After setting a new franchise record for hitting the most home runs in a single month in June, and after starting July with every indication that they were going to at least remain relatively close to their torrid pace, the Dodgers bats have gone ice-cold. And while it is both understandable and acceptable that everyone goes through a slump (or several) during the course of a grueling 162-game season, it appears that the entire Dodgers offense is suddenly and inexplicably slumping at the same time; a strange and rather rare phenomena.

In other words, the Dodgers picked a bad time to be bad.

Check this out:

In the just concluded three-game interleague series with the American League West fourth place Angels of Anaheim, this is what the Dodgers did:

• Pederson:  0-for-8 / 4 K
• Muncy:  1-for-11 / 1 BB / 5 K
• Turner:  2-for-11 / 1 R / 1 BB / 3 K / 2 RBI
• Bellinger:  1-for-11 / 1 R / 1 BB / 3 K
• Kemp:  3-for-9 / 1 R / 3 BB / 1 K / 2 RBI
• Grandal:  0-for-6 / 2 BB / 1 K
• Taylor:  1-for-12 / 9 K
• Puig:  3-for-9 / 2 R / 1 K / 2 HR / 4 RBI
• Hernandez:  1-for-6 / 1 R / 2 BB / 2 K
• Forsythe:  0-for-2 / 1 BB / 1 K
• Utley:  1-for-3
• Barnes:  0-for-3 / 2 K

This is a combined 13-for-91 (.143) for eight total runs, with 11 walks, 37 strikeouts, and exactly two home runs (both by Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig, who was removed in the sixth inning of Sunday’s series finale for what was diagnosed as a “right intercostal oblique strain” and is expected to be lost for a month or more) over the three games in Anaheim.

After setting a new franchise record with their 53 home runs in June, Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig is the only Dodger to homer in the last five days, having done so twice. (Video capture courtesy of ESPN)

This most definitely does not sound like the same team that hit a franchise record 53 home runs in June.

There is absolutely no one struggling more at the plate right now than Chris Taylor, who has struck out in nine of his last 12 plate appearances. (Video capture courtesy of ESPN)

The good news for the suddenly struggling Dodgers, who have now lost five of their last 10 games, is that the NL West division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks have lost seven of their last 10.

The bad news is that over the last three games, when the Dbacks lost, so too did the Dodgers. As such, the Dodgers gained zero ground on Arizona in the NL West standings and, in fact, lost a game.

Following Sunday’s anemic 4-3 loss to the Angels, the Dodgers now trail the Dbacks by 1.0 games, with both the Rockies and Giants a mere  2.5 games behind them. And even though the Dodgers begin a four-game series with the NL West last place San Diego Padres (who trail the first place Dbacks by 11.5 games) at Petco Park beginning on Monday evening, those last place Padres just took two of four from those first place Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Arizona. In other words, don’t expect the Padres to just roll over and die for the Dodgers, or prove any less formidable than the Angels.

There was one positive takeaway from the just-concluded series with the Angels: left-hander Dylan Floro, whom the Dodgers acquired from the Cincinnati Reds on July 4 in exchange for minor leaguers James Marinan and Aneurys Zabala, was strong in his debut with his new team. The 27-year-old Merced, California native and Tampa Bay Rays 13th round draft pick in 2012 (out of  Cal State Fullerton) allowed no runs or hits and induced a huge double play in his 1.2 innings of relief. And while it is way too early to draw comparisons between Floro and former Dodgers reliever Brandon Morrow, at least their names rhyme … so there’s that.

Newest Dodger Dylan Floro got the very first batter he faced, Angels third baseman David Fletcher, to ground into a huge 6-4-3 double play. (Video capture courtesy of ESPN)

Although the Dodgers couldn’t have picked a worse time to be bad, there is absolutely positively no better time than the present for them to once again be good.

How bout it, guys?

Play Ball!