Today, Monday, June 19, is a scheduled off day for the Dodgers, and there hasn’t been a more needed day off in recent memory. Here’s why:

• The Dodgers have played 72 of their scheduled 162 regular season games, which is exactly 44.444% of them.
• The Dodgers are 39-33 on the season, which equates to a .542 winning percentage.
• The Dodgers have lost six of their last 10 games, including a just-concluded three-game sweep of them by the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.
• The Dodgers have lost 12 of their last 20 games for a dismal .400 winning percentage over those 20 games.
• The Dodgers are now in third place in the National League West Division – a division which they led as recently as two weeks ago – and now trail the second place Giants by a half-game and the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks by 4.0 games.

“Yeah, I think so,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts answered, when asked if there is a sense of urgency in preventing his team from spiraling further out of control after his teams ugly 7-3 loss to Gabe Kapler‘s Giants at The Ravine on Sunday afternoon. “I think it’s more of getting back to finding a way to win a game.

“It’s been hard, obviously, to build any kind of momentum. Things are going to happen as far as health, that’s part of it. But there’s things we’ve got to do better when things aren’t going well. The execution part of things, that certainly when things aren’t going well really show themselves,” Roberts added.

The Dodgers skipper concluded his seemingly on-going attempt to justify his team’s recent struggles with this:

“When there is a run or two across, typically we can kind of keep them at bay and get our offense back on the field. We haven’t done that. We just got to be better at stuff like that.”

Yes, you do.

That said, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman made things perfectly clear with reporters after being swept by San Francisco and on his team’s recent struggles.

“I’ve been through stretches like this, so if you want a quote of panic, you’re not gonna get it from me,” said the six time All-Star, three time Silver Slugger, former Gold Glover, and 2021 World Series champion. “Because I’ve been in different spots and ended up winning the World Series. I think some guys aren’t used to it, yes,” he added.

Although this most certainly a teamwide thing, there has been considerable finger-pointing and harsh criticism of Roberts for many of his recent decisions in the media (social and print), especially with the use of his struggling bullpen. There is also an increasing hue and cry among many Dodgers fans for Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman to fire Roberts. While this hue and cry is certainly not uncommon when a team – any team – is struggling, it has been speculated by many (although unconfirmed) that it is Friedman who is actually telling Roberts what to do and who to play. Again, this is unconfirmed and entirely speculation by many, but it certainly makes one say “Hmmm…”.

But alas, Monday is a scheduled off day for the Dodgers, which has them, Dave Roberts, Andrew Friedman, and every Dodgers fan on the planet saying:

 “Thanks! We needed that.”  

Play Ball! … tomorrow.

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