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Dodgers Season In Thirds: A Look At The Last 54 Games

Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp have been simply the best this season, and both have improved as the season has progressed.
Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp have been simply the best this season, and both have improved as the season has progressed.

Earlier this season, I broke down the Dodgers' season through 54 games, exactly one third of the season, and compared it to years past. This is a day late, as game number 108 was Monday night, but here's how the second third of the season compares to the first third:

Year W-L Runs For Runs Allowed BA/OBP/SLG ERA
1st 54 Games 
24-30 187 (3.46/gm) 226 (4.19/gm) .248/.312/.360 3.99
2nd 54 Games
25-29 212 (3.93/gm) 211 (3.91/gm) .255/.319/.368 3.71

The Dodgers actually outscored their opponents in the second 54-game stretch, which is nice. But they still managed a losing record.

Here are the numbers for each individual player, with their first 54 games compared to the next 54 games:

Catchers
Player G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB/CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Navarro - 1st 54 16 9 47 44 3 10 2 0 1 3 0/0 2 .227/.277/.341 .618
Navarro - 2nd 54 35 27 114 97 8 18 2 1 3 10 0/0 13 .186/.279/.320 .599
Barajas - 1st 54
42 40 154 143 11 32 4 0 7 15 0/0 5 .224/.261/.399 .660
Barajas - 2nd 54 22 17 70 62 6 12 2 0 2 8 0/0 6 .194/.275/.323 .598
Ellis - 1st 54 6 4 19 15 1 4 0 0 0 2 0/1 4 .267/.421/.267 .688
Ellis - 2nd 54 10 10 37 30 3 6 0 0 0 3 0/0 5 .200/.333/.200 .533
1st 54 Games Totals 227 209 15 47 6 0 8 20 0/1 11 .225/.274/.368 .643
2nd 54 Games Totals 221 189 17 36 4 1 5 21 0/0 24 .190/.287/.302 .589

Here are the infielders. In the post about the first 54 games, I said of the infield, "You may notice a lack of power." In the second 54 games, the number of home runs went down, from nine to six.

Infielders
Player G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB/CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Loney - 1st 54 54 48 204 189 10 45 6 0 2 15 2/0 12 .238/.284/.302 .586
Loney - 2nd 54 53 44 190 174 16 47 7 0 2 19 1/0 12 .270/.312/.345 .657
Miles - 1st 54 44 33 147 142 12 39 3 1 0 9 1/0 2 .275/.290/.310 .600
Miles - 2nd 54 45 34 156 144 17 47 10 0 1 18 2/0 7 .326/.353/.417 .769
Carroll - 1st 54
52 46 208 188 25 55 9 1 0 4 5/0 17 .293/.354/.351 .705
Carroll - 2nd 54 47 32 150 128 14 39 4 3 0 6 4/0 19 .305/.392/.383 .775
Uribe - 1st 54 41 38 157 141 11 31 7 0 3 20 0/0 11 .220/.293/.333 .626
Uribe - 2nd 54 36 35 138 129 10 24 5 0 1 8 2/0 6 .186/.232/.248 .480
Blake - 1st 54 17 17 79 66 16 20 2 1 2 8 1/0 9 .303/.410/.455 .865
Blake - 2nd 54 29 20 95 81 7 16 4 0 2 12 0/1 10 .198/.280/.321 .601
Furcal - 1st 54 14 14 59 57 6 11 1 0 1 5 2/1 2 .193/.220/.263 .483
Furcal - 2nd 54 23 22 93 80 9 16 3 0 0 7 3/2 9 .200/.304/.238 .542
DeJesus - 1st 54 16 7 34 31 2 6 0 0 0 1 0/0 2 .194/.242/.194 .436
DeJesus - 2nd 54 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0 0 .000/.000/.000 .000
Castro - 1st 54 6 3 14 13 1 3 0 0 0 1 0/0 1 .231/.286/.231 .516
Castro - 2nd 54 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0/0 0 1.000/1.000/1.000 2.000
Gordon - 2nd 54
24 21 94 91 11 21 2 1 0 5 9/3 2 .231/.247/.275 .522
Velez - 2nd 54 10 3 16 15 2 0 0 0 0 0 1/0 1 .000/.063/.000 .063
1st 54 Games Totals 933 853 86 213 29 3 9 64 11/1 61 .250/.306/.322 .629
2nd 54 Games Totals 934 844 87 211 35 4 6 75 22/6 66 .250/.305/.322 .628

That is a remarkably similar lack of production in both 54-game periods.

On to the outfield, by far the offensive bright spot of the team. Juan Rivera started seven games in the outfield and six games at first base, but I lumped him in with the outfielders:

Outfielders
Player G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB/CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Kemp - 1st 54 54 54 226 198 32 62 11 0 12 35 13/3 25 .313/.394/.551 .944
Kemp - 2nd 54
54 53 225 194 34 63 12 3 14 48 15/0 25 .325/.396/.634 1.030
Ethier - 1st 54 53 50 215 190 22 62 12 0 5 23 0/1 25 .326/.405/.468 .873
Ethier - 2nd 54 53 51 222 198 32 55 13 0 5 25 0/0 18 .278/.342/.419 .762
Gwynn - 1st 54 48 14 86 82 7 16 5 1 0 4 5/1 4 .195/.233/.280 .513
Gwynn - 2nd 54 46 29 148 132 18 40 5 3 0 11 10/2 15 .303/.374/.386 .761
Thames - 1st 54
22 7 36 34 4 6 0 1 2 4 0/0 2 .176/.222/.412 .634
Thames - 2nd 54 14 10 34 32 0 7 1 0 0 3 0/0 2 .219/.265/.250 .515
Sands - 1st 54 33 28 121 103 10 22 10 0 2 16 3/2 16 .214/.317/.369 .686
Sands - 2nd 54 8 5 23 22 1 3 0 0 0 1 0/0 1 .136/.174/.136 .310
Gibbons - 1st 54 20 12 52 46 4 11 2 0 1 5 0/0 5 .239/.308/.348 .656
Gibbons - 2nd 54 4 3 10 9 1 3 0 0 0 0 0/0 0 .333/.400/.333 .733
Rivera - 2nd 54
14 13 53 49 6 15 5 0 1 5 0/0 2 .306/.321/.469 .790
Oeltjen - 2nd 54 26 9 52 39 8 9 1 1 1 4 2/0 7 .231/.347/.385 .732
1st 54 Games Totals 751 668 79 182 40 2 22 87 21/7 77 .272/.348/.437 .785
2nd 54 Games Totals 767 675 100 195 37 7 21 97 27/2 70 .289/.355/.458 .813

Matt Kemp was even better in the second 54 games than the first 54 games, and he's on pace for 39 home runs and 42 stolen bases.

Now, onto the pitching. The starters were collectively fairly similar in each period.

Starters
Pitcher GS QS W-L IP H R ER BB K ERA WHIP FIP
Kershaw - 1st 54 12 9 6-3 79.0 63 23 23 24 87 2.62 1.101 2.62
Kershaw - 2nd 54 11 8 7-1 82.1 61 30 25 18 90 2.73 0.960 2.35
Billingsley - 1st 54 11 7 3-4 68.1 56 30 28 28 63 3.69 1.229 3.05
Billingsley - 2nd 54 11 5 6-5 66.0 76 34 34 28 55 4.64 1.576 3.64
Kuroda - 1st 54 11 7 5-5 72.0 76 32 28 18 53 3.50 1.306 3.86
Kuroda - 2nd 54 10 7 1-8 61.0 52 20 18 18 50 2.66 1.148 3.31
Lilly - 1st 54 11 5 3-4 63.1 70 31 31 12 41 4.41 1.295 4.43
Lilly - 2nd 54 11 3 4-6 60.1 61 40 38 16 53 5.67 1.276 4.74
Garland - 1st 54 8 6 1-4 48.0 50 23 23 19 26 4.31 1.438 4.54
Garland - 2nd 54 1 1 0-1 6.0 5 3 3 1 2 4.50 1.000 5.05
Rubby - 2nd 54 10 4 3-5 55.2 51 25 24 30 55 3.88 1.455 3.93
1st 54 Games Totals 54 34 18-21 336.1 321 143 137 104 275 3.67 1.264 3.67
2nd 54 Games Totals 54 28 21-26 331.1 306 152 142 111 305 3.86 1.259 3.53

Clayton Kershaw continued his dominance, but didn't lead the club in ERA during the second 54 games. Kershaw had a 2.73 ERA and a 7-1 record, while Hiroki Kuroda posted a 2.66 ERA and went 1-8. Won-lost records can drive you mad sometimes.

The Dodger bullpen was fairly stable over the last 54 games, and showed marked improvement.

Relievers
Pitcher G W-L Sv IP H R ER BB K ERA WHIP FIP
Guerrier - 1st 54 25 2-3 1 25.1 26 11 10 11 20 3.55 1.461 2.33
Guerrier - 2nd 54 24 1-0 0 22.0 17 11 11 7 13 4.50 1.091 5.05
MacDougal - 1st 54 23 0-1 1 18.2 15 4 3 10 14 1.45 1.339 3.76
MacDougal - 2nd 54 24 0-0 0 19.1 20 7 6 9 12 2.79 1.500 3.52
Hawksworth - 1st 54 14 1-1 0 17.1 14 6 6 7 11 3.12 1.212 4.23
Hawksworth - 2nd 54 20 1-1 0 19.1 12 7 6 5 19 2.79 0.879 3.05
Guerra - 1st 54 6 0-0 1 6.0 4 2 2 2 4 3.00 1.000 3.13
Guerra - 2nd 54 19
2-0
7
18.1
19
3
3
5
14
1.47
1.309
2.67
Jansen - 1st 54 20 1-1 1 21.0 20 15 15 14 35 6.43 1.619 3.63
Jansen - 2nd 54 14 0-0 1 16.0 3 0 0 7 26 0.00 0.625 1.11
Elbert - 1st 54 6 0-0 0 4.0 1 0 0 1 5 0.00 0.500 1.21
Elbert - 2nd 54 19
0-1
1
14.0
11
7
7
6
14
4.50
1.214
2.12
Troncoso - 1st 54 6 0-0 0 8.2 16 6 6 2 2 6.23 2.077 4.69
Troncoso - 2nd 54 6 0-0 0 8.2 12 6 6 1 5 6.23 1.500 4.90
Kuo - 1st 54 9 0-0 0 4.2 5 7 6 6 8 11.57 2.357 4.03
Kuo - 2nd 54 13
0-1
0
8.1
11
13
12
10
10
12.96
2.520
6.65
Rubby - 1st 54
2 1-0 0 3.0 2 1 1 1 3 3.00 1.000 1.96
Rubby - 2nd 54 1
0-0
0
2.0
1
0
0
0
2
0.00
0.500
1.05
Lindblom - 2nd 54
10
0-0
0
12.2
10
3
3
5
6
2.13
1.184
3.29
Ely - 2nd 54 1
0-0
0
3.0
3
2
2
2
4
6.00
1.667
2.38
1st 54 Games Totals 54 6-9 14 143.2 147 83 76 73 128 4.76 1.531 3.82
2nd 54 Games Totals 54 4-3 9 143.2 119 59 56 57 125 3.51 1.225 3.36