The Dodgers aren’t clicking on all cylinders, I think that’s a fair thing to say and pretty accurate. But, while they did lose 3 series in a row, they have still posted a 12-6 record, which certainly isn’t bad.
The offense has struggled more mightily than I think anyone expected, and the bottom of the lineup has been plain bad. So, winning games has become more about executing “winning baseball plays” than it has been to overwhelm opponents.
The Dodgers had just 6 hits a game over the weekend and didn’t draw very many walks either. Last night was better with 10 hits, and the Dodgers scored in 4 different innings, but it still felt like somehat of a struggle.
Mookie Betts got the Dodgers on the board with a home run in the first inning that followed a Shohei Ohtani single, then the Dodgers put up a single run in the 3rd on another home run from Ohtani.
That was the easy part of the offense.
The 5th and 6th innings, however, were clinics on team baseball. After a leadoff double by Mookie, on a sinker down in the zone, Freddie Freeman got him over, then Will Smith knocked him in with a single.
In the 6th inning, Shohei singled, Mookie walked, Freddie moved them up with a ground ball, and then Will Smith got the Dodgers on the board again with a sac fly.
Both of these rallies centered around “team” focused at-bats and were the type of rallies that win games when you’re not hitting on all cylinders. So that was super encouraging to watch.
Dustin May was masterful, claiming dominance with his sinker and sweeper, and although Anthony Banda gave up a 2-run home run, the bullpen held and the Dodgers won to move to 12-6.
The Action
When something is working, “Don’t Get Bored.” We see it all the time in football where a play, or a series of plays, works, then the offensive coordinator stops calling it. And, as amateur fans, we’re left wondering why.
Well…It’s because coaches tend to “Get Bored”! They want to get to ALL of their playbook, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
I know that sounds very “High Schoolish”, but when you have a sinker and sweeper as good as Dustin May has, execution is about all you need. And simplifying improves execution.
May claimed his dominance right off the bat with his sinker, then just kept throwing it because the Rockies weren’t hitting it. He paired that with a good amount of well-timed sweepers to give him turns in both directions, a simple plan to execute, and that was just exactly what he needed.
And credit to him for not getting bored with it! May doesn’t have to “trick” hitters, he just has to execute.
Winning Baseball Plays! When you’re not clicking on all cylinders, which the Dodgers aren’t offensively, it magnifies the importance of executing “winning baseball plays”.
The 5th inning was just that for the Dodgers last night.
After hitting a Home Run in his last at bat, Mookie Betts pounded a sinker into the ground for a base hit, Freddie Freeman moved him over with a productive at bat, and then Will Smith went with a fastball on the outer half and nailed it into center field.
Betts’s ball was sinking, and he hit in the ground. Smith’s pitch was on the outer half, and he hit it up the middle, so both hitters “went with the pitch.” Those 2 hits sandwiched the Freddie Freeman at bat where he hit behind the runner Betts.
I’m not a huge fan of “small ball” per se, as in bunting and giving up intentional outs to move runners. But I am a big fan of “winning baseball plays” where, if you do happen to make an out, make it productive.
The Betts and Ohtani home runs were fun, but the 5th inning rally was even better.
When Major League pitchers execute, even the greatest of hitters are going to have a hard time hitting them. But, there are a couple of things the best hitters do.
Well, there’s way more than a couple, but here are a couple of them.
Great hitters don’t miss mistakes. Mookie Betts got a Cement Mixer and didn’t miss it in his first at bat last night and got the Dodgers on the board.
Another thing they do is they hit the ball where it’s pitched when they are forced to swing at a “pitchers pitch”. Betts did that in his 2nd at bat last night when he spiked a diving sinker into the ground for his double down the 3rd base line.
Mookie put on quite a display of skill and the ability to do several things as part of being a great hitter. This roster is fun to watch play baseball daily. You see things like this over and over, and it’s a privilege to get to watch.
When Shohei Ohtani is in a “Mini Patch”, he seems to always default to focusing on hitting the ball to the opposite field gap. That doesn’t mean that’s where his hits will actually go, but it’s the timing focus to keep him from pulling off the ball, which he does from time to time, IMO.
Last night, even in his first hit, he kept his weight back and just let his hands do the work. His hands are so fast he was able to “buggy whip” the barrel to pull the ball at 102 MPH for a hit. He’s one of the very few human beings that has ever lived that can hit balls as hard as he does in those situations.
Then, on his home run, dead center. Great process, great approach, leads to great results. That’s how you get out of a “patch”.
It’s incredible to get to watch Ohtani on a daily basis
More Winning Baseball Plays! After putting on a clinic in the 5th, the Dodgers then manufactured another run in the 6th, playing “team” baseball.
Ohtani and Freeman “put the ball in play.” Betts took his walk, Will Smith hit a sac fly. Again, not “small ball” per se, but it’s definitely a “manufacturing” focus.
I really like the offensive game the Dodgers put together last night. Not because they were great, or because they firing on all cylinders, but because they’re not.
This team is capable of overpowering opponents, but they’re not doing that at the moment. But the way they generated runs is exactly how you win games when you’re not at your peak.
Plus, those types of games are hard to quantify, so modern-day analytics have a hard time placing value as to their importance. This makes “Old School” fans very happy because you have to “see it” to understand how effective it is, instead of “reading it” off an advanced analytics stat sheet.
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