SB Nation - A.J. Ellis

How Dodgers Became Dodgers: Where Pedro Astacio Becomes Blake DeWitt

Eric Stephen — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:16 -0000

More photos » by Ed Andrieski - AP

Blake and DeWitt are two of seven players currently on the 40-man roster who have links to Dodgers past.

Major league 40-man rosters were set last Friday in preparation for the upcoming Rule 5 draft in two weeks. With the free agency period just starting, there are many open spots on rosters throughout baseball. The Dodgers, for instance, have 33 players on their 40-man roster. Over the next few weeks, free agents will be signed and some players will be non-tendered, so rosters will change, but for now let's look at the 33 Dodgers and how they became Dodgers.

Almost half of the Dodgers currently on the 40-man roster -- 16 of 33 -- were drafted by the team with their own draft pick:

Draft(ed) Dodgers
Player	Year	Round	Pick

James Loney	2002	1	19
Jonathan Broxton	2002	2	60
James McDonald	2002	11	331
Eric Stults	2002	15	451
Russell Martin	2002	17	511

Chad Billingsley	2003	1	24
Xavier Paul	2003	4	121
Matt Kemp	2003	6	181
Lucas May	2003	8	241
A.J. Ellis	2003	18	541

Scott Elbert	2004	1	17
Javy Guerra	2004	4	118
Cory Wade	2004	10	298

Brent Leach	2005	6	196
Trayvon Robinson	2005	10	316

Clayton Kershaw	2006	1	7

These are pretty straight forward original transactions, as are these other four amateur free agents:

Amateur Free Agents
Player	Date	Origin
Hong-Chih Kuo	6/19/99	Taiwan
Ramon Troncoso	6/20/02	Dominican Republic
Chin-Lung Hu	1/31/03	Taiwan
Kenley Jansen	11/17/04	Curacao

That makes 20 of 33 Dodgers who are with are with their original club. In addition to them, there are six more Dodgers that joined the club independent of other players. That is, their acquisitions aren't linked to anyone else:

Free Agents
Player	Date
Rafael Furcal	12/19/05
Juan Pierre	11/22/06
Travis Schlichting*	10/7/07
Hiroki Kuroda	12/16/07
Ronald Belisario*	1/13/09
Charlie Haeger*	1/17/09
*minor league free agents

This is where we get to the fun part of this exercise, as reminded by Rocknjosie in her excellent Fan Post last month. There are seven Dodgers left that were acquired as the result, directly or indirectly, of previous transactions. These are listed in chronological order based on the earliest transaction.

Andre Ethier
Date	Transaction
6/1/88	drafted Mike Piazza in the 62nd round (#1390 overall)
8/4/96	signed Luke Allen as an undrafted free agent
12/8/96	signed Todd Zeile as a free agent
5/14/98	traded Piazza and Zeile to Marlins for Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Manuel Barrios
11/18/00	signed Franklin Gutierrez as an amateur free agent
1/15/02	traded Sheffield to Braves for Odalis Perez, Brian Jordan, and Andrew Brown
1/17/03	traded Allen to Colorado for Jason Romano
4/3/04	traded Romano to Tampa Bay for Antonio Perez
4/3/04	traded Gutierrez and Brown to Cleveland for Milton Bradley
12/13/05	traded Bradley and Perez to Oakland for Ethier
Total Related Players: 9

Blake DeWitt
Date	Transaction
11/21/87	signed Pedro Astacio as an amateur free agent
6/14/91	signed Ismael Valdez as an amateur free agent
8/28/94	signed Luke Prokopec as an amateur free agent
8/19/97	traded Astacio to Rockies for Eric Young
12/12/99	traded Young and Valdez to Cubs for Terry Adams, Brian Stephenson, and Chad Ricketts
12/31/01	traded Prokopec and Ricketts to Toronto for Cesar Izturis and Paul Quantrill
12/17/03	Quantrill signed as a free agent with the Yankees
6/7/04	drafted DeWitt with a compensation first round pick (#28 overall)
Total Related Players: 6

Ivan DeJesus
Date	Transaction
7/7/94	signed Adrian Beltre as an amateur free agent
12/17/04	Beltre signed as a free agent with Seattle
6/7/05	drafted DeJesus with a compensation second round pick (#51 overall)
Total Related Players: 1

Jason Repko
Date	Transaction
1/16/96	signed Scott Radinsky as a free agent
11/23/98	Radinsky signed as a free agent with St. Louis
6/2/99	drafted Repko with a compensation supplemental pick (#37 overall)
Total Related Players: 1

Manny Ramirez
Date	Transaction
12/12/98	signed Kevin Brown as a free agent
6/3/03	drafted Andy LaRoche in the 39th round (#1171 overall)
12/13/03	traded Brown to Yankees for Jeff Weaver, Yhency Brazoban, Brandon Weeden, and cash
2/23/06	Weaver signed as a free agent with the Angels
6/6/06	drafted Bryan Morris with a compensation first round pick (#26 overall)
7/31/08	traded LaRoche and Morris to Pittsburgh in a 3-team trade; received Manny and cash from Boston
Total Related Players: 4

Casey Blake
Date	Transaction
8/13/04	signed Carlos Santana as an amateur free agent
6/7/05	drafted Jon Meloan in fifth round (#166 overall)
7/26/08	traded Santana and Meloan to Cleveland for Blake, and cash
Total Related Players: 2

George Sherrill
Date	Transaction
6/7/05	drafted Josh Bell in the second round (#74 overall)
6/7/05	drafted Steven Johnson in the 13th round (#406 overall)
7/30/09	traded Bell and Johnson to Baltimore for Sherrill
Total Related Players: 2

The Rise in the Fall of Nevin Ashley

FreeZorilla — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:00:13 -0000

Nevin Ashley is a 25-year-old catcher for the Rays originally drafted in the 6th round of the 2006 draft out of Indiana State University. Ashley showed ability at the plate through his time in A ball, but began to see his power disappear soon after. Ashley does possess surprising speed for a catcher as evidenced by his AFL leading four triples. Below is a snapshot of his career rates:

Season	Level	PA	BB%	K%	OBP	SLG	ISO	BABIP
2006	R	185	12.1%	26.1%	0.44	0.477	0.144	0.431
2007	A	490	10.3%	21.4%	0.354	0.431	0.152	0.332
2008	A+	386	13.0%	24.2%	0.348	0.315	0.08	0.299
2009	A+	236	9.9%	23.5%	0.343	0.335	0.095	0.305
2009	AA	139	13.2%	26.3%	0.331	0.314	0.102	0.279

Despite run of the mill offensive numbers, Nevin Ashley was named as a 2009 Florida State League All-Star. There is no question about his arm strength behind the dish as he gunned down a video game-like 48 of 101 (47.5%) base runners in 2009 between A+ and AA. As analysts, we don't have great measures available to evaluate catcher's game calling or defense. For this reason catcher defense is ignored altogether when evaluating Wins Above Replacement. Nonetheless, there's no denying it exists. If proof is needed, look at John Jaso's minor league offensive numbers and ask why he has had little to no shot with the big league club to date.

GIven the lack of information, its worth noting that Ashley was named the Rays Organizational Defensive Player of the Year Award. This seems like a true endorsement given the lack of measurable. For further subjective evaluation jsut ask Stephen Strasburg, the #1 overall pick this year, "Nevin Ashley (catcher Rays) did a great job calling the game. We were always on the same page. We knew to go to a sinker in those situations to get a ground ball." Desert Dogs Pitching Coach Paul Menhart ,when asked about catching Strasburg, chimed in, "Ashley caught his first outing and today's effort. They have had a good plan each time, a very aggressive plan."

Ashley was selected along with Organizational Base Runner of the Year Shawn O'Malley to represent the Rays in the Arizona Fall League. It's no secret Ashley worked with Ben Zobrist's Swing Mechanic, Jamie Cevallos prior to the 2008 season. While they do not actively work together any longer, they do remain in contact. Ashley seems to have found a groove in the warm Arizona climate where he has posted an OPS of 1.113 heading into November 17th, good for 4th in the league. Before I run the risk of speaking hyperbole, Nevin Ashley's 67 At-Bats in the Arizona Fall League do not qualify him as an offensive phenom in anybody's eyes. Most readers have heard the warning shots, which are all very true:

A) Ashley has been old for his minor league level

B) His offensive performance the past two seasons in A+ and AA have been uninspiring to say the least

C) The Arizona Fall League is a heavily inflated offensive league

The hope instead is that Ashley can have a modest bat to accompany potentially elite defensive skills. While sabermetricians have yet to quantify this, it is fun to imagine and not impossible that our outside the box front-office and coaching staff may have a true proprietary defensive read on Ashley. If Ashley's defense is the equivalent of John Jaso's offense and Ashley can begin to put up some respectable numbers at the dish, the Rays could have a future contributor on hand. Remember, this is a position where the expectations are so low that 2009 catcher Dioner Navarro could put up an OPS of .583 and still only be -.1 WAR.

How can we put perspective on Ashley's 57 at-bat-sample size in an extreme offensive league without discarding it entirely as some suggest? Ashley spent 2009 playing in A+, AA, and the AFL. I calculated the average team OPS in each league to create league factors based around the middle number which was AA. Then I weighted Ashley's OPS in each league by both the league factor and by the percentage of Ashley's total plate appearances for the season. This allowed for Ashley's 2009 weighted OPS of .728:

	LgOps	Weights	OPS	PA	%PA	Weighted OPS
AA	0.711	1	0.644	139	31.4%	0.203
A+	0.684	1.037975	0.678	236	53.4%	0.376
AFL	0.790	0.888889	1.113	67	15.2%	0.150
			Total PA	442		0.728

Despite the offensive nature of the league and small sample size of at-bats, we can also compare historical catcher data from the AFL going back to 2005. In an offensive league the numbers should be inflated for all hitters so it is still an apples-to-apples comparison. Below is a table of all AFL catchers since 2005 with a minimum of 50 at-bats and an OPS of .800 or better. The age column refers to the catcher's age at the time of his AFL appearance. Before and Pre-OPS refer to the catcher's immediate preceding season prior to the AFL. Now and Post-OPS refer to the 2009 season. When selecting the level for Pre and Post-AFL, I used the level with the most plate appearances for the season.

Name	Year	Age	AFLOPS	AB	Before	Pre-OPS	Now	Post-OPS
Tyler Flowers	2008	22	1.433	75	A+	0.921	AA	0.993
Matt McBride	2009	24	1.152	66	AA	0.728	???	???
Michael McKenry	2008	23	1.126	84	A+	0.827	AA	0.831
Nevin Ashley	2009	25	1.113	67	A+	0.678	???	???
Jason Jaramilo	2006	24	1.027	66	AA	0.708	MLB	0.673
Cole Armstrong	2008	25	0.968	97	AA	0.706	AAA	0.714
AJ Ellis	2006	25	0.966	52	AA	0.676	AAA	0.813
Mark Wagner	2008	24	0.916	59	AA	0.666	AA	0.887
Curtis Thigpen	2006	23	0.892	88	AA	0.79	AAA	0.577
Raul Padron	2007	23	0.864	50	A+	0.678	AA	0.717
Bobby Wilson	2006	23	0.851	56	AA	0.778	AAA	0.714
Jeff Clement	2007	24	0.847	52	AAA	0.86	AAA	0.845
Matt Wieters	2008	22	0.845	73	A+	1.024	MLB	0.753
Jarrod Saltalamacchia	2005	20	0.825	73	A+	0.913	MLB	0.661
Jeff Clement	2005	22	0.824	67	A	0.908	AAA	0.845
Josh Thole	2008	22	0.82	69	A+	0.808	AA	0.816

With the exception of Curtis Thigpen, this list has put up respectable numbers following their Arizona Autumns. The two players that jump out as being most comparable to Ashley are A.J. Ellis are Mark Wagner, given their age and mediocre offensive numbers preceding the AFL.

A.J. Ellis has spent most of the past two seasons in AAA with the Dodgers organization. He has displayed a keen eye walking 15.4% and 18.4% during that time period. He also had a BABIP of .372 the past 2 seasons. The knock on Ellis is that his lack of power (ISO .060) will erode his walking skills in the big leagues. Nonetheless his past 2 seasons his slash lines have been .321/.436/.546 and .314/.438/.375. I don't know of his defensive ability but if he is of average talent, he would have played for the Rays by now.

Mark Wagner seems to have followed Ashley's path as well displaying early success at the A levels before stalling out with a .666 OPS in AA in 2008. During his repeat campaign for the Red Sox AA affiliate following his AFL success that number jumped to .887, with both OBP and SLG jumping over .100.

Catchers are notoriously late bloomers at the plate in the minors. Ashley may fade away quietly, but there remains a chance he can become an average bat for a catcher to go with his excellent arm and subjectively well thought of defensive ability. Nevin Ashley could become the Gabe Gross of catchers. All I ask, is that you don't close the book on Nevin Ashley just yet.

Royals target defensive-minded catcher?

Eli Greenspan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:57:55 -0000

The Royals are looking for alternatives behind the plate for the 2010 season, according to the KC Star.

"We led all of baseball (last season) in passed balls and wild pitches," general manager Dayton Moore said. "That will be fixed in 2010. Our defense in general is our main objective to fix before next season. And it starts behind the plate."

The Royals bought out Miguel Olivo, and hope to find a legitimate replacement before being forced to discuss a contract with arbitration-eligible John Buck.

The KC Star mentions one trade in the works that would send Royals second baseman Alberto Callaspo to the Dodgers for catcher A.J. Ellis. Callaspo, who would take over at second base for the Dodgers, hit .300 with 11 home runs in his first full season of regular playing time.

Ellis, 28, is a .277 career hitter in the minor leagues with a .397 on-base percentage. He has a great eye for the strike zone, and is an excellent fielder behind the dish.

Even with all that said, I don't see why the Royals would ship Callaspo out for a career minor league catcher.

Dodger Roster Breakdown

Eric Stephen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:15:09 -0000

by Mark J. Terrill - AP

One Type B free agent greets a Type A free agent on the mound

View full size photo »

There will be plenty of time this offseason for moves, but here's an overview of the current Dodger 40-man roster. There are 43 players currently on the 40-man roster, including four on the 60-day disabled list. That will change quickly after the World Series as players file for free agency. I have split them into a few groups:

Free Agents (13+1)

Type A*: Orlando Hudson, Randy Wolf

Type B*: Ronnie Belliard, Guillermo Mota, Vicente Padilla, Will Ohman**

Others: Jim Thome, Brad Ausmus, Jason Schmidt, Mark Loretta, Juan Castro, Eric Milton, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jeff Weaver

*Eddie Bajek of Detroit Tigers Thoughts has done a great job of figuring out the Elias Rankings, and has posted them at MLB Trade Rumors. In order to receive compensation for Type A or Type B free agents, the club must offer them arbitration. Type A free agents net a first round pick from the team that signs them, provided the pick isn't in the top 15, in addition to a supplemental pick in between the first and second rounds.

If a team signs more than one Type A free agent, the players are ranked by their Elias ranking, they give up picks in the lower rounds as well. For instance, the Yankees last year gave up their first three picks for signing C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett, all Type A free agents. Type B free agents net only a supplemental pick.

There is always the risk that a player will accept arbitration (like Darren Oliver did with the Angels last season). If he does, the maximum salary cut a player can take is 20%, so for Guillermo Mota, for instance, the least he would make in arbitration in 2010 would be $1.88 million (80% of his $2.35 million 2009 salary). In the case of Hudson and Wolf, they had low base salaries so this isn't an issue, but there is still quite a risk because they are still likely to command a high salary in arbitration.

**I'm counting Will Ohman in this exercise, even though he is no longer on the 40-man since his option was bought out last week, but the Dodgers, however unlikely, can still offer Ohman arbitration if they so choose.

What should happen: Offer arbitration to Hudson, Wolf, and Belliard only

Options (2)

Manny Ramirez has a $20 million player option for 2010. He has until November 10 to accept or decline this option.
Jon Garland has a $10 million mutual option for 2010. If the Dodgers decline, his buyout is $2.5 million; if Garland declines, his buyout is $1 million. As a condition of Garland's acquisition, the Diamondbacks will pay either buyout if the option is not exercised. Even if either side opts out, Garland is a Type B free agent, and the Dodgers could offer him arbitration if they so choose.

What should happen: Manny comes back, Dodgers let Arizona pay Garland $2.5m to walk away, don't offer Garland arbitration

Arbitration Eligible (9)

Player	Service Time	2009 Base Salary
George Sherrill	4.147	$2,750,000
Jonathan Broxton	4.020	$1,825,000
Andre Ethier	3.153	$3,100,000
Russell Martin	3.150	$3,900,000
Hong-Chih Kuo	3.114	$437,000
Chad Billingsley	3.110	$475,000
Matt Kemp	3.049	$467,000
James Loney	3.012	$465,000
Jason Repko	3.067	$500,000

Look for: Repko to get non-tendered

Under Contract (4)

Player	2009 Salary	2010 Salary
Rafael Furcal	$10,500,000	$8,500,000
Juan Pierre	$10,000,000	$10,000,000
Casey Blake	$5,250,000	$6,000,000
Hiroki Kuroda	$10,000,000	$13,000,000

Under Team Control (15)

Player	Service Time	2009 Base Salary
Ramon Troncoso	1.119	$401,000
Clayton Kershaw	1.105	$404,000
Cory Wade	1.096	$402,500
Eric Stults	1.072	$402,000
Blake DeWitt	1.048	$405,000
James McDonald	1.004	$400,750
Ronald Belisario	1.000	$400,000
Chin-Lung Hu	0.153	$401,000
Xavier Paul	0.151	$400,000
Charlie Haeger	0.125	$400,000
Scott Elbert	0.097	$400,000
Brent Leach	0.090	$400,000
A.J. Ellis	0.081	$400,000
Travis Schlichting	0.055	$400,000
Lucas May	0.000	------

Here are some important dates to remember for the offseason:

Day After World Series Ends: begins 15-day period for eligible players to file for free agency

November 20: Date reserve lists must be set (adding players to 40-man roster for purposes of Rule 5 draft)

December 1: Last date to offer arbitration to free agents to receive compensation

December 10: Rule 5 draft

December 12: Deadline to tender contracts to players under team control or pre-free agency arbitration-eligible players

It will be a long offseason, but the hot stove is always interesting.

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Eric Stephen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:40:13 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

2 months ago: Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre watches baseball practice in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. The Dodgers face the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League division series Wednesday. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Browse more photos »

Now that the regular season is over, here's a look at the Dodger season in thirds.

Here's an overview of the team numbers:

	W-L	Pythag Rec	Runs For	Runs Allowed	BA/OBP/SLG	ERA
Games 1-54	36-18	35-19	295 (5.46/gm)	208 (3.85/gm)	.285/.367/.414	3.75
Games 55-108	30-24	30-24	244 (4.52/gm)	214 (3.96/gm)	.272/.340/.418	3.45
Games 109-162	29-25	33-21	241 (4.46/gm)	189 (3.50/gm)	.253/.330/.402	3.03

The offense took a dip in the final 54 games, but the pitching was outstanding.

Here is a look at individual seasons in thirds, position by position:

Catcher
Russell Martin
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	47	46	173	23	46	9	0	0	20	29	7/3	.266/.377/.318	.695
2nd 54	50	47	172	22	46	4	0	3	13	24	1/3	.267/.373/.343	.716
3rd 54	46	43	160	18	34	6	0	4	20	16	3/0	.213/.298/.325	.623

Brad Ausmus
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	11	8	35	6	11	1	0	0	3	2	1/0	.314/.368/.343	.711
2nd 54	12	9	32	3	11	3	0	1	4	2	0/0	.344/.400/.531	.931
3rd 54	13	10	28	0	6	0	0	0	2	1	0/0	.214/.241/.214	.456

A.J. Ellis
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
2nd 54	3	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.000/.000/.000	.000
3rd 54	5	1	6	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0/0	.167/.167/.167	.333

Infield
James Loney
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	54	51	208	24	59	12	0	2	41	22	3/1	.284/.348/.370	.718
2nd 54	53	51	198	27	59	9	2	5	27	23	3/1	.298/.371/.439	.810
3rd 54	51	45	170	22	44	4	0	6	22	25	1/1	.259/.352/.388	.740

Orlando Hudson
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	54	54	216	39	71	17	2	3	32	32	4/0	.329/.410/.468	.878
2nd 54	50	48	195	22	49	11	2	4	21	10	2/0	.251/.299/.390	.688
3rd 54	45	41	140	13	36	7	2	2	9	20	2/1	.257/.350/.379	.729

Rafael Furcal
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	46	42	189	27	47	8	0	1	11	18	3/3	.249/.314/.307	.621
2nd 54	54	50	216	33	61	10	3	5	21	23	3/1	.282/.350/.426	.776
3rd 54	50	49	208	32	57	10	2	3	15	20	6/2	.274/.339/.385	.724

Casey Blake
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	49	44	164	27	49	12	1	9	34	18	0/0	.299/.374/.549	.922
2nd 54	53	50	195	32	54	11	3	3	27	25	2/4	.277/.353/.410	.763
3rd 54	37	37	126	25	33	2	2	6	18	20	1/0	.262/.367/.452	.819

Mark Loretta
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	38	10	59	11	17	3	0	0	10	11	0/0	.288/.408/.339	.747
2nd 54	38	11	69	5	13	3	0	0	10	6	0/0	.188/.253/.232	.485
3rd 54	31	11	53	3	12	2	0	0	5	3	1/1	.226/.259/.264	.523

Juan Castro
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	19	12	44	12	15	2	0	1	7	5	0/0	.341/.400/.455	.855
2nd 54	17	10	38	2	11	1	0	0	2	1	0/0	.289/.308/.316	.623
3rd 54	21	7	30	4	5	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	.167/.167/.200	.367

Blake DeWitt
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	9	3	17	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	0/0	.176/.222/.176	.399
2nd 54	14	0	15	1	2	1	0	1	1	1	0/0	.133/.188/.400	.588
3rd 54	8	3	17	2	5	2	0	1	3	1	0/0	.294/.316/.588	.904

Doug Mientkiewicz
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	7	0	5	0	2	1	0	0	2	0	0/0	.400/.400/.600	1.000
3rd 54	13	1	13	0	4	0	0	0	1	1	0/0	.308/.400/.308	.708

Ronnie Belliard
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	24	19	77	13	27	7	0	5	17	6	1/0	.351/.398/.636	1.034

Chin-Lung Hu
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	5	1	5	2	2	1	0	0	2	0	0/0	.400/.333/.600	.933

Tony Abreu
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	6	2	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	3	0/1	.250/.455/.250	.705

Outfield
Andre Ethier
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	52	49	188	31	49	12	0	7	31	27	3/0	.261/.363/.436	.799
2nd 54	54	52	212	34	60	13	1	15	38	23	2/3	.283/.357/.566	.923
3rd 54	54	49	196	27	53	17	2	9	37	22	1/1	.270/.362/.515	.877

Matt Kemp
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	53	51	200	33	62	9	4	6	30	21	12/2	.310/.377/.485	.862
2nd 54	53	53	200	30	66	7	2	9	39	19	10/2	.330/.387/.520	.907
3rd 54	54	49	206	34	52	9	1	11	32	12	12/4	.252/.293/.466	.759

Manny Ramirez
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	27	27	92	22	32	9	0	6	20	26	0/0	.348/.492/.641	1.133
2nd 54	28	25	96	14	26	7	1	6	20	12	0/0	.271/.369/.552	.921
3rd 54	49	47	164	26	44	8	1	7	23	33	0/1	.268/.400/.457	.857

Juan Pierre
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	46	30	140	27	53	10	3	0	21	13	11/4	.379/.439/.493	.932
2nd 54	50	31	147	15	37	5	1	0	4	7	12/5	.252/.308/.299	.607
3rd 54	49	15	93	15	27	1	4	0	6	7	7/3	.290/.343/.387	.730
Jason Repko
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	13	1	13	0	4	0	0	0	1	1	0/0	.308/.400/.308	.708

Jamie Hoffmann
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	9	3	17	2	3	2	0	1	7	0	0/0	.176/.158/.471	.628
2nd 54	5	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.200/.200/.200	.400

Xavier Paul
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	11	2	14	3	3	1	0	1	1	2	0/1	.214/.313/.500	.813

Mitch Jones
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
2nd 54	8	3	13	1	4	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	.308/.400/.385	.785

Pinch Hitters
Jim Thome
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	17	0	17	0	4	0	0	0	3	0	0/0	.235/.235/.235	.471

Starting Pitchers
Randy Wolf
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	12	12	3-1	75.2	64	30	27	22	58	3.21	1.137
2nd 54	11	11	2-5	64.1	62	28	27	17	48	3.78	1.228
3rd 54	11	11	6-1	74.1	52	23	23	19	54	2.78	0.955

Clayton Kershaw
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	10	10	3-3	56.0	40	27	27	32	55	4.34	1.286
2nd 54	12	12	5-3	68.2	47	14	13	39	68	1.70	1.252
3rd 54	9	8	0-2	46.1	32	14	13	20	62	2.53	1.122

Chad Billingsley
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	11	11	6-3	74.0	58	25	23	32	76	2.80	1.216
2nd 54	12	12	5-3	69.2	63	40	38	31	64	4.91	1.349
3rd 54	10	9	1-5	52.2	52	29	27	23	39	4.61	1.424

Hiroki Kuroda
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	2	2	1-1	10.2	7	3	3	4	8	2.53	1.031
2nd 54	12	11	3-4	66.1	69	38	35	12	52	4.75	1.221
3rd 54	7	7	4-2	40.1	34	18	11	8	27	2.45	1.041

Eric Stults
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	9	9	4-2	45.0	46	24	24	25	30	4.80	1.578
3rd 54	1	1	0-1	5.0	5	3	3	1	3	5.40	1.200

Vicente Padilla
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
3rd 54	8	7	4-0	39.1	36	15	14	12	38	3.20	1.220

Jon Garland
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
3rd 54	6	6	3-2	36.1	37	16	11	9	26	2.72	1.266

Charlie Haeger
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
3rd 54	6	3	1-1	19.0	13	7	7	4	7	3.32	0.895

Eric Milton
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	3	3	2-0	14.1	15	5	5	5	10	3.14	1.395
2nd 54	2	2	0-1	9.1	15	7	5	1	10	4.82	1.714

Jason Schmidt
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	4	4	2-2	17.2	16	12	11	12	8	5.60	1.585

Relievers
Jonathan Broxton
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	23	5-0	12	26.0	8	4	4	10	41	1.38	0.692
2nd 54	23	2-0	12	22.2	17	11	11	11	33	4.37	1.235
3rd 54	27	0-2	12	27.1	19	9	7	8	40	2.30	0.988

George Sherrill
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	3	0-0	--	2.1	0	0	0	1	5	0.00	0.429
3rd 54	27	1-0	1	25.1	19	2	2	10	17	0.71	1.145

Hong-Chih Kuo
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	7	0-0	--	5.1	5	4	4	4	4	6.75	1.688
2nd 54	5	0-0	--	4.2	0	0	0	2	6	0.00	0.429
3rd 54	23	1-0	--	20.0	16	6	6	7	22	2.70	1.150

Ramon Troncoso
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	21	1-0	3	33.1	31	7	7	10	22	1.89	1.230
2nd 54	30	3-0	2	31.1	30	11	7	12	18	2.01	1.340
3rd 54	22	1-4	1	18.0	22	12	11	12	15	5.60	1.889

Ronald Belisario
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	26	1-2	--	31.1	22	10	8	15	30	2.30	1.181
2nd 54	17	0-1	--	17.0	15	5	5	5	16	2.65	1.176
3rd 54	26	0-3	--	22.1	15	6	3	9	18	1.21	1.075

Guillermo Mota
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	20	2-1	--	20.2	26	15	15	12	10	6.53	1.839
2nd 54	28	1-1	--	32.1	15	3	3	6	18	0.84	0.649
3rd 54	13	0-2	--	12.1	12	7	7	6	11	5.11	1.459

Jeff Weaver
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	9	3	3-1	26.2	29	12	12	15	18	4.05	1.650
2nd 54	10	2	2-3	30.1	33	16	14	10	24	4.15	1.418
3rd 54	9	2	1-0	22.0	25	6	6	8	22	2.45	1.500

James McDonald
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	10	4	1-1	18.2	17	14	14	16	9	6.75	1.768
2nd 54	15	0	2-1	20.2	17	9	5	6	14	2.18	1.113
3rd 54	20	0	2-3	23.2	26	11	9	12	31	3.42	1.606

Scott Elbert
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	3	1-0	--	6.1	10	5	5	1	6	7.11	1.737
2nd 54	4	0-0	--	7.2	3	1	1	2	7	1.17	0.652
3rd 54	12	1-0	--	5.2	6	5	5	4	8	7.94	1.765

Brent Leach
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	13	1-0	--	8.0	7	5	5	4	10	5.62	1.375
2nd 54	25	1-0	--	12.1	9	8	8	8	9	5.84	1.378

Cory Wade
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	18	0-3	--	18.2	19	10	10	9	13	4.82	1.500
2nd 54	9	2-0	--	9.0	9	7	7	1	5	7.00	1.111

Will Ohman
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	21	1-0	1	12.1	12	8	8	8	7	5.84	1.622

Claudio Vargas
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	8	0-0	--	11.0	7	2	2	4	10	1.64	1.000

Travis Schlichting
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	2	0-0	--	2.2	1	2	1	5	2	3.38	2.250

Mark Loretta
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	1	0-0	--	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.000

Dodgers Week 26 In Review: Sweet, Sweet Victory

Eric Stephen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:10:43 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

It wouldn't be a True Blue LA Night party without the champagne

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Previous Weekly Recaps: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25

"Good things come to those who wait. The wait is over!"
-Charley Steiner, after the final division-clinching out Saturday night on KABC

The Dodgers struggled for most of the week, especially the offense, but as they have all year, they found a way to get the job done in the end. They ended last week with a chance to clinch the division, but didn't finish the job until late this week, in game 161. However, a pair of wins over the final weekend was more than enough to lock the Dodgers in as the top seed in the National League playoffs.

All those wins banked earlier in the season proved to be enough savings for a rainy week, helping the club withstand their worst stretch of the year. But remember, how you finish the season doesn't really matter in the playoffs, as the odometer for every team gets reset beginning Wednesday.

Dodger Batter of the Week: This award should really be vacant for the week, but we'll give it to Rafael Furcal for being the least horrible offensive player. Furcal actually wasn't bad, hitting .357/.471/.357 for the week, but it really was a putrid week for the offense.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: Clayton Kershaw came up huge in the division clincher on Saturday, striking out the first five Rockies on his way to a 10-strikeout performance over six shutout innings. He didn't get the win in that game, but he can take solace in winning the TBLA pitcher of the week!

Week 26 Record: 2-4
15 runs scored (2.50 per game)
26 runs allowed (4.33 per game)
.268 pythagorean winning percentage

Overall Seasonal Record: 95-67 (.586)
780 runs scored (4.81 per game)
611 runs allowed (3.77 per game)
.610 pythagorean winning percentage (99-63)

A Pair of Firsts: A.J. Ellis got a chance to start at catcher on the final day of the season, and was hitless in nine career at-bats entering the game. He delivered a single in the first inning, for his first major league hit and first run batted in. For a 28-year old backup catcher, nothing is certain in his major league future, so it was great for Ellis to end his season on a high note. No matter what happens from this point forward, he has a hit in the major leagues.

Here is a breakdown of all the weekly awards won over this season's 26 weeks:

Batting: Kemp 5, Ethier 5, Blake 3, Manny 2, Hudson 2, Martin 2, Loney 2, Furcal 2, Belliard 2, Pierre 1

Pitching: Kershaw 8, Wolf 4, Broxton 2, Garland 2, Billingsley 1, Kuroda 1, Belisario 1, Haeger 1, McDonald 1, Milton 1, Padilla 1, Stults 1, Troncoso 1, Weaver 1

Transactions: There were no transactions this week. Division series rosters are due by 10am Wednesday.

Game By Game Results:

Upcoming Week: The playoffs! The Dodgers open the NLDS at home on Wednesday against the Cardinals. Game time is 6:37pm Pacific time.

Week 26 Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	BABIP
Furcal	14	1	5	0	0	0	0	3	2/0	.357/.471/.357	.828	.385
Hudson	17	3	3	1	2	0	0	4	0/0	.176/.333/.471	.804	.273
Martin	10	2	1	0	0	1	1	4	1/0	.100/.357/.400	.757	.000
Ethier	13	2	2	1	0	0	2	5	0/0	.154/.389/.231	.620	.200
Blake	10	2	3	0	0	0	2	0	0/0	.300/.300/.300	.600	.750
Manny	14	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	0/0	.071/.235/.071	.307	.200
Kemp	18	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	0/0	.111/.190/.111	.302	.125
Loney	19	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.105/.105/.105	.211	.154
Belliard	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0/0	1.000/1.000/1.000	2.000	1.000
Mientkiewicz	5	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	0/0	.600/.600/.600	1.200	.750
Hu	4	2	2	1	0	0	2	0	0/0	.500/.400/.750	1.150	.500
DeWitt	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0/0	.333/.500/.333	.833	.500
Loretta	7	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	0/1	.286/.286/.429	.714	.333
Pierre	15	1	4	0	1	0	1	0	3/0	.267/.267/.400	.667	.286
Thome	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.250/.250/.250	.500	.500
Ellis	5	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0/0	.200/.200/.200	.400	.250
Castro	8	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.125/.125/.125	.250	.143
Ausmus	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.000/.000/.000	.000	.000
Repko	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1/0	.000/.000/.000	.000	.000
Pitchers	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.143/.143/.143	.286	.333
Totals	179	15	36	4	3	1	14	21	7/1	.201/.286/.274	.559	.271

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Kershaw	1	0-0	--	6.0	3	0	0	3	10	0.00	1.000
Padilla	2	1-0	--	7.0	4	1	1	1	12	1.29	0.714
Billingsley	1	0-1	--	6.0	2	2	2	5	5	3.00	1.167
Wolf	1	0-1	--	5.0	5	2	2	4	2	3.60	1.800
Kuroda	1	0-1	--	4.0	8	7	3	2	3	6.75	2.500
Garland	1	0-1	--	3.1	7	5	4	1	4	10.80	2.400
Broxton	2	0-0	--	2.0	0	0	0	1	3	0.00	0.500
Sherrill	2	0-0	--	2.0	0	0	0	0	3	0.00	0.000
Weaver	1	0-0	--	1.0	1	0	0	1	2	0.00	2.000
Haeger	1	0-0	--	0.2	1	0	0	0	1	0.00	1.500
Kuo	2	1-0	--	2.0	1	1	1	1	0	4.50	1.000
Troncoso	2	0-0	1	2.0	3	1	1	2	2	4.50	2.500
Elbert	4	0-0	--	2.0	2	1	1	2	3	4.50	2.000
McDonald	2	0-0	--	3.0	3	2	2	1	4	6.00	1.333
Mota	3	0-0	--	3.0	4	2	2	1	4	6.00	1.667
Belisario	3	0-0	--	2.0	3	2	2	0	3	9.00	1.500
Totals	6	2-4	1	51.0	47	26	21	25	61	3.71	1.412

Padilla, Dodgers End Season On High Note

Eric Stephen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:08:41 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Might Vicente Padilla start on successive Sundays?

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The Dodgers continued their weekend celebration, ending their season with a 5-3 win over the Rockies to close out their 2009 regular season. Vicente Padilla pitched five strong innings, racking up 10 strikeouts along the way, perhaps emerging as the favorite to take one of the two yet unnamed playoff starts for next weekend in St. Louis.

The Dodgers end the regular season with a 95-67 record, their best seasonal mark since 1985. Let's hope this playoff match-up with St. Louis ends better than that one. The Dodgers' 50 wins at home were their most since the 1991 squad went 54-27 at Dodger Stadium.

The fans at Dodger Stadium were a loud bunch from the first pitch, still buzzing from a thrilling division clincher Saturday night. The Dodgers obliged with four runs in the first inning, a good start to the managerial career of Brad Ausmus.

One cool thing at the stadium today was that Matt Kemp, Casey Blake, Orlando Hudson, and Andre Ethier -- the four regulars in the starting lineup -- were removed in different innings after taking the field, allowing the home crowd to shower them with well-deserved ovations.

Brad Ausmus also inserted himself in the game in the eighth inning, pinch running for Jim Thome, perhaps making him the first manager/runner in Dodger history. Ausmus explained his managerial move:

I am the second least fast guy in the stadium besides Thome; maybe Loretta, but somebody had to pinch run, so I figured I'd get myself out of the way.

Hudson ended the season with 631 plate appearances, falling just one plate appearance short of collecting all of his myriad of incentive bonuses. In addition to his $3.38 million base salary, Hudson collected $4.61 million in incentives, pushing his salary to $7.99 million on the season. Hudson got his career high 35th double.

Juan Pierre stole two bases, giving him exactly 30 steals on the season, the ninth straight season he has hit that mark.

Catcher A.J. Ellis got his first major league hit and run batted in with a first-inning single.

Padilla pitched very well, earning his fourth win as a Dodger. Nine of his first 11 outs were recorded via strikeout, and he ended with 10 in five innings. Since joining the Dodgers, Padilla has a 3.20 ERA, a 3.12 FIP, and has struck out 38 batters in 39.1 innings.

The Dodgers struck out 17 Rockies on the day, their most in a nine-inning game this season. The Dodgers also struck out 17 Rockies in a 13-inning game on June 29, and struck out 20 Reds in 12 innings on August 30.

The Dodgers won the season series with Colorado, winning 14 of 18 games against the Rockies. The Dodgers won all six series played between the two clubs this season, including a pair of sweeps. The Dodgers finished the year 46-26 against the NL West, their best mark within the division since the 1974 club that went 63-27 against the west.

The Dodgers open up their divisional series with the Cardinals on Wednesday at 6:37pm Pacific time. Rosters for the divisional series must be decided by Wednesday at 10am.

WP - Vicente Padilla (12-6): 5 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 10 strikeouts

LP - Jason Marquis (15-13): 4 IP, 8 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts

Sv - Ramon Troncoso (6): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Box Score

Dodgers Week 22 In Review: Running To Stand Still

Eric Stephen — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:11:34 -0000

More photos » by Matt Sayles - AP

The return of Doug Mientkieicz was just one of many stories this week for the Dodgers

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Previous Weekly Recaps: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

The Dodgers had a tough time this week against the bottom two teams in the NL West, splitting with Arizona and losing the series with San Diego. While the Dodgers, especially on offense, appeared to be Running to Stand Still, perhaps another U2 song would be a better descriptor for the Dodgers at the plate right now: Bad.

The Dodger pitching staff continued to excel, with both the starters and relievers posting earned run averages under 3.00 for the week. However, what was So Cruel about the week was that the Dodgers still had a losing record to show for it.

Dodger Batter of the Week: There was really nobody that stood out for the Dodgers on offense this week, so I'm giving this award to Ronnie Belliard. Acquired last weekend from the Nationals, Belliard spelled Orlando Hudson for a few games, then filled in for Casey Blake over the weekend. Belliard ended up with six starts, and hit .304/.333/.478 for the week. He won me over with his first impression, a home run in his first at-bat as a Dodger, on Monday against Arizona.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: The pitching has been so great of late that this award is a tough choice every week. I'm giving this one to another Dodger newcomer, Jon Garland, who excelled in his first start with the club. Garland threw seven innings against his old mates, retiring 14 straight Diamondbacks at one point.

Week 22 Record: 3-4
22 runs scored (3.14 per game)
24 runs allowed (3.43 per game)
.460 pythagorean winning percentage

Overall Seasonal Record: 81-57 (.587)
654 runs scored (4.74 per game)
520 runs allowed (3.77 per game)
.603 pythagorean winning percentage (83-55)

Sunday, Bloody Sunday: The Dodgers have lost four straight Sundays at home, and eight of their last nine home Sundays. I have covered the last seven Sundays, so I hope my 1-6 record (2-6 including my first game, a Saturday win over the Angels) will turn around covering the final two home Sundays, on September 20 and October 4.

One: As in, the total number of runs given up by George Sherrill as a Dodger. He finally gave up a run this week, a home run on Monday to Justin Upton. Sherrill has been stingy since joining the Dodgers, and did not give up a run in any of his first 14 appearances, one shy of the club record to start a Dodger career. On the season, Sherrill's 1.84 ERA ranks fifth in MLB among relievers with 50 or more innings.

Elevation: After nearly a full season without a legitimate power threat on the bench, the Dodgers added some Pop to their bench on Monday, acquiring Jim Thome from the White Sox. Thome, with 564 career home runs, had 23 home runs with the White Sox, and was hitting .249/.372/.493 at the time of the trade.

Mysterious Ways: Jeff Weaver only pitched once this week, but he threw two scoreless innings. At this point, I don't even know why I'm surprised anymore when he does well. Weaver, basically pulled off the scrap heap in the offseason, has been a wonderful addition to the pitching staff this season. He has a 3.42 ERA and a 3.93 FIP on the season, and has allowed just two runs over his last 17.2 innings, while striking out 16 batters during that span.

Staring At The Son: Preston Mattingly, son of Dodger hitting coach and former major league all-star Don Mattingly, has struggled since the Dodgers drafted him in the supplemental round in 2006. However, he had a career game this week for Inland Empire, collecting five hits, including three doubles.

Desire: Doug Mientkiewicz was injured back on April 16, dislocating his shoulder, and was told by doctors his baseball career might be over. However, he persevered, making the long climb back to the majors, finally arriving on Wednesday. Mientkiewicz had a pinch-hit single in his first game back, extended his hitting streak to three games (which was snapped Sunday night), a streak that lasted 141 days.

With or Without You: The Dodgers sent a player to be named later to Arizona to acquire Jon Garland. Since the night of the trade, that rumored player was Tony Abreu. However, there is some dispute over Abreu's service time; there is a pending grievance that could award Abreu 47 more days of service time from a disputed disabled list stay in 2008. Such a decision could make Abreu arbitration eligible after 2010, a year sooner than earlier anticipated. No matter what, it appears the player in the Garland trade will in fact not be named until after the season.

Walk On: Two more Dodgers, Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson, got their 50th walk of the season this week, giving the Dodgers seven players with 50 walks on the season. Matt Kemp, with 47 walks, is the only player left for the team to meet my 50-walk challenge. Once Kemp gets his 50th walk of the season, True Blue LA and its readers have committed to donate over $700 to Think Cure.

Transactions: It was a busy week for transactions:

Monday: Jesus Castillo was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Ronnie Belliard, who was acquired from the Nationals on August 30. Castillo cleared waivers and was outrighted to Double A Chattanooga Wednesday.
Monday: Placed Guillermo Mota on the 15-day disabled list with an ingrown toenail, which opened up a spot on the 25-man roster for Belliard for the one day it was needed, before active rosters expanded.
Monday: Acquired Jim Thome and cash ($1,415,301) from the White Sox in exchange for nonroster Class A middle infielder Justin Fuller. The Dodgers are responsible for paying $1 million of Thome's remaining 2009 salary
Monday: Designated Jamie Hoffmann for assignment, opening up a spot on the 40-man roster for Thome. Hoffmann was released once he cleared waivers, but re-signed a minor league contract to remain in the organization, per the New Ulm Journal (thanks to Diamond Leung for the link)
Monday: Acquired Jon Garland and cash for a player to be named later, who may or not be Tony Abreu. The Diamondbacks will play the remainder of Garland's 2009 salary ($1,161,202) plus whatever the buyout is ($1 million or $2.5 million) of Garland's mutual option for 2010
Monday: Placed Travis Schlichting on the 60-day disabled list with back spasms, opening up a spot on the 40-man roster for Garland
Tuesday: Recalled Scott Elbert from Triple A Albuquerque on the first day active rosters expanded
Tuesday: Recalled A.J. Ellis from Triple A Albuquerque
Tuesday: Recalled Jason Repko from Triple A Albuquerque, the first time Repko has been with the big club this season
Wednesday: Victor Garate ~~cleared waivers and~~ was sent to Washington as the player to be named later to complete the Ronnie Belliard trade, which cleared a spot on the 40-man roster for...
Wednesday: Activated Doug Mientkiewicz from the 60-day disabled list
Sunday: Hiroki Kuroda was activated from the 15-day disabled list, just three weeks after getting hit in the head with a line drive, in time to make his start against San Diego

Upcoming Week: The Dodgers hit the road for more intradivision games, heading to Arizona for three games, followed by a Thursday off day, then travel to San Francisco for three more. The Dodgers plan to employ a six-man starting pitching rotation this week, meaning a different pitcher will start every game.

Week 22 Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	BABIP
Manny	21	4	5	0	0	2	3	2	0/0	.238/.333/.524	.857	.188
Ethier	28	2	7	3	0	1	5	1	0/1	.250/.300/.464	.764	.240
Loney	23	1	8	0	0	0	2	2	0/1	.348/.400/.348	.748	.364
Furcal	25	4	6	2	0	0	0	2	0/0	.240/.321/.320	.641	.286
Blake	13	1	3	1	0	0	0	2	0/0	.231/.333/.308	.641	.273
Kemp	25	4	4	0	0	2	3	1	2/0	.160/.192/.400	.592	.105
Martin	23	2	5	1	0	0	1	2	1/0	.217/.308/.361	.569	.250
Hudson	14	0	3	1	0	0	0	1	0/0	.214/.267/.286	.552	.273
Mientkiewicz	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.500/.500/.500	1.000	1.000
Belliard	23	1	7	1	0	1	4	1	0/0	.304/.333/.478	.812	.375
Thome	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.333/.333/.333	.667	.500
Pierre	11	2	1	0	0	0	0	3	0/0	.091/.286/.091	.377	.091
Loretta	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0/0	.000/.333/.000	.333	.000
Ausmus	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.000/.000/.000	.000	---
Castro	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.000/.000/.000	.000	.000
Repko	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	---/---/---	---	---
Pitchers	13	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0/0	.154/.154/.154	.308	.286
Totals	233	22	53	9	0	6	19	19	3/2	.227/.297/.343	.640	.250

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Kershaw	1	0-1	--	6.0	4	2	1	3	3	1.50	1.167
Padilla	1	0-0	--	5.1	4	1	1	2	5	1.69	1.125
Garland	1	1-0	--	7.0	5	2	2	1	6	2.57	0.857
Wolf	2	1-0	--	13.0	10	4	4	2	12	2.77	0.923
Billingsley	1	0-1	--	6.0	6	4	3	1	5	4.50	1.167
Kuroda	1	0-1	--	5.0	4	4	3	3	3	5.40	1.400
Broxton	4	0-0	3	4.0	3	0	0	0	7	0.00	0.750
Kuo	3	0-0	--	3.0	3	0	0	0	3	0.00	1.000
Troncoso	3	0-0	--	2.2	3	0	0	1	3	0.00	1.500
Belisario	3	1-0	--	2.1	1	0	0	1	3	0.00	0.857
Weaver	1	0-0	--	2.0	1	0	0	0	2	0.00	0.500
Haeger	1	0-0	--	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0.00	1.000
Sherrill	4	0-0	--	3.0	2	1	1	2	2	3.00	1.333
McDonald	3	0-1	--	2.0	6	4	2	2	3	9.00	4.000
Elbert	3	0-0	--	1.2	2	2	2	2	2	10.80	2.400
Totals	7	3-4	3	64.0	54	24	19	21	60	2.67	1.172

New Blood Arrives As Dodgers Prep For D-Backs

Eric Stephen — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:48:57 -0000

Jon Garland shows off his new threads. Photo courtesy of Jon SooHoo / LA Dodgers

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The dawn of a new month brings some changes to Dodger Stadium tonight, as the Dodgers battle the Diamondbacks for the second game of a four-game series at Dodger Stadium.

The first wave of September callups have arrived, in the form of catcher A.J. Ellis, pitcher Scott Elbert, and outfielder Jason Repko. Jim Thome, wearing number 25, and Jon Garland, wearing number 21, are new to the fold as well, although the corresponding moves to add them to the 40-man roster have not yet been announced.

Vicente Padilla, whose week and a half in the Dodger organization makes him a veteran compared to all the newbies, gets his second start for the Dodgers tonight, and his first wearing the home whites. Padilla did face the Diamondbacks on June 24, while with the Rangers, and picked up the win, pitching seven innings while allowing only one run.

Yusmeiro Petit gets the start for the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers have touched him up twice this year, for a total of four home runs and ten runs in just nine innings. Most recently, the Dodgers pounded Petit 16 days ago in Arizona, as the Dodgers won 9-3.

Matt Kemp has homered in four of his last five games, and has amassed 31 RBI in his last 31 games, hitting .317/.346/.611 with nine home runs during that span.

Hiroki Kuroda will make a rehabilitation start with Inland Empire tonight at 7:05pm in San Bernardino against the San Jose Giants. You can listen online here, or follow the box score here.

The Dodgers passed the 3 million mark in attendance in last night's game, the 14th straight year the club has done so.

Programming Note: Sunday's Dodger game against the Padres will now be played at 5:10pm, and be televised on ESPN2.

**********

Check out Xeifrank's simulation of today's game here.

Don't forget to RSVP for True Blue LA Day at Dodger Stadium, on the next-to-last day of the regular season, October 3 against the Rockies.

Get your guesses in for our new September contest, "One, two, Three Strikes, You're Out," here.

Game Time: 7:10pm

TV: KCAL

Baseball Reference Preview

Dodgers Week 18 In Review: Don't Stop The Bleedin'

Eric Stephen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:00:12 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

The Dodgers let a few games slip from their grasp this week.

Browse more photos »

Previous Weekly Recaps: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

The Dodgers managed the near impossible this week, getting outscored despite scoring 17 runs in a game on Tuesday against Milwaukee. Their 2-5 record was not only their worst week of the year, but it was also the first losing homestand of the season.

The Dodgers were riding a five-game winning streak after the Manny Bobbleslam game, but in the two and a half weeks since they have lost 11 of 17 games.

The good news of this week was that in three of the losses they had the winning run(s) on base in their final at-bat, so a few bounces here and there would have made this week much more palatable. Then again, if Andre Ethier didn't connect with a 96-mph fastball on Thursday night, the club also could have gone only 1-6 instead of 2-5.

Dodger Batter of the Week: Casey Blake had another very good week, and won the award for the second straight week with a .375/.429/.625 line, including a three-run home run to give the Dodgers the lead on Friday night. The Beard even stole a base! Honorable mention goes to Manny Ramirez, who rebounded from a slump with a .320/.393/.560.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: Clayton Kershaw pitched the best game of the week, with seven scoreless innings on Saturday, but also had a game in which he couldn't get out of the fifth inning . Chad Billingsley pitched very well in his one start, but left due to a mild hamstring strain. This award goes to James McDonald, who pitched 6.1 innings of scoreless relief this week. There's a good chance he saved his roster spot with his outing Friday night, when his curves were ultra-sharp and he pitched two perfect innings in an extra-inning loss to Atlanta. McDonald out of the bullpen this year has a 1.93 ERA in 28 innings, and opposing batters are hitting .222/.284/.303 off McDonald the reliever.

Week 18 Record: 2-5
36 runs scored (5.14 per game)
37 runs allowed (5.29 per game)
.486 pythagorean winning percentage

Overall Seasonal Record: 67-45 (.598)
552 runs scored (4.93 per game)
445 runs allowed (3.97 per game)
.606 pythagorean winning percentage (68-44)

Don't Plead The Fifth: When Jason Schmidt was placed on the disabled list, that created a vacancy in the starting rotation. Before Friday's game, it was announced that Hiroki Kuroda would be pushed back to Monday, and that Scott Elbert would start on Sunday against the Braves, for his first major league start. Then, with Friday's game in extra innings, Elbert was needed to pitch in relief and proceeded to give up the go-ahead run followed by a three-run home run in the 12th inning. Before Saturday's game, Elbert was not only scratched for Sunday's start, but was also optioned to AAA Albuquerque.

Before Saturday's game, it was announced that Jeff Weaver would be the Sunday starter, but in yet another extra-inning game he was warming in the bullpen Saturday night, ready to go in. By the end of the game, it was announced that Eric Stults would start on Sunday instead.

Almost Legal: The Dodgers scored 17 runs on Tuesday against Milwaukee, their season high in runs scored. It was the most runs scored at home by the Dodgers in 30 years. On May 25, 1979, the Dodgers banged out 17 runs against Tom Seaver and the Reds. Prince Fielder of the Brewers was so impressed that he wanted to go into the Dodger clubhouse after the game to get some hitting tips.

Mr. Walkoff: Down 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday, Andre Ethier hit a game-winning three-run home run off Braves' closer Rafael Soriano, giving Ethier an MLB-best fifth walk-off hit of the season. As a team, the Dodgers lead all of baseball with 11 walk-off wins.

Man of Steal: On Thursday night against Atlanta, Randy Wolf noticed Derek Lowe wasn't paying attention to him at first base, so he took off toward second and made it easily. It was the first stolen base of Wolf's 11-year career. Thanks to the amazing Baseball-Reference.com, we can see that Wolf has had 170 stolen base opportunities in his career, that is times on first or second base with the next base open.

Yippee Ki-Yay: The Dodgers staged some late rallies this week, and although not every one came to fruition, the Dodgers died hard against closers Trevor Hoffman and Rafael Soriano this week. It wasn't just Ethier's home run that did the damage; in save situations against them Dodger hitters had nine hits in 17 at-bats, hitting .529/.579/.824.

Take A Number: When reliever George Sherrill arrived from Baltimore on July 31, James McDonald gave up his number 52 to the veteran, who wore that number in both Baltimore and Seattle. McDonald switched to number 31, and since then has pitched four straight scoreless relief appearances of at least two innings, allowing only four hits and no walks while striking out six, and opposing batters are hitting .143/.143/.179 off number 31.

Transactions: It was a busy week for a man who had almost drifted out of existence:

Friday: Jason Schmidt was placed on the 15-day disabled list officially with a strained right shoulder, although his stay might be longer than that. It is likely that Schmidt's Dodger career is over, but kudos to him for making it all the way back after two years away from MLB, and kuods to the Dodgers for not waiting too long to pull the plug.
Friday: Taking Schmidt's start on the 25-man roster was Tony Abreu, who was recalled from Albuquerque. Abreu last played in a big league game on September 23, 2007.
Saturday: In one of the most heartbreaking transactions of the season, Scott Elbert, one day after being named the starting pitcher for Sunday in what would be his first MLB start, was optioned to Albuquerque after pitching in relief in Friday's extra inning game. Elbert's 25-man roster spot went to...
Saturday: Ronald Belisario was activated after about a month on the disabled list
Sunday: Tony Abreu's stay on the big league club was short, as he was optioned back to Albuquerque after only two days on the roster. Abreu's stint is the shortest of the season to date, narrowly beating the three-day stint of A.J. Ellis back in May while the team was at Wrigley Field. A 25-man roster spot was needed to make room for...
Sunday: Eric Stults was recalled from Albuquerque to make a start on Sunday, with only two days rest after throwing 61 pitches in three innings with the Isotopes on Thursday.

Upcoming Week: The Dodgers hit the road, starting with a three-game series in San Francisco with their closest competitor in the West, as the Giants are only 5½ games back. Tim Lincecum pitches Wednesday, and will oppose Chad Billingsley, pending the health of Billingsley's hamstring. After a Thursday off day, the Dodgers play three in Arizona, against a Diamondback team who, even though they were swept in Washington, has won 19 of their past 32 games.

Week 18 Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
Blake	24	4	9	3	0	1	6	3	1/0	.375/.429/.625	1.054
Manny	25	3	8	3	0	1	4	2	0/0	.320/.393/.560	.953
Martin	20	3	8	1	0	0	2	3	1/0	.400/.500/.450	.950
Ethier	29	7	7	2	1	1	6	5	0/0	.241/.371/.483	.854
Kemp	29	6	9	3	0	1	5	0	1/0	.310/.310/.517	.828
Hudson	21	1	7	1	0	0	3	2	1/1	.333/.391/.381	.772
Furcal	32	5	8	0	0	1	2	3	0/0	.250/.314/.344	.658
Loney	24	2	3	1	0	0	2	4	0/0	.125/.250/.167	.417
Pierre	9	3	3	0	0	0	1	2	0/0	.333/.462/.333	.795
Ausmus	6	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.333/.333/.333	.667
Abreu	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0/0	.250/.400/.250	.650
Loretta	10	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	0/0	.200/.200/.200	.400
Castro	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.000/.000/.000	.000
Pitchers	14	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	1/0	.214/.214/.214	.429
Totals	251	36	70	14	1	5	34	25	5/1	.279/.351/.402	.753

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Billingsley	1	0-0	--	6.0	4	2	1	3	3	1.50	1.167
Kershaw	2	0-1	--	11.0	6	3	3	7	16	2.45	1.182
Kuroda	1	1-0	--	6.0	9	3	3	1	7	4.50	1.667
Wolf	1	0-0	--	7.0	9	4	4	3	4	5.14	1.714
Stults	1	0-1	--	5.0	5	3	3	1	3	5.40	1.200
Schmidt	1	0-1	--	3.2	5	4	4	3	2	9.82	2.182
McDonald	3	0-0	--	6.1	4	0	0	0	4	0.00	0.632
Sherrill	3	0-0	--	3.0	3	0	0	1	2	0.00	1.333
Belisario	1	0-0	--	0.2	0	0	0	1	0	0.00	1.500
Broxton	3	0-0	0	3.0	2	1	1	2	2	3.00	1.333
Weaver	2	0-0	--	6.0	3	3	3	1	4	4.50	0.667
Kuo	3	0-0	--	2.1	2	2	2	1	4	7.71	1.286
Mota	4	0-1	--	4.0	5	4	4	3	3	9.00	1.750
Elbert	2	1-0	--	1.0	2	2	2	0	2	18.00	2.000
Troncoso	4	0-1	--	2.0	5	6	6	1	1	27.00	3.000
Totals	7	2-5	0	67.0	64	37	36	28	57	4.84	1.373

SB Nation - A.J. Ellis

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The Rise in the Fall of Nevin Ashley

Royals target defensive-minded catcher?

Dodger Roster Breakdown

Free Agents (13+1)

Options (2)

Arbitration Eligible (9)

Under Contract (4)

Under Team Control (15)

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Catcher

Infield

Outfield

Pinch Hitters

Starting Pitchers

Relievers

Dodgers Week 26 In Review: Sweet, Sweet Victory

Week 26 Stats

Padilla, Dodgers End Season On High Note

Dodgers Week 22 In Review: Running To Stand Still

Week 22 Stats

New Blood Arrives As Dodgers Prep For D-Backs

Dodgers Week 18 In Review: Don't Stop The Bleedin'

Week 18 Stats