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Dodgers season in thirds: The first 54 games

The season is now one third over, and the Dodgers are on pace for 93 losses. Here are the grizzly details.

USA TODAY Sports

After Saturday's loss to the Rockies, the Dodgers have now played 54 games this season, which means the season is officially one-third complete. In a crude manner, just multiply everything by three and you can see what we are looking at for a full season.

It's not pretty.

Not only are the Dodgers on pace for 93 losses, but their 23-31 record is their worst 54-game mark since 1967, when the team started 21-33 en route to a 73-89 campaign in the first year of the post Sandy Koufax era.

The 2013 Dodgers have their Koufax, but not much else has gone right in the first third of the season. Let's delve into the ugly details.

Here is a look back at the first 54 games of each of the last five seasons:

Year W-L Runs For Runs Allowed BA/OBP/SLG ERA
2013 23-31 193 (3.57/gm) 229 (4.24/gm) .257/.327/.375 3.88
2012 33-21 232 (4.30/gm) 199 (3.69/gm) .269/.342/.405 3.27
2011 24-30 187 (3.46/gm) 226 (4.19/gm) .248/.312/.360 3.99
2010 31-23 254 (4.70/gm) 246 (4.56/gm) .264/.331/.403 3.98
2009 36-18 295 (5.46/gm) 208 (3.85/gm) .285/.367/.414 3.75

Here are the numbers for each individual player, starting with the catchers:

Catchers
Player G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB/CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Ellis 42 41 168 141 9 37 7 1 2 12 0/0 22 .262/.364/.369 .732
Hernandez 12 9 41 35 3 7 2 0 2 4 0/0 5 .200/.293/.429 .721
Federowicz 13 5 28 27 1 5 1 0 1 3 0/0 1 .185/.214/.333 .548
Totals 237 203 13 49 10 1 5 19 0/0 28 .241/.333/.374 .708

The fewest runs scored in a season by a Dodger with at least 500 plate appearances is 34, by catcher Steve Yeager in 1975. Through a third of the season in 2013, A.J. Ellis is on pace for 504 PA and 27 runs.

Here are the infielders. For purposes of classification, I am counting Jerry Hairston (eight starts, 66 innings in the infield; six starts, 55 innings in the outfield) and Skip Schumaker (14 starts, 120 innings in the infield; eight starts, 98 innings in the outfield) as infielders.

Infielders
Player G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB/CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Gonzalez 51 49 207 181 18 59 11 0 7 41 0/0 19 .326/.382/.503 .884
Punto 43 30 136 115 16 35 5 0 1 10 2/0 17 .304/.391/.374 .765
Ellis, M 32 28 130 117 14 33 4 0 2 15 2/0 5 .282/.326/.368 .693
Schumker 46 23 113 101 11 25 5 0 0 8 1/0 11 .248/.327/.297 .624
Uribe 39 25 104 87 13 25 5 0 2 10 1/0 16 .287/.394/.414 .808
Cruz 33 21 93 87 8 10 0 0 1 5 0/0 2 .115/.152/.149 .302
Sellers 26 20 76 68 6 13 1 0 1 2 0/0 5 .191/.267/.250 .517
Gordon 19 17 73 63 6 11 0 1 1 5 5/2 8 .175/.278/.254 .532
Hairston 23 14 71 64 6 17 3 0 1 7 0/0 3 .266/.304/.359 .664
Ramirez 4 3 12 11 2 5 2 0 1 1 1/0 1 .455/.500/.909 1.409
Totals 1015 894 100 233 36 1 17 104 12/2 87 .261/.330/.360 .690

Adrian Gonzalez has been one of the lone bright spots on offense this season. Since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, they have only had five players drive in 120 runs in a season. Gonzalez is on pace for 123 RBI.

Now on to the dumpster fire that is the Dodgers outfield.

Outfielders
Player G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB/CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Kemp 51 49 210 191 22 48 10 0 2 17 7/0 14 .251/.305/.335 .640
Crawford 51 43 201 183 32 55 12 2 5 13 9/3 14 .301/.358/.470 .828
Ethier 52 49 205 179 13 43 9 1 4 15 0/2 22 .240/.332/.369 .700
Van Slyke 15 10 46 42 7 11 5 0 4 9 0/0 4 .262/.326/.667 .993
Herrera 1 1 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0/0 0 .333/.333/.333 .667
Totals 665 598 74 158 36 3 15 54 16/5 54 .264/.331/.410 .741

Carl Crawford has been a breath of fresh air, and Scott Van Slyke a great story. But Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier were embarrassments in the first third of the season, and the biggest reason for the Dodgers struggles. A full season of 105 runs and 96 RBI is something close to what to expect out of one of Kemp and Ethier, but not both combined.

Now, the pitching:

Starters
Pitcher GS QS W-L IP H R ER BB K ERA WHIP FIP
Kershaw 12 9 5-3 87⅓ 57 21 18 23 82 1.85 0.916 2.61
Ryu 11 8 6-2 71⅔ 59 25 23 22 67 2.89 1.130 3.31
Beckett 8 3 0-5 43⅓ 50 30 25 15 41 5.19 1.500 4.65
Capuano 6 2 1-4 30⅓ 35 22 20 12 20 5.93 1.549 5.61
Greinke 6 1 2-1 30 40 18 16 8 20 4.80 1.600 3.60
Lilly 4 0 0-2 19 21 11 9 8 15 4.26 1.526 4.38
Magill 4 1 0-0 18 18 11 11 13 19 5.50 1.722 4.11
Billingsley 2 2 1-0 12 12 4 4 5 6 3.00 1.417 4.50
Fife 1 0 0-0 4⅔ 7 4 4 1 5 7.71 1.714 5.10
Totals 54 26 15-17 316⅓ 299 146 130 107 275 3.70 1.283 3.73

Hideo Nomo is the only Dodger rookie to strikeout 200 batters in a season, and Hyun-jin Ryu is on pace to join him, with 201 strikeouts.

Relievers
Pitcher G W-L Sv/BS IP H R ER BB K ERA WHIP FIP
League 20 1-2 11/3 20⅓ 23 15 12 5 10 5.31 1.377 5.63
Jansen 27 1-3 2/1 26⅔ 22 9 9 6 37 3.04 1.050 3.25
Belisario 29 3-4 1/0 27⅓ 34 13 11 11 21 3.62 1.646 3.57
Rodriguez 26 1-2 -- 18⅔ 8 6 6 6 20 2.89 0.750 2.85
Howell 22 1-0 -- 24⅓ 16 6 6 10 23 2.22 1.068 2.64
Guerrier 23 1-2 -- 20⅔ 19 11 9 9 10 3.92 1.355 4.62
Guerra 9 0-0 -- 10⅔ 15 9 8 6 12 6.75 1.969 4.11
Wall 6 0-1 -- 7 17 14 14 6 7 18.00 3.286 6.17
Capuano 2 0-0 -- 2⅔ 2 0 0 1 4 0.00 1.125 1.29
Schumaker 1 0-0 -- 1 2 0 0 1 0 0.00 3.000 6.17
Tolleson 1 0-0 -- 0 0 0 0 2 0 --- inf ---
Totals 54 8-14 14/4 159 158 83 75 63 144 4.24 1.387 3.85

The Dodgers haven't had a relief pitcher appear in 75 games since Joe Beimel pitched 83 games in 2007. Yet Ronald Belisario, Kenley Jansen, and Paco Rodriguez are all on pace for 78 games or more. That could be a problem as the season wears on.