(Mandatory Credit: Cody Roper/Oklahoma City Dodgers)
Despite a recent series struggle against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the Oklahoma City Dodgers have been the gem of the PCL this season as they still control the American Northern division and lead the entire league with a 24-12 record.
It’s almost quite comical, really. The Dodgers are very, very bad. I’m almost convinced that if they tried to be this bad, they couldn’t be. This season has been the complete antithesis of last season. All you can do is laugh, mainly to stop yourself from crying or throwing things or whatever your coping mechanism might be.
After losing to the Reds in the third game of the four-game set, the Dodgers have now dropped six of their last seven games and are in danger of being swept by a club that had the worst record in the bigs not even a week ago.
Several weeks ago, the Dodgers lost two out of three games at home against the cellar-dwellers of the NL East, the Miami Marlins. At that particular point in time, there was still a sense that the club was on an upswing, with many pundits making the claim that “it’s impossible to win every single game, even against the worst clubs in the majors.”
Although starting pitching isn’t the main part of the problem for the 2018 Dodgers, it is one of those areas which could have a significant impact on the success of the club for the remainder of the season. Lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was one of the squad’s strongest starters before his groin problem, is out until at least July. Clayton Kershaw still has no timetable set for a potential return. And when considering the injury history of veteran Rich Hill, many fans have been scanning the box scores of Triple-A Oklahoma City every morning just to see what kind of talent’s available on the farm—just in case.
The Dodgers seemingly did the impossible Wednesday night—defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks. The game saw the return of Yasiel Puig from the disabled list and his impact was immediate. Puig went 3-for-4 and scored twice, although he did have an error on a throw. The game had the outcome Dodger fans wanted, although there is still a lot of work to be done in the offensive department. Leaving eight men on base and only going 2-for-12 with RISP isn’t going to win you many games. Six runs seems good, until you realize it was mostly sacrifice flies and wild pitches getting them across the plate.
(Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea/USA TODAY Sports)
The Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday reinstated outfielder Yasiel Puig from the 10-day disabled list (left hip contusion) and recalled left-handed reliever Scott Alexander and right-handed pitcher Brock Stewart from Triple-A Oklahoma City. To create room on the active roster, the Dodgers placed left-handed reliever Tony Cingrani on the 10-day DL (left shoulder inflammation) and optioned right-hander Yimi García and outfielder Alex Verdugo to OKC.
This year, the Dodgers haven’t looked like themselves. They look lost and out of sync. Using the fact that the season is just beginning is no longer a valid reason for the Dodgers shortcomings, but then again, it may be a little early for them to press the big red button that says PANIC.