Dodgers Week 26 In Review: One Triple Crown Down, One To Go

The Dodgers continued their late season run, winning both series this week as they closed in on a winning record for the season. The club has won nine of its last 10 series, and the season's final full week was a full-on highlight show for the club's pair of triple crown candidates, Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp.

Dodger Batter of the Week: A red-hot week pushed Matt Kemp into the national triple crown discussion, as Kemp ended Thursday within .003 of the batting title, relatively his weakest of the three categories. Kemp cooled off a bit at Petco Park, but still hit .423 for the week with four doubles and three home runs. With three games remaining, Kemp leads the National League in home runs (37, tied with Albert Pujols) and RBI (120) and is third in batting average, .008 behind Ryan Braun.

Honorable mention goes to James Loney, who hit .400 with a pair of doubles, and to Jerry Sands, who extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: In his two starts this week, Clayton Kershaw ended his season in fine style with a pair of 22-out wins against the Giants and Padres. Kershaw leads the majors with a 2.28 ERA, and leads the National League in strikeouts (248), wins (tied, 21), and WHIP (0.977). Barring either a 17-strikeout performance on Monday by Cliff Lee or a cheap relief win by Ian Kennedy, Kershaw will win the pitching triple crown.

Honorable mention goes to Ted Lilly, who struck out seven and didn't allow a run on Friday in San Diego, continuing his late season surge. But he made one start to Kershaw's two, and frankly Kershaw monorailed this award, as it would have taken a lot for him not to win it.

Week 26 Record:  4-2
23 runs scored (3.83 per game)
16 runs allowed (2.67 per game)
.660 pythagorean winning percentage

Season Record:  80-78
627 runs scored (3.97 per game)
598 runs allowed (3.78 per game)
.522 pythagorean winning percentage (82-76)

Power/Speed Watch: Matt Kemp joined the 35/35 club with a home run on Wednesday against the Giants, and then homered in each of his next two games as well. Kemp needs three home runs in his final three games of the season to become the fifth member of the 40/40 club.

Transactions: None this week.

Game Results:

• Tuesday: Dodgers 2, Giants 1
• Wednesday: Giants 8, Dodgers 5
• Thursday: Dodgers 8, Giants 2
• Friday: Dodgers 2, Padres 0
• Saturday: Padres 3, Dodgers 0
• Sunday: Dodgers 6, Padres 2

Upcoming Week: That's right, this season ends on a Wednesday. The Dodgers have three games in Phoenix against the National League West champs, who trail the Milwaukee Brewers by one game with three to play for the number two seed in the National League. Arizona holds the tiebreaker with Milwaukee by virtue of winning their season series, four games to three.

Jarrod Parker, the ninth overall pick of the 2007 MLB draft, will make his major league debut for the Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

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 | Week 20 | Week 21 | Week 22 | Week 23 | Week 24 | Week 25

Week 26 Stats