Make no mistake about it, Washington Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer flat-out kicked the Dodgers butts on Monday night at Nationals Park in our nation’s capital. In his 7.0 innings of work in the eventual 6-1 butt-kicking, the 35-year-old St. Louis, MO native and first-round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2006 out of the University of Missouri Columbia allowed only one run (a first-inning solo home run by Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner) on four hits while walking three and striking out seven. Among those seven strikeouts was Dodgers pinch-hitter Chris Taylor in the top of the seventh inning with the bases loaded to retire the side.

But there is something else to make no mistake about: 31-year-old Dodgers outfielder A.J. Pollock, whom the Dodgers signed to a ridiculous four-year / $55 million contract (with a player option for a fifth year or a $5 million buyout) on January 26, 2019, picked the absolute worst possible time to suck.

A bit harsh, you say? Check this out. In his 12 at-bats through the first four games of the 2019 National League Division Series (which is now tied at two games apiece), Pollock is 0-for-12 with 10 strikeouts. And even though Dodgers manager Dave Roberts finally removed the struggling Hebron, CT native and 2009 first-round draft pick by the (wait for it…) Arizona Diamondbacks out of Notre Dame from his starting lineup on Monday night, Roberts called upon him to pinch-hit for a very effective Kenta Maeda in the top of the fifth inning.

Pollock struck out.

What makes this whole Pollock thing even worse is that prior to Monday’s game, Roberts had this to say about replacing him with Matt Beaty in his Game-4 starting lineup:

“I think, number one, Scherzer’s really difficult and has shown to be tough on right-handed hitters. So, to get Matt Beaty’s bat in there, I thought there’s not a whole lot of downside. He’s had a couple at-bats already in the DS.

“And with A.J., I think right now he’s struggling with spin. And I think that there’s more chase in there than there has been in the second half of the season, for whatever reason — mechanical, maybe a little bit of pressing. So, I think that to give him a blow, get Matt in there, get as many left-handed bats against Scherzer as possible, I think gives us the best chance to win.

“But I haven’t at all lost confidence in A.J. and know that he’ll figure some things out.”

You are the only one who hasn’t lost confidence in A.J. Pollock, Doc. And now is not the time to even let him try to “figure some things out.”

To be brutally honest, if Roberts allows Pollock anywhere near the bat rack at Dodger Stadium in the fifth and deciding game of the 2019 National League Division Series on Wednesday afternoon, his name needs to be added to the growing list of managers who have been fired over the past two weeks.

Play Ball!

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