AK’s Corner: Dodgers are in Serious Trouble
It’s always easy to overreact to any stretch of bad games, but there is definitely something troubling about the Los Angeles Dodgers having lost four out of their last six games, including two extra-inning games in San Diego where they scored a grand total of three runs over 22 innings. The Dodgers have exactly 22 games left before the end of the regular season, and while they’ve been trending downward, the San Francisco Giants have won seven of their last nine games, and have crept back to within two games of the first-place Dodgers.
Hanley Ramirez is back from the disabled list. Hyun-jin Ryu is back from the disabled list. Juan Uribe is back from the disabled list. Top prospect Joc Pederson has been called up from the minors. Nevertheless, the Dodgers are losing games, and the team looks uninspired and lackadaisical.
Aug 29, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig (66) reacts after striking out during the seventh inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
The biggest problem facing the Dodgers is their inability to score runs–at least, when Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, or Hyun-jin Ryu are on the mound. When Roberto Hernandez is on the mound, it’s keeping the other team from scoring too many runs that has become a problem. Hernandez has now allowed 12 runs over his last three starts (covering 15.1 innings). The Dodgers have lost two of those games.
As for the offense, Yasiel Puig has been in a prolonged slump, and Hanley Ramirez hasn’t done much since he returned from the disabled list. More specifically, Ramirez has four hits in the 35 at-bats he has had since returning on August 24th, and he’s only scored three runs and driven in two runs during that time. Puig has only four hits in 30 at-bats since August 24th, and has scored three runs but driven in no runs at all during that time. While Matt Kemp, Dee Gordon, Adrian Gonzalez, and Justin Turner–who is quite possibly the most pleasant surprise of the 2014 season aside from Dee Gordon–have helped keep the Dodgers afloat, the team needs Puig and Ramirez to return to form before the Dodgers fall out of first place.
The Dodgers’ 8-5 loss to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday perfectly illustrated the Dodgers’ serious problems on offense. The team couldn’t score until Turner put the Dodgers ahead 2-0 with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. With closer Kenley Jansen on the mound in the ninth inning, the Dodgers had to feel pretty good about their chances to walk away with a win and a series victory. Unfortunately, Adam LaRoche tied the game with a home run of his own, and Jansen proceeded to give up the go-ahead run for good measure.
Sep 3, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner (10) hits a 2-run home run in the seventh inning of the game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium. Nationals won 8-5 in fourteen innings. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Dodgers got a lucky break in the bottom of the ninth inning when Jayson Werth dropped a very ‘catchable’ fly ball off the bat of Justin Turner, and Andre Ethier scored the tying run. The Dodgers then loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 10th AND 11th innings, but came away with nothing. The Nationals took a two-run lead in the top of the 12th inning, but the Dodgers got bailed out again, when Carl Crawford hit a two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the inning.
Unfortunately, the Nationals went on to score three runs in the top of the 14th inning to put the Dodgers away for good. While the Dodgers’ struggles this season with the bases loaded have been well-documented (.172 average–worst in the major leagues), the team’s efforts in Thursday’s game were also sabotaged by Manager Don Mattingly, who inexplicably left catcher, and notoriously slow base-runner, A.J. Ellis, out on the base paths in the bottom of the 10th, even though he had Drew Butera available to catch the rest of the game and with the following day being a day off. Ellis was at second base when Yasiel Puig singled to right field, and Ellis was held at third base. Mattingly then decided to send Erisbel Arruebarrena out to run for Ellis. Arruebarrena, of course, would have certainly scored from second base had he been pinch-running for Ellis from the moment Ellis reached base.
Sep 3, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Carl Crawford (3) hit a 2-run home run in the twelfth inning against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium. Nationals won 8-5 in fourteen innings. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
While the Dodgers have been able to count on Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu to carry them all season, the Dodgers’ offense has been up and down. When Ramirez and Uribe returned from the disabled list just in time for the stretch run, the team was expected to make one final, strong push towards the playoffs. Instead, the offense has been almost non-existent, and the Dodgers’ performance has been inconsistent game-to-game. Now that the Giants are on a roll and hot on their trail, Mattingly has to figure out how to get the team going again before the Dodgers fall from first place into the Wild Card race–which is a now a highly undesirable fall-back option for the playoffs.