Dodgers rise to the top, but fail to deliver in the clutch

The Dodgers have the best record in baseball after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1, on Sunday. They are 33-14, in first place in the National League West standings and have a three-game lead over those pesky San Diego Padres.

The Dodger have won four games in a row, are 6-1 in their past seven games and 13-2 in the past 15 games.

On the field, the Dodgers are making a statement as the best team in baseball.

Off the field, it’s a different story.

After a deadly mass shooting in Texas, where 19 children and two adults were shot and killed in an elementary school by an 18-year-old gunman, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays took to Twitter to post some sobering statistics about gun violence. 

On Thursday, the social media handlers for the Yankees and Rays posted about how gun violence has affected the country instead of the game.

Here is a sample of what was posted:

“Access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide.”

“About 4.5 million women in the U.S. today report having been threatened with a gun by an intimate partner.”

“Each year, more than 4,100 Latinx people die from gun violence in the U.S. and 13,300 are shot and wounded.”

“58 percent of American adults or someone they care for have experienced gun violence.”

“Firearms were the leading cause of death for American children and teens in 2020.”

“Every day, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and injured.”

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Gabe Kapler, the manager of the Giants, decided he was not going to be on the field during the national anthem before games, a protest to the gun violence in America, particularly the killings in Texas.

Kapler posted Friday on a blog on his lifestyle brand website, that he was disappointed in himself for not making some sort of protest earlier.

“When I was the same age as the children in Uvalde, my father taught me to stand for the pledge of allegiance when I believed my country was representing its people well or to protest and stay seated when it wasn't. I don't believe it is representing us well right now," Kapler wrote.

"... Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I'm participating in a self congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place. On Wednesday, I walked out onto the field, I listened to the announcement as we honored the victims in Uvalde. I bowed my head. I stood for the national anthem. Metallica riffed on City Connect guitars.”

Kapler said he didn’t want to be disrespectful to military members and veterans, and the victims of the Texas killings, in the moment, but later regretted not acting on his instinct to protest.

"My brain said drop to a knee; my body didn't listen. I wanted to walk back inside; instead I froze. I felt like a coward. I didn't want to call attention to myself. I didn't want to take away from the victims or their families.

"... But I am not okay with the state of this country. I wish I hadn't let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you're dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this."

The Dodgers are playing like the best team in baseball on the field. But they could take a few lessons from the Yankees, Rays and Giants on how to be the best team in baseball off the field.

There used to be a time when the Dodgers were the leaders in this area. 

They broke the color barrier in baseball by adding Jackie Robinson to their roster in 1947.

They embraced Fernando Valenzuela, the Latino community in Los Angeles and all his mania in 1981.

They brought Hideo Nomo from Japan and made him a star in the United States.

The Dodgers never used to shy away from making waves and standing up for social justice.

It made them easy to root for because they always showed some things are bigger than baseball, until last week.

The Dodgers struck out last week when they had a chance to hit a home run. 

Dodger starter power rankings:

1. Tyler Anderson
2. Tony Gonsolin
3. Walker Buehler
4. Julio Urias
5. Ryan Pepiot

The Dodgers start a three-game series at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates, followed by a four-game weekend series against the New York Mets. 

Dodgers wearing out their rally caps

The Dodgers are developing an annoying habit.

They put together a seven-game winning streak, won six games in a row last week, swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in four of those games, but the Dodgers trailed in five of their last seven games.

In a rare pair of back-to-back doubleheaders, the Dodgers won four games in a row against the Diamondbacks. In all of those games, the Dodgers trailed at one point or another.

In the first game, the Dodgers won 7-6 on Tuesday. They trailed 3-0 before rallying in the sixth inning. The Dodgers scored five runs in the sixth inning to take a 6-3 lead. Mookie Betts hit a two-run home run, Justin Turner hit a two-run home run and Trea Turner added a solo homer to put the Dodgers out front in Game 1 of the series and the first game of the doubleheader.

The Dodgers trailed 2-0 in the second game before Chris Taylor hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning. It gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead en route to a 5-4 win.

The Dodgers won the third game of the series 12-3, but trailed 2-0 in the first inning of that one. The Dodger scored six runs in the second inning, capped by a three-run home run by Edwin Rios, and took an 8-2 lead.  

In the final game of the series against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers won, 5-3, but had to rally from a 2-1 deficit. They scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 5-2 lead.

Betts, Taylor, Rios and the Turner boys have been digging the Dodgers out of holes lately. It’s not the best way to win baseball games, but it’s been working for the Dodgers so far.

The Dodgers took their rallying ways to Philadelphia for a weekend series against the Phillies.

And while they won comfortably on Friday night, never trailing in a 4-1 win over the Phillies, and making the most out of a three-run home run by Justin Turner, they were back to their come-from-behind ways on Saturday.

The Dodgers won the game, 7-4, but not before the Phillies built a 4-1 lead and the Dodger bats woke up. Austin Barnes and Betts provided the pop. The Dodgers scored two runs in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie and added another run in the ninth off a solo homer from Barnes.

That was the seventh win in a row for the Dodgers who have a slight lead over those pesky San Diego Padres in the National League West standings after the first 40 games of the season.

The Padres closed to a half-game back in the standings after the Dodgers lost to the Phillies in extra innings, 4-3, on Sunday.

That was a reminder of a bad habit the Dodgers developed last season, losing extra-inning games. Hopefully losing in extra innings is a trend that won’t last too long for this year’s Dodgers.

Dodgers starter power rankings:

1. Tony Gonsolin
2. Tyler Anderson
3. Walker Buehler
4. Julio Urias
5. Ryan Pepiot

The Dodgers (27-13) travel to DC to start a three-game series against the Nationals on Monday and then head to Arizona for a four-game weekend series against the Diamondbacks.

Mookie makes up for slow start

Mookie’s fine. He’s more than fine. In Saturday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, he was the offense.

Reports of his demise were extremely exaggerated.

Mookie Betts carried the Dodgers to a 6-2 win in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Cubs in Chicago on Saturday. He drove in five runs, hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning and extended his hit streak to eight games.

The Dodgers meanwhile, after downing the Cubs 5-1 on Sunday, ended the week with a six-game winning streak, swept the San Francisco Giants in a two-game series and the Cubs in three games, while moving into first place in the National League West standings.

The Dodgers have a game-and-a-half lead over those pesky San Diego Padres. The Giants and the surprising Colorado Rockies are tied for third place, four games behind the Dodgers.

But what might be the most impressive stat of the Dodgers after the first 26 games of the season is run differential. The Dodgers are outsourcing their opponents by 74 runs. The New York Yankees have the second best run differential in MLB at 48 runs. 

The Dodgers outscored the Giants 12-2. The Dodgers outscored the Cubs 20-3 over the weekend. In the past five games, the Dodgers have outscored their opponents, 32-5. 

But back to Betts.

He went 2-for-5 in Sunday’s game against the Cubs and extended his hitting streak to nine games. He has hit three home runs during that streak and has his batting average up to .263. 

Betts is more than alive. He is one of the hottest hitters in the league.

The Dodgers offense is humming, but the starters deserve some credit too.

Clayton Kershaw (4-0) pitched seven shutout innings in the first game of the doubleheader against the Cubs on Saturday and lowered his ERA to 1.80.

Walker Buehler improved to 4-1, pitching seven innings against the Cubs on Sunday, giving up one run on four hits, and lowering his ERA to 1.96.

Tony Gonsolin improved to 2-0, giving up one run in five innings against the Giants on Wednesday, and lowering his ERA to 1.64.

Julio Urias pitched six shutout innings in a 3-1 win over the Giants on Tuesday. He lowered his ERA to 1.88.

Four Dodger starters have ERAs under 2.00. 

Most impressive.

Dodger starter power rankings:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Julio Urias
3. Walker Buehler
4. Tony Gonsolin
5. Tyler Anderson

The Dodgers (19-7) head to Pittsburgh to start a three-game series against the Pirates on Monday, then return home to start a four-game weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies on  Thursday.  

Dodgers hit a rough patch early in the season

It’s been a rough week for the Dodgers.

They lost two of three games to the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks.

On a night when Clayton Kershaw passed Don Sutton to become the franchise leader in strikeouts, the Dodgers lost to the Detroit Tigers.

Despite going 13-7 in the first month of the season, the Dodgers are in a virtual three-way tie for first place in the National League West standings with the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres.

But the biggest hit of the week was learning beleaguered starter Trevor Bauer was suspended for two years by Major League Baseball, essentially wiping out his contract with the Dodgers.

Let’s start with the series against the Diamondbacks.

It’s bad enough to lose a series against the last-place team in the National League West. It made it worse the way the Dodgers lost two of those games. The Dodgers are supposed to have the best offense in baseball, one of the best offenses ever assembled in baseball history. Yet they managed to score only four runs in the final two games of the series against the Diamondbacks.

Sad.

In the second game of the series, on Tuesday, the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, only to let it slip away in the third inning. Starter Tony Gonsolin hit the wall in the fourth inning, an annoying habit that he has yet to overcome, and the Diamondbacks scored two runs in the eighth inning to win the game.

To make it worse, the Dodgers hit into five double plays in the loss to the Diamondbacks.

Brutal.

They lost on Wednesday, 3-1, didn’t score their only run until the eighth inning, and gave up two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to lose the game.

The Dodgers had problems scoring runs against the Diamondbacks, and those losses could come back to haunt them later in the season.

Kershaw started against the Tigers on Saturday night needing four strikeouts to pass Sutton and become the franchise leader in strikeouts. He struck out Spencer Torkelson in the fourth inning to break the Dodgers strikeout record, 2,697, and the crowd at Dodger Stadium gave him a standing ovation. Kershaw struck out seven batters in six innings and left the game with the score tied, 1-1. 

The Tigers scored three runs in the seventh inning to take a 4-1 lead and ended up spoiling Kershaw’s record-breaking night.

It was another game the Dodgers should have won, against a team that was 7-13, but the Dodger bats remained silent again.

On a week when the Dodgers lost three games they probably should have won, the Giants and Padres kept pace and moved atop the NL West Division standings.

The Padres have a history of fading as the season wears on. They did it last year. They do it almost every time they think they have a team that can contend. Those pesky Padres will probably fade again. 

But the Giants. That’s a different story.

The Giants have a way of hanging around. They have a way of spoiling successful seasons for the Dodgers. They did it last year. And it looks like they are digging in for another surprising season.

But the baddest of the bad news came with the Bauer suspension. Major League Baseball suspended Bauer for 324 games, two years, and it won’t end until his contract with the Dodgers expires.

He was suspended for violating the league’s sexual assault and domestic abuse policies. He has said he will appeal the suspension, but it doesn’t look like much will change MLB’s decision.

Bauer can appeal all he wants. But this much is clear:

He does not have the support of the Dodgers.

He does not have the support of the union.

MLB does not want him representing the sport or the league.

It’s evident how divisive Bauer is for fans on social media sites. People aggressively defend him and attack those who do not support him.

Imagine how divisive his presence would be in the real clubhouse, where none of his teammates have come out to defend him.

Talk about a disruption.

The Dodgers have enough problems trying to figure out their hitting woes than to worry about how Bauer’s presence will affect the clubhouse.

Dodgers starting pitching power rankings:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Walker Buehler
3. Tyler Anderson
4. Juilo Urias
5. Tony Gonsolin

The Dodgers (14-7) have a short week, with the Giants coming to Chavez Ravine for two games starting on Tuesday and heading out to Chicago for a weekend series against the Cubs starting on Friday.