There is no kind or gentle way to put it – the Dodgers offense sucks.

When your starting pitchers allow a grand total of 10 runs on 24 hits over the course of a three game series and your offense puts up only five runs on 10 hits, your team is not destined for the postseason. But what really irks Dodger fans is when the players themselves do nothing… absolutely nothing to rectify the problem.

Oh sure, it’s easy to put the blame on Dodgers manager Dave Roberts or hitting coach Turner Ward, but the simple truth is that they are not the ones out there swinging (or not swinging) the bats.

On Wednesday night Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda pitched the game of his (brief) MLB career, allowing only one run on five hits while walking one and striking out a season-high nine Colorado Rockies batters. And while the media elected to put more emphasis on a somewhat comical non-pitching change moment in Wednesday night’s 1-0 loss to the Rockies rather than focusing on the serious deficiencies in the Dodgers offense, the reality is that Roberts’ team missed a golden opportunity to head into this weekend’s crucial three-game series against the first place San Francisco Giants with the possibility of emerging from it tied for first place in the NL West.

“I think guys are starting to, again, try to do too much,” Roberts said after dropping two of three to the Rockies. “There’s some empty at-bats. There’s some tentativeness to the swing when you get in a good hitter’s count. We’re missing fastballs. Whether we’re swinging through them or fouling them off, we’re late on them. We’re putting a little pressure on ourselves.”

Maeda has pitched far better than his 5-4 record reflects. He could easily be 8-3 had he received even marginal run support from his teammates. (Photo credit – Gary A. Vasquez)

Although it’s not fair to put the blame on any one guy when nearly everyone on the Dodgers roster remains mired in a season-long offensive slump, it’s extremely hard not to drop the blame for this one in the lap of Dodgers substitute shortstop Kiké Hernandez, who came up in the bottom of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and one out only to strikeout swinging at what appeared to be a pitch out of the strike zone. But what stood out most about Hernandez’s at-bat is that he was clearly trying to hit his first career grand slam rather than trying to put the ball in play which, in all likelihood, would have resulted in a run. The Dodgers would not get another opportunity like the one that Kiké let slip through his hands.

“It’s frustrating,” said Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis. “It’s frustrating when you waste [Maeda’s] performance. It’s frustrating when you give a series away. We had a chance to win a series and keep building some momentum as we head up north. This one stings. This one hurts. What Kenta gave us today and what we left out there – a chance to win a series against a division rival.”

With Wednesday’s painful loss, the Dodgers are now 17-14 (.548) at Dodger Stadium and an even 15-15 (.500) on the road through their first 61 games. And while there is a lot of attention being given to the fact that the Dodgers seem to be doing better on the road than at home (they aren’t), this is yet another poor excuse for the team’s inability to hit, regardless of where they play.

“I don’t know if it’s a home-road thing. The numbers speak to that,” said Roberts. “But I guess the good thing is we’re going on the road. We’ll see what happens up north.”

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but going on the road to face the division leaders while (still) in a horrible team-wide slump is anything but a good thing. That being said, if the Dodgers can somehow manage to take two of three from the Hated Ones this weekend, they will emerge 3.0 games back. But should they take only one from the Giants they will emerge 5.0 games back. And Lord forbid, should the Dodgers get swept this weekend, they will find themselves 7.0 games back with the division slipping away from them.

Then again, should Messrs. Kershaw, Kazmir and Urias somehow manage to hold the Giants at bay (no pun intended) and the Dodgers’somehow manage to sweep the Giants, they will be but one game back of their archrivals, which will make for a great division race moving forward.

Stay tuned…