Dodgers Week 19 In Review: Rubby On The Shelf

The Dodgers had success on the field this week, but it was under a dark cloud as they lost Rubby De La Rosa to Tommy John surgery, which will sideline him through most of 2012. The silver lining of Rubby's injury was the opportunity for Nathan Eovaldi, who won his debut and continued the Dodgers' run of good pitching from Double A Chattanooga this season.

Dodger Batter of the Week: Catcher Rod Barajas hadn't done much since returning from the disabled list (two hits in 19 at-bats), but he made the most of his three starts during the week. He had a trio of multi-hit games, and was 7-for-12 for the week, hitting .583/.583/.917, and led the team with six RBI.

Honorable mention goes to Andre Ethier, who hit .333/.364/.476 with three doubles. Ethier's weekend in Arizona consisted of three games with exactly two hits, one run, and one RBI in each contest.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: In his first game after deciding to remain a Dodger, Tuesday in San Diego, Hiroki Kuroda told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, "I felt I absolutely had to win." Seven scoreless innings and eight strikeouts later, Kuroda did just that, and in doing so captured pitcher of the week honors as well.

Week 19 Record:  4-2
22 runs scored (3.67 per game)
16 runs allowed (2.67 per game)
.642 pythagorean winning percentage

Season Record:  52-61
415 runs scored (3.67 per game)
451 runs allowed (3.99 per game)
.462 pythagorean winning percentage (52-61)

Does He Have An Opt-Out Clause?: Eugenio Velez was hitless in his four at-bats this week, bringing his Dodgers career to 0-for-19. Since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, the only longer hitless streak to begin a tenure with the team is 0-for-25 by J.D. Drew in 2005. Velez on Sunday passed Wes Covington, who was 0-for-18 to begin his time with the Dodgers in 1966.

Transactions:

• Monday: The Dodgers placed Rubby De La Rosa on the 15-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation, but the news was much worse than that, as one day later we learned De La Rosa would need Tommy John surgery and is out for this year and most, if not all, of next year, too. John Ely was recalled from Triple A.
  
• Friday: After the game, the Dodgers optioned Ely to Triple A. Five days made this the longest of Ely's three stints with the Dodgers this season, though he didn't pitch in a game this time around. Ely getting optioned made room for...
  
• Saturday: Nathan Eovaldi had his contract purchased from Double A Chattanooga, and he made his major league debut Saturday night in Phoenix. Eovaldi is the fourth Dodgers pitcher this season who began his season in Double A.
  

The Dodgers now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.

Game Results:

• Monday: Dodgers 6, Padres 2
• Tuesday: Dodgers 1, Padres 0
• Wednesday: Padres 3, Dodgers 0
• Friday: Dodgers 7, D-Backs 4
• Saturday: Dodgers 5, D-Backs 3
• Sunday: D-Backs 4, Dodgers 3 

Upcoming Week: The Dodgers return home for a six-game homestand, running the 1980 NLCS gauntlet facing Philadelphia and Houston. August 11 will be the fifth straight Thursday off for the Dodgers.

Previous Weeks In Review: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17 | Week 18

Week 19 Stats