but this award has to go to Hong-Chih Kuo, who submitted a vintage performance Sunday, mowing down six hitters in his two relief innings against Arizona. Honorable mention specifically goes to Chad Billingsley, who made his first two starts since coming off the disabled list, and pitched very well in six innings in each game. In both games, he left tied, and the Dodgers won the game with a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

Week 13 Record:  5-1
38 runs scored (6.33 per game)
20 runs allowed (3.33 per game)
.764 pythagorean winning percentage

Season Record:  45-36
389 runs scored (4.80 per game)
364 runs allowed (4.49 per game)
.530 pythagorean winning percentage (43-38)

Transactions: 

• Wednesday:  After Charlie Haeger cleared waivers, he was outrighted to Triple A.
  
• Thursday:  Cory Wade was activated from the 60-day disabled list, but them outrighted to Triple A
• Saturday:  Manny Ramirez was placed on the disabled list with an inflamed right hamstring. Travis Schlichting was recalled to take his place. Since Schlichting replaced an injured player, he is allowed to come up within 10 days of being optioned, and those days in between count as major league service time.
• Saturday: Xavier Paul was recalled from Albuquerque, and Ramon Troncoso was optioned to Triple A

Game Results:

• Monday:  Dodgers 4, Giants 2
• Tuesday:  Dodgers 4, Giants 2
• Wednesday:  Dodgers 8, Giants 2
• Friday:  Diamondbacks 12, Dodgers 5
• Saturday:  Dodgers 14, Diamondbacks 1
• Sunday: Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 1 

Upcoming Week:  After playing 15 of 18 games on the road, the Dodgers head into the All-Star break with a seven-game homestand against the Marlins and Cubs.

Previous Weeks in Review: Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12

Week 13 Stats

*FIP is estimated