I think I'm gonna go with:

Julio Lugo's .267 slugging percentage. Is that just a joke?

I'll take Andre Ethier's .360 BABIP. Not original, I know, but still.

Penny's post All-Star break numbers,
W-6 L-7 E.R.A. 6.25

A bad trend of just an anomaly? And which Penny (if he's with the Dodgers) will show up next year.

Penny's P/PA: 3.98. that's top 5 in all of MLB. get a 2nd out pitch, big fella.

Matt Kemp in the cleanup spot:

OBP/SLG/OPS
500/1.286/1.786

7 AB be damned :)

4 How much of that stat can you attribute to Penny and how much can you attribute it to the pitches being called by Martin or from the bench? Does it have to do with command/control or is it just a lack of good pitches to work with?

Rafael Furcal's .963 OPS after the All-Star break, he led the Dodgers in that stat, with players over 200 PAs. His .339 BA after the ASB was 12th overall in MLB with players over 200 PAs.

James Loney had an OPS of 1.345 in Day Games and an OPS of .672 in Night Games. Perhaps a pair of night vision goggles (not the ones Jason Phillips used) would be in order.
vr, Xei

FYI, great post over at Bronx Banter today. I especially enjoyed the excerpt "From Deadspin's Will Leitch in a New York Times Op-Ed:" vr, Xei

7 However, he was 4th among all shortstops in BA, Tejeda, Guillen and Jeter all batted higher but when you look at their stat lines, Raffy had more extra base hits, had a higher SLG with an OBP of .399

You have to wonder if Furcal could duplicate this year but he certainly matched up with the best in baseball this year.

8 Hitting 3 HRs in his last couple of day games helped.

Unearned runs allowed:

Penny 3
Lowe 9
Tomko 8
O. Perez 4

Here is something from the pay portion of Baseball America, an excerpt of an interview with Billy Beane regarding what he is looking for from a manager.

SCHWARZ: Obviously, one member of the team who won't be back is Ken Macha, whom you fired a few days after the season. What do you look for in a manager? What role does he play in your organization?

BEANE: Bobby Cox, the way he protects his players, he's the lightning rod when he needs to be. He's quick to smile, very comfortable, very genuine. In my impression, you want to play for him, you know he's on your side. I would say the same things about a guy like Joe Torre.

But it's about talent. A baseball team is about the players. The great managers, and there are a lot of them out there, are good leaders and master psychologists at the same time. The idea that you can strategize your way with poor talent to a division championship, I don't quite buy into that. If someone disagrees with me, so be it.

I will comment later but based on what was said by some of the Athletics after Macha's firing, it is clear that Beane knew what was going on. But ultimately, based on his last comment, ultimately it falls on him (Beane) to provide the talent for the manager.

12 Lowe makes sense since he gives up a lot of groundball hence more opportunities to mess up.

11. So let me get this straight. What you are saying is that Loney needs a good pair of night vision goggles? vr, Xei

I think everyone is just waiting another week or so when the Free Agents start filing, then we can start some real Hot Stove Action.

My random Dodger stat:

Dodger backup catchers Toby Hall & Sandy Alomar, Jr.:

.345 / .352 / .420

Either that or Eric Stults .600 BA (in all of 5 ABs).

Matt Kemp: 154 ABs. The fact that he's no longer a rookie just doesn't feel right right.

Olmedo Saenz vs the Pirates in 2006 (21 ABs):

AVG/OBP/SLG
.524/.583/1.071

3 HRs, 9 RBI, and an eye popping 8 Runs scored.

.229avg
.286obo
.408 slg
.694ops

Thats not Lugo, Thats Nomar Post All Star Break. Stuck in our 3 hole.

JD Drew with a 378 Slug% against LHP in 2006 compared to 427 from 2003-2005. I hope it was just a glitch and that he'll rectify that in 2007 after a winter of strengthening his shoulder instead of rehabbing his shoulder.

Kenny Lofton with a 549 OPS against LHP in 84 at bats and yet he got 84 at bats against LHP for some bizarre reason. I know Repko was hurt but come on.

The best of the best was Dumb Luck Anderson with a +1200 OPS in 64 abs. Compared to his history he just had the single greatest 3 weeks of his career and all for us. It was Ned's crowning achievment and it really was just dumb luck.

2
Isn't BABIP more of a pitchers stat? I know Andre was lucky with his .360 but is this something that he has no control over? It's not going down to .290, like a pitcher's BABIP is supposed to. Or am I totally off base?

Highest BB/K ratio, minimum 100 ABs:

Bill Mueller 1.89
Nomar Garciaparra 1.40

Lowest BB/K ratio, minimum 100 ABs:

Matt Kemp 0.17
Olmedo Saenz 0.30

15 Isn't that the kind of comment that got Steve Lyons fired? Poor night vision is often a symptom of cataracts.

You're all officially on notice. Any more insensitive comments about the cataract-community and Fox Sports will be forced to take action.

11 & 15 I wonder what Lyons will have to say about Loney's goggles?

2006 Dodger team OBP: .348

After a sequence of
2002: .320
2003: .303
2004: .332
2005: .326

Expected outcome, anomaly, or why don't people give Eddie Murray more credit?

22 It's a function of line drive percentage. .120+line drive percentage gives a players "natural" BABIP.

Since I'm working on it right now, the worst Dodger with at least 230 at bats in terms of linear weights: Russell Martin. By far the best worst player in baseball.

May Games 5, Wins 3, Losses 0, 8 BB, 16 Ks, ERA 2.20, IP 32.2 = Aaron Sele.

22 - No, BABIP for hitters regresses to the mean over time. It's not a skill. Ethier's was at .400 in August - it only took the final six weeks (sporadic playing time at that) to drop 40 points.

I won't say he has zero control over it, but it is an indicator of luck. I don't think Ethier has a unique ability to hit 'em where they ain't.

26 - Top two guys in OBP for the Dodgers, 100 AB or more: Drew and Kent.

I'm going to go with the consistency of J.D. Drew throughout 2006. A few examples:

OBP: .393
OBP before All-Star break: .378
after ASB: .410
Worst OBP month, June: .354
Best OBP month, Sept: .462
OBP with RISP: .421
OBP in late innings/close games: .423

SLG: .498
Slugging before ASB: .473
after ASB: .530
Best month, Sept. .683
Worst month, June; .414
SLG with RISP: .480
SLG in late innings/close games: .436

Best hits/month, tie Mar/Apr and Sept: 26
Worst, June: 20

The only blot on this record can be found when looking at OBP and SLG vs. individual teams. Drew was lousy vs. San Diego: .281 OBP, .241 SLG. However, he was close to his season average against the Giants, and he murdered the Rockies and slaughtered the D-backs, against which he had a .481 OBP and .794 SLG.

Needless to say, Drew was about as essential as anyone on the 2006 team. The inconsistency of the rest of the offense (due variously to injury and inexperience) would have been a deadlier problem if we didn't have Drew punching the clock each day and being productive.

Uncle Joey was here not long ago... http://tinyurl.com/y883a2

My favorite 2006 Dodgers stat is a certain CFer's .864 (32/37) successful steal percentage. What's the break-even rate again?

24 I can personally testify that cataracts screw up your night vision. They wreak havoc with your day vision too.

Jon, great thread. I'll go with:

Kuo as a starter: BB/9 (2.2)
as a reliever: BB/9 (7.7)

K/9 were 10.7 as a starter and reliever.

Jeff Kent (among starting 2B-minimum 100 GS)
2nd to last in ZR in the NL

That's all I have on Kent, he had a pretty good year offensively. He had the 2nd highest OBP (.385) of his career.

and

At bats vs LHP (with OPS)
Ramon Martinez 38 (.699)
Julio Lugo 56 (.430)
Olmedo Saenz 58 (1.199)
Jose Cruz 67 (.942)
Kenny Lofton 84 (.549)

And finally
Nomar in September
HR:BB 6:4 .283 OBP

2006 Runs Allowed: 751
2005 Runs Allowed: 755

2006 QS: 81
2005 QS: 79

2006 Blown Saves: 21
2005 Blown Saves: 19

The names and faces changed, but run prevention is still a real problem.

31 so then my comment should have ended with "...why don't people give Paul DePodesta more credit?"

38 Because he traded Lo Duca and Shawn Green.

Call me crazy, but I think I just found our next closer.

Hendrickson's OPS allowed over first 15 pitches per appearance: .516

Tallest. Closer. Ever.

38 2006 will go down as one of the best offensive years by an L.A. Dodger team. Part of that is due to the fact that aside from 3B, every other position had solid though not spectacular years in their percentages (batting, on base) and even though they did not hit home runs, their extra base production pushed their team slugging percentage to an L.A. team high.

And the real amazing part is that aside from Furcal, there were not out of norm performances by any of the veteran players and while Martin and Ethier had great debut years, it wasn't like Martin had a Piazza/Santiago year and Ethier solidified LF like no player since Sheff was there, his effect was more of a commentary on the lack of production in LF as much as the surprise at his contribution.

Finally, while Betemit did not have a great September, overall his addition and Izzy's subtraction certainly helped the total numbers reach their record highs.

42 I pretty much agree, except that I think Lofton overperformed a bit, and Aybar was better than Betemit once the two swapped teams, albeit in less plate apperances.

Call me crazy

No comment.

42 Im still sorta confused that we managed to score so many runs and we only had one 100 RBI guy and by just a smidgen. Is it because we had a higher than average set of RBIs up and down the lineup compared to other teams? Perhaps Im also getting confused when I compare the amount of 100 RBI guys in the NL vs. those in the AL.

Batting Avg: .000

Nomar Garciaparra's batting average in games in which he did not record a hit.

46
Nomar was not only tied for the league lead in that stat, but also tied the all-time major league record

Random ex-Dodger stat--Jeff Weaver's OPS allowed to batters hitting in the seventh spot: 1.009

I don't have a stat to go with it, but my big question is whether Ethier started his sophomore slump early, or if the charmed part of his career has just ended.

For you nostalgia fans, CityBeat has another one of those "Death of the Dodgers" articles that were so popular during the Fox regime, after the team went to the playoffs two out of three years, tied for the division lead, and just started bringing up its young talent. Tough town.

45 Yeah. Martin had 65 RBI batting mostly 8th. And Furcal had 63 mostly at lead-off. And Saenz had 48! for 179 ABs.

49 - The timing of that article, to say the least, is strange.

"I could be accused, I suppose, of arriving late to the wake." Uh, yeah.

Andrew, is that 48 RBI/179 AB the reason Saenz is so high in your Linear Weights?

Thanks for continuing to do that, by the way, I always enjoy that stuff.

And 45, 50 see http://tinyurl.com/shnaz

Since we are on the eve of another Fall Classic, I will go back in time for my favorite Dodger stats: Sandy Koufax' World Series numbers--- 57 innings, 61 strikeouts and a 0.95 ERA.

Stan from Tacoma

1-6 in the postseason this decade.

ehhhhhhhhh

52 Then you'll enjoy what I'm about to throw up there in 10 minutes.

RBI's aren't a factor in linear weights, it's more the one home run every 16 at bats.

55 Cool. Thanks!

Well, I'm off to the Alabama vs UT game. My son's first football game. Starting him off right. I'm excited about it, but I'm fairly certain I won't be able to read DT for the next 3 days. I'm not sure I can go that long. :-)

My random stat is .432/.423/.429/.440/.425

(Jackie Robinson's OBPs from 1949-53)

And Loney's slugging percentage is a bit of a tease, because the triples are flukey. Unless you expect him to hit 30 over a full season.

Not Dodger stats, but season stats for a power-hitting 3B who may be available to the Dodgers--and others--next year: .311 BA, 32 HR, 77 RBIs, 84 runs, FWIW.

http://tinyurl.com/y5rqt8

Stats from Japan and all that, I know. But then Saito seemed to do pretty well so far, and his stats in Japan weren't so great.

Since I seem to be dealing with Japanese news, Terry Collins on his new team: (Norihiro Nokamura's on it, apparently).....

http://tinyurl.com/y9zb7z

Excerpt: "I didn't come this far to lose," said Collins. "I didn't leave what I consider the best organization in Major League Baseball to lose. I came here to win."

My random stat is

.200/.297/.255

Julio Lugo's batting line from the 3 hole.

2006 attendance at 3.8 million, increasing for the sixth consecutive year. McCourt has plowed some of the revenue gain into the ballpark and payroll. Hope the payroll increase continues... to synergize with the youth movement.

Just because this one is fun, I want to do another.

Wilson Betemit

19.3 AB/HR as a Dodger

Home: .329/.393/.553
Away: .173/.239/.347

Left-handed pitchers Betemit hit home runs off of:

Odalis Perez, Scott Schoenweis, Billy Wagner
(one of these names is not like the others)

Do the stats have to be from this season? Here's a random stat call-out from 1988:

Mickey Hatcher struck out only 7 times in 191 at bats in 1988.

There. That was random.

57 - If you turn those triples into doubles, he loses five total bases and .049 off his 2006 slugging percentage (down to .510).

58 - You missed the most surprising quote from a DePo managerial favorite.

"We will run the bases better," Collins said. "I believe in being aggressive.

"We will put pressure on the opponent to catch the ball and make the throws. If we don't have the speed to steal bases, that doesn't mean we can't be aggressive."

Mickey Hatcher struck out only 7 times in 191 at bats in 1988

But he had a lot of other kinds of outs (OBP=.322). Not sure what his Productive Out percentage was...

60 3.8 million? That comes out to 46,900 per game, which is an average of 83% of capacity every game! I'm impressed.

65
It is well-known that the reported attendance figures refer to the number of tickets sold, not the number of people who actually attend the games. What is not so well-known (by me, at least) is (1) whether teams keep track of the number of people who actually attend games, and if so, (2) whether fans can access that information.

Any ideas...?

57 Eric, if you're still around, not long ago you said you couldn't put Koufax on your all-time team.

You said that was partly because of the brevity of his peak and because his numbers were achieved in the pitching equivalent (at the time) of Coors Field at its hitter-friendly peak.

Not necessarily looking to argue, but could you clarify a couple things?

The brevity bit I can understand. Not agree with, but understand. Has any pitcher in the modern era put up better numbers over 5 or 6 seasons than Koufax at the end? Still, granted, he didn't have but a few peak years after figuring out his control issues.

As far as the ballpark, weren't about half the games he pitched away? Were his numbers in away starts much different from those at home? Doesn't the 0.95 postseason ERA say a lot, especially considering hitters he pitched against?

Seems like another argument I've seen is that he didn't dominate his era quite like some all-timers, tho I don't know which stat is used for that argument...relative ERA over league average or something. (I'm not nearly as up on stat stuff as several commenters here.) Is this accurate? What is that stat? Do you factor it in when you say he doesn't quite make your team?

Also, seems like I once saw totals among Koufax's 40 shutouts broken down by number of one-hitters, two-hitters, etc. IIRC, the breakdown was just ridiculous. (Actually, this is as much a question of what this breakdown was and where it might be found as it is a point for his inclusion on an all-time team.)

Quirky stat: I didn't realize Koufax had 9 career saves until just now.

The Dodgers were by far the worst team in the NL in terms of hitting against what are defined as finesse pitchers.

In 28 games against these type of pitchers, the Dodgers scored 20 runs and had this line of .218/.262/.323 as compared to 145 games (not sure how it could add up more than 162 but these are ESPN.com stats so go figure) against power pitchers where they hit .273/.341/.423

Power and finesse pitchers are defined as such before the season begins based on the past five years' performance. If the pitcher's (BB+SO)/IP is less than 0.93, he is classified as "finesse." If greater than 1.13, he is classified as "power." All others are neutral.

61
That is some home/away split. Betemit must really love the DS batting eye.

This is a great thread with 46 being my favorite.

66 While I am sure the individual teams keep track, since they changed how they measure attendance in the NL, it would be pretty hard to find that number. And to be fair, as far as I know the AL has always used tickets sold since teams started putting out these numbers.

To compare to other sports, the Bulls were "sold out" for years after Jordan left but it is pretty doubtful that the arena was completely filled up.

67
I'm not Eric but I'm fairly certain that Pedro had a higher peak over a 5 year period mainly cause he did it in an offensive era but if I had to pick a RHP and LHP to pitch in the World Series it would be Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax unless Koufax was facing the 66 Orioles:)
He may not make my all time LHP rotation but he would make my one game in a lifetime rotation.
Course having Babe Ruth pitching and batting 4th may not be such a bad option either:)

Does anyone know the Dodgers record against pitchers making their first big league start over, say, the past three years? I don't know if it is my imagination or if they really have been befuddled in such situations.

71 Pedro was a lot more dominant at his peak relative to the league, but Koufax was throwing 80-100 more innings a year, so I can see a case for either one. I happen to fall on the Pedro side.

Kofax can pitch on my team any time. As HBO said in one of those baseball specials, in the Decade of the Pitcher, Koufax was the pitcher of the decade.

63 Maybe Depo didn't know his #1 managerial candidate as well as he thought.

If Collins had been named manager and if Depo were still around, there probably would have been some interesting discussions between them.

71 Ruth held the consectutive scoreless IP streak in the World Series for over 30 years until Ford broke it and he hit 15 HRs in the World Series, only Mickey Mantle's 18 HRs have topped him since Ruth retired.

Andy Pettitte--214.1 ip 238 h 70 bb 178 k 14 w 13 l 4.20 era

Greg Maddux--210 ip 219 h 37 bb 117 k
15 w 14 l 4.20 era

Mark Hendrickson--164.2 ip 173 h 62 bb 99 k
6 w 15 l 4.21 era

71, 73
VORP says vote for Pedro...

Koufax top four VORP years
99.5, 87.7, 87.6, 69.5

Pedro top four VORP years
116.7, 102.3, 87.6, 80.5

data courtesy of Baseball Prospectus

vote for Pedro

Delino for Pedro

71 I don't recall who, but earlier this year there was a story in which a long-time baseball writer said that if he had to pick a pitcher for a game where his life depended on the outcome, he'd take Koufax.

And if he had to pick one where the pitcher's life depended on the outcome, he'd take Gibson :)

Eric Gagne, 2006:

0.50 WHIP
.250 opponent's OPS

Record w/ Danys Baez: 48-55
Record w/o Danys Baez: 40-19

Game chat thread is open above, but feel free to continue contributing to this thread if you like.

Repko: 15 walks, 130 AB's. He'll never put up a walk rate like that again.

Kuo: 11.7 K/9 in the month of September, positively Koufaxian, or should I say, Kuofaxian?

76
Yeah I know, most baseball people have no clue how solid a pitcher Ruth was given his age.

I only caught Gibson near the end of his great career but the scariest pitcher I ever saw in person was JR Richard. Just a shame what happened to him physically.

I have seen Pedro for his entire career and Sandy for the entire time he was dominant in his career. No question in my mind that at his peak Sandy was better. On two days rest, Sandy pitched complete games to win the pennant in 65, to win the World Series in 65, and again to win the pennant in 66. I was fortunate to be in the stands for the pennant clincher in 66. There is no other pitcher I have seen in my lifetime who could have done that. He did not pitch against patsy lineups in those games either: Henry Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Olivo and Dick Allen are among the finest hitters I have ever seen and Sandy had to get all of them out in those games. I like Pedro as a pitcher, but he does not compare to Koufax.

Stan from Tacoma

82-

Ouch....