Mark J. Terrill/AP
My season-ending piece on the Dodgers and baseball for Los Angeles Magazine’s CityThink blog is here.
Meanwhile, let’s see who in Dodger Thoughts-land did the best on this year’s predictions:
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Jibin Park
I still stand by my 172 game season!
Felton Suthon
Curious that none of the reasons for 86-76 involved a subpar offense coupled with superb pitching. Also of note is Matt Kemp’s 0-10 with 7 Ks in the Giants series – I hope he gets well in the offseason.
Anonymous
Nobody anticipated the unprecedented run of injuries to key players, most notably Kemp and the starting pitching.
Felton Suthon
This comment inspired some checking.
Player, Dodger record when playing for Dodgers, Dodger record when not playing
Matt Kemp – 60-46 (.566) when playing; 26-30 (.464) when out
Andre Ethier – 81-68 (.544) when playing; 5-8 (.385) when out
The Dodgers were 4-7 without both Kemp and Ethier before the All-Star Break
Mark Ellis – 60-50 (.595); 26-26 (.500)
AJ Ellis – 68-65 (.511); 18-11 (.621) – surpised by this
Shane Victorino – 27-26 (.507); 3-1 (.750)
Hanley Ramirez – 33-31 (.516); no missed Dodger games
Luis Cruz – 40-40 (.500); 3-1 (.750)
Adrian Gonzalez – 18-16 (.529); no missed Dodger games
Dee Gordon – 42-36 (.538); 44-40 (.524) – discounted his games at the end of the year, as he generallt played very small parts
The Dodgers went 15-10 in Chad Billingsley’s starts this year. His July/August ERA was 2.52. He missed about 6 starts at the end of the year.
Clayton Kershaw either lost or got no decision 7 times in 2012 when surrendering two or fewer runs – That is brutal.
Anonymous
You overlooked the absence of Lilly. Also, even when Kemp was in the lineup, he was often subpar because of injuries, though that would be more difficult to quantify.
Anonymous
I agree completely. The injuries caught up with us in the end (and our hitting slumps)
chris nelson
Wow, what do I win?
But seriously my numbers were correct but how they got there was nowhere near what I was thinking.
Jim Hitchcock
You win a Juan Uribe Bobblehead!
Anonymous
With this prize all I can hear is Joshua: “The only winning move is not to play.”
Anonymous
Forget the bobblehead–you win Juan Uribe himself. He’ll come to your house and take up space on your shelf. Better there than the Dodger roster.
Who’s predicting an Adam-Dunn-like rebound for him in 2013? Don’t everybody raise your hands at once.
foul tip
Among downsides to winning Juan Uribe in person is that your food bill will shoot through the roof as he eats you out of house and home.
chris nelson
As long as the bobblehead is in the “Sad Juan Uribe” pose, I will take it:
http://www.mikesciosciastragicillness.com/2011/05/03/sad-juan-uribe-is-sad/6951
In fact, I think we should get on this, what is the minimum amount for a run of bobbleheads? I bet we could get 100 orders easy.
Jim Hitchcock
Juan Uribe, Navy Seal.
Anonymous
Great post for CityThink, Jon!
Anonymous
Wow, I wish I was as good at the stock market. I guess the moving of Loney was not that much of a stretch. There’s always next year.
Casey Barker
Offense was great when it wasn’t supposed to be, and subpar when it was supposed to be great. Or deer in the headlights. Baseball is weird.
Jack Dawkins
I predicted 90, which I sadi was enough to win division because Giants had no offense. Injuries killed the Dodgers this year. I think Lilly was crucial, and so was Bills down the streatch. Kemp was a daggar as well. I see this as a 95 win team without those, but everyone has injuries.
Anonymous
There were guesses that had to be made about the performances of Loney and Ethier for last year whose odds of being accurate will be less for the guesses for next year on Kemp, Gonzales, Ethier, Ramirez. Cruz’ performance for next year will be hard to guess though as will be Crawford’s. Still, with 4 hitters in the heart of the lineup projecting to be solid for next year, that is better than last year when only Kemp was a given.
Jon Weisman
NPUT