Rockies vs Dodgers, July 1st

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Rockies	Dodgers	J.Hammel vs C.Kershaw	Dodgers	58.16%	8.5

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Rockies vs Dodgers, June 30th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Rockies	Dodgers	J.Marquis vs C.Billingsley	Dodgers	62.12%	8.1

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Rockies vs Dodgers, June 29th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Rockies	Dodgers	U.Jimenez vs R.Wolf	Dodgers	52.61%	8.1

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Mariners vs Dodgers, June 28th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Mariners	Dodgers	G.Olson vs H.Kuroda	Dodgers	63.64%	8.4

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Mariners vs Dodgers, June 27th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Mariners	Dodgers	F.Hernandez vs E.Milton	Mariners	54.34%	7.9

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Mariners vs Dodgers, June 26th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Mariners	Dodgers	J.Vargas vs C.Kershaw	Dodgers	62.26%	7.5

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Dodgers / White Sox, Series Preview

Hitting:

	AVE	OBP	SLG	OPS	wOBA	RAR MLB Rank
Dodgers	.279	.358	.408	.766	.339	8th
White Sox	.282	.324	.399	.722	.319	25th

Skinny: Over the course of the season, the Dodgers have had a much better offense than the White Sox. When you look at the offenses over the month of June, the two offenses are pretty similar as the Dodgers once sizzling offense has come back down to earth. During the month of June, the Dodgers have an OPS of .702 and a wOBA of .312, while the White Sox have had an OPS of .715 and a wOBA of .319.

Starting Pitching:
The White Sox starting pitching has been solid this year, posting a WAR of 6.55. Meanwhile the Dodgers starting staff is not too far behind, with a WAR of 5.97. Up to this point the trio of Gavin Floyd, Mark Buehrle and John Danks have carried the White Sox starting pitching staff. Of the three, only Danks and Floyd could be considered strikeout pitchers. Let's take a look at the pitching matchups for the upcoming series.

Date	Pitcher	IP	W-L	ERA	FIP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	GB/FB Ratio
6/23	Hiroki Kuroda	28.0	1-3	3.86	3.71	6.75	2.25	0.96	.266	1.56
6/23	John Danks	74.1	5-5	4.48	4.06	8.48	3.15	1.21	.314	1.27
6/24	Randy Wolf	93.0	3-2	3.29	4.02	6.68	2.71	1.06	.260	0.79
6/24	Gavin Floyd	89.0	4-5	4.65	3.80	7.38	3.44	0.81	.307	1.30
6/25	Chad Billingsley	98.2	9-3	2.83	3.00	8.76	4.01	0.27	.300	1.21
6/25	Jose Contreras	51.2	2-6	5.23	4.32	5.23	3.31	0.87	.289	1.34

H.Kuroda vs J.Danks
White Sox followers would like you to believe that Danks is their hard throwing left handed version of Clayton Kershaw. Danks is a few years older than Kershaw, so the comparison has it's limitations, but nonetheless Danks is a good young LHP. Danks is coming off of a 7 inning, 7 strike-out, 0 runs performance against the Cubs. Kuroda has been pretty solid since his return from the DL, though he did get touched up for two homeruns in his last start vs the A's. The White Sox should be slight favorites to win this game as Danks is a solid pitcher and the White Sox are playing at home.

Randy Wolf vs Gavin Floyd
Gavin Floyd has been having a productive season for the White Sox so far. His biggest surprise has been the uptick in his K/9, which is currently sitting at 7.38, a full strikeout above his seasonal projection. Floyd's FIP sits at 3.80, quite a bit lower than his ERA of 4.65. Randy Wolf enters the series with an ERA of 3.29 and a shoe box full of no-decisions. Many of Randy's stats point to the ERA of 3.29 being a bit on the lucky side (Wolf Stat's, FIP: 4.02, BABIP: .260, LOB%: 76.4%). The White Sox should once again be slight favorites to win this game.

C.Billingsley vs J.Contreras
Contreras, the 37 year old veteran who recently made it back into the White Sox starting rotation hasn't pitched as bad as his ERA of 5.23 would indicate. Contreras has been hampered by some bad luck to the tune of a 60% LOB%. Which means that other teams are getting an unfair share of clutch hits against him. Contreras hasn't lost much velocity off of his fastball as he has aged, but tends to throw a lot more sliders and a lot less split fingered fastballs than he did back in his more successful Yankees days. Billingsley has been rock solid this year. His BB/9 (4.01) is up a little bit this year, but it's being offset by his low HR/9 of 0.27. Chances are, the series will be tied up going into this game, setting the Dodgers up for a good opportunity to take 2 out of 3 from another AL team.

Bullpen:
Both teams have very good bullpens. The difference being that each team has gotten it's value out of different roles. The Dodgers best relief pitcher is Jonathan Broxton, who is one of the best closers in all of baseball. Ronald Belisario and Ramon Troncoso have been solid in making sure that Broxton gets the ball in a save situation. The White Sox on the otherhand, have been getting the best performances from setup men Matt Thornton (FIP: 2.42, K/9: 11.96) and lower leverage innings pitcher D.J. Carrasco, who is a ground ball machine. Below, let's take a look at a table that lists the average leverage index that each relief pitcher from both teams enters the game with. I do this, to get an idea of how each manager uses his bullpen. I am looking at the last 30 days!

Dodgers	J.Broxton (1.59)	R.Troncoso (1.51)	R.Belisario (1.23)	C.Wade (1.01)	G.Mota (0.77)	B.Leach (0.68)
White Sox	M.Thornton (1.54)	B.Jenks (1.53)	O.Dotel (1.22)	S.Linebrink (1.01)	D.Carrasco (0.64)	J.Gobble (0.40)	J.Poreda (0.23)

Defense:
Both teams are average fielding teams, though they do have their share of good and bad fielders. For the White Sox, Jayson Nix who has played 2B, 3B, SS, LF and RF has been the best defender, along with first baseman Paul Konerko. For the Dodgers CF-Matt Kemp is among the league leaders in UZR, and SS-Rafael Furcal ranks high among the leagues shortstops. For the White Sox, you won't see too many good defensive plays out of RF-Jermaine Dye (UZR: -7.2), 3B-Josh Fields (UZR: -5.7, when he does play) and 2B-Chris Getz (UZR: -4.7). The Dodgers have been getting suspect defense out of RF-Andre Either (UZR: -12.4 Lack of range and poor arm) and 2B-Orlando Hudson (UZR: -3.5 Lack of range).

Dodgers vs Angels, June 21st

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Angels	C.Kershaw vs J.Lackey	Angels	54.95%	8.6

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Dodgers vs Angels, June 20th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Angels	J.Weaver vs J.Weaver	Angels	61.98%	9.0

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Dodgers vs Angels, June 19th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Angels	C.Billingsley vs J.Saunders	Dodgers	50.98%	7.9

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Dodgers / Angels, Series Preview

Hitting:

	AVE	OBP	SLG	OPS	wOBA	RAR MLB Rank
Dodgers	.277	.356	.404	.760	.337	9th
Angels	.282	.342	.429	.770	.339	10th

Skinny: Two pretty evenly matched offenses. The Dodgers do a better job of drawing walks and getting on base, and the Angels do a better job of slugging the ball. The Dodgers offense has been on a down swing. The Dodgers wOBA in the month of June has been .294, while the Angels come in at a .361 clip. The Dodgers BABIP has steadily been heading south, their once mighty BABIP of .340 has dwindled to a more realistic .325, thanks in part to a June BABIP of .264.

Starting Pitching:
The Angels starting rotation has done a great job considering all the injuries and tragic events that have happened so far this year. The Angels starters have been 6.1 wins above replacement level, good enough for a ranking of 7th in MLB. The Dodgers starters on the other hand, have been 5.6 wins above replacement level, coming in 13th best in MLB. Let's preview this weekends starting pitching matchups.

Date	Pitcher	IP	W-L	ERA	FIP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	GB/FB Ratio
6/19	C.Billingsley	92.2	9-3	2.72	2.92	9.03	3.79	0.29	.300	1.31
6/19	J.Saunders	86.0	7-4	3.66	4.63	4.92	2.62	1.07	.269	1.17
6/20	Jeff Weaver	29.0	3-1	3.72	4.24	6.21	4.66	0.62	.312	1.11
6/20	Jared Weaver	90.2	7-2	2.08	3.30	7.35	2.48	0.69	.245	0.64
6/21	C.Kershaw	69.2	3-5	4.13	3.84	9.04	5.43	0.65	.275	0.99
6/21	J.Lackey	38.1	2-2	6.10	4.32	6.57	1.88	1.17	.370	1.50

C.Billingsley vs J.Saunders
This is the only pitching matchup where the Dodgers have the clear cut edge. Billingsley has blossomed into one of the National Leagues best pitchers. Saunders on the other hand is pretty average but could give some of the Dodgers left handed hitters (Loney, Ethier, Pierre) trouble.

Jeff Weaver vs Jared Weaver
A historical brother vs brother matchup, or should I call it Jeff Spicoli vs little brother. The last time two brothers started against each other was back in 2002 when Andy and Alan Benes faced each other (Hat tip: Dodgers49 via DodgerThoughts). Big bro Jeff has been pitching on fumes but has done reasonably well so far this year. But little brother Jared will help make the Angels a solid favorite to win this game. Jared has been a little lucky, limiting opponents to a BABIP of only .245.

Clayton Kershaw vs John Lackey
The outcome of this game is very unpredictable. Lacky coming off of an injury that has limited him to just over 38 innings has been pretty bad so far this year. But we all know the track history of Lackey, who was one of the AL's best pitchers last year. The big question with Kershaw every start has been, which Kershaw will show up, the good one or the bad one. Kershaw is getting more consistent these days, and all arrows point towards a very high early pitch count, lots of strikeouts and a handful of walks. You can pretty much count on Kershaw to pitch right around 5 innings. Clayton, don't be afraid to throw the curve ball for a strike to right handed hitters!

Bullpen:
If you have been following the Angels and Dodgers closely this year, this is where you will find the biggest talent gap between the two teams. The Angels bullpen has been pretty bad, though closer Brian Fuentes has a good stranglehold on 9th inning leads of late. Master of the blown save, Jose "Dog Food" Arredondo was recently sent packing to the minor leagues which can't hurt. Meanwhile, the Dodgers have one of (if not the) best closer in all of baseball in Jonathan Broxton. Broxton has been nursing a sore toe and has missed the past two games and his availability is day to day. Relievers Ramon Troncoso and Ronald Belisario have done a great job of protecting late inning leads. If Broxton is available, the Dodgers will have the edge in any tied games that go to the bullpen.

Defense:
Just a lot of ho-hum here. Both teams are middle of the pack defensively. Each team has their standout fielders. For the Dodgers it's Matt Kemp, who is 6th in UZR in all of baseball and ranks first defensively for all centerfielders. Surprisingly, LF-Juan Rivera ranks 8th on the list of best UZR in all of baseball. This is probably due to the fact that there aren't too many good defensive left fielders. While CF-Torri Hunter does make many spectacular plays he rates just under league average using the UZR metric.

Know Your Enemy

Pos	Player	Skinny
C	Jeff Mathis	Worst hitting catcher in the big leagues.
C	Mike Napoli	Solid hitting catcher who packs a punch.
1B/RF	Kendry Morales	Decent power but rarely draws a walk.
1B/RF	Rob Quinlan	Defensive replacement at firstbase, nothing more.
2B/SS	Macier Izturis	Decent glove man.
2B	Sean Rodriguez	Adequate power in minors, but strikes out way too much.
SS	Erick Aybar	Slightly below league average SS, most value from glove.
3B	Chone Figgins	Speedy, hits for average, gets on base and sustains a high BABIP.
OF	Juan Rivera	Passable power, not fond of walking.
OF	Torri Hunter	Having All-Star year with the bat.
OF	Gary Matthews	A big mistake.
OF	Vladimir Guerrero	Battling through injuries this year. My knees hurt watching him run.
OF	Bobby Abreu	Typical Abreu season. Decent average, little bit of pop, and a great OBP.

A's vs Dodgers, June 18th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
A's	Dodgers	R.Wolf vs V.Mazzaro	Dodgers	57.98%	7.2

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

A's vs Dodgers, June 17th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
A's	Dodgers	T.Cahill vs H.Kuroda	Dodgers	59.02%	7.7

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

A's vs Dodgers, June 16th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
A's	Dodgers	D.Braden vs C.Kershaw	Dodgers	57.98%	7.3

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

A's / Dodgers, Series Preview

Defense: Not much difference between these two teams when it comes to defense. The A's come in with the MLB's 10th ranked defense (UZR) and the Dodgers come in ranked 15th. Light hitting third baseman, Jack Hanrahan leads the A's defense and Rajai Davis (mostly for his arm) and Matt Holliday (mostly for his range) lead a slick fielding outfield. Meanwhile the Dodgers defense is buoyed by CF Matt Kemp who is having a spectacular season in the field, and SS Rafael Furcal and his cannon arm.

Offense: Even though their offense has seen some recent regression to the mean, the Dodgers still rank 6th overall. At the other end of the spectrum you find the A's offense. If their offense was a rocket, it would be buried deep underground in a bunker somewhere and the launch codes would be lost. Out of site and out of mind. The A's offense ranks dead last, an amazing 53.2 runs below average.

Starting Pitching: The Dodgers pitching staff gets a slight edge over the A's staff. The toughest starter the Dodgers will face will be LHP Dallas Braden (FIP: 3.52, K/9: 6.0, HR/9: 0.67). Braden has pitched atleast 7 innings in four of his last five starts. Josh Outman (FIP: 4.14, BABIP: .245, HR/9: 1.1, K/9 7.26) has been very hittable this year but tends to bail himself out statistically with a decent strike-out rate. A's rookie, Vince Mazzaro who has thrown 19-2/3rds innings in three starts has pitched well but has been surviving in the minors and pro ball off of the lack of HRs he has given up.

Relief Pitching: Both the Dodgers and A's have had very good relief pitching. The Dodgers have arguably the best relief pitcher in all of baseball in Jonathan Broxton. The A's on the otherhand are not a top heavy bullpen. Anyone in their bullpen is completely capable of shutting the door on an opposing teams rally, as long as their name is not Santiago Casilla (FIP: 6.54, HR/9: 2.08, BB/9: 5.82).

Notes of Interest: The A's already weak offense will now have to bat a pitcher. In their previous three road interleague games, the A's scored a total of three runs against the Giants. Amazingly, the A's only have three players hitting above league average and they are Adam Kennedy, Matt Holliday and Jack Cust. This is about as perfect an opportunity as any for Dodger starting pitching to fatten up their numbers.

NL West is the Best

Remember all the pre-season talk about how bad the NL West would be in 2009? Well, we are well over a third of the way through the season and the NL West has the best winning percentage of any division in the National League. The NL West has the best team in all of baseball, followed by the current NL Wild-Card leader. Not too shabby if you ask me. Let's take a look at the breakdown of the standings in the NL West and how the two other divisions stack up.

NL West Standings
Team	W	L	Pct
Dodgers	42	22	.656
Giants	34	28	.548
Rockies	31	32	.492
Padres	28	34	.452
Diamondbacks	27	37	.422
NL West	162	153	.514
NL Central	188	185	.504
NL East	146	164	.471

So much for the "haters" excusing the Dodgers MLB best record on the division they play in. The NL West is more than holding it's own up to this point. Fans of the NL West will point to the pathetic 16-45 record of the Washington Nationals pulling down their division. While this is true, it is also inflating the records of the top four NL East teams. The NL Central is a solid division, but lacks the dominating team that the NL West has. I cut the NL Central teams some slack, because they have 5 other divisional foes to beat out every season, as opposed to the 4 that the other two NL West divisional teams must beat out. But in the end, I think the wild-card evens that out.

Dodgers vs Rangers, June 14th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Rangers	C.Billingsley vs D.Holland	Dodgers	57.63%	9.6

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Dodgers vs Rangers, June 13th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Rangers	R.Wolf vs S.Feldman	Rangers	54.13%	10.1

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Dodgers vs Rangers, June 12th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Rangers	H.Kuroda vs V.Padilla	Dodgers	50.74%	9.9

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds

Dodgers / Rangers, Series Preview

Interleague play revs up again this weekend as the Dodgers head out to hot & humid Arlington Texas for a three game series sandwiched in between two off days.

The Rangers head into the series at the top of the AL West with a 34-25 record and a 31-27 pythagorean record. The Rangers, like the Dodgers, have "made hay" by beating up on teams in their own division. The Rangers are 13-3 vs the AL West and also have an AL best 25-10 record against sub .500 teams.

The Dodgers make the scamper down to Texas with the best record in all of baseball at 39-22. The Dodgers also match the Rangers 25-10 record against sub .500 teams. The Rangers have a few key injuries, as CF-Josh Hamilton recently was added to the DL, and closer Frank Francisco is nursing a sore shoulder and is questionable for the entire series.

Texas Ranger blog Lonestar Ball notes recent Ranger offensive problems, mainly due to the lack of taking walks and the teams low rank in OBP. Hopefully, this is something that Dodger pitchers can take advantage of.


Team Comparisons... Know Your Enemy

Team	Hitting	Arm	Range R	Error R	Overall Fielding	SP	RP	Overall Pitching	Team Total
Units	RAR	MLB Rank	MLB Rank	MLB Rank	UZR	RAR	RAR	WAR	WAR
Dodgers	28.4	-4.1	-1.7	3.7	0.3	54.9	20.9	8.1	18.7
Rangers	20.1	1.2	16.9	4.2	22.6	39.0	5.1	4.3	15.3
Dodgers MLB Rank	7th	14th	17th	7th	16th	10th	8th	6th	3rd
Rangers MLB Rank	10th	14th	3rd	6th	1st	20th	20th	23rd	6th

Who's Been Hot and or Lucky Recently

Player	PA	wOBA	OPS	BABIP
A.Ethier	32	.565	1.438	.421
D.Murphy	25	.443	.962	.474
M.Kemp	29	.408	.932	.474
N.Cruz	32	.379	.915	.235

Who's Been Cold or Unlucky Recently

Player	PA	wOBA	OPS	BABIP
J.Saltalamacchia	22	.155	.325	.273
R.Martin	23	.179	.360	.200
M.Byrd	30	.228	.543	.350
C.Blake	24	.232	.523	.278

Top Three Dodgers Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. CF-Matt Kemp 2.9
1. 2B-Orlando Hudson 1.9
3. 3B-Casey Blake 1.8

Top Three Dodgers Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. *Chad Billingsley 2.5
2. *Randy Wolf 1.0
3. Clayton Kershaw 0.9

Top Three Dodgers Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Jonathan Broxton 1.8
2. Ramon Troncoso 0.7
3. Ronald Belisario 0.4

Top Three Dodgers Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. CF-Matt Kemp 7.6
2. RF-Jamie Hoffman 2.9
3. 3B-Casey Blake 2.5

Top Three Rangers Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. RF-Nelson Cruz 2.9
2. 2B-Ian Kinsler 2.6
3. SS-Elvis Andrus 1.4

Top Three Rangers Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Kevin Millwood 1.0
2. *Scott Feldman 0.9
3. Matt Harrison 0.8

Top Three Rangers Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Frank Francisco 0.7
2. Darren O'Day 0.4
3. Jason Jennings 0.2

Top Three Rangers Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. RF-Nelson Cruz 10.3
2. SS-Elvis Andrus 6.0
3. 2B-Ian Kinsler 5.6

* Denotes a pitcher is pitching in this series.

Defense: Slick fielding is the apparent strength of this Texas Ranger team. Right fielder and slugger Nelson Cruz leads the way with an MLB 2nd best UZR of 10.3. Shortstop and AL ROY Leading Candidate Elvis Andrus leads all shortstops with a UZR of 7.2 and Ian Kinsler makes baseballs top 20 fielders with a UZR of 5.6. Matt Kemp and his UZR of 7.8 is the Dodgers only player in the UZR defensive top 20.

Offense: The Dodgers have seen their offense slip to 28.4 runs above replacement, as a few of their players begin their regression to the mean. But they are still good enough for a rank of 7th in the MLB. The Rangers are 10th, coming in at 20.1 runs above replacement. The Dodgers will have the luxury of using a DH in this series, and Jon Weisman predicts that Blake Dewitt should see consistent playing time due to the extra hitter.

Starting Pitching: The starting pitching matchups heavily favor the Dodgers. The Dodgers will arguably be using their three best starting pitchers (Billingsley, Wolf and Kuroda). The Rangers, best matchup will be saturday when Scott Feldman faces off with Randy Wolf.

Relief Pitching: The Dodgers will have a big advantage in any close, late inning games. The Dodgers have by far the best reliever in this series in Jonathan Broxton. Broxton leads all relief pitchers in MLB with a 2009 WAR of 1.8. Other competent options for Joe Torre out of the bullpen are, Ramon Troncoso (FIP: 2.95, HR/9: 0.00), Ronald Belisario (FIP: 3.48, K/9: 8.23, HR/9: 0.51), Cory Wade (FIP: 3.20, HR/9: 0.00) and rookie left hander Brent Leach (FIP: 2.45, K/9: 9.28, HR/9: 0.00). Frank Francisco, the only effective pitcher out of the Rangers bullpen is nursing a sore shoulder and is questionable for the series. The Rangers next best reliever, Darren O'Day has been decent (K/9: 8.05) but also very lucky (BABIP: .262, LOB% 88.0%). Temporary closer C.J. Wilson has been very liberal with his walks (BB/9: 4.44, FIP: 4.59).

Notes of Interest: The most difficult part of watching this series will be when most hated former Dodger Andruw Jones comes up to bat. Jones, a total bust for the Dodgers has actually been hitting pretty well for the Rangers in limited action.

Park Factors: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

Year	Runs	HR	H	2B	3B	BB
2009	1.172	1.064	1.123	1.248	3.250	1.160
2008	1.142	1.229	1.070	1.042	2.227	1.030
2007	0.979	1.000	1.024	0.943	1.652	0.945

Source: ESPN Park Factors

Last 10 Games, Dodgers: 6-4
Last 20 Games, Dodgers: 12-8
Away Record: 17-12

Last 10 Games, Rangers: 4-6
Last 20 Games, Rangers: 10-10
Home Record: 18-11


Series Pitching Matchups
6/12: H.Kuroda vs V.Padilla
6/13: R.Wolf vs S.Feldman
6/14: C.Billingsley vs D.Holland


Source for stats: Fangraphs and Baseball Reference

Padres vs Dodgers, June 10th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Padres	Dodgers	K.Correia vs C.Kershaw	Dodgers	67.11%	8.4

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Padres vs Dodgers, June 9th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Padres	Dodgers	C.Young vs C.Billingsley	Dodgers	65.87%	7.1

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Phillies vs Dodgers, June 7th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Phillies	Dodgers	A.Bastardo vs R.Wolf	Dodgers	53.27%	8.2

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

A Lidge Over Troubled Water

I think this series has shown what two equally good teams the Phillies and Dodgers are. Both teams have had great starting pitching, Hamels having the best outing of the bunch. The Dodgers defense has probably played a little better, but the biggest difference has been the two closers. If you had Broxton and Lidge swap teams for the last two games, the Dodgers would definitely be scurrying to avoid the sweep on Sunday. Broxton has been his amazing self and Lidge has more than regressed back to the mean from last years amazing season. Kudos to Broxton (and the rest of his bullpen mates) and even the Dodger hitters for taking advantage of the struggling Phillie closer. The pitching stats from the series are listed below...

Pitching Stats This Series:

	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	FIP
Phillie Starters	22	5.32	0.41	0.41	2.75
Dodger Starters	15.2	7.47	4.02	0.00	2.88
Phillie Bullpen	7.1	8.59	3.68	2.45	6.06
Dodger Bullpen	18.1	4.91	2.45	0.00	2.93
Brad Lidge	1.2	10.80	5.40	5.40	10.40
Jonathan Broxton	2	22.50	0.00	0.00	-1.80

Phillies vs Dodgers,

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Phillies	Dodgers	J.Blanton vs H.Kuroda	Dodgers	52.38%	8.6

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Phillies vs Dodgers, June 5th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Phillies	Dodgers	J.Moyer vs E.Milton	Dodgers	54.95%	9.2

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Phillies vs Dodgers, June 4th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Phillies	Dodgers	C.Hamels vs C.Kershaw	Phillies	50.98%	7.9

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Who's That Knockin On The Door?

West	W	L	Pct	GB
Dodgers	37	18	.673	__
Giants	25	25	.500	9.5
Padres	25	28	.472	11.0
Diamondbacks	23	31	.426	13.5
Rockies	20	32	.385	15.5

Nobody, that's who. Must be just the wind blowing, because there is nobody close to knocking on the Dodgers door in the NL West. This division is all but wrapped up. All it needs is a pretty bow and some dreadlocks to go with it and it's time to wait and see our first round opponent is.

Ok, I am partially kidding... 9-1/2 game leads have been lost much later in the season than this. Plenty of head to head games remain between divisional foes, but it gets to a point where a lead becomes too big to overcome, especially when the talent levels are so uneven.

Giants: The Giants are the closest competitor right now at 9-1/2 games behind the Dodgers. The Giants have a nice little pitching staff, and are playing .500 ball. That's probably how they will end the season, but could easily finish slightly over .500 at best. Their offense is awful and their bullpen, smells like a stroll down the Embarcadero.

Padres: Next up are the Padres, who are currently in third place, 11 games out. They recently put together a nice little 10 game winning streak. But they would be hard pressed to finish off the season at the .500 level, and most likely will finish somewhere around 10 to 15 games under .500. They have two nice little players in Adrian Gonzalez and Jake Peavy. Peavy may or may not even finish the season off with the Padres. They are not a threat.

Diamondbacks: This is the team I still worry about the most, but they are a whopping 13-1/2 games out of first place, with two other teams to climb over in the NL West. They are easily the 2nd most talented team in the NL West and if they were less than 10 games out, I may be a little worried about them, but they are so far back in the rear view mirror that I can't see them contending for the West title this year. I still believe that they will finish around the .500 level, good enough for a possible 2nd place finish in the west. Very small threat, even when Brandon Webb returns.

Rockies The Rockies are 15-1/2 games out and are a very bad team. Probably on the same level as the Padres. But aren't even worth mentioning.

Diamondbacks vs Dodgers, June 3rd

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Diamondbacks	Dodgers	J.Garland vs C.Billingsley	Dodgers	64.97%	8.1

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

#2 Without A Bullet

The Dodgers have seen their fare share of lineups used this season, mostly due to the Manny Ramirez suspension. The Dodgers Most Common Batting Lineup still remains one that features Manny Ramirez. The second most common lineup, which does not include Manny, seems to be stalled one occurrence shy of the first place spot, thanks in part to the demotion of Andre Ethier from the cleanup to the sixth spot in the lineup.

2009 #1 Most Common Dodger Lineup
1. Furcal
2. Hudson
3. Ramirez
4. Ethier
5. Loney
6. Martin
7. Kemp
8. Blake
9. Pitcher

9 Games

2009 #2 Most Common Dodger Lineup
1. Pierre
2. Furcal
3. Hudson
4. Ethier
5. Martin
6. Loney
7. Kemp
8. Blake
9. Pitcher


8 Games

May 23rd, the last time Andre Ethier hit cleanup was the last time the Dodgers put the same lineup (1 thru 8, pitchers spot) on the field for two consecutive games. Lineup construction has very little effect on the game from a statistically significant point of view, but it does show that the Dodgers team is in a somewhat state of flux, due to the recent rash of nagging injuries and slumps to players like Ethier. It will be interesting to see when the next game will be where the Dodgers put out the same lineup for back to back games.

Random Dodger Stats

Jeepers, Creepers... Where'd You Get Those RBIs?
Juan Pierre is leading the major leagues in most RBIs (21) without having hit a homerun. Second on this list is none other than teammate Russell Martin with 20. The next closest is Pirate outfielder Nyjer Morgan with 17. Dodger reserve player Mark Loretta is 14th on the list with 10 RBIs. It's easy to see why Juan Pierre makes this list due to his OPS of .944, but Russell Martin makes it with no triples and an OPS of .695.

Party Pooper!
Andre Either takes over James Loney's role from last years team as the double play king. Ethier actually leads the National League in hitting into the most ground ball double plays with 12. Only Boston's Mike Lowell has more (13). James Loney? He has hit into 5 so far this year, good for 69th most in MLB.

You're Out!
James Loney leads the Dodgers in total number of outs made with 152. Andre Ethier is right behind Loney with 149. The Mariners Adrian Beltre leads all of baseball with 172 outs made. Beltre has an OPS of .584. Good thing he plays great defense.

Ouch!
Andre Ethier leads the Dodgers with 5 hit by pitches. Amazingly, Chase Utley leads all of baseball with 11.

One Trick Pony
Chris Davis of the Rangers leads baseball with the most homeruns for a player with an OPS of less than .700. Davis has 12 HRs and an OPS of .689. Davis has put up the following line so far this year (.194/.253/.436). Truly pathetic for someone with so many HRs.

Whiff! Chris Davis also leads all of baseball with the highest K%. Davis has struck out a whopping 46.7% of the time he has come up to bat. The highest K% for a Dodger is Matt Kemp at 25.9%, which is exactly his career K%.

Raking
David Wright of the Mets leads the majors with a BABIP of .452. Juan Pierre is 3rd in the majors with a BABIP of .419. Matt Kemp is 11th, with a BABIP of .393. The Dodgers as a team lead the majors with a BABIP of .340. The next closest is the Rays at .323.

Lucky Slob
Johnny Cueto of the Reds has the lowest BABIP against in the majors at .234. The luckiest Dodger in this regard is Clayton Kershaw, who comes in with a BABIP against of .254, good enough for 11th place in the majors.

On The Flip Side
Poor Jon Lester of the Red Sox wears the crown for unluckiest pitcher with a BABIP against of .374, narrowly beating out Tim Lincecum who comes in at .367. By comparison the first Dodger who shows up on this chart is Chad Billingsley with a .297 BABIP against. Hmmm... it pays to be both good and lucky!