The Dodgers are 2-0 heading into game-3 of the 2017 National League Division Series and one win away from advancing to the Championship Series. It’s important that you keep this in mind as you read on.

Also keep in mind that as a team, the Dodgers are 24-for-73 (.329) at the plate through the first two games of the division series with a remarkable 17 runs scored. They have also drawn an impressive nine walks, which is testament to the quality of their at bats.

That’s the good news.

The mediocre news is that the Dodgers have hit only one home run, although they do have two triples and two doubles through their 16 offensive innings played thus far.

Now for the bad news.

The Dodgers have struck out in 21 of those 73 at bats (28.7 percent), with rookie phenom and 2017 Rookie of the Year favorite Cody Bellinger leading the way with six strikeouts in his 10 division series at-bats thus far. And you don’t have to be a baseball scout to see that his strikeouts have been just plain ugly.

There is no kind way to put it, Cody Bellinger looks absolutely lost at the plate right now.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

How is it that the guy who set a new franchise rookie record with his National League-best 39 home runs (even after spotting the league a full 21 games before his April 25 call-up) and who is a huge reason why the Dodgers tied the LA Dodgers record of 104 wins can suddenly go ice cold and be 1-for-10 in the postseason, with that lone hit being a weak single up the middle?

Is he hurt? If he is, nobody’s talking about it, which suggests that he is not – especially when you watch the absolutely impossible plays he has been making on defense.

This leaves only one thing – the proverbial ‘He is pressing at the plate’ thing, for which there is no instant fix. The problem is, of course, there simply isn’t time to wait for Bellinger to ‘work through this thing,’ at least not for the division series.

Which brings us back to that good news.

Because of guys named Austin Barnes (.750), Yasiel Puig (.556), Logan Forsythe (.500), Justin Turner (.500) and Corey Seager (.375), there is no reason – none whatsoever – to be overly concerned about Belly’s current slump. And taking this one step further, anyone who spent even minimal time watching the 22-year-old Scottsdale, Arizona native and Dodgers 2013 fourth-round draft pick during his four-year (and 21-day) minor league career, knows firsthand that he can snap out of his slump like a flip of a switch … and yes, I have personally witnessed it.

There is absolutely no one more locked in at the plate right now that Yasiel Puig.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although it is excruciatingly painful for Dodger fans to watch our beloved rookie first baseman struggling in the early goings of the postseason, we’ve got to keep the faith that on a moment’s notice – or perhaps none at all – Belly will flip that switch, and probably when we need him to do so the most – say… like… in the National League Championship Series or the World Series.

In Belly We Trust.