Week Recap: 09/07/09 - 09/13/09

Hey, look at that. A good week! Not a great week, but winning both series, and winning 4 of 6 during the week is still pretty good.

And more importantly, another week ticks off the season, and the teams chasing us slowly start running out of time.

On the bad side, for the first time in over a month, Dodger pitching surrendered more than four runs (in the first 9 innings) in Sunday's 7-2 loss to the Giants. Congrats, though, to the pitching staff for keeping it going that long.

In any case, let's do Round 19 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:

COLD:

• Chad Billingsley - 0-1 (2 starts), 6.30 ERA (7 ER in 10.0 IP), 16 H - Two starts for Billingsley this week. His first was... ok... I guess. Four earned runs in 6.0 IP (8 hits, 3 BBs). His second start was less so. Three earned runs in only 4.0 IP (another 8 hits). Frankly, Billingsley has become hittable. Again, 16 hits in 10 innings. Either way, Billingsley is going to skip his next start, and I'm totally for it. He should sit back, relax, and clear his head a little bit. Something is off with Billingsley, here's to hoping he can get back on track.

ROOM TEMPERATURE:

• Matt Kemp - .259 (7-27), 2 2Bs, 3 RBIs, 1 BB, 6 Ks, 2 SBs, 1 GiDP - A better week for Kemp. He actually collected a hit in every game this week. Unfortunately, it ended up being pretty much only one per game (1-5, 1-5, 1-4, 2-4, 1-5, 1-4). Still, nice to see some improvement this week over last week.

HOT:

• Manny Ramírez - .400 (6-15), 1 3B, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, 4 BBs, 4 Ks - I don't think I've awarded Manny a "HOT" since April, but he deserved it this week. Couple of homeruns, and a triple! Come on, you know how much those dreads weigh? It's hard to run with those.

• Russell Martin - .286 (6-21), 1 2B, 2 HRs, 9 RBIs, 3 BBs - Yeah, not too many hits, but hits when they counted. And RBIs. Oh, so many RBIs. Good week for Martin, who like Manny, hasn't had too many.

• Vicente Padilla - 2-0 (2 starts), 1.50 ERA (2 ER in 12.0 IP), 8 Ks - Who would of thought Padilla would be such a good pickup? I mean seriously. He's made four starts for us, and each has been pretty good. Vicente Padilla? Good? ...what in the world?

• Hiroki Kuroda - 1-0 (1 start), 2.25 ERA (2 ER in 8.0 IP), 5 Ks - It's really nice when Kuroda whips out one of these fantastic performances. It's doubly nice when he does it in just his second start back from a horrific head injury.

• James Loney - .381 (8-21), 1 2B, 3 HRs, 8 RBIs, 4 BBs, 1.319 OPS - Seriously, what's going on this week? Manny, Martin, now Loney? All these guys who have been quietly floating through this season have suddenly showed up this week. I guess it doesn't matter why it's happening, just that it is. If everyone starts to contribute on this team, and the offense starts going at all gears, we might finally return to being that scary team we were at the beginning of the year.

Alright folks, Pirates come into town for a three game set. Then we get the Giants again, for the last time this season. Another good week would do real well for our playoff hopes.

Meanwhile, I'm going to the game tonight, and I got to get going. Free Dodger Dogs await me.