Dave Roberts does not believe his Dodgers team, amid another unexpected skid that has dropped them into second place in the standings, is suffering from a lack of effort.
What the manager did acknowledge, in the wake of a 5-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Saturday night, is that their intent might be misplaced.
Right now, it’s clear the Dodgers are going through their latest offensive funk.
In two games against the Padres this weekend, they have managed only two runs (both via home runs from rookie infielder Alex Freeland) and five hits. They have failed to adjust against crafty veteran pitchers who, for the most part, have given them very few good pitches to attack.
As a result, they have squandered the division lead they retook just a week ago, going from two games up in the National League West after last weekend’s sweep of the Padres, to one game behind their Southern California rivals in the wake of consecutive and stunningly abject offensive displays at Petco Park.
Read more:Shaikin: The Padres aren't dead, and the Dodgers have plenty to lose in baseball's best rivalry
And suddenly, they are facing a look-in-the-mirror moment, needing to recalibrate their approach with a more team-first mindset.
“This time of the season, it's not about the mechanics, your swing,” Roberts said. “It's about how, 'Can I help the team win?'"
Lately, in the case of too many stars throughout the lineup, the former is outweighing the latter.
Saturday brought the dynamic into clear focus.
A night after Yu Darvish navigated the Dodgers’ lineup in a six-inning, one-run, one-hit gem, Nestor Cortes — he of infamous October history, after giving up Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series last year with the New York Yankees — had a similarly clear plan of attack.
Or, more accurately, non-attack.
Rather than challenge the Dodgers over the plate with diminished stuff in just his fourth start since returning from an early-season elbow injury, the veteran left-hander pitched them carefully. Cutters and changeups away to a right-handed-heavy lineup. Sweepers to the other side of the zone against the Dodgers’ few lefty threats.
Effectively, he dared them to be patient, to shorten up their swings, to take what he was giving them and try to build rallies slowly and methodically — rather than with long balls that have primarily fueled the Dodgers’ offense, perhaps to a fault, for much of the season.
“He just kind of stayed away from us the whole time ... just picking at the outside corner the whole night,” catcher Will Smith said. “Credit to him. He pitched well. He certainly didn’t give us anything to hit.”
But rather than adjust, the Dodgers played into his hands. They tried to slug. They took big hacks at pitches that required more of a contact approach. And, while they did hit some balls hard — none more so than a deep fly ball from Freeman in the second inning that died at the warning track — all they came away with in Cortes’ six scoreless (and nearly perfect) innings was a sixth-inning single from Miguel Rojas.
In each of the Dodgers' other 19 at-bats against the Padres trade deadline acquisition, they recorded nothing but outs.
“[We have to] find a way to move the line forward, get hits, spoil pitches, compete,” Roberts said, after just the Dodgers’ second two-hit performance this season. “There’s a different level of trying. I think everyone's trying. But I think that [we need] the next level, of going with whatever swing you have that particular night and fighting and willing yourself to get some hits, get on base, create innings and score runs.
“It's not a lack of talent. Certainly not a lack of try. But we got to do more,” Roberts added. “You got to kind of understand what's happening in a ballgame and make your adjustments."
Read more:News Analysis: The Dodgers have an outfield problem. But do they have the options to fix it?
Indeed, the Dodgers’ recent inability to adjust at the plate has put them in a bind entering the stretch run of the season.
Even if they avoid a series sweep Sunday, they will only be tied atop the division. If they lose, they will face a two-game deficit in the standings with 31 games to go.
In either scenario, they will face a closing month that will demand more consistent offense in order to win the NL West.
Given the mechanical issues much of their lineup is facing at the moment — from Smith and his seven-for-50 slump over the last 15 games, to Teoscar Hernández and his 33% strikeout rate in August — the pressure to provide more competitive, team-minded at-bats is starting to mount.
“We are who we are. We've got a lot of guys that can leave the ballpark and that can hit homers,” Rojas said. “But we all know, too, that we can play better baseball than the way that we've been playing the last couple days. I feel like the offense is kind of inconsistent at times. We can always get better. We all know we need to get better if we want to win games in a consistent way."
By the time Rojas exemplified that approach in the sixth inning, shooting an 0-and-1 cutter the other way for the team’s first hit (and baserunner) of the night, Saturday’s game was already a lost cause.
Tyler Glasnow gave up three runs in the fourth, when bad command led to two walks that helped load the bases, Ramón Laureano laced a two-run single the other way, and Jake Cronenworth added a sacrifice fly.
The Padres’ dominant bullpen was looming, with Freeland’s pinch-hit homer in the eighth proving to be the only damage allowed.
What already felt like an unlikely comeback bid was then officially dashed by Xander Bogaerts’ two-run double off Justin Wrobleski in the eighth — giving the Padres (74-56) enough cushion to avoid using closer Robert Suarez for a second-straight game in the ninth.
“We needed to jump on [Cortes], put some runs up early on him,” Smith said. “But we just didn’t do that.”
Moving forward, however, Saturday’s game might have provided lessons. Even if the Dodgers aren’t swinging the bats the way they want to, there are still other ways to generate offense.
“I feel like a lot of swings that we took today weren't really good swings to get on base,” Rojas said. “It was a little more to do damage early in the count. And [Cortes] was able to capitalize on that.”
Again, Roberts didn’t necessarily fault his club for falling into such a trap. He knows he has a team that — when right — is built on slugging the baseball and punishing mistakes opposing pitchers make against them. He noted the personal work hitters are putting in every day to try and get their mechanics on track.
At the same time, though, “we're at the end of August,” he noted. “It's just about getting the job done and finding a way to find some production.”
“You have to, again, take what the pitcher gives you and try to create something. You can't always go for that big swing. You got to kind of shorten up [sometimes]. We have it in there, and we do it at times. But I just don't see us doing that collectively.”
The good news: Roberts could already feel a shift postgame. As he traversed a somber clubhouse, he said he heard smaller conversations among players featuring “some good things from our guys along those lines.”
“Players are saying the right things,” he insisted. “It's gonna change. It'll change."
Still, as a group, the reality is nonetheless clear.
The Dodgers (73-57) are once again a second-place team. For them, playoff baseball effectively starts now.
That means adjustments have to be made to opposing pitchers’ game plans. Mechanical impurities can no longer be an excuse for wasted at-bats.
“It’s a reminder — let’s just get back to being who we are, and doing those little things; scratching and clawing; finding ways and willing yourself, your team, your offense to score some runs,” Roberts said. “I do believe that that kind of desire will manifest itself. I do."
It better. Because there will be many more games like the past two, and the Dodgers (who reside in the second NL wild-card spot, five games clear of the cut line) might find themselves limping into October, facing a potentially daunting postseason path.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
