“THIS TEAM!” just made the worst team in baseball look like an amazing team. “THIS TEAM!” made Homer Bailey and Matt Harvey look like Cy Young candidates. “THIS TEAM!” can’t score with runners in scoring position to save their lives. In the words of Tommy Lasorda, “You couldn’t hit water even if you fell out of a boat.” I’m sorry to sound super critical and judgmental but, this team is performing worse and worse each week.
Injuries are plaguing the Dodgers right now, that shouldn’t be an excuse though. The team has enough depth to make up for starters and other players that are currently injured, we’ve seen it for multiple seasons now. Depth is what makes the Dodgers such a talented team. However, even with a tremendous amount of depth, the team still can’t manage to put together a win streak of three games or more. Without the key players, this Dodgers team is below average and they’re playing like it.
Hopefully, with fingers crossed, Justin Turner and Logan Forsythe will return to the lineup on Tuesday night when the Dodgers start a three game series against Miami on the road. I firmly believe that once Justin Turner gets in the lineup, the Dodgers will start an offensive outbreak and start to get the ball rolling. It’s crazy to think that one player makes a team, but sometimes it’s true. Turner is one of the best hitters in baseball and he’s a clutch hitter who knows how to drive people in. Both Turner and Forsythe played this weekend in rehab games with the Quakes which means that they’re both close to being with the Dodgers. As I said above, hopefully that happens tomorrow night.
And now, the past series with the Cincinnati Reds.
The Dodgers made the Reds look like a World Series team this weekend. Walker Buehler pitched Thursday night and pitched well. However, Buehler’s final line for the game was good except for one minor mistake. That mistake came in the Top of the 6th inning when Buehler gave up a 2-Run double to Scooter Gennett. Gennett by the way just won National League Player Of The Week. Anyways, had Buehler not made that mistake, he possible would have won his third game of the season. Buehler’s final line for Thursday night was 6.0 Innings Pitched, five hits, two earned runs and eight strikeouts. Pretty nice start when you take away the earned runs.
The scoring started with a Chase Utley single in the bottom of the first inning. This looked like the Dodgers were going to start the game strong and score a lot of runs but sadly the inning wouldn’t last. Neither would the scoring. The Dodgers only managed that one run the entire game. Now that the score was 1-0, Buehler kept the Reds scoreless until the sixth inning when he gave up the 2-Run double to Scooter Gennett. During the seventh inning, Pedro Baez came into the game and gave up a Triple to Billy Hamilton. I have to say, Billy Hamilton is just a pain on the base paths. Now the lead for the Reds increased to 3-1. After the seventh inning and still no runs for the Dodgers, the game went into the eighth inning. Daniel Hudson came into pitch and gave up a Solo Home Run to Scooter Gennett. The final score for the game would be 4-1.
On Friday night, the world got to see the debut of Matt Harvey for the Cincinnati Reds. Side note, life comes at you fast, Matt Harvey. Oh well, anyways, he pitched well against the Dodgers. The only hit he allowed was a fly ball Triple by Cody Bellinger that should have been caught but wasn’t. It wasn’t until till the bottom of the fifth inning that the Dodgers finally got the scoring started. Matt Harvey got taken out before the fifth inning and the Dodgers tried to take advantage. Bellinger struck out, he’s been doing that recently. Then, Chris Taylor tripled and then Max Muncy doubled him home for the first run of the game for the Dodgers. Unfortunately, the Dodgers would strand Muncy at second base. However, Muncy took it upon himself to create offense, he hit a Solo Home Run, his third of the year. This wouldn’t be enough as the Dodgers lost the game 6-2.
The starter on Friday night was Kenta Maeda, who has struggled this season. He’ll be really good one game but then the next start he’ll be totally erratic and screw up. Not that he will screw up, but he will be inconsistent with throwing the ball for strikes and if he does, he gets lit up. His final line on Friday night was: 4.2 Innings Pitched, NINE hits, five earned runs, two walks and only five strikeouts. As I said, this guy can be inconsistent.
No worries, LA could still manage to split the series right? Haha, no.
When you see the Dodgers facing Homer Bailey and the Reds, normally you’d think “Oh this should be easy and the Dodgers will skate right by.” Well, you’re kind of right. Cody Bellinger finally hit another Home Run in the bottom of the third inning. This time it was a Solo Home Run for his fifth of the year. Then in the bottom of the fourth inning, Joc Pederson singled to drive in Austin Barnes. Pederson has been hitting the ball well but just hasn’t been hitting any Home Run’s. The power is there, its there for the whole team but they’re not hitting too many Home Run’s right now. It wasn’t until the fifth inning when the Reds scored their first run of the game. Jesse Winker singled off of Ross Stripling and brought in Adam Duvall. Speaking of Stripling, he has been filling in nicely as a starter, although he’s better in the bullpen. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Max Muncy doubled to score Chris Taylor. The Dodgers finally looked like the scoring would break open and they’d push through the Reds. With a 3-1 lead, JT Chargois came into the game and gave up a 3-Run Home Run to former Dodger, Scott Schebler. The Reds would take a 4-3 lead.
With Chargois still pitching in the sixth inning, Alex Blandino doubled to score Tucker Barnhart. That would be all the Reds would need to win their sixth straight game and win the series against the Dodgers.
The final game against the Cincinnati Reds was on Mother’s Day. All across baseball, players celebrated Mother’s Day by wearing Pink in honor of breast cancer. Some players even made promises of what they would do during their games, performance wise. Struggling right fielder, Yasiel Puig, promised to hit a Home Run on Mother’s Day. Puig had not hit a Home Run yet this season.
Rich Hill started the game for the Dodgers and was shaky throughout the game. Like I’ve said, you never know what Rich Hill you’re going to get when he pitches. He could be amazing one day and awful the next. Hill gave up a 2-Run Home Run to Eugenio Suarez in the top of the third inning to break the 0-0 tie. Then in the bottom of the inning, Yasiel Puig came through with his promise and hit his first Home Run of the season. It was a Solo Home Run but it cut the Reds lead to only one run. That is until the top of the fourth inning when the Reds scored another run. This time Alex Blandino was out on a Sacrifice Bunt but managed to score Billy Hamilton from third base.
After missing time this season due to a blister on his finger, Rich Hill would come out of the game for that exact same reason. He was rushed off the field in the sixth inning and this let switch pitcher, Pat Venditte, come into the game and get as much time as he needed to warm up. I don’t know if he was warmed up enough because he gave up a 2-Run Home Run to Joey Votto and now the close lead vanished into thin air. The Reds would lead the game 5-1 until Yasmani Grandal hit his sixth Home Run of the season in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Solo Home Run cut the lead down to 5-2. In that same inning, the Dodgers managed to score another run via a groundout by Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger was the runner that scored on the play. As the Dodgers have done multiple times this season, they lost the series.
The excuses have to stop and the production needs to start. The team is banged up but losing all four games to the Reds is something that should motivate the Dodgers to reevaluate where they are right now. With Turner and Forsythe coming back, the scoring is sure to increase. Especially since they’re on the road to Miami. Although the Dodgers lost the series to the Marlins as well when they played in Los Angeles. Anyways, now is the time to just play baseball and get some wins. “THIS TEAM!” can do it, they did it last season, now they have to do it again. After all, they have one goal this year, bring a Championship back to Los Angeles.
Leadoff Dodgers 
Way to end on a positive note!
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