Lack of Consistency
What has been the Dodgers main issue over the last several seasons? A lack of consistent offense. Even though they waltzed through the NL last season, there were times when the offense took the day or a couple of days off. When they scored last season, they did it in bunches…
What has been the Dodgers main issue over the last several seasons? A lack of consistent offense. Even though they waltzed through the NL last season, there were times when the offense took the day or a couple of days off. When they scored last season, they did it in bunches. That trend has continued early this year. At 8-9, they are off to their worst start in several years.
They have lost three games by one run and won one game by one run. All of the other losses and wins have been by three runs or more. Some of the players are off to decent starts, and a couple are heating up. Freddie seems to have come out of the funk he was in against the Cubs over the weekend, and Max Muncy is looking more like 2021 than 22.
Outman has played well when he is out there. Vargas has not found his footing yet. Rojas seems to still be struggling with the aftereffects of his hammy problems. He is a guy who usually makes contact, but that has not been the case lately. Mookie has a good game, then seems to take more pitches than he should. Especially those right down Broadway.
Taylor except for a few at bats, has looked downright awful. He has five hits on the season, four of them are homers. Since his three-homer game, Thompson has not shown consistent contact. His average sits at .241. Five players are hitting under the Mendoza line. Peralta, Barnes, Taylor, Rojas and Heyward. They are still to reliant on home runs. Four of their six runs last night came via the long ball. Unlike last years squad, this team seems less likely to come from behind in the late innings.
But they lead the league in 2-out scoring. Now it seems Taylor is having some injury issues again and is a candidate to be on the IL by the weekend. And his replacement will have to come from AAA. Most likely it will be Luke WIlliams, who is playing SS at OKC. My take is that they need a spark from somewhere. And they need to move Freddie into the three hole where he hit most of last season. Move someone into the two hole behind Mookie who has a high OBP. And get Freeman more RBI opportunities.
The offense really misses Smith. Will’s AB’s are solid and he is perhaps their best clutch hitter when he is in the lineup. The sooner he is back, the better off the team will be. The good news is that the Padres have looked terrible. Soto is hitting below .200. But they get Tatis back this week and that can do nothing but lift their expectations and spirits. Make no mistake, this is not last years team. We all know who is gone and what they brought to the table. But this is the hand they have to play with, and until they decide, hopefully sooner than later, that changes are needed, it is all we have.
I think there are a few on the roster who’s positions on the roster are vulnerable. But they will be given a little more time to change the narrative. For fans, they hope that time is exceedingly short. Because to us, it gets late early. We are not a patient bunch. We hate losing, especially to teams we feel they should dominate. After this weekend, they do not see the Cubs again until next year. It would be very nice to win at least three of the four games.
Busch and Williams are tearing it up at OKC. The rest of the team is doing ok, but nothing spectacular. So if they need help, those are the two most likely options. If Taylor goes down, it will most likely be Williams, since he has more MLB experience, and he can play multiple positions, including SS.
Otherwise, we wait for the deadline. And then we have to see who is available and who would make a major impact on the team. I believe the most vulnerable position player is Jason Heyward. But he still has had only 23 at bats. Way too short a sample size to make a real judgement. But unless he really turns it around, Freddie Freeman’s friend or no, he won’t be with LA at the finish.
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Discussion (99)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Martinez in the starting lineup? Very interesting! Didn’t he hit 2 bombs yesterday? Not a doc bash, just interesting, very interesting! At my son’s game. He’s head coach at a division 2 college. Almost as nervous as when he played. Very proud dad, other son does radio in Charlotte. I’m very blessed! Go blue!
Thank you very much Bobby for what you said about me way up at the beginning of the comments. I very much appeciate it. You can’t imagine how much I appeciate your comment after all the punches I’ve taken. You picked me up after I was hit by a car and took me to the hospital.
Thank you.
Note to Betty, I used your meatloaf recipe to cook my first solo dinner.
The Dodgers are fortunate that the Padres are also off to a slow start. Their lineup is almost universally ice cold. They get Tatis Juicer back soon. At least we have a few guys who are hitting the ball. Arizona isn’t for real.
But looking around the league, there are some teams off to really hot and cold starts.
The Braves are for real but they aren’t going to win 120 games, so they will cool down. The Pirates, well… their fans should enjoy the last two weeks because they likely won’t have much to enjoy the rest of the season. The Phillies have been ice cold. Brandon Marsh has been their best player (former Angel) so far. Trea has been Trea. When they get Harper back I expect them to quickly get into .500+ territory.
We are 1 1/2 games up on the Padres. That’s really all that matters. A hot or cold start means very little. The Braves aren’t going to continue to win at the current pace and the Dodgers and Padres aren’t going to continue to lose at the current pace.
If the Dodgers are within 3 games of 1st place in the division by the AS break, that is this “working”. I agree that his is a “transition” year. There is a reason AF hasn’t traded away his minor league assets. He believes they can be productive MLB players and likely several of them will be stars. We just don’t know which ones yet. And you can’t know unless you let them play. And even with the guys that are up now and the ones that are ready in AAA; we have a load more in AA and A ball.
Transitions can be painful. But I have full faith in the process. I also think we have a good shot at winning the division and am certain we will make the playoffs. As Dodger fans we are very spoiled that our “transition” years we are still a very competitive playoff caliber team. For most franchises, transition years usually last for 2-3 consecutive and involve sub .500 records and no playoff appearances. As good as the Braves are, you can’t forget they lost over 90 games each season between 2015 and 2017.
There isn’t another franchise in baseball that can equal what the Dodgers have done for the last decade.
We are often so laser focused on the Dodgers we don’t pay attention to what’s going on across MLB. The only thing that matters is where we are in the division. And we haven’t lost ground to the one team I consider a threat (The Padres).
The Dodgers will figure it out. Moves will be made, as usual, to address issues as they arise. I agree that Vargas needs time to get healthy. I’d like to see Bush get some at bats in his absence. Let’s let the kids figure it out. We have a lot of them who need opportunities. Let’s give them their shot. And I’m sure we will be in a good position come the trade deadline. Where we have even more opportunity to address issues and improve.
We all need some perspective.
Heyward is just a late inning black hole. I’ve seen enough! And maybe Vargas should go back to his spring training hitting strategy!
Thank god we have the Lakers then Kings after this
Well at least our offense and bullpen have finally reached a level of consistency!
Injuries, lack of consistent offense, and meh defense aside, it is this team’s shockingly bad relief pitching that will keep the Dodgers struggling to stay afloat for awhile — and maybe for the rest of the season.
Another game ending on a bad call by the umpire,that didn’t lose this game though
Nothing good to say about the offense or the Bull pen, so I won’t beat the dead horse
All I can say, is extremely frustrating. But hey, at least we don’t have those ugly patches on our uniforms like the Mets do.
I have been wanting a young awesome shortstop and willing to give up a lot for one but what if Williams is that guy? He is not a top 30 prospect. He is already 26. But he had a good year offensively last year and was hitting .375 .455 .696 1.151 at OK.
Could he be a late bloomer like Max Muncy?
Taylor hurt. Rojas hurt. Lux hurt. Williams makes them all Wally Pipps.
With the new playoff format we don’t have to be the best team over 162 games. Is there hope the Dodgers can come in to the playoffs hot on a wildcard and then get lucky ?
Another good effort by a starter wasted by an inconsistent offense and a very shaky bullpen. It is really hard to watch.
Re: Hondo
Wow, I didn’t expect to come back here this evening and not see Hondo answer my simple two requests of him. Especially seeing how passionate he is to tell others, especially Mark, how wrong they are in theirs. I was really looking forward to reading the TRUTH from his keyboard…..but alas, my request was ignored.
The fact that he ignored my request for him to tell us his thoughts, his opinions, and his plan for success tells me all I need to know about him……it is easier to throw rocks at others rather than duck while some are throwing them at you.
Be well, Hondo…
TM
Suddenly the Dodgers are relying on Yonny, Luke Williams and Austin Wynns to get through a game. (Wynns was not on my radar at all when the Dodgers signed him.)
The Dodgers are a game below .500, which strangely seems about right, given the various problems and ups and down with this team. Here’s my take:
–So the most troubling news, to me, is the concern about Smith’s concussion–that he is still several days away from being activated. (Nothing against Austin Wynns, but I’d have rather seen Feduccia get a promotion.)
I certainly approve of the caution. I also wonder if the concussion concerns could hasten Smith’s transition to 3B or another position. Back at catcher, he’s bound to take more foul tips off his mask and helmet. Is this part of the internal discussions? |
–Then there’s the SS situation. Losing Lux sucked, of course. But Miguel Rojas is proving more fragile than expected. And Taylor is hurting too. I was expecting Luke Williams to get called up–but now there’s Yonny too. A few weeks ago I mused that Mookie had become “the emergency SS”–and we might really see him there! Or he’ll come back to play 2B….
–Which isn’t a bad idea, because maybe Vargas needs a little rest and re-set. Alas, Mark’s favorite ROY candidate is back in a slump, hobbling down that runway with a .191 BA. His OBP is still high at .381, but that’s the result of his freakish walk numbers early in the season. The bat is cold, so maybe it’s Mookie time….
–Hey, can Mookie pitch? The bullpen, which many of us thought would be a strength, was been weakness. Vesia and Almonte have really struggled. Phillips is now hittable. Miller looked great until today. Syndergaard took the loss today but pitched pretty well.
Now for some good of that glass-half-full news….
JDM and Max have stepped up in the middle of the lineup. JDM picked a good day to come to life, helping Kersh to his 200th win. Max is doing what Max does: hitting bombs and getting walks. His BA may be .237, but three walks today lifted his OBP to .400, topping Outman, Freddie and Mookie. His OPS is up to .993, trailing only Smith’s 1.095 (in 20 fewer ABs.) And Outman, pressed into the leadoff role, has continued to produce, even if he (and some teammates) were victimized by shoddy umpiring.
Jayne is certainly right that the Dodgers are fortunate that the Padres are off to a pitiful start.
Scherzer messed with the wrong ump today:
Phil Cuzzi
“ Scherzer is the third pitcher in MLB to be ejected for foreign substances since the rule was revised in 2021. Seattle’s Hector Santiago and Arizona’s Caleb Smith each were ejected during the 2021 season after failing foreign substance checks. Cuzzi was the umpire who made the call in each of those situations as well. ”
-SI
Near-term lineup?
Mookie 2B
Freddie 1B
JDM DH
Max 3B
Trayce CF
Outman LF
Heyward RF
Williams SS
One of the Austins C
Bench: Peralta, Vargas, Yonny, the other Austin.
Would a couple day soff help Vargas get back on track? Over the past 15 days, his offensive production has fallen off a cliff. Early in the season, his walk rate created a great and unsustainable OBP. But over the past 15 days, his BA is .154 and his OBP is .244 and OPS is .475. These numbers are remarkably similar to his underwhelming debut in 2022.
I don’t expect Vargas to get benched, since the organization was so committed to him. But at some point he needs to prove that he belongs in the lineup.
With all the uncertainty surrounding SS, OF, and now C, I think most of us were comfortable that Vargas would deliver a solid performance…. or even compete for ROY! Vargas’s struggles, I think, have been obscured by the injuries to Smith, Rojas and Taylor.
It’s early of course, but Vargas is trending in the wrong direction. Hope he turns it around soon.