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Old 07-22-2018, 07:30 AM   #159
PilotMan
Head Coach
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Seven miles up
September Recap


A 13-14 record for the month is nothing to be proud of at all. It's the 2nd month in a row with a losing record, and overall, the team has been playing under .500 ball since the end of April. That's sad to think about. The injuries really started to pile up on the team and we felt it all month long. For the year, the team is still above 500, with an 81-79 record, and sitting in 3rd in the NL West.


All around, the numbers went from bad to worse for LA. The team is 11th in the NL in batting average, even though, they are 8th in OBP, and 7th in runs scored. The team is patient, being 3rd in walks, and 8th in HR's. A fair bit of speed has them 2nd in steals. It's one of the worst hitting teams, if not the worst, since we started following along, back in '82.


There was 1 man, who lead the way on offense, and he has been the only really stable, reliable offensive threat all year long, and that is Von Hayes. In September, Hayes his .330/.429/.610 with 7 HR's. He made it to the 20/20 club and his defense in center is in the top of the NL. Caminiti also hit well in the month. Batting .330/.444/.454, he walked 20 times and stole 5 bases. Even Mike Schmidt seemed to find some energy hitting 5 homers, a monthly high for him this year. Lots of part time players saw substantial action in the month. Curt Wilkerson batted .338 in 19 games between filling in at 3rd and SS. Stan Holmes hit .273 when Scioscia went down. We would have liked to have seen better output from both Inky (.245/.317/.394, 2 HR) and Pete O'Brien (.220/.306/.321, 2 HR) as they drug the team down.


It was the pitching that really slumped in September though. Having hung in there around 3rd or 4th all summer, the team ERA dropped to 5th in the NL and 11th in HR's allowed and 9th in walks. Even though opposing hitters only batted .247 and the team defense was still 3rd in the NL. Part of that drop was the starting pitching. Needing to rely on Jim Beattie (2-2, 6.37) and Kirk Vucsko (1-2, 4.13, 1.46 WHIP) wasn't strong. The most reliable starter through the month was Ken Howell (2-0, 3.71 and a 1.20 WHIP). Even Kirk Vucsko held his own, although 6 HR's allowed in 24 innings, 19 walks and 23 K's made his games interesting to watch. Kelly Downs (2-2, 4.14) perhaps pitched the best with is 1.19 WHIP, but the failure of Bryn Smith (1-3, 5.06), John Franco (0-2, 2 S, 5.56 ERA, 1.68 WHIP), Sergio DelRosario (0-0, 11.74, 2.09 WHIP) and Tom Niedenfuer (0-0, 12.15 ERA, 2.70 WHIP) made things harder for everyone. Rookie Michael Cunningham, who had started, came out of the bullpen to throw 8.1 innings with 0 runs allowed and only 2 hits, with his knuckleball.


There's not much else to say for September. LA was eliminated and we are only looking at what is to come with this team. Free agency could be busy.
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