Mark Saxon, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Dodgers feel good despite tough losses

SAN DIEGO – The past two nights, the Los Angeles Dodgers have hit the thick marine air in San Diego and scraped across three runs in 22 innings to lose two games. With the San Diego Padres' pitching staff holding them down, helpless, they have watched their division lead shrink to two games in the loss column, which is the tightest the National League West has been in more than three weeks.

There was a visible frustration in the clubhouse following Saturday night’s 2-1 loss to the Padres in 10 innings at Petco Park, the second walk-off, extra-innings loss in a row. Several players sat alone at their lockers staring at their phones or just staring straight ahead. Hanley Ramirez seemed to be particularly perturbed.

And yet, when people thought about it for a while, is there really much to feel gloomy about in the big picture? The Dodgers are guaranteed to enter September in first place, and after that, some kind of pennant race will shape up, and those are usually fun. Above all, the Dodgers are about to be as healthy as they have been all season.

Ramirez is back, and he’s showing signs of regaining his lethal timing. Zack Greinke largely dominated for eight innings Saturday and appears to once again be the reliable right-handed complement to Clayton Kershaw's brilliance. The bullpen has been OK, if not downright good, when the right guys are in the game.

Hyun-Jin Ryu will come off the disabled list to pitch Sunday, which means the rotation is as close to full strength as it’s going to get. Juan Uribe also will be activated within the next two days, and that means the Dodgers have the luxury of having one of baseball’s hottest hitters, Justin Turner, coming off the bench.

The Dodgers are healthier, they’re deeper and they’re going into September, when it will all get sorted out. Aside from two frustrating losses against a team they probably should beat, what’s not to like? Manager Don Mattingly seemed to think it was all going to come down to this.

“I think everyone in our locker room understands how good the Giants are and where we’re at and how we need to play and how hard games are to win down the stretch,” Mattingly said. “We’re getting into the pennant race, and I think we should have expected it, and it should be fun. I think it’s going to be a lot of good baseball coming up. We’re going to get the big hits, and we’re going to get the outs we need.”

Dee Gordon has gone 0-for-11 the past two games; Yasiel Puig has one hit in his past 24 at-bats. Just when Ramirez started feeling good at the plate, he slipped on first base and apparently lost those good feelings. He was hitless in five at-bats Saturday.

But there’s a reason the Padres have the third-best ERA in baseball and the best home ERA (2.57) in the game. They have good arms, and they pitch to the confines of the stadium. The problem for the Dodgers is they fell into the Padres’ comfort zone: bullpen games. The Padres have the best bullpen in the major leagues.

“I think it’s pretty obvious,” Greinke said. “Their pitching’s really good, and our pitching’s really good, and we play in a couple of pitchers’ parks.”

If you’re a Dodgers fan feeling bad about these two losses, think how much worse things could be. Two weeks ago, everyone was worried Greinke’s elbow was going to render him less effective. Saturday he seemed to have tight command, a lively fastball and good secondary pitches. He got through eight innings in 104 pitches and held San Diego to just four hits.

Asked how his elbow felt, he said, “It’s all right. Same as it has been, pretty much.”

Ryu and Uribe will have both returned within a couple of days of their eligibility to come off the disabled list. It appears the Dodgers have successfully taken a step back to heal for the September push, which was their intention all along. They’ve showed an excess of caution with several of their achy players and managed to go a respectable 6-7 while many of them were out.

Now they have their team again, and they’ll take their chances against the Giants. The rivals don’t meet again until Sept. 12, and aside from next week’s three games against the first-place Washington Nationals, the Dodgers play only losing teams between now and then. Unfortunately for them, one of those losing teams is the Padres, who have a new air of competitiveness about them.

Mattingly is just glad he’ll have his players at his disposal. Usually when the Dodgers are struggling, it’s because their disabled list is getting crowded.

“You want to have all your weapons so you don’t have any excuses, so you don’t have to look back and say, ‘Well, we were hurt or banged up.’ We’re going to be probably as healthy as anybody,” Mattingly said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can play. I expect them to, and I expect us to play well down the stretch.”

So there it is. The pieces are in place. Now it’s a matter of making the moves, with the end game always in mind.

^ Back to Top ^