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Dodgers May In Review: Great Story, Horrible Ending

Unfortunately, this will be a common sight in June.
Unfortunately, this will be a common sight in June.

The Dodgers continued to build quite a 2012 story in May, starting the month 16-8 despite losing four starters to the disabled list, including the irreplaceable Matt Kemp. But the ending to that May story was terrible, as the Dodgers lost their last four games of the month and also lost Kemp, again, to a left hamstring injury that will keep him out for the next four weeks, at a minimum.

The Dodgers' opening day lineup accounted for just 55.3% of the plate appearances from their position players in May, yet they managed to widen their lead in the National League West.

Dodger Batter of May: He didn't have his partner in crime for most of the month, but Andre Ethier still had quite a month, hitting .366 with 11 doubles and four home runs. Ethier drove in 20 runs for the second month in a row and for the fifth time in his career.

Honorable mention goes to A.J. Ellis, who continued to build his All-Star campaign with four home runs of his own while hitting .330 with 11 walks. Ellis didn't lead the team in walks though, because Bobby Abreu welcomed himself to the Dodgers with 13 walks and a .430 on-base percentage in his first month in Los Angeles.

Dodger Pitcher of May: Just like April, a left-hander wins this award, but this time Chris Capuano picks up the honors. Capuano won four of his five starts and put up a 1.62 ERA with 29 strikeouts and eight walks.

Aaron Harang and Clayton Kershaw each had an ERA under 3.00, and relievers Javy Guerra, Ronald Belisario, and Kenley Jansen all had an ERA under 2.00.

May Record: 16-12
130 runs scored (4.64 per game)
102 runs allowed (3.64 per game)
.609 pythagorean winning percentage (17-11)

May National League West Standings
Club W-L Pct GB RS RA
Dodgers 16-12 .571 -- 130 102
Giants 15-14 .517 114 116
Diamondbacks 11-17 .393 5 104 123
Padres 10-18 .357 6 92 129
Rockies 10-18 .357 6 150 167

Record Through May 31: 32-19
221 runs scored (4.33 per game)
181 runs allowed (3.55 per game)
.590 pythagorean winning percentage (30-21)

National League West Standings Through May 31
Club W-L Pct GB RS RA
Dodgers 32-19 .627 -- 221 181
Giants 27-24 .529 5 204 202
Diamondbacks 23-28 .451 9 208 225
Rockies 21-29 .420 10½ 263 279
Padres 17-35 .327 15½ 167 228

Game of the Month: On May 22 in Arizona, the Dodgers trailed 6-1 after six innings in Arizona, but the Albuquerque/LA mixed crew rallied for five runs in the seventh inning to tie the game. But the Diamondbacks reclaimed the lead, and the Dodgers were down to their final out in the ninth. But Ivan De Jesus lined a two-run game-winning double over the head of Chris Young in center field for their sixth straight win.

Welcome Aboard: In May alone, three Dodgers made their major league debut: Scott Van Slyke (May 9), Elian Herrera (May 15), and Alex Castellanos (May 31).

Pinch Hitting: For the month, Dodger pinch hitters had 11 hits in 36 at-bats, including two doubles, a triple, and a home run, hitting a robust .306/.395/.500.

Runners in Scoring Position: In May, the Dodgers hit .260/.346/.432 with runners in scoring position in 328 plate appearances.

They had a runner on third base with less than two outs 67 times in April, and got the runner home 43 times, or 64.2% (the entire NL scored 453 of 891 times, 50.8%).

They had a runner on second base with nobody out 56 times in May, and the runner advanced 34 times, or 60.7% (the entire NL advanced the runner 349 of 678 times, 51.5%).

May Weeks in Review: May 6 | May 14 | May 21 | May 27

Previous Months In Review: April

May Stats

Player PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SB/CS BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Ethier 116 101 16 37 11 0 4 20 9 0/1 .366/.422/.594 1.016
Ellis, A.J. 94 81 14 27 4 1 4 16 11 0/0 .333/.419/.556 .975
Abreu 79 66 12 21 5 1 0 7 13 1/0 .318/.430/.424 .855
Ellis, M 64 55 11 17 2 0 2 7 7 2/0 .309/.397/.455 .851
Herrera 59 51 8 16 3 0 0 4 7 1/0 .314/.397/.373 .769
Gwynn 91 86 11 25 3 2 0 12 4 4/2 .291/.322/.372 .694
Loney 96 87 8 23 5 0 1 10 9 0/1 .264/.333/.356 .690
Uribe 22 20 5 4 1 0 1 3 2 0/0 .200/.273/.400 .673
Kemp 46 37 6 8 2 1 0 3 8 0/1 .216/.348/.324 .672
Gordon 98 90 9 22 3 0 1 6 6 4/1 .244/.289/.311 .600
Rivera 22 22 1 5 0 0 1 4 0 0/1 .227/.227/.364 .591
Starters
787 696 101 205 39 5 14 92 76 12/7 .295/.366/.425 .791
Treanor 19 16 5 7 1 0 2 4 2 0/0 .438/.474/.875 1.349
Hairston 37 35 2 16 3 1 1 7 2 0/0 .457/.486/.686 1.172
Castellanos 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0/0 -----/1.000/----- 1.000
De Jesus 20 17 4 6 2 0 0 3 2 0/0 .353/.400/.471 .871
Sellers 29 27 3 6 1 1 1 2 2 0/0 .222/.276/.444 .720
Kennedy 67 57 9 15 3 1 0 5 8 0/0 .263/.345/.351 .699
Sands 21 20 2 4 2 0 0 1 1 0/0 .200/.238/.300 .538
Van Slyke 28 26 2 4 1 0 1 6 1 1/0 .154/.185/.308 .493
Bench
222 198 27 58 13 3 5 28 18 1/0 .293/.350/.465 .815
Pitchers
67 56 2 8 2 0 0 5 1 0/0 .143/.158/.179 .336
Totals
1076 950 130 271 54 8 19 125 95 13/7 .285/.351/.419 .770

Pitcher G W-L Sv IP H R ER BB K ERA WHIP FIP*
Capuano 5 4-1 -- 33.1 19 7 6 8 29 1.62 0.810 2.96
Eovaldi 1 0-1 -- 7.0 4 2 2 1 4 2.57 0.714 4.34
Harang 5 2-1 -- 30.1 28 11 9 8 20 2.67 1.187 3.96
Kershaw 6 2-3 -- 44.0 35 15 14 12 36 2.86 1.068 3.79
Lilly 5 3-1 -- 28.2 27 20 15 11 20 4.71 1.326 4.42
Billingsley 6 0-3 -- 31.0 42 21 19 18 35 5.52 1.935 3.62
Starters 28
11-10 -- 174.1 155 76 65 58 144 3.36 1.222 3.76
Guerra 14 1-0 1 13.1 11 1 1 5 8 0.68 1.200 2.90
Belisario 12 0-0 -- 11.1 7 2 2 7 10 1.59 1.235 3.29
Jansen 10 2-0 4 10.0 7 2 2 3 14 1.80 1.000 2.90
Elbert 12 0-0 -- 8.0 8 3 3 1 11 3.38 1.125 2.45
Lindblom 12 1-0 -- 11.2 11 5 5 5 13 3.86 1.371 5.60
Coffey 8 0-0 -- 8.0 8 5 4 5 7 4.50 1.625 4.58
Wright 10 1-2 -- 12.2 14 8 8 7 15 5.68 1.658 3.75
Relievers 28
5-2 5 75.0 66
26 25 33 78 3.00 1.320 3.65
Totals 28
16-12 5 249.1 221 102 90 91 222 3.25 1.251 3.73
*FIP is estimated