Dodgers July review: Rising to the top

The Dodgers had one of the best months since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in July. They went 19-6, the third best monthly winning percentage since 1958, trailing only April 1977 (17-3) and July 1962 (20-6).

The team led the National League in runs allowed and was third in runs scored, and rose from last place in the division to first. They rode very strong pitching, the bat of Hanley Ramirez and a cast of helpful contributors on offense.

Dodger Batter of July: Hanley Ramirez continued his assault on National League pitching, and led the team in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs (tied with Adrian Gonzalez), RBI (tied with Gonzalez), and stolen bases (tied with Andre Ethier and Yasiel Puig). Ramirez is the first Dodger with 17 extra-base hits in a month since Matt Kemp in June 2011.

Honorable mention goes to Ethier, who hit .312/.389/.462 with eight doubles. Matt Kemp only played five games during the month but was tied for third on the team with three home runs. Skip Schumaker hit .375 (15-for-40) and turned on the power with two home runs and four doubles.

Dodger Pitcher of July: This one was easy, as Clayton Kershaw is the favorite to win National League Pitcher of the Month honors. He allowed seven runs in six starts, and had 43 strikeouts against just two walks to go with his 1.34 ERA. The month worked out such that Kershaw and Zack Greinke each started six times, and no other pitcher started more then four times. Greinke was 3-1 with a 2.63 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 41 innings.

Kershaw had just the seventh month in MLB since 1916 with at least 40 strikeouts and at most two walks.

July Record: 19-6

125 runs scored (5.00 per game)
72 runs allowed (2.88 per game)
.733 pythagorean winning percentage (18-7)

Season to date Record: 57-49
419 runs scored (3.95 per game)
412 runs allowed (3.89 per game)
.508 pythagorean winning percentage (54-52)

Game of the Month: On July 10 in Arizona the Dodgers were one out away from suffering a loss in the series finale against the Diamondbacks in Arizona. The Dodgers already won the first two games of the series so a loss wouldn't have been the biggest deal, as a 6-3 road trip would have been just fine. But the Dodgers rallied to tie, then lasted into the 14th, when they scored two runs to complete the sweep. The difference between coming home just 1½ games behind Arizona rather than 3½ games back was huge, and the Dodgers are 12-4 since that win.

Pinch Hitting: For the month, Dodger pinch hitters had eight hits in 21 at-bats with three doubles and three walks, hitting just .381/.458/.524.

Runners in Scoring Position: In July, the Dodgers hit .272/.356/.402 with runners in scoring position in 267 plate appearances, with seven doubles, two triples and six home runs.

They had a runner on third base with less than two outs 64 times, and got the runner home 34 times, or 53.1% (the entire NL scored 371 of 776 times, 47.8%).

They had a runner on second base with nobody out 47 times in June, and the runner advanced 30 times, or 63.8% (the entire NL advanced the runner 309 of 540 times, 57.2%).

July weeks in review: July 7 | July 15 | July 21 | July 29

Previous months in review: April | May | June

July Stats