Total Lack of Focus

Never underestimate the power of focus.  Conversely, never underestimate what happens when you lack focus.

Case in point: Yasmani Grandal:  For whatever reason, Grandal is at home with his wife (again)… at least in his mind.

Three passed balls, 2 errors. Strikeouts, can’t advance runners.  His head is somewhere else.  There are no excuses – you do or you don’t do.

I’ll talk about what I think the Dodgers should do at Catcher next year, but right about now, there’s still a series to win…. and it is still winnable!  However, it’s not winnable if the Dodgers keep playing like this.

Chacin was focused.  Buehler was cocky!  Chacin knew he had to pitch the game of his life.  Buehler thought all he had to do was show up.  The Dodger hitters lacked focus as Chacin fed them table scraps and hid the meat and potatoes. The Brewers were focused while the Dodgers just made you “cuss.”

Maybe they are still focused on getting to the World Series, when they have to win the NLCS first.  Maybe I am wrong, but it feels (to me) like the Dodgers are not nearly as focused as the Brewers. Chacin knows how to pitch with similar “stuff” as Kershaw, but Clayton still is focused on what he did when he was 27.  His focus is wrong!

The Dodgers are in trouble unless Rich Hill can focus today and get a few of the troops to focus behind him. Kike Hernandez hit the nail on the head (I’m surprised he didn’t miss it too). From Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

“We sucked. That’s why we lost,” said Enrique Hernandez. “I think as a team we were a little bit flat tonight and it showed on the offensive side. The playoffs, you’ve got to want it. Today it just wasn’t our day. We had no energy. The stadium had no energy. The fans had no energy. So overall it was a pretty bad day for everybody that calls themselves Dodgers. Tomorrow is another game.”

Hernandez clarified, emphasizing that it was the players who set the listless tone, not the fans.

“I don’t have an explanation for why some days we just don’t have it as a team, like energy or whatever it is,” he said. “But sometimes we can feed off the crowd. The fans here do a great job of showing up and packing the stadium every night and have a lot of passion for the game. But tonight for whatever reason I guess as contagious as energy can be from the fans to the players, it was from the players to the fans tonight.”

Well, he nailed the explanation – too bad he can’t nail a baseball like that! I feel bad for Yasmani Grandal – he’s a stand-up guy and well respected by his teammates, but he is killing the team with his bat (or lack of it) and his defense (total lack of it).  He needs to sit the rest of the series.  Kike, Cody, Dozier, Muncy, Puig and Freese have all had cold bats. Bellinger is making contact – he only has 1 strikeout in 10 AB’s, but he needs to get his focus back.

Every player as an individual, is responsible for their own focus, but Dave Roberts is the “gatekeeper of team focus” and he needs to do his job better. Yes, theese are grown men.  Yes, they are responsible, but as the manager you can certainly inject some focus into the lineup.  It just seems to me that their focus ALL YEAR has been on the World Series, but they have to win NOW to get there.  Somehow, Doc has to get them TOTALLY focused on today’s game.  Rich Hill should be focused and that can be contagious.  Let’s hope so, because it will be hard to climb out of a 3-1 hole.

• It’s THIS game
• It’s THIS at-bat
• It’s THIS pitch
• It’s THIS moment

Nothing else matters – focus on what is in front of you THIS second or THIS series is over! Bring it, Rich!