Dodgers Dugout: Here are some things the Dodgers need to work on

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and that was another great series against the Padres.

The Dodgers and Padres have played each other seven times this season, the equivalent of a full-length playoff series. And the Padres have won four games.

The Dodgers lost three of four, so it’s important to note this four-game series exposed some growing weaknesses on the Dodgers.

—Sheldon Neuse got a key pinch-hit for the Dodgers on Sunday, but Dodger pinch-hitters are only four for 27 this season (.148), with just that one homer and RBI. That breaks down to:

Matt Beaty, 1 for 7 with two walks and three strikeouts

Edwin Rios, 0 for 8, five strikeouts

Sheldon Neuse, 1 for 2, HR, strikeout

AJ Pollock, 1 for 2, strikeout

Austin Barnes, 0 for 2, two strikeouts

Luke Raley, 0 for 2, two strikeouts

Chris Taylor, 1 for 1

DJ Peters, 0 for 2

Clayton Kershaw, 0 for 1

—The Dodgers’ hitting with runners in scoring position has been a little suspect. Sunday it seemed they left about 100 men on base (it was actually 18) and left the bases loaded three times. Let’s look at season averages:

Zach McKinstry (.429), Corey Seager (.348), Max Muncy (.364), Justin Turner (.370) and Barnes (.300) are all doing well, so no problem there, but then....

Chris Taylor, .267 (4 for 15)

Gavin Lux, .250 (3 for 12)

Matt Beaty, .200 (1 for 5)

Sheldon Neuse, .200 (1 for 5 each)

AJ Pollock, .176 (3 for 17)

Luke Raley, .125 (1 for 8)

Mookie Betts, .111 (2 for 18)

Will Smith, .067 (1 for 15)

Edwin Rios, .000 (0 for 10)

Cody Bellinger, .000 (0 for 6)

DJ Peters, .000 (0 for 3)

Overall they are hitting .234 with runners in scoring position, but it’s a very top-heavy .234 and some guys are really struggling. In previous seasons, it seemed like everyone they called up had magic in their bat (remember Kyle Farmer getting a game-winning hit his first week with the team in 2018?) Now, we get DJ Peters, who I remain high on, but so far looks like the second coming of Billy Ashley. The Dodgers have left 182 runners on base this season, tied for the most in the NL with.... The San Diego Padres (though the Dodgers have played two fewer games).

—Everyone steals bases on the Dodgers. It seems like a single is as good as a double, and most of the pitchers are horrible at holding runners on. NL teams with most stolen bases allowed this season:

Dodgers, 24 (five caught stealing)
Pittsburgh, 15 (three)
Arizona, 13 (six)
San Diego, 12 (two)
San Francisco, 11 (four)

—The depth of the bullpen is suddenly in question. Corey Knebel, who looked like the secondary closer behind Kenley Jansen, but he strained a back muscle and will be out at least a couple of months. Dennis Santana is also on the IL after not feeling well after a COVID-19 vaccination. Brusdar Graterol is struggling, Jimmy Nelson hasn’t exactly been lights out, as evidenced by Sunday’s implosion. David Price (poor fielding let him down some Sunday) and Victor Gonzalez have been erratic. Blake Treinen has given up 13 hits in nine innings. Their best relievers have been Jansen and Scott Alexander. And there doesn’t appear to be a lot of help on the way. Losing Knebel really hurts. Games like Sunday can’t happen very often. You have to tip your cap to the Padres for some of it, of course, but the bullpen needs to step up their game. There’s really no one where you say to yourself “Game over” when they come in.

—But despite all of that, let’s keep some things in mind before (as some of you did in emails to me after Sunday’s loss) we cede the division to the Padres. San Diego is only 13-11 and in third place. They were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers, scoring three runs in three games. They lost two of three to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Dodgers are 15-7 (on pace to win 110 games) and still have the best record in baseball. There’s a reason they play 162 games. There is an ebb and flow to every season. And we do this every season. The Dodgers lose three of four and people are ready to throw in the towel. The Dodgers may be highly overrated and will scuffle around all season. I don’t know if that will happen. You don’t either, so relax and enjoy the ride.

Trevor Bauer says the right thing

Trevor Bauer has become known this season for, on rare occasions, pitching with one eye closed. And he usually lets everyone know it’s coming by putting one hand over his eye before delivering the pitch. And he’s done it against the Padres. So, when the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. homered off him the first time on Saturday, he put one hand over his eye while rounding first base.

Some Dodgers fans were miffed. I thought it was great. So did Bauer:

“I like it. I think that pitchers that have that done to them and react by throwing at people -- I think it’s pretty soft. If you give up a homer, a guy should celebrate it. It’s hard to hit in the big leagues. So I’m all for it, and I think that it’s important that the game moves in that direction and that we stop throwing at people because they celebrated having some success on the field.”

And Tatis respects Bauer too:

“It’s just fun when you know you’re facing a guy like that. He’s doing his stuff. He’s having fun on the mound. And when you get him, you get him, and you celebrate, too.”

So if the players are fine with it, there’s no reason for the fans to get upset.

However, don’t steal signs

Tatis hit a second homer later in the same game against Bauer, and Bauer wasn’t too pleased with that one, accusing Tatis of peeking back at the catcher to see where the ball was going, violating one of those famous unwritten rules of baseball.

Bauer: “Am I mad about the celebrations and the bat flips and all that stuff? No. However, if you start looking at signs, if you start pulling this bush league stuff, that’s when people get pissed off.

“There’s no real remedy for the catcher and the pitcher to use to counteract someone looking back at the signs. So the remedy is if you look back at the signs, that’s fine, there’s no rule that says I can’t stick a fastball in your ribs. And that’s kind of how it’s been handled traditionally in baseball up until this point.

“Now, flip the bat and do all that stuff, fine. If you’re going to look at the signs, not OK, and if you do it again, the team that you’re playing probably ain’t going to take too kindly to it and there might have to be some on-field stuff. Now I’m not saying that that’s the case here because I don’t mind it. I’m going to send my message here and tell him that’s not OK.”

Bauer tweeted at Tatis, telling him to “ask daddy nicely” if he needed to get the sign that badly. Tatis responded with a photoshopped photo of himself holding a baby with Bauer’s face on it. The tweet read, “tranquilo hijo” which translated to “take it easy, my son” in Spanish.

Up next

Tonight, Cincinnati (Tyler Mahle, 1-1, 1.74 ERA) at Dodgers (*Julio Urías, 3-0, 2.81 ERA), 7 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570

Tuesday, Cincinnati (Jeff Hoffman, 2-1, 2.66 ERA) at Dodgers (Walker Buehler, 1-0, 2.16 ERA), 7 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570

Wednesday, Cincinnati (Sonny Gray, 0-1, 7.88 ERA) at Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 3-2, 2.56 ERA), 1 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570

*-left-handed

And finally

Vin Scully‘s treasures of baseball. Watch and listen here.