October 14th, 2022 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka Back in April, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts not only believed that the Dodgers would make it to the 2022 World Series but he boldly predicted on national radio that they would win the 2022 World Series. Then again, what else is a Major League manager supposed to say, right?
“I liked it. It’s not something that I would do, but I liked it,” Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said during his team’s first pre-NLDS workout last week. “And he’s right. Like, if you don’t believe that, because I definitely believed it, I just wouldn’t necessarily have said it out loud. But I love what he did, and he put it out there.
“I think it catches a little bit of the difference between us, but I enjoyed it,” Friedman added. “And he’s right, that everyone should believe that or what are you doing?”
(Ron Cervenka)
It goes without saying that the Dodgers wouldn’t even be in the position to fulfill Roberts’ bold prediction were it not for the season-long smoking-hot bat of six-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glover, four-time Silver Slugger, two-time World Series Champion, 2018 American League batting champion, 2016 American League MVP and MLB Player of the Year right fielder Mookie Betts – period.
The 30-year-old Nashville, TN native and fifth-round draft pick in 2011 by the Boston Red Sox out of Overton High School in Nashville, TN finished the 2022 regular season with a .269/.340/.533/.873 slash line while slugging a team-leading 35 home runs, a team second-most 40 doubles and a team fourth-most 82 RBIs.
Unfortunately, through the first two games of the 2022 win-or-go-home National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres, Betts is 1-for-8 (.125) with a double that he hit in Wednesday night’s 5-3 loss to the Padres. In other words, the extremely popular fan-favorite couldn’t have picked a worse time to go cold.
“It’s a little more magnified, as it should be, in the postseason,” Roberts told reporters on Thursday when asked about Betts’ suddenly and untimely cold bat through the first two games of the 2022 NLDS, both at Dodger Stadium. “But it’s two games, and I expect Mookie to be fine.”
Mookie better “be fine,” and soon, or the Dodgers skipper will be watching the 2022 World Series on TV instead of winning it, as he so boldly predicted back in April.
As they say: “So goes Mookie, So go the Dodgers.”
Play Ball!
* * * * * *
Posted in 
Gonna need Mookie and JT to show up to win this series.
…and Freeman (2-for-9).
But the REAL killer are the LOBs w/ RISP. As you’ve heard me say many times: “LOB = Loss.”
0-17 RISP over the two losses. 1 RS after the 3rd inning of all 3 games combined. 1-2-3 hitters combined: 7-34 .206.
Really bad time for a team-wide slump. Now it’s do or die. I’d hate to see a 111 win season end here.