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Dodgers July review: Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig & first place

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers got great performances out of their stars in July and ended the month on a six-game winning streak. The strong finish to the month vaulted the Dodgers to the best record in the National League.

Dodger Batter of July: Though his home run on Thursday was just his second home run of the month, Yasiel Puig was an extra-base hit machine in July. The first-time All-Star had 10 doubles and five triples in July, hitting .351/.425/.688. Puig played 21 of the Dodgers' 24 games during the month. The only other Dodger since 1914 with 17 extra-base hits in a month when playing 22 or fewer games was Johnny Frederick in 1929.

Dodger Pitcher of July: After winning National League Pitcher of the Month for June, Clayton Kershaw was nearly as good in July. He allowed five runs in five starts, including three complete games and a shutout, with a paltry 1.07 ERA, 43 strikeouts and four walks. Kershaw is the only Dodger ever with at least 40 strikeouts and no more than five walks in consecutive months.

July Record: 14-10
98 runs scored (4.08 per game)
93 runs allowed (3.88 per game)
.524 pythagorean winning percentage (13-11)

July National League West Standings
Club W-L Pct GB RS RA
Dodgers 14-10 .583 --- 98 93
Arizona 13-12 .520 103 104
San Diego
12-13 .480 97 71
San Francisco 12-14 .462 3 85 92
Colorado 8-17 .320 90 126

2014 Record: 62-47
455 runs scored (4.17 per game)
395 runs allowed (3.62 per game)
.564 pythagorean winning percentage (62-47)

National League West Standings through July 31
Club W-L Pct GB RS RA
Dodgers 62-47 .569 --- 455 395
San Francisco
58-50 .537 421 400
San Diego
48-60 .444 13½ 340 372
Arizona 48-61 .440 14 437 506
Colorado 44-64 .407 17½ 508 562

Game of the Month: The Dodgers vaulted back into first place thanks to a sweep in San Francisco, outscoring the Giants 17-4. The highlight game was Clayton Kershaw's shutout in the middle game on July 26. The win moved the Dodgers back into first place.

Pinch Hitting: For the month, Dodger pinch hitters had nine hits in 25 at-bats with a home run, a double and six walks, hitting .360/.484/.520.

Runners in Scoring Position: In July, the Dodgers hit .287/.375/.426 with runners in scoring position in 276 plate appearances, with 12 doubles, four triples and four home runs.

They had a runner on third base with less than two outs 61 times, and got the runner home 25 times, or 41.0 percent (the entire National League scored 355 of 735 times, 48.3 percent).

They had a runner on second base with nobody out 39 times in July, and the runner advanced 20 times, or 51.3 percent (the entire NL advanced the runner 297 of 542 times, 54.8 percent).

Upcoming month: Half of the Dodgers' 28 games are at home. There is a four-game home-and-home series with the Angels, road trips to Milwaukee and Atlanta, then Phoenix and San Diego.

June weeks in review: July 7 | July 14 | July 21 | July 28

Previous month in review: April | May | June

July Stats

Player PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SB/CS BA/OBP/SLG OPS
Puig 87 77 17 27 10 5 2 10 9 0/0 .351/.425/.688 1.114
Kemp 93 80 7 26 1 1 3 15 13 0/1 .325/.419/.475 .894
Gonzalez 104 92 10 27 9 0 2 21 9 0/0 .293/.346/.457 .803
Uribe 94 91 5 30 5 0 1 10 3 0/0 .330/.351/.418 .769
Ramirez 63 52 9 14 4 0 0 6 8 2/0 .269/.397/.346 .743
Gordon 108 100 14 30 4 1 0 1 5 8/4 .300/.340/.360 .700
Ellis 75 62 3 10 4 0 0 6 9 0/0 .161/.270/.226 .496
Crawford 49 43 5 7 0 1 0 4 4 4/1 .163/.245/.209 .454
Starters 673 597 70 171 37 8 8 73 60 14/6 .286/.355/.415 .771
Turner 17 14 7 4 1 0 0 2 2 0/0 .286/.412/.357 .769
Van Slyke 47 46 3 11 2 0 3 6 1 0/0 .239/.255/.478 .734
Ethier 55 46 3 11 2 2 0 6 9 0/0 .239/.364/.370 .733
Robinson 6 6 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0/0 .333/.333/.333 .667
Arruebarrena 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0/0 .333/.333/.333 .667
Rojas 36 30 5 5 1 0 1 2 4 0/0 .167/.306/.300 .606
Butera 19 17 1 2 1 0 0 0 2 0/0 .118/.211/.176 .387
Triunfel 8 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0/0 .000/.125/.000 .125
Bench 191 169 22 36 7 2 4 18 19 0/0 .213/.304/.349 .653
Pitchers 57 47 6 8 4 0 0 2 3 1/0 .170/.220/.255 .475
Totals 921 813 98 215 48 10 12 93 82 15/6 .264/.337/.392 .729

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Pitcher G W-L Sv IP H R ER BB K ERA WHIP FIP*
Maholm 1 0-0 -- 6 2 0 0 0 4 0.00 0.333 1.79
Kershaw 5 4-0 -- 42 23 5 5 4 43 1.07 0.643 2.05
Greinke 5 2-2 -- 35⅔ 31 10 9 9 42 2.27 1.121 1.80
Ryu 5 3-1 -- 28⅓ 30 14 14 4 32 4.45 1.200 2.20
Beckett 4 1-1 -- 18 24 13 13 8 13 6.50 1.778 6.62
Haren 4 0-4 -- 19 28 20 20 7 23 9.47 1.842 4.75
Starters 24 10-8 -- 149 138 62 61 32 157 3.68 1.141 2.91
Howell 11 2-0 -- 9 3 0 0 3 4 0.00 0.667 3.23
Rodriguez 2 0-0 -- 1⅓ 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 0.000 1.62
Baez 1 0-0 -- 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.000 3.12
Jansen 9 1-0 6/7 9⅓ 5 1 1 2 12 0.96 0.750 2.58
League 7 1-0 -- 6⅓ 7 1 1 4 3 1.42 1.737 4.07
Perez 9 0-0 -- 9⅔ 6 6 5 5 3 4.66 1.138 4.36
Maholm 7 0-1 -- 10⅔ 17 9 9 4 5 7.59 1.969 3.03
Wright 8 0-0 -- 10 13 10 10 6 10 9.00 1.900 3.22
Wilson 5 0-1 -- 3⅔ 5 4 4 6 5 9.82 3.000 3.67
Relievers 24 4-2 6/7 61 56 31 30 30 43 4.43 1.410 3.35
Totals 24 14-10 6/7 210 194 93 91 62 200 3.90 1.219 3.03
*FIP is estimated