Column: Freddie Freeman is hurting, and the Dodgers need to keep him on the bench
NEW YORK — Freddie Freeman should not be playing right now. Doctors told him that his sprained ankle generally takes at least four weeks to heal. He has played on the ankle for two weeks now, and the results are getting worse.
In the sixth inning of Friday’s game, Freeman got three 97-mph fastballs. He tipped one foul. He swung and missed at the other two.
Can he still generate the power needed to be productive at bat?
“I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t had an extra-base hit in a while.”
Jack Flaherty’s struggles in NLCS Game 5 were strange after he dominated Game 1, but the Dodgers are still going to beat the New York Mets in this series.
He might not get a chance on Sunday. One of the greatest hitters of our time is struggling to hit right now. With a World Series berth there for the Dodgers’ taking Sunday, Freeman should be on the bench.
Dave Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager, made no promises that Freeman would remain in the lineup for Game 6 of the National League championship series. Roberts said he would discuss the issue with Freeman during Saturday’s workout at Dodger Stadium.
“I do think that his swing is not right,” Roberts said Friday. “I’m certain it’s the ankle. We’ll have that conversation, but it’s certainly an option to not have him in there for Game 6, yes.”
Freeman was not kidding about not having an extra-base hit in a while. His last one: a double 22 days ago, the day he injured his ankle.
In the division series, he had four hits in 14 at-bats.
In the championship series, he has three hits in 18 at-bats.
He went hitless in five at-bats in Game 5 Friday, stranding runners at second and third base in the first inning and leaving the bases loaded in the fourth.
He did not play in Game 4 and was removed in the eighth inning of Game 3, after Roberts said he could see Freeman laboring.
With the charging of an unexpected power source Friday, the Dodgers have a good enough patch for the lineup Sunday.
Rookie Andy Pages hit two home runs Friday. He can remain in center field Sunday, with the New York Mets scheduled to start left-hander Sean Manaea.
Kiké Hernández started at second base against Manaea in Game 2. Chris Taylor started at second base against left-hander Jose Quintana in Game 4 and could start there against Manaea on Sunday.
That would leave the Dodgers to play Max Muncy at first base and Hernandez at third, or vice versa.
The monotony of the treatment on Freeman’s ankle — hours of it, every day — does not guarantee that healing is happening. The treatment gets him ready to play as best he can.
It is not that the ankle feels much better, or much worse.
It is not that he cannot do something this week that he could do last week. It is that he cannot do what has made him an eight-time All-Star.
It is what it is, as they say.
“It’s like you’re running a 100-meter hurdle,” Freeman said. “I keep hitting the same hurdle. I run right into it every time.”
Jack Flaherty runs into problems early, giving up eight earned runs in a 12-6 loss to the New York Mets in Game 5 of the NLCS, sending the series back to L.A.
If the Dodgers bench Freeman on Sunday and win, they would have four days off before the start of the World Series. In all, that would give Freeman six days to focus on rest and treatment, rather than on forcing his injured ankle to support swing after swing.
That might be enough to get Freeman into the starting lineup for the World Series. It might not. But this isn’t working, and the Dodgers should be smart about recognizing that.
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