The Dodgers finally caught fire, but it was a little too late to do any damage in the National League playoffs.
They put together a little six-game winning streak in the final week of the season and averaged nearly seven runs a game.
This is the kind of offense Dodgers fans can expect next season. Too bad it didn’t do them any good this season.
Still, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told MLB.com there is no reason
to think his players can produce like this on a regular basis.
“It’s good. It’s kind of fun playing like this,” Mattingly said. “It
makes you think, ‘Why can’t you do this over the course of a season or a
month?’”
Why, indeed.
It would have been nice if the Dodger bats woke up a month ago.
Adrian Gonzalez put together a 13-game hitting streak over the final
two weeks of the season. It was the longest hitting streak for any
Dodger this season. It started on Sept. 19 against the Washington
Nationals. He hit .396 during the streak and the Dodgers were 9-4 over
those 13 games.
Gonzalez had two hits, including his 47th double of the season, a career-high, against the Giants on Monday.
Matt Kemp ended the season on a hot note as well. He hit .458 with four
home runs and nine RBIs in seven games from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1.
Luis Cruz was a tough out during that same time span, hitting .320
with a home run and four RBIs. He hit .313 in September and had the
second-highest batting average on the team for the month.
Little-used Elian Herrera even got into the hitting act with a
game-winning, RBI single against the Giants in a game
the Dodgers needed to win to stay alive in the playoff picture.
