[PilotMan]

August Recap


August has been the make or break month for LA in the past, and this year, despite being behind, it was definitely a break month. LA went 12-17, it was the worst month of the year, 5 games below .500. That brings this years Dodgers to 68-65 on the year, 18 games behind the Astros and good for 3^rd place in the NL West.


It is not going to be a playoff year for LA. We're on the ropes, and the Astros are coming down the home stretch for the NL West pennant.


To that end, let's look at just how crappy things are going for this team. LA's offense is firmly 11^th in the NL in batting, and 11^th in runs scored. 9^th in OBP and 8^th in HR's. No matter how you cut it, those numbers aren't going to create a playoff winning team. LA does lead in stolen bases, mostly to Rickey and his 62 steals.


Just how bad was August offensively? The top hitter Caminiti (.290/.336/.421). That was the best, and those aren't season numbers, that is one month. Who lead the team in home runs? It was so bad that 5 guys tied for the lead. They only had 2 all month. So the HR leader on the team, for the month, hit 2 HR's the entire month. Caminiti, Hayes, Schmidt, O'Brien, and Inky. That sucks.

There's only 1 player who was the worst too. That was future Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt. Schmidt's play has been so bad that there have been many calls for him to be benched. Although his 2 HR's tied him for the lead, his slash line was .173/.234/.255. His 10 RBI's were good enough for 3^rd on the team. Inky was also bad. He batted .184/.229/.289 when he had the chance to show everyone just what he could do to help.


Overall, Von Hayes is still the best hitter on the team.


The pitching staff is still pretty good. Overall they are 3^rd in ERA, with the bullpen slightly better (2^nd) than the rotation (4^th). On defense, the team has slipped to 3^rd in the NL, and that is a huge benefit to this particular team.


Even though the team is still pitching well, August was bad for the rotation. The top starter was Downs who went 3-3, with a 3.61 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP for the month. DiPino pitched great. He didn't allow a run in 15.2 innings, and Franco saved 10 games, with a 1.02 ERA in 14 games.


So the season is pretty much over, but that doesn't mean we can't look at what's going on in the rest of the league.


In the NL West, it's the Astros with an 11.5 game lead on the 2^nd place Reds. Their magic number is 19. The Astros hold the best record in baseball at 86-47 and boast, without question, the best pitching staff in the league.


In the NL East, it's the Mets who have been in front all year, and look good for their lead at 14 games over the Pirates. The Mets are the 2^nd best team in baseball with an 85-48 record. The Mets lead the NL in HR's thanks to their team of young sluggers and Doc Gooden.


In the AL West, it's been tight all year, and the M's continue to hold on to a 1 game lead over the Rangers, and a 3 game lead on the White Sox. The Anges have drifted to 5.5 back. The M's have been slumping as of late and are dealing with some newer injury issues. It's possible that they won't on, even with the top batting team in the AL.


In the AL East, the Yankees, who made the most moves at the trade deadline, are 3 games in front of the Brewers, and at 68-64, are the only team with a winning record. The Brewers have won 9 in a row, but the Yankees are nearly keeping pace. The pivotal move for the Yankees was the waiver claim and subsequent 6 year contract extension acquisition of Joe Carter from the White Sox.


The only ray of hope for LA right now, is that maybe being out of the top will net them a halfway decent draft pick for the future. The ownership isn't aggressive and so the results won't be either. The next offseason could be interesting though. Winfield is 100 plate appearances away from hitting his vesting for next year. He is projected to fall 1 PA shy. Schmidt has the same deal, but he's almost there. Not sure that's a good thing. Henderson has a player op out after this year, which you have to believe that he'll take. Ozzie will be gone unless they get an extension done, and Fernando might too. Things could look really, really different next year, and and just the expected losses between those guys, amount to almost 30% of the payroll. It's a big deal.