Like the Gold Glove award, this one is pretty easy.
There were six players who made their major league debuts this season: Ronald Belisario, Brent Leach, Travis Schlichting, Xavier Paul, Mitch Jones, and Jamie Hoffmann.
Paul, Jones, and Hoffman had 14, 13, and 22 at-bats, respectively. Which means they were pretty insignificant during the season.
And talking about insignificant this season: Schlichting pitched 2.2 innings in 2 games this season.
Which leaves us with Brent Leach and Ronald Belisario.
Leach did have a pretty effective month and a half with the team during the season. Unfortunately, he was with the team for three months.
Meanwhile, Belisario appeared in 69 games and posted a 2.04 ERA. He was even a nominee for the "J's Dodger Blog 2009 Reliever of the Year" award. I mean, come on. This one was a run-away.
So, congratulations to Ronald Belisario, the "J's Dodger Blog 2009 Rookie of the Year."
Hello again. It's Monday, time for a week recap, so let's do it.
The Dodgers started out the week in a weak fashion, losing their first three games in St. Louis, and losing three games and four games in a row for the first time this season. They did avoid a sweep though, by beating the Cardinals in the 4th game of the series. They have yet to be swept this season.
They followed up the St. Louis series by taking two games out of three in Atlanta to go 3-4 on the week.
And with that, let's do Round 14 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:
COLD:
- Brent Leach - 0-0 (2 games), an ERA of infinity (4 ER), and a demotion - Nothing could go right for Leach this week. He made two appearances in the St. Louis series, both times failing to record an out, both times surrendering at least a run. And, to make matters worse for him, he was sent to AAA. He'd obviously been struggling (an ERA of 31.50 in his last 7 games, or 2.0 IP). Hopefully, he can straighten out whatever problems he's having down there.
- Manny Ramírez - .172 (5-29), 2 2Bs, 5 BBs, 9 Ks - It's been a pretty bad week for Manny. In fact, since the Manny-Slammy (or rather, the Cincinnati series in which he was struck in the hand), Manny has been hitting .162 (with a .495 OPS). It makes you wonder if that hand might be affecting him more than he's letting on.
ROOM TEMPERATURE:
- Chad Billingsley - 1-1 (2 starts), 5.06 ERA (6 ER in 10.2 IP), 7 BBs, 14 Ks - Another up and down week for Billingsley. His first start in St. Louis: 5.2 IP, 6 ER, though, in fairness, he was doing really well until the 6th. Things started looking up for Chad in his next start in Atlanta: 5.0 IP, 0 ER. That was until he had to leave early due to a cramp in his hamstring. It doesn't seem to be too bad, it just sucks for Chad, who was kinda on a roll in the Atlanta game.
HOT:
- Rafael Furcal - .333 (11-33), 1 2B, 4 RBIs, 2 BBs, 1 SB - Furcal had a nice week. I'm not sure he's ever going to fully turn it on this season and hit like he was at the beginning of 2008, but if he continues to have nice weeks like this, it'll definitely help.
- Jason Schmidt - 1-0 (1 start), 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 6.0 IP), 5 BBs, 3 Ks - What? What?! We got a productive start out of Jason Schmidt? WHAT??! Yeah. He probably surrendered too many walks, sure, but he shut down the Braves for six innings and gave his team the chance to win. That's really all that we can ask. But wow... a productive start... from Jason Schmidt?! Who'd have thunk it?
- Casey Blake - .440 (11-25), 2 2Bs, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 2 BBs, 4 runs - I'm glad Blake had a good week so I can bring back his most interesting facts. Casey Blake once traded his General Manager at the trade deadline... and got the other team to surrender $2 million in cash considerations. Casey Blake is... the most interesting 3rd baseman in the World.
- Andre Ethier - .300 (9-30), 2 2Bs, 2 HR, 5 RBIs, 5 BBs, 4 Ks, 1 SB - Another good week for Ethier. Still collecting hits, still driving in runs, and walking more than striking out. Nice.
- Clayton Kershaw - 0-0 (1 start), 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 8.0 IP), 7 Ks - Unfortunate for Kershaw that he didn't pick up the win in his start this week, because he totally deserved it. He shut down the Cardinals in the longest start of his career. July was a good month in general for Kershaw. He went 3-0 in six starts with a 0.71 ERA. He struck out 34 in 38.0 IP. Just three earned runs. In the entire month! Very nice work.
Speaking of Kershaw, he's goes tonight against the Brewers. After what was probably the toughest road trip for the Dodgers this season, they're home this week to take on the Brewers for three, and the Braves (again?) for four.
Then, on to San Francisco. But that's for another week recap. See you then.
I suppose it was bound to happen. We were bound to lose three games in a row this season. How could a team go a whole season without losing three games in a row? Every team has it's slumps.
But man, are we slumping.
One win in our last six games, with the one win coming on a fluke-y walk-off pop fly single. Which is odd because it seems when you're down, nothing seems to go your way.
So what happened? How did it get here? Let's take a look at our last three games:
- Monday, July 27th - Cardinals 6, Dodgers 1 - Despite collecting the same amount of hits as the Cardinals (11), the Dodgers manage to score five less runs. Collectively, the Dodgers left 20 runners on base. What was the other problem? The bullpen. 2.0 innings, 4 runs (though only 2 earned).
- Tuesday, July 28th - Cardinals 10, Dodgers 0 - This time, the Dodgers actually managed to out hit the Cardinals (9-8). Another 17 runners left on base. And the pitching. Oh, the pitching. Chad Billingsley - 6 earned runs. Bullpen - 4 earned runs. For the second night in a row, Brent Leach comes in and is unable to record a single out. When Mark Loretta is the only guy out of the bullpen to not surrender a run, things aren't looking good.
- Wednesday, July 29th - Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2 - For the third time in a row, the Dodgers get as many, or more hits than the Cardinals (13-11). And this time, they were able to break their own record. 24 runners left on base. And the bullpen? Two blown leads, and later in the 15th, a blown game.
So, the question again: What happened?
Our bullpen is melting down. That's a start.
And our timely hitting, which has been a vital part of our offense this season, has been virtually non-existent. 61 runners left on base in three games. 
3 runs to show for it. The Cardinals had more timely hitting and scored more runs in the 6th inning of game two against Billingsley than the Dodgers have gotten the whole series.
Speaking of. As much as I love the guy, a big problem for us right now is Chad Billingsley. He's been pretty horrendous in July. A 7.52 ERA in five starts. 29 hits, 22 earned runs in 26.2 innings pitched. So... Should we ship him out of town? Will he melt down like this in the playoffs? NO!, and who knows? Look, Billingsley, like our team, is slumping. Like I said before, it happens. That doesn't mean that Billingsley won't turn it around at any point and be the pitcher we know he is. And as for the playoffs... there are never any guarantees. But with Billingsley, I like him. I trust him. And I'll take my chances.
Either way, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
For now though, the great thing about baseball is that we don't have to wait a week to try again. Today's a new day, a new game, another shot at ending our losing streak.
I had forgotten what it's like to lose like this, but now that I remember, I'm ready for it to end.
Hey people, welcome back. Let's talk about the week.
Compared to last week, this one was a considerably better.
The Dodgers started the week by splitting the first two games against Colorado, before shutting them out in the third game to take the series.
They followed this with the return of the Dreadlocked one on Friday, a game in which they beat the Padres. The bullpen blew a lead Saturday to allow the Padres to even up the series. Sunday could have ended worse than Saturday, with the bullpen blowing an even bigger lead, but the Dodgers pulled it out in extra innings to secure the game and the series.
They went 4-2 on the week.
Ok, that's settled, let's get to the meat. Round 12 of HOT, COLD, or ROOM TEMPERATURE:
COLD:
- Orlando Hudson - .000 (0-16), 6 Ks - Now, admittedly, Hudson's had a pretty weak month as it is, but this week was of Russell Martin-esque proportions. Hudson isn't making solid contact, if he's even making contact at all. Interestingly enough, he was named to the All-Star team just in time for Joe Torre to bench him for several games. If I could offer some advice to Hudson, look for that silver lining.
ROOM TEMPERATURE:
- Russell Martin - .263 (5-19), 2 BBs, 2 RBIs, 5 Ks - Week 2 of the Martin Leg Lift Watch. He was actually benched earlier in the week, a la Hudson, in an attempt to, I don't know, wake his bat up? It almost worked. He went 4-8 in his first two games back, before going 0-6 in Sunday's game. Yew.
- Rafael Furcal - .364 (9-26), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB, 4 R - How do I label a guy who batted .364 "ROOM TEMPERATURE"? Watch me. Well, honestly, I do this because Furcal has had two weeks in one. The first three games of the week? Furcal went 1-10. The last three games of the week Furcal hit .500 (8-16). Which Furcal will show up next week? Who the hell knows?
- Jonathan Broxton - 0-0, 2-3 save opportunities (4 games), 6.75 ERA (3 ER in 4.0 IP), 8 Ks - Guess who else had an up-and-down week? No, not Brad Ausmus. Broxton started the week going three scoreless innings, striking out seven out of nine batters, collecting two saves. Then Sunday? Broxton. What was that? One inning pitched, three walks, two hits, three earned runs, and one very blown save. It's weird, it's like he and Hudson both had negative reactions to being named to the All-Star team.
HOT:
- Chad Billingsley - 0-1 (2 starts), 3.45 ERA (6 ER in 15.2 IP), 16 Ks / .333 (2-6), 1 2B, 1 HR - You know who didn't have a negative reaction to being named to the All-Star team? Stop guessing Brad Ausmus, he's not in this week's article. Billingsley had two nice, quality starts this week, but really became a victim of his circumstance. He went 7.2 innings against Colorado in his first start of the week, allowing only three runs over that span. Unfortunately for Chad, his counterpart Jason Marquis was dominating the Dodgers that game, and Chad ended up taking the loss. Then, in Billingsley's second start, he held the Padres to one run for eight innings, before allowing a homerun to start the 9th. He followed that up by allowing a double before getting pulled. Who was he pulled for? Ausmus? No. Broxton, who proceeded to allow not only Billingsley's runner to score, but three more runners after that, to effectively cancel out almost everything Billingsley did that game. Everything, that is, except for Billingsley's first career homerun, which gave the Dodgers an extra run that was, ultimately, pretty important.
- Brent Leach - 0-0 (5 games), 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 2.1 IP), 1 HLD, 1 K - Talk about being a workhorse. Oh, you weren't talking about being a workhorse? Well, start talking about it so I can interject with this point: Brent Leach appeared in five of the Dodgers' six games this week. And he did well. And he's been doing well. And I'd like to acknowledge that. After struggling when first being called up, Leach has settled into his role, and since the beginning of June, has posted a 1.80 ERA. He's the left handed reliever we were actually looking for.
- Jeff Weaver - 1-0 (2 games), 0.00 ERA (0 ER in 4.0 IP), 5 Ks - A nice week for Weaver. He had a Rocky inning against Colorado (see what I did there? Yeah, I'm ashamed of it, too) but battled out a jam by striking out the side. He then went three scoreless innings on Sunday to hold the Padres at bay while the Dodgers took a 13th inning lead. This was especially important, because it would have been a bad game to lose. It was the difference between winning or losing a series to the lowly Padres. The difference between finishing the week over .500, or just at .500. It was big, and Weaver came up big for us.
- James Loney - .304 (7-23), 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBIs, 3 BB, 1 SB - You know who else came up big for us Sunday? Aus... never mind. Loney did. A big 13th inning homerun to put the Dodgers up for good. Loney also collected a hit in every game this week, so there's also that.
- Randy Wolf - 0-0 (2 starts), 2.25 ERA (3 ER in 12.0 IP), 12 Ks - Wolf bounced back from an ugly week to put up two quality starts this week. Not much else to say other than good work.
- Juan Pierre - .381 (8-21), 1 BB, 1 RBI, 5-7 SBs - This is not just for Juan Pierre's week. It's for the last 50 games. Listen, Juan, I really appreciate you filling in admirably during the suspension. I'll ignore the fact that after your nice May, you batted .264 during June (.319 OBP). You were put in a bad position. This is the second year you thought you'd be a starter and the Dodgers have brought someone in to replace you. And for the most part, you've handled it in a classy way. Yeah, there was some trade demanding and a little complaining, but you never stopped showing up to play. And yes, your reward is a trip back to the bench with the occasional start. It's tough, I can imagine. So this is just to say: Thanks. Thanks for doing what you do. And who knows, maybe we'll find you a nice home somewhere else, where you can start and be free to run where you please. But for now, please quietly return to the bench and readjust to your role. I know you will, that's what you do.
Ok then folks. That's it. One last road trip this week before the All-Star break. Here's to finishing the first half strong.
Just a quick post to ask: was it good for you?
A three game sweep of the Mets, following series wins against Florida and Philadelphia.
The Dodgers are 7-1 in their last eight games. The Giants lost today. We've extended our lead in the NL West to 8.5 games.
Oh, and we still have the best record in baseball, 29-13.
I mean, I was hoping we would just play .500 ball until Manny gets back, but this is ridiculous.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are coming into town for the weekend.
Let's keep this up, eh?
EDIT: And by the way, congratulations to Brent Leach for picking up the win today, the first one of his major league career.
