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08/16 20:22 CDT Dave Roberts decries Dodgers' inability to play 'clean
baseball' after latest costly loss to Brewers
Dave Roberts decries Dodgers' inability to play 'clean baseball' after latest
costly loss to Brewers
By DAN GREENSPAN
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) --- Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called out his
struggling club after a 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday cost them a
significant tiebreaker in the race for home-field advantage.
"I say this because it's just been four or five, six weeks of below average
production in our offense. It's just the truth, and I think we have just
haven't played clean baseball for quite some time, and that speaks to the
defense," Roberts said.
The Dodgers lost three of four in the key series against the Brewers, who are
three games ahead of Los Angeles in the chase for the National League's best
record and hold the head-to-head advantage for postseason seeding if the teams
end up in a two-way deadlock.
Los Angeles is 5-11 in its past 16 games, having been swept by the Boston Red
Sox and Chicago Cubs and losing series to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Brewers
in that span. Since July 1, the back-to-back World Series champions are 18-21.
Their issues putting together effective at-bats were evident in the final two
games against the Brewers, totaling three runs on 11 hits and three walks.
"It's been a long time since we've been consistent offensively," Roberts said.
"For me, it's winning a 2-1 pitch and not chasing. Winning a 3-2 pitch, taking
the walk. Not chasing the first pitch to then be 0-1. I see our guys, we're
chasing off in, chasing away, and I just don't see the consistent plan of
attack, 1 through 9."
Even Shohei Ohtani, the centerpiece of the Dodgers' big spending and bigger
winning, was not immune. He grounded into an inning-ending double play with
runners on first and third in the seventh.
"I think that urgency of every single pitch is important. I don't think we have
that intent, and some guys are scuffling at that with their swings and things
like that, which is real. But I think other guys are not valuing every single
pitch," Roberts said.
Compounding those stumbles have been frequent defensive breakdowns. Second
baseman Tommy Edman had two errors in the series finale, resulting in three
runs. The first came when he did not cleanly handle Mookie Betts' throw for a
force that would have ended the inning with the bases loaded in the second,
allowing the Brewers to score their opening run.
The other came in the ninth inning, when Edman could not field a grounder to
turn a possible double play, extending their deficit to 6-1 and further
reducing the Dodgers' long odds of staging a comeback.
Roberts trusts his group can get back on track, but only by putting in the hard
work necessary to get through this extended funk.
"I don't think that's who we are. I think we've done it long enough,
individually, collectively. But I do think that just saying you're going to
come out of it isn't the right way to look at it. I think coming out of it is
by how you go about it," Roberts said.
The Dodgers have time to work things out, holding a seven-game lead over the
San Diego Padres in the NL West, and jockeying with the Brewers and Atlanta
Braves for the two spots that avoid playing in the wild-card rounds.
Roberts just hopes this weekend's results do not end up having implications in
the playoffs.
"I really wanted to win this game because it could matter, but we didn't," he
said. "So now we got to move forward, but I hope it doesn't come back to bite
us."
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