2012 Los Angeles Dodgers season

[10] The Dodgers got their offseason moves under way on October 4, 2011, when they declined the 2012 options on third baseman Casey Blake and pitcher Jon Garland and outrighted utility player Eugenio Vélez to the minor leagues.

[11] The Dodgers other free agents at the end of the 2011 season were pitchers Jonathan Broxton, Hiroki Kuroda, Mike MacDougal and Vicente Padilla, catcher Rod Barajas, infielders Jamey Carroll and Aaron Miles and outfielder Juan Rivera.

[35] The Dodgers suffered their second straight defeat in walk-off fashion the next night when Nyjer Morgan scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Braun in the bottom of the 10th inning.

[41] They picked up their first home loss of the season the next night, as Martín Prado hit a tie breaking RBI triple off of Javy Guerra in the ninth to set up the Braves 4–3 win.

[45] The Dodgers completed the sweep of the Nationals when James Loney's two RBI single backed Chris Capuano's 62⁄3 shutout innings in a 2–0 victory in the finale of the homestand.

Ted Lilly worked six strong innings and the Dodgers built a 7–0 lead thanks to homers by Dee Gordon (the first of his career) and Andre Ethier and then held on to win 7–6 after the bullpen allowed the Rockies to catch up.

[61] With their lineup beset by injuries to key players, the Dodgers started a quick two game road trip to San Diego with a 4–2 loss to the Padres.

[63] Back home for a weekend matchup with the NL Central leading St. Louis Cardinals, the Dodgers managed to survive a blown save by closer Kenley Jansen and won in the bottom of the ninth when Fernando Salas walked A.J.

[65] Scott Van Slyke hit his first career home run on May 20, a three-run shot in the bottom of the seventh to lead the Dodgers to a 6–5 victory and a sweep of the Cardinals.

Matt Treanor, James Loney and Ethier all homered in the win as Chris Capuano picked up his team leading sixth victory.

[78] The losing streak came to an end the next day, when they got a strong pitching performance from Aaron Harang and some timely hitting, including Bobby Abreu's first homer as a Dodger, in a 6–2 win.

Dee Gordon hit a triple to lead off the ninth against Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon and then scored on a single by Elián Herrera to give the Dodgers the winning margin in the 4–3 victory.

[81] Herrera came through the next night as well, hitting a two-RBI double off Cliff Lee in the top of the eighth to give the Dodgers the go-ahead run in a 2–1 victory over the Phillies.

[86] Andre Ethier hit his fourth career grand slam to back Chad Billingsley's strong effort as the Dodgers closed out the lengthy road trip with an 8–2 victory over the Mariners.

However they battled back as Ethier hit a game-tying single and then Juan Rivera put the Dodgers ahead to stay with a three-run home run.

[89] The Angels took the final game of the series as Erick Aybar hit a tie-breaking home run off Jansen in the top of the ninth to give them the 2–1 win over the Dodgers.

The Dodgers, who were shut out in 3 straight games in the series and fell into a tie with the Giants for first place in the division, extended their scoreless streak to 30 innings.

[115] A season high five errors, include two in the decisive seventh inning by Jerry Hairston Jr. led to six unearned runs in the Padres 7–2 victory over the Dodgers on July 15.

[118] The team picked up a win in the series finale the next day as Matt Kemp hit his first home run since April 30, a two-run walk-off blast in the bottom of the 12th to give the Dodgers a 5–3 victory.

[127] The Dodgers picked up another win against their rivals the next day as Chad Billingsley pitched 71⁄3 scoreless innings while allowing only 4 hits and Matt Kemp went 4 for 5 with two doubles and a home run in the 10–0 rout.

[130] Home runs also caused a problem for Chris Capuano, including a two-run homer by Goldschmidt and a three-run blast by Miguel Montero as the Dodgers closed out July with an 8–2 loss.

[131] The Dodgers acquired Shane Victorino from the Philadelphia Phillies at the trade deadline[132] but it wasn't enough as they were held to 2 hits and 0 runs by Patrick Corbin and the Diamondbacks in a 4–0 defeat to start August.

In his first game back since his trade to the Dodgers, Hanley Ramírez was 3 for 5 with 2 RBI and Juan Rivera homered as Kershaw picked up his 10th win of the season in the 5–2 victory.

[145] The Dodgers moved back into sole possession of first place for the first time since July 13, when Kershaw pitched 8 solid innings (3 runs, 8 strikeouts, no walks) and the team racked up a season-high 15 hits in a 9–3 win.

[158] Kemp injured himself by crashing into the center field wall in the 1st inning and had to leave the game, Capuano allowed 4 runs in the first and the Dodgers new look offense continued to struggle as they lost 8–4 on August 28.

[159] The Dodgers offense finally came alive the next day, jumping to a 10–1 lead thanks to a 2-run homer by Hanley Ramírez, a grand slam by A. J. Ellis and 71⁄3 solid innings from Joe Blanton.

[162] The Dodgers finally beat the Diamondbacks on September 1 as Josh Beckett only allowed one run in 62⁄3 innings, while striking out 9, tying his season high.

Kerhsaw became just the fifth Dodgers pitcher to post three straight 200 strikeout seasons (Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Fernando Valenzuela and Hideo Nomo).

[168] They evened the series the next day as Adrián González tripled in the eighth inning and scored on a double by Hanley Ramírez for the key run in a 3–2 victory.

[173] The Dodgers dropped behind 4–1 in the next game, but fought back to win 8–5 thanks to home runs by Ethier and Luis Cruz, ending their four-game losing streak.