Heading into the beginning of the current road trip in Cincinnati, most fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers would have never presumed there was even a slight chance of being swept by the Reds. After all, Cincinnati was 18-30 at the beginning of the series, well-cemented in the bottom of the National League Central.
The problem for the Dodgers was that hardly anything clicked against the Reds. Although there seemed to be enough offense in Friday’s opener, a normally reliable James Paxton gave up five earned runs over 4-2/3 innings and Yohan Ramirez followed by surrendering three earned runs without recording an out.
In contrast, the pitching was half decent on Saturday and Sunday, but the Dodgers scored just two runs over those final two games with the offense being almost non-existent.
Still, there were several big hits for the Dodgers over those final two games. Teoscar Hernandez slugged a pair of doubles in Sunday’s contest, and Freddie Freeman recorded a double in each game. Freeman’s double on Sunday was responsible for the only run in the finale, plating Shohei Ohtani after a one-out single in the ninth inning.
The most startling statistic in the final two games was that the team was a combined 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position. What stood out even more was that the six through nine-hole hitters went 0-for-22 in both of those games.
After the dust settled on Sunday’s 4-1 loss, the Dodgers find themselves amid a frustrating five-game losing streak.
We’ve been talking all year long about how the bottom third of the order could conceivably be one of the worst in baseball as far as offense goes. The team has no kind of consistent offensive threat after the first five hitters in the lineup.
Of course, Max Muncy is on the injured list with an oblique strain, but we’ve seen the team struggle when he’s in the lineup. While Freeman, Ohtani and Mookie Betts are synonymous with the word consistency, it seems like the club has zero chance of winning if the trio collectively has a day off.
Los Angeles was hoping for a spark with the return of Jason Heyward, but the veteran is hitting just .177 (3-for-17) since his return on May 17. More significantly, nobody past the five hole in Sunday’s lineup had an average over .206.
As far as records go, the New York Mets are nearly identical to the Reds. As the Dodgers arrive in New York ahead of Monday’s opener, the Mets are 22-30, a whopping 15 games behind division leader Philadelphia.
The Mets are 10th in the NL in team ERA, which might open a door for the Dodgers if a handful of players can step up their games on offense.
Lining up to start for the Dodgers in New York’s three-game set are Gavin Stone, Tyler Glasnow and Paxton, respectively.
Monday’s first pitch is slated for 1:10 p.m. Los Angeles time.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Yes the team doesn’t have players that make contact bottom of the line up. However the culture of this Dodger Dodger team is a group of elite guys and the rabble. Several times in this. Losing streak the Dodgers had RISP and failed by strike out or pop up to move the runner. That is unacceptable. SACRAFICE! GO WITH THE PITCH! Everyone. Is trying to be a Hero! Stop trying to win the game with one swing play as a team. And Yes that is Roberts fault. Despite all of you that support Roberts. It’s the reason they continually do not win in the playoffs.! You can deny it all you want but look at their playoff record with amazingly talented teams! This team despite Roberts and the poor baseball fundamentals will win 90-110 games with our talent and lose again in the playoffs if. They do not change their culture/mindset. For me it’s not. About the losses as losing streaks are inevitable. It’s about how they do not play team ball. By the way they brought up Vargas why doesn’t he get a chance to play? I would have fired Roberts 3 years ago Oh well…
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Roberts was always a small-ball guy as a player. Maybe the in-game strategies come from the top. A lot of today’s offensive strategies are based on high OPS producing more runs than sacrifices. The problem is those theories don’t take into account the strekiness of the team’s poor players and how they can be constant rally killers. Guys like Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor often go weeks without getting a hit. They’ve always been like that. Muncy, too.
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Yep bad mix.. Guys that don’t make effective contact and won’t sacrifice. I am frustrated because there isn’t anyone on the roster or in management that was raised in the Dodger way of fundamentals. Lasorda knew as did Scoscia. Depending on a guy to get a home run is not exciting at all. Freeman was going with the pitch but stopped. When Lux was effective two years ago he was emulating Freeman. Now Lux is emulating Muncy aka swing hard in case u hit it.. lol
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Also in the playoffs u r facing great pitching. U must play solid fundamental baseball to generate runs or u will lose. As the Dodgers do. Great pitching defeats good hitting most of the time. The metrics work in the 162 game slog. Not so much in a short series.
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You’re exactly right. That’s where small ball excels — against good pitching. When you play smash mouth baseball for 162 games during the regular season you end up winning by double digits quite often, then end up drying up for four or five games in a row. Especially when the other team outthinks you.
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Dennis, I got the cards yesterday, thanks a lot.
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You’re welcome!
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Which is why they lose in the playoffs to teams with less overall talent. They haven’t been able to switch their approach. U have to play that way all the time. Remember how Gibson challenged the team back in the day? Play hard fight each pitch! Even Freeman has caught the disease. Play Vargas see if he is hungry no one else is
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couple of things we never notice. 1. Don’t think have played a 500 team this year. 2. Has anyone noticed how many games we only have 5/6 hits, ( and win a lot of them with key homers) or actually lose. 3. Top 4/5 guys, have their productivity dropping percipitly. 4. In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter how many hits guys at the top of the order get, if the bottom 4 don’t get the occasional hit, or get on base for the top four to move around, results will not be good. That’s where we are now. With nobody capable in the outfield, let’s move mookie back to right field, as Rojas is a much better option ( offensively and defensively) , than the other rejects, Heyward, kiki, Taylor and also Barnes, and whoever is left. If we want players who can hit 190 let’s go 5o the farm and cross our fingers.
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Wrong, Braves were over .500 when they met in early May. During their early meetings with Chicago, the Cubs were over .500 too. You play who you are scheduled to play. Their next 9 games are against teams with losing records, Mets, Rockies, Pirates, before they meet the Yankees. It is way too early to judge Heyward. He has had less than 40 at bats since he came off of the IL, 34.
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Oops. How could I miss Atlanta. Chicago was at 500 when they met. in any event 52 of 55 games against under 500 teams is a pretty coushie schedule. Now they get 9 more? Don’t know how that could happen. At least they kind of took advantage of it. I used to say that playing 50 percent of their games in the west division was like a 10/15 game advantage but now they play less in their division which should result in a poorer record and they won 110 lat year. Go figure.
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When they played the Cubs, the Dodgers were 6-3, the Cubs, 4-2. After the series was over, the Cubs were 6-3 and the Dodgers were 8-4. They get 9 more because those teams are not playing well. No one expected the Mets to be as bad as they have been. The Pirates came out of the gate hot again, but have slowed down some, they are still dangerous, and have played very well against the Dodgers the last few seasons, they have won 8 of the last 13 games against LA. The Rockies are just a bad team. They won 111 in 22. They play 52 games in their own division now. Right now, they have an 11-9 record against the West. They are 4-2 against the AL, 11-4 against the East, and 7-7 against the Central. After the Yanks they meet Texas, 25-29, Kansas City, 34-20. Then they meet the Rockies for four in Denver, the Angels for 2 in LA, then head to Chicago to play the White Sox for 3. So, over the next 9 series, they play two teams above .500.
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Umpire Angel Hernandez is officially retiring from MLB on Tuesday. Long considered one of the worst umps in the league, they just reached an agreement on his retirement package after several weeks of negotiations. He last worked a game on May 9th. Good riddance.
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Baseball is re-writing the record book. Josh Gibson will replace some legends as his career BA, slug and OPS become the best in history. He also will hold the mark for the highest single season BA, slug and OPS. He displaces Cobb, Bonds and Ruth, along with Hornsby for these marks.
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Don’t look now but Rojas is now hitting .286, which is higher by 38 points than everyone’s favorite trade target, Bo Bichette. Roberts switched Rojas and Betts yesterday to give Mookie a mental break, nothing more. I think the Dodgers need another outfielder and a bench piece. A couple of reliable bullpen arms would not hurt either. Hernandez is not cutting it out there. Taylor needs to go. They are getting nothing from him this year. Bottom of the lineup did a great job yesterday.
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I’ve been a MiggyRo fan since he got here. There are indications that he was hurt last year and that affected his offense.
In any case, he’s been a great acquisition by Andrew and he contributes in many ways that don’t even show up in the box score. A real pro.
After he retires, I hope he sticks around and gets added to the coaching staff.
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I could see that. It has been a while since the Dodgers have had a coach that really connected with the Hispanic players on the roster, Manny Mota. He had about as much respect as I have ever seen a coach have.
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Outman seems to have found it again at AAA. He is hitting .335 and hit another homer last night. He could be back sooner than later.
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That’s the difference between a Big League slider and a Triple-A slider. 😉
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