After playing 13 straight games, the Dodgers off day couldn’t come at a better time. The offense specifically needs time to regroup. After scoring a total of 22 runs against the Chicago Cubs over the weekend, the Dodgers manages just eight runs total against the Miami Marlins, in which the Fish won 2-of-3 games at Dodger Stadium for the first time since 2018.
“I don’t think we’re collectively swinging the bats the way we were early,” Roberts said. “Sort of started in Colorado, I think. It’s one of those things where hitting is definitely cyclical. In total, we we’re at the top, near the top. The last 10 days, it just hasn’t been synced up. We just haven’t got those hits when we needed them.”
Cyclical is one way to put it. The Dodgers seemed like maybe they got their bats going in the hour game series at Coors Field, only to have them go cold again in San Francisco. Then they erupted again against the Cubs, and went flat against the Marlins.
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Taking into account the pitchers they were facing, the Dodgers just haven’t had consistent, patient at bats. That is one of the tactics the Marlins deployed against the Dodgers, patience and working their at bats.
Even as the Marlins did their best to styme the Dodgers pitching staff, they only scored nine runs total over the series. An offense as high powered as the Dodgers’ should have had no problem scoring more than them in at least two if not all of the games.
Doug Padilla of the OC Register covers many of the ways the Dodgers are currently slumping at the plate.
Freddie Freeman is one of the Dodgers currently most Going Through It. In his last seven games, Freeman has as many strikeouts as he has hits. He also owns a .138 BA over that same time span.
“I would have fixed it by now if I knew,” he said through gritted teeth when asked what the problem was. “I had pitches to hit. I just didn’t hit ’em. I mean, I had strikes, I swung at the strikes, I didn’t hit the strikes, so…”
Freeman’s at bat in the bottom of the ninth resulted in a bizarre double play which ended the game in the Marlins’ favor. Just another, albeit odd, example of the Dodgers leaving multiple men in scoring position.
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Kevin Baxter of the L.A. Times details other players that are also slumping, which unfortunately right now seems to be most of the lineup.
The Dodgers are hoping that the upcoming road trip to St. Louis and Houston will help their offense get back on track, and back up their pitching staff who has been holding up their end of the bargain.
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