Los Angeles Dodgers: Bats need to wake up after slow night

The Los Angeles Dodgers were unable to continue their offensive slugfest on Monday night and were held to just two runs in defeat.

The Los Angeles Dodgers went berserk with the bats to open the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks, scoring a combined 42 runs in four games in route to a 3-1 series win.

On Monday night, the team looked like the bats had been swapped out for whiffle ball bats as the Dodgers were able to put just two runs on the board courtesy of two solo home runs. Aside from that, the Dodgers did not hit a lot of balls hard and just failed to execute.

It is nothing to panic about, that is going to happen across a 162-game season. Some are blaming Joe Kelly for the loss, as he did blow a two-run lead (his third blown lead of the year already) but you cannot expect to win many games only scoring two runs.

Kelly was bad and he hopefully will turn it around because the Dodgers would likely be 5-0 if he performed as he should.

However, the more concerning trend (although it is still way too early to say definitively) is the team’s performance against left-handed pitching. That was the narrative all offseason and the Dodgers have proven it true, scoring a combined five runs in 22 innings games in which a left-handed pitcher started.

Granted, right-handed pitchers came out of the bullpen in both games but both games also saw the Dodgers field the quirky “right-handed lineup” that garnered so much criticism last season.

That was part of the reason why we could not get a hit in our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series. We went with David Freese, who was getting the start at first base.

Upon reflection, that was a poor pick statistically as we should have known that the second a right-handed pitcher came in that Max Muncy would be subbed in. That is exactly what happened and Freese went 0-2.

Our fans, though, have completely flipped the script and now have a three-game lead on us! Here are the picks for tonight’s contest.

Jason’s pick (Current streak: 0): Enrique Hernandez

Madison Bumgarner is on the bump for the San Fransisco Giants which means that the only logical pick for me to make is Enrique Hernandez. In case you didn’t know, Hernandez is known as the Madbum killer and is dominating the head-to-head matchup.

Hernandez has 19 hits in 39 at-bats against Bumgarner in his career with five doubles, four home runs and eight RBIs.

The Dodgers are going to need Hernandez’ usual performance against Bumgarner as well. The team has not done great against left-handed pitching this season and Bumgarner is no slouch on the mound.

There is a very real risk that Bumgarner shuts the Dodgers offensive down and the team falls to 3-3 on the year, which must be avoided at all costs.

The fans’ pick (Current streak: 3): Chris Taylor

Today’s fan pick comes from our Facebook account and is courtesy of Kami Cheney, who was also the first to respond yesterday as well.

Cheney is going with Chris Taylor, who was one of the few bright spots offensively for the Dodgers last night, although he worked a great at-bat and struck out to end the game.

Unfortunately for the fans, Taylor does not have a great line against Bumgarner and if the past repeats itself then he will likely go hitless in the contest. Taylor has just one hit off of Bumgarner in 14 at-bats with seven strikeouts.

Taylor has the worst OPS of any position player on the Los Angeles Dodgers against Bumgarner. Hopefully, that trend can change on Tuesday night.