The most disappointing Dodgers season

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It gets my vote. Not as the worst season, just the most disappointing.

This is based upon expectations versus actual results. Based upon the unpleasant swill that circled the club all season. On where the Dodgers were when they ended their 2009 season versus this year.

There certainly have been plenty of seasons were the Dodgers finished worse than 80-82.

The 1992 Dodgers were 63-99 and finished 35 games back. They had one player who hit more than six home runs (Eric Karros had 20 in his rookie-of-the-year season).

The 2005 Dodgers, the last previous team to finish with a losing record (71-91), had a rotation that included D.J. Houlton, Odalis Perez, and frequently, Elmer Dessens and Scott Erickson.

Those were just bad, injury-riddled teams.

But the 2010 Dodgers were coming off consecutive trips to the National League Championship Series. They were returning a young core that was presumably still reaching its peak. They were going to build off the last two years.

Instead, they regressed. Stumbled and couldn’t find their footing. Too often looked like a team waiting for something to happen.

‘We lost our way,’ now ex-manager Joe Torre said.

‘Maybe the success seemed easy when they were doing it, but to replicate it when it stopped is a little different animal.’

And then there was the never-ending stream of jaw-dropping news that continually emerged from the McCourts’ divorce proceedings. The restricted payroll. The manager on the way out. The overall uncertainty that has gripped the franchise.

The Dodgers not only finished 12 games out, they lost to the San Francisco Giants. Salt on the wound.

The Dodgers won 95 games in 2009. Despite an unspectacular off-season, they had every right to believe they would contend again. Now they have every right to feel extremely disappointed.

-- Steve Dilbeck