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:
- Clayton Kershaw
- Walker Buehler
- Tyler Anderson
- Juilo Urias
- 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.
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