Brooklyn Dodgers
Let me ask you this, my friends. What's more exciting than seeing lots and lots of runs scored? I mean other than watching your team win. Let's pretend you just didn't say that. It kind of ruins my point. Nobody, and I mean nobody in the entire history of major league baseball was better at getting the other guy to score runs than the Brooklyn Dodgers last year. They gave up a glorious 1,083 runs and a strong October just kept them from a team ERA of 6.00. The old senior circuit records? 982 runs by the 1927 Giants and a 5.39 ERA by the 1930 Cardinals. Truly an historical year. The hitting was mediocre but young but the boys who take their hacks on a regular basis helped things out in their own way, making it so that the already beleaguered pitching staff had to have their opponents hit a ball right at a Dodger in order to create an out.
Surprisingly, though, these Dodgers didn't finish dead last. You can thank that young hitting for that. They floundered out of the gate but were actually not doing too bad as of late spring/early summer - as late as the 19th of June, this team was 25-32 - before the bottom completely dropped out on them. The good news is that this was a young struggling team, as opposed to an old struggling team like the Braves. Also, one can't imagine the pitching will be this bad two years in a row...
Code:
Record overall 60-94, .390 PCT 7th, 50.0 GB
Home 28-49, .364 PCT
Road 32-45, .416 PCT
X-inning games 8-5, .615 PCT
One-run games 15-16, .484 PCT
Versus LHP 12-21, .364 PCT
Versus RHP 48-73, .397 PCT
April 1-7, .125 PCT
May 14-14, .500 PCT
June 10-16, .385 PCT
July 7-23, .233 PCT
August 10-16, .385 PCT
September 10-15, .400 PCT
October 8-3, .727 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .283 - 6th in NL
On-Base Percentage .341 - 5th in NL
Slugging Percentage .418 - 6th in NL
On-Base + Slugging .759 - 5th in NL
Runs Scored 794 - 6th in NL
Hits 1578 - 6th in NL
Extra-Base Hits 474 - 4th in NL
Home Runs 102 - 4th in NL
Bases-On-Balls 489 - 4th in NL
Strikeouts 509 - 8th in NL
Stolen Bases 65 - 2nd in NL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 5.96 - 8th in NL
Starters' ERA 6.01 - 8th in NL
Bullpen ERA 5.73 - 8th in NL
Runs allowed 1083 - 8th in NL
Hits allowed 1871 - 8th in NL
Opponents AVG .323 - 8th in NL
BABIP .333 - 8th in NL
Home Runs allowed 135 - 7th in NL
Bases-On-Balls 566 - tied for 7th in NL
Strikeouts 440 - 4th in NL
Pitching
There are certain things you have to do to give up almost 1100 runs in a season. It's not enough just to have a lot of bad starters and relief pitchers. No, you have to do things like give a man (Herbert Barber) average more than an earned run per IP over the course of almost 50 major league innings. You have to give 170 innings to a man (Bert Dawkins) whose opponents' batting stats would have won that player the MVP (241 hits, 43 doubles, 11 triples, 17 homeruns, 125 RBI, a .345 batting average and .511 slugging percentage). The only half-decent performance the Dodgers got from anybody was Cristobal Rodriguez, who was the player side of what the Dodgers got back in the Eeyore Meyers deal (in truth, that move was to cut payroll). Rodriguez wasn't very good either but at least a lot of his badness can be blamed on the defense. And he did manage to hit double-digits in wins, which is more than can be said about any member of the Boston Braves.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Cristóbal Rodríguez 27 11 13 0.458 30 29 0 224 300 125 21 62 100 5.02 30.6
Bert Dawkins 29 7 16 0.304 24 24 0 171.1 248 118 17 63 62 6.20 3.9
Tom Koehler 26 8 8 0.500 29 24 0 160.1 211 98 21 50 43 5.50 14.4
Justin Manson 24 7 10 0.412 36 21 1 152.1 218 94 14 60 53 5.55 12.8
Joe DeBerry 33 3 12 0.200 17 17 0 107 142 74 7 61 21 6.22 0.5
Alarico Hein 39 8 4 0.667 50 0 8 87.2 113 53 11 34 20 5.44 8.3
Terry Cole 28 4 4 0.500 16 10 0 81.1 117 66 9 38 17 7.30 -7.0
Damon Boulanger 22 3 3 0.500 25 3 2 67.1 96 47 3 22 23 6.28 0.9
Craig Mahone 41 2 3 0.400 20 6 0 59.2 97 48 4 36 7 7.24 -4.7
Bob Meyers 26 3 4 0.429 7 7 0 57.1 55 19 3 11 34 2.98 16.3
Ánibal Olivarez 23 1 5 0.167 31 0 2 52.1 62 37 11 31 24 6.36 0.3
Herbert Barber 20 1 5 0.167 16 6 0 46.2 65 47 6 40 12 9.06 -13.1
Alvin Caviness 21 0 2 0.000 11 3 0 30.1 46 31 2 27 4 9.20 -8.3
Martin Sheets 36 1 2 0.333 17 0 8 25.1 26 10 1 10 14 3.55 6.2
Matt Corwin 33 1 1 0.500 7 2 0 19.2 17 9 1 10 1 4.12 4.3
Marty Mant 33 0 2 0.000 8 2 0 18.1 39 20 1 8 4 9.82 -6.4
David Días 34 0 0 0.000 7 0 0 7.2 19 10 3 3 1 11.74 -4.0
Rusty McEachern 24 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.0
Team Totals 28.8 60 94 0.390 352 154 21 1368.2 1871 906 135 566 440 5.96 55.1
Catcher/First Base
The first half of the season belonged to Tom Hardy and the second to Rusty McEachern. The straight batting lines make McEachern look like the clear favorite in 1933 but don't be fooled: Hardy is the much better defensive catcher. The Dodgers tried to get McEachern's bat in the lineup by playing him a bit at 1st base down the stretch but truth be told that's a position they are pretty loaded at already.
Steve Skeen has had a long and successful career, and while he won't make it into the Hall of Fame he is a man who has hit everywhere he's gone. We don't see him returning to the Bums but stranger things have happened. Ron Mullaney is a career pinch-hitter who was pressed into a little more playing time than he's used to. He wasn't bad, we guess. That being said, Allen Vice has got a, well, vice-grip on this position assuming he comes back fully from a torn tricep injury. The Dodgers tried him in left field last year with particularly disastrous results.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C Tom Hardy 24 89 87 307 34 86 9 0 9 44 0 0 28 28 0.280 0.341 0.397 0.739 -0.5
C Rusty McEachern 24 86 69 257 43 77 9 3 9 47 0 0 33 31 0.300 0.386 0.463 0.849 12.7
C Ronnie Sather 27 8 2 12 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -3.6
1B *Steve Skeen 38 80 72 293 49 83 13 6 11 52 6 4 45 29 0.283 0.378 0.481 0.859 4.1
1B Ron Mullaney 31 77 40 202 33 59 15 2 5 33 0 1 15 16 0.292 0.341 0.460 0.801 -2.6
Infield
The Dodgers kept looking for better production and, let's be honest, fielding from second base but time and again Duane Ferrari proved to be the best man for the job. Or at least the least bad man. Best man has a better ring to it. Ferrari only played half the games at second as well as another 49 at third but that's still enough to call him the starter. Nobody, old or young, did a really credible job at the position, at least until Vincente Nunez got 45 September and October at-bats following a very good first professional season in the minors.
Jay Calvin is the Dodgers' all-time leader in batting average and was just 39 hits away from leading them in that mark as well when he was shipped off. The rationale at the time was that at the ripe old age of 30 he was starting to lose his touch at the plate. That turned out to be completely false but the team did at least get younger with Adam Kirkham. Kirkham doesn't figure to ever be anything near as good as Calvin was but... when we think of something positive to say about the situation we promise we will say it.
Bill Sorensen did well enough at shortstop and he's not old enough for the team to want to get rid of just yet. Younger players are better at between-innings gymnastics, and fans have responded well to that. That is why the Dodgers try to dump guys after they turn 30.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B Duane Ferrari 28 133 127 578 84 171 42 9 1 59 3 2 23 53 0.296 0.321 0.405 0.726 13.2
2B *Scot Jones 34 57 45 199 20 51 8 4 0 24 2 4 9 12 0.256 0.286 0.337 0.622 -4.8
2B #Roldão Fies 22 32 11 62 6 13 5 0 0 4 3 1 2 2 0.210 0.242 0.290 0.533 -5.5
2B *Vincente Núñez 23 10 10 45 7 18 7 0 0 14 1 0 0 4 0.400 0.413 0.556 0.969 6.2
3B *Adam Kirkham 23 72 68 280 31 74 16 6 1 21 1 3 7 31 0.264 0.281 0.375 0.656 -3.0
3B *Jay Calvin 30 45 45 194 29 57 8 2 3 16 8 7 21 12 0.294 0.363 0.402 0.765 2.3
3B Reed Leasure 28 45 43 172 22 53 10 2 6 36 0 0 15 15 0.308 0.362 0.494 0.856 8.0
3B Don Holmes 24 7 7 33 2 9 0 2 0 8 0 1 2 3 0.273 0.314 0.394 0.708 -0.8
SS Bill Sorensen 26 115 115 434 55 122 33 8 3 61 2 3 36 50 0.281 0.342 0.415 0.757 0.4
SS Paul McVey 31 11 3 19 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.105 0.105 0.105 0.211 -3.1
Outfield
As much as Allen Vice gave to the team at the plate, he took away in the field. We won't publish his fielding numbers because they are liable to make us cry. Suffice it to say that he was a huge reason why the pitching staff looked so bad last year. First base seems like a better place for him. The rest of the outfield wasn't so bad and even provided some sock of their own. Tod Johnson won't be winning a Gold Glove in center field any time soon but as long as the Dodgers keep him on one of the corners he'll be part of what could be a very potent offensive attack in 1933. Ken Lefebvre was just plain explosive in half a season of play. Can anyone imagine what he'll do in a full year?
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF #Allen Vice 25 97 97 384 67 130 31 3 16 71 0 0 42 32 0.339 0.402 0.560 0.962 32.1
LF Bret McGriff 23 74 67 288 41 84 13 5 3 25 14 7 25 20 0.292 0.344 0.403 0.747 -0.4
LF *King Reid 25 17 3 28 6 6 1 0 3 6 0 1 4 4 0.214 0.303 0.571 0.874 0.3
CF Tod Johnson 25 123 121 485 89 157 25 10 15 67 9 2 71 49 0.324 0.409 0.509 0.918 37.3
CF *Dave Macy 28 92 71 308 46 92 12 2 0 35 6 2 30 18 0.299 0.357 0.351 0.707 -3.3
RF *Ken Lefebvre 24 60 59 228 56 78 19 2 10 44 5 2 43 11 0.342 0.446 0.575 1.021 30.2
RF Barry Davis 24 47 44 170 18 42 10 1 2 18 0 0 16 23 0.247 0.310 0.353 0.663 -4.5
RF Gayle Hallett 34 57 24 119 19 33 2 1 4 16 2 2 17 5 0.277 0.372 0.412 0.784 -1.0
RF #Jim Griner 33 12 2 20 0 2 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 3 0.100 0.100 0.150 0.250 -3.5
Code:
- Eric Cole 23 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -0.3
- Jim Rand 33 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 -0.3
Team Totals 28 1798 1386 5571 794 1578 302 70 102 746 65 43 489 509 0.283 0.341 0.418 0.759 115.1