Dodgers Retrospective - Week 16

After losing four straight out of the All-Star break, it was hard for the Dodgers to not have a better week.

Still, the Dodgers found themselves winning only four of seven this week, and in all honesty, they were probably lucky to win that many.

The offense has been seriously struggling post All-Star break. Coming off a series in St. Louis where the Dodger scored a combined 9 runs in four games, the Dodgers had run outputs of 2, 5, 2, 2, 1, 2, and 1 this week (and they didn't win the game they scored five runs in).

Luckily for the Dodgers, the starters bailed them out. Chad Billingsley went 9 scoreless innings in a win against the Giants on Wednesday, Kuroda went 8 scoreless in a win against the Mets on Thursday, and Kershaw went 8 scoreless in a win against the Mets today.


Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to finish the week over .500. I'm happy the starters are pitching so well. But if the offense doesn't start to turn around, we are going to be in trouble.


Alright, enough complaining. Few more quick topics to touch on this week.


Credit Where Credit Is Due

I've ripped Vicente Padilla in the past on this blog. And truthfully, I'm still not a huge fan of his.

But I can't deny how good he's been since coming off the DL. He's had some pretty good success this season, due to things like having a career year in both K/9 (8.00) and BB/9 (1.97), and mixing that with some good luck (career low in BABIP). Is this kind of production sustainable? Eh, probably not. But as long as Padilla continues to put up numbers like a 0.98 ERA in four starts in July (22 Ks in 27.2 IP), I'm going to enjoy the ride.



Reality Check Week

This is a big week coming up. I mean, take a look at the upcoming schedule. First, the Dodgers are going to take on the division leading Padres for three games. Then, they'll follow that up by taking on the Wild Card leading Giants.

On top of all this, the trade deadline is Saturday.

I'm going to go ahead and say that by this point next week, we're going to have a pretty good idea of how the rest of the season is going to shape up.

That's not to say the Dodgers will definitively be in or out of the race by next Sunday (especially because after Sunday, the Dodgers start a four game set against the Padres again), all I'm saying is, we're probably going to have a good idea of how the season will unfold.

Frankly, I'm a little worried about this week, but at the same time, I'm excited. I want to know how this whole thing is going to work out.