April 15th, 2018 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka If the Dodgers honestly believe that even after only 13 of 162 regular season games that it is “still early,” as so many people like to say, they are both sadly mistaken and in serious trouble.
Consider this: 13 games represents almost 10 percent of the regular season – .0802 percent, to be exact.
Although most baseball experts (and players) do not believe in World Series hangovers, they do believe that a team can and often does buy into all of the hype that just because a team made it into the World Series and, in the Dodgers case, won their division five years in a row, that they are automatically the best team in their league.
They absolutely positively are not.
In fact, with their current 4-9 record and after Saturday night’s embarrassing 8-1 loss to the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks three and a half weeks into the new season, the Dodgers are within one loss of being the worst team in their division (to the 6-10 San Diego Padres) and three losses away from being the worst team in all of baseball (to the 2-12 Cincinnati Reds).
In Saturday night’s game in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 44,306, the entire Dodgers offense occurred on two plays in the bottom of the second inning – a lead-off double by Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig, followed by a sharp single to center by Dodgers left fielder Joc Pederson, to give the Dodgers a (very) brief 1-0 lead. That’s it.
The Dodgers entire offense on Saturday consisted of this double by Yasiel Puig to leadoff the second inning…
…followed by this RBI single by Joc Pederson.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
The Dbacks would counter by scoring three in the top of the third, two in the fourth, two in the fifth, and one each in the eighth and ninth innings. They did so on a combined 10 hits, of which four were home runs, including two by Dbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock. It was, in every sense of the term, an ass whooping.
But wait, there’s more.
Although the Dodgers swept their division rivals 3-0 in the National League Division Series last October, they have now lost 11 consecutive regular-season games to Arizona, the longest losing streak to any opponent in Los Angeles Dodgers history.
Not funny.
That being said, the Dodger players themselves are not worried … or so they say.
“We’re still trying to find our groove,” said 2017 NL Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger. “It’s April 14. We play till November or September or whatever it is. I don’t think we’re worried.”
Think again.
Those nine non-wins by the Dodgers in March and April can (and probably will) loom large in “…November or September or whatever it is.”
As for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, he, too, isn’t ready to hit the panic button just yet. But he does recognizes his team’s deficiencies; deficiencies that they must overcome – and soon – if they are to have any hopes of winning a sixth consecutive division title.
“It is frustration. It’s definitely not panic,” Roberts said of his team’s 4-9 start. “It is frustration and I think the way to sum it up is we’ve got to play better baseball. We’ve gotta pitch better. We’ve gotta hit better. And the defense has been spotty at times. I think to sum it up we’ve got to play better baseball.
“I’ve said it 100 times, swing at strikes and take balls,” Roberts added. “Right now we’re not doing a great job of it, to be quite honest. There are times where we have an opportunity to take the walk but we expand. There are pitches we could handle to end the at-bat and we’re not doing that. Collectively, we’re just not doing it right now.”
Fortunately, Roberts is not among those who embraces the “it’s still early” mentality, nor of the belief that just because the Dodgers are the defending 2017 NL champions and five-time NL West champions that a loss in March or April is any less important than a loss later in the season.
“It shouldn’t be and it better not be,” Roberts said adamantly. “We have a lot of work to do to get to that point where we were last year. They’re very important games to everybody. That shouldn’t be the case.”
Convince us otherwise, Doc.
…and the sooner, the better.
Posted in 
Roberts is part of the problem. The laid-back approach to ST did not impart a sense of urgency to the players, in particular Kenley Jansen, for the start of the season. And some awful roster utilization has resulted in several losses that could have been wins. IMO this team needs a collective kick in the pants like that Walt Alston and Tommy Lasorda would have done well before now.
Alston would have been patient, and Tommy, understanding that there is still 92% of the season to be played, would also have shown restraint.
Neither would have accepted mental mistakes
Sometimes all it takes is a big inning.
Roberts, when he became the Dodgers manager said players would be held accountable and that has never happened. Not pitching Maeda for almost 2 weeks and then starting him against Arizona, not the best of moves, the Dodgers are playing terrible baseball, and Roberts is managing just as bad.
Come on, the season is 14 games old. 14 games. This isn’t the NFL.
This is emotional an overreaction to a lackluster season start.
Do you really think the Mets will run away with the NL East with the Phillies on their tail leaving the Nationals near the cellar? Will the Yankees continue to play .500 ball? And those Pirates are certainly going to win the Central, right?
When it’s all said and done, the Dodgers will be playing in the post season. So will the Nats, Cubs and D Backs. Stanton will start to heat up and the Yankees will battle the Sox for the AL East Title. The Astros will destroy the AL West and the Indians will surface on top of the AL Central. The world will continue to spin on it’s axis and the Giants orange and black colors will continue to make us nauseous…(and btw, they’ll have their second consecutive last place finish).