The Los Angeles Dodgers have not started their 2022 campaign in any way that they had wanted. After winning on Opening Day, they dropped their next two game to the Colorado Rockies. Both the pitching and offense left much to be desired.

Both Walker Buehler and Tony Gonsolin had innings where things started to fall apart, but got through them without a huge amount of damage, at least for Coors Field standards. But Julio Urias did not look good at all, only going 2.0 innings and allowing six runs, three unearned.

Most concerning was that Urías’s fastball velocity was down. Whereas in the past he had been averaging about 94MPH with it, on Sunday he was closer to 91-92, with it going as low was 89MPH.

After the game, Manger Dave Roberts told reporters, “He just didn’t seem in sync…we expected him to give us more length”. For his part, Julio told reporters, “it’s about executing pitches. I don’t feel like I executed enough”. Urías did say however that he felt healthy, and should be fine in his next start.

Coors Field is always a funny place to play, and the wind was playing tricks on the ball. Still, the offense looked impatient, with many batters swinging at the first pitch. There were quite a few hard liners and groundouts, and only one home run, off the bat of Austin Barnes.

One bright spot was the relief appearance by Tyler Anderson. Piggy backing off of Tony Gonsolin’s start on Saturday, Anderson went 4.0 innings of relief allowing one run on two hits, with four strikeouts. Depending on how Andrew Heaney performs in his outing(s) and if Gonsolin also continues to not be able to go deep into games, Anderson may join starting rotation sooner than later.

But as stated, Coors does funny things to pitches and batters alike, and one cannot really judge fully from one outing in the Mile High city.

So the Dodgers will now turn their sights to a quick two game series in Minnesota before heading home for their home opener. Heaney and Clayton Kershaw will be the starters for the Dodgers, while Chris Archer and Chris Paddock will be pitching for the Twins. The Twins are currently also 1-2 after facing the Seattle Mariners.

Weather may become a factor in Minneapolis as Tuesday is showing a 91% chance of rain with a high of 52°, and Wednesday being 54° with a chance of thunderstorms.

If the Dodgers return home without having any major injuries through the weather and a few wins, it could be considered a success. Hopefully being at home will get this vaunted offense back on track to show what it was complied to actually do.