The good news is it is an off day today. The Dodgers can’t blow another game in the 9th inning. The even better news, is it’s also a day off for both the Rockies and the Diamondbacks, so they can’t call any further behind the NL West race.
Simply put, the team has been terribly inconsistent. They have not looked like the team that has won 5 consecutive NL West titles, let alone a playoff team. The two major factors in the recent Dodger blues is hitting with runners in scoring position, and the ineptitude of the bullpen in the late innings. The starters on the other hand have been nothing short of clutch. They just can’t finish off the stats under the CG column on the back of their own baseball card.
Last season, this team was special. More than special. They won games in the last at bats, they had clutch pitching, hits fell where hits go to die, Dave Roberts pushed every button perfectly – except the one to win game 7 of the World Series. Now, Roberts has his work cut out for him, and if he is going to earn his money this season, it will come in the next several weeks of figuring out how to right this ship.
After a failed attempt to land Bryce Harper through a waiver claim, there isn’t anyone walking through those clubhouse doors to help the team. This is on the boys in blue to figure it out, in a short amount of time. Los Angeles has been spoiled with playoff berths for half a decade straight, after previously never winning the division more than two consecutive years.
In the words of the great Vin Scully, this team will have to catch “lightning in a bottle” again, 30 years after doing so, to turn this season around.
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