August 22nd, 2018 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka There is a saying that is as old as time itself: ‘Wish in one hand and spit in the other, and see which one fills up first’.
Ok, I substituted the word spit from something else, but you get the point.
That point is that just because you want (wish) for something, doesn’t necessarily mean that it will happen.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is wishing for his team to suddenly start hitting, especially with runners in scoring position.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
Over the past two games, both against the NL East third place St. Louis Cardinals, the Dodgers have stranded a combined 25 runners on base and are a collective 3-for-21 (.143) with runners in scoring position. They have hit exactly one home run – a solo shot by Manny Machado on Tuesday night – and lost both games by scores of 5-3 and 5-2 respectively.
The highlight of the Dodgers offense on Tuesday night was Manny Machado’s seventh-inning home run. Unfortunately there was (yet again) no one on base at the time. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
What does Roberts have to say about all of this? Here’s what he told SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo (verbatim) following Tuesday night’s second consecutive loss to the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium:
“Um… this is… this just doesn’t a… you know… it’s… a… (clears throat)… we’re … we’re just kind of going through something right now offensively. We get a guy on the ropes, we don’t cash in, and um… you know, looking for that big hit as you’re kind of mired in this, it doesn’t feel good, it’s a little contagious. You look around the room and these guys have a track record of hitting.
And so that’s something that we’re going to bet on, we expect these guys to come out of it and we have very good players.
So um… they’re gonna hit, it just doesn’t feel good right now.
So right now, to your question, it’s not a need to address the team, have a conversation. You know, they understand what’s at stake and they know we need to put runs together.”
Why are they leaving so many men on base?
“Um… well… I think there’s a couple times they made a couple… I thought we put a couple good swings on some balls that they made some plays on. But, for the most part, just having that quality at-bat just isn’t there right now.”
When Rizzo pointed out that his team went through a similar situation last season, she asked the Dodgers skipper “How do you draw upon that blueprint from last year to know that you’re going to get out of it?”
“Um… I think that it’s just understand that things will correct themselves and we haven’t got hot offensively I don’t think all year as far as collectively.
Um… so… again… not the right time, but all we can do is go out there, run our guys out there and expect good things happening and keep having good at-bats and a… expect that a… the good things, the good fortune, the good at-bats, the results will come.”
Wishing and spitting.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects that “the good things, the good fortune, the good at-bats” will come.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA – Click on image to view video)
The problem with Doc’s wishing thing is twofold:
- The Dodgers have exactly 35 games remaining in the 2018 regular season for those “good things” to begin happening;
- The Dodgers are currently in third place in the NL West 2.0 games behind the second place Colorado Rockies and 3.5 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks.
Although every Dodger fan has their own opinion as to what they see as the biggest problem for their beloved team, many agree that the biggest problem is that everyone wants to be that guy, everyone wants to hit the big home run instead of shortening up their swings to move runners over, especially when the count dictates it, like on an 0-2, 1-2, and 2-2 count.
Therein lies the problem … and it’s not just one guy doing it. In fact, aside from Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner (who now leads the team with his .302 batting average and .394 on-base percentage) and Manny Machado (who is hitting .280 since joining the team), the rest of the Dodgers offense pretty much sucks – although Cody Bellinger seems to be heating up a bit of late.
At the top of the suck list is utility infielder Chris Taylor, who leads the National League with his 146 strikeouts, and backup catcher Austin Barnes, who is sitting right on the Mendoza Line with his .200 batting average and one home run, while minor league catcher Kyle Farmer is hitting .299 with six home runs at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
While Doc’s enthusiasm and optimism are most certainly good things, especially for trying to keep his players’ confidence up, it’s going to take a lot more than wishing to get them back on track. Exactly what that is, is anyone’s guess. But a good place to start might be showing a little more selflessness by having a better two-strike approach instead of trying to be that guy.
Then again, perhaps this is just wishing and spitting.
Play Ball!
Posted in 
I wonder sometimes if it’s all mental. As for myself, I don’t feel like anything good is going to happen when there’s a runner in scoring position. I just hope it’s just me and the batter isn’t thinking the same way. I think it shouldn’t make any difference how many runners are on to the hitter, he should wipe that out of his mind and just hit.
Couldn’t disagree more.
If your team is trailing, the mindset absolutely must be to get on base if you come to the plate with no one on. However, if you come to the plate with base runners, you need to change your approach, especially with two strikes. No one did this better than the great Tony Gwynn Sr.
Swinging for the fences with two strikes and runners on base (even the winning run) is just plain selfish. Yes, we all love a walk-off HR, but trying to do so with two strikes is a very bad approach.
You’re 100% spot on! Taylor, Kike must sit until they change their 2 strike approach! Send Barnes down, immediately, bring Farmer up and Barnes can work on things and be brought back up Sept 1!!! Running out of time! We play D backs, next week! Have to trim their lead down, by then!!!
“you know, looking for that big hit as you’re kind of mired in this”
right there is our problem. why are we looking for the big hit when a ground ball to the right side would trade an out for a run? when you’re “mired in this” you don’t leap out you crawl out, scuffle and scrape. last year we often heard “pass the baton” and “give the next guy a chance” not hearing much of that this year.
I like the way you think.
I grew up with the ’60’s Dodgers and really miss that style of play. Remember the “Dodger Home Run”? Walk, stolen base, sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly.
Nobody got it started better than Maury and nobody gave himself up for the team better than Jim Gilliam. Together they drove pitchers nuts.
They can still win it all, but have to start tonight.
After a game a couple months back, I asked Doc during his postgame scrum if Justin Turner and taken second base as part of a hit and run play or if he had stolen it on his own? Roberts looked at me as though he had never heard the term hit and run before, or that I was some kind of freak for asking that question.
This is exactly the type of thing that our 60s-era Dodgers did several times during every game, most by Wills and Gilliam.
My how things have changed.
Thanks for the stroll back to my childhood.
Stick a fork in this team.
From –literally– Game One they’ve been lousy offensively. Sure, they lead the NL in homers, but that’s about all the Dodgers can do better than any other team. Even then, the homers seem to come in bunches, all solo shots, separated by seemingly extended droughts of clutch hitting. Last night, even with guys on 2nd and 3rd I knew no one would come in to score, seen it *not happen* far too often with this team.
I know how you feel, I don’t “expect” them to score when they have what is known as “runners in scoring position”. I actually expect them to fail. I’m very surprised when they do succeed.
I’m just hoping that the players are not thinking the same way.