Six weeks ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers had the most wins in the major leagues and looked like the team to beat in the National League. They were 25 games over .500 on the final day of July, after Jason Schmidt and three relievers had blanked the Atlanta Braves on three hits.

After defeating the Padres on Saturday, the Dodgers managed to pull back to 25 games over .500. That’s right. They have played .500 baseball since the start of August, going 17-17 despite playing just 12 games against teams that were more than two games over .500 at the time. The Dodgers are 7-5 in those games, and 10-12 in the rest of them.

Manny Ramirez may have returned from his drug suspension at the start of July, but the Dodgers are averaging a half-run less per game since Aug. 1 than they did over the first four months of the season.

It was suggested in this space a while back that Matt Kemp should be the Dodgers’ leadoff man, based on his success leading off an inning. That’s as true as ever. Among the team’s regulars, Rafael Furcal, who has been the No. 1 hitter most of the season and nearly all of the second half, has the team’s lowest batting average (.221) and OBP (.276) since the start of August.

Russell Martin is hitting .233/.295/.311, and James Loney's numbers are .241/.339/.333. Casey Blake has been only marginally better, with a few more extra-base hits and RBIs. Still, he has only 12 RBIs in this 29-game stretch.

Ramirez has been productive, though he hasn’t put up the numbers he did a year ago after joining the team in a trade-deadline deal. Most of the power has come from Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, who have combined for 53 of the club’s 140 RBIs since Aug. 1.

How damaging have the Dodgers’ offensive struggles been? Even with Hiroki Kuroda, Jason Schmidt and Guillermo Mota going on the disabled list last month, both the rotation and bullpen have been better since the start of August.

Dodgers ERA, Before & After August 1

. . . . . . . . . . Thru 7/31. . . . .Since 8/1
Rotation. . . . . .3.77. . . . . . . . 3.21
Bullpen. . . . . . 3.30. . . . . . . . 2.80

With a 3.18 ERA in 2009, the Los Angeles bullpen has the lowest ERA among all big league pens, and by a large margin. That bodes well for the late innings of postseason games, when teams can’t afford to throw away wins.

The Dodgers, though, will have to rekindle their ability to score runs as they did earlier in the season. Otherwise, they will struggle to remain competitive into the late innings in October against the game's best teams.