dam broke Saturday night<\/a> for the Dodgers\u2019 maligned offense, even with Logan Webb pitching. It kept gushing Sunday. The day was filled with heroes, expected and not. Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez recorded four hits a day after he recorded three knocks. Mookie Betts reached base safely four times, including a pair of hits, as his resurgence continued. Ben Rortvedt, in his 10th day on the active roster, found a way to get on base three times. Even Conforto found a way to contribute.<\/p>\n\u201cJust a little bit of luck,\u201d Conforto said. \u201cBall rolling my way. It seems like when you\u2019re in a better place, those things happen a little bit more often.\u201d<\/p>\n
For as ugly as the baseball has been for months, the Dodgers have pieced together five wins in their last six games. They\u2019re doing their part.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last week (is) what we\u2019ve been trying to do,\u201d said Freeman, \u201cand we\u2019ve been able to actually do it in the games.\u201d<\/p>\n
It might be a little too late for everything they hoped to accomplish in terms of seeding \u2013 the Philadelphia Phillies come into town next with a four and a half game lead for the second seed in the National League and with it, a first-round bye. That race isn\u2019t over, but the optimism is real.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve put ourselves in a tough spot,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI still think, honestly, we just got to win games. If it happens, great. If it doesn\u2019t, great. We\u2019ve got to just play good baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019re starting to do just that.<\/p>\n
Shohei Ohtani\u2019s return to the mound<\/p>\n
Ohtani will start that second game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday, Roberts confirmed this weekend, giving the two-way star 11 days between pitching outings. Roberts said the extended layoff was just the team being cautious with their prized star, but it comes with a potential wrinkle.<\/p>\n
It would line him up to pitch again the following Tuesday, and then have a week before potentially starting Game 1 of a Wild Card Series the Tuesday after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Roberts said with a wry smile. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to get through this series and the next series.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an interesting thought experiment to ponder how the Dodgers will map out their rotation and pitching plans, especially if they have to now try to win 13 games in October as opposed to the goal of 11 they\u2019ve had every year under this format. This much is clear: Ohtani will be starting games, so having him start the first game of a potential series would, in theory, maximize the team\u2019s options going forward while ensuring he has enough rest.<\/p>\n
Ohtani\u2019s pitching adds a whole different dimension to this October, but the Dodgers are already seeing some of the lessons he learned in his first postseason run last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, I think there were times where he was sort of even manic, swinging the bat, trying to get hits, chase hits, when guys were clearly trying to pitch around him,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWhere I think now, in this kind of moment in time, where it\u2019s a playoff race, a pennant race for us, I think that he is locked in his plate discipline. And that\u2019s how a superstar manages the postseason, the pitching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts\u2019 message heading into last postseason was simple: Ohtani needs to let Mookie Betts and Freeman help carry the load behind him. That may be even more true this season, as the gap in season-long production between Ohtani and the other former MVPs has grown a little wider (though Betts has turned it on over the last month).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s true always,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cUnequivocally, it\u2019s true. And I say that because if they\u2019re going to throw balls out of the hitting zone and for you to swing at them, you\u2019re not helping yourself or the team, regardless. That doesn\u2019t change. But I think it\u2019s easier to kind of reconcile that for Shohei, when you have guys that are swinging the bats better. But teams are gonna make Mookie beat them going forward, versus letting Shohei (do it).\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyler Glasnow finds his focus<\/p>\n
Glasnow was frustrated Sunday. It\u2019s not like he was hiding it, from his facial expressions to his body language to the way he was searching for a way out of the predicament he\u2019d created. Five of the first 13 batters he faced reached base safely via a walk or a hit by pitch as he battled for a feel of something resembling command.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot much feel for anything early on,\u201d Glasnow said. \u201cKind of the whole game to be honest \u2026 This was, timing-wise, probably the worst I\u2019ve felt all year. It was just trying to go out there and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to recall a situation where that wouldn\u2019t have ended well for Glasnow. He\u2019d already coughed up an early lead.<\/p>\n
Then he came within one pitch of completing seven innings. Glasnow allowed just that one run over his 6 2\/3 innings, striking out just four but finding a way to keep the Giants at bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re always in between whether or not you want to make him work or try to get that fastball early in the count,\u201d Giants manager Bob Melvin said. \u201cNothing really worked with it today.\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point, Glasnow retired 10 batters in a row as he started to lean more on his sinker and his slider.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I love the fact that he is fighting through some things, even when he does not have his best stuff or he doesn\u2019t feel great,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big thing. Roberts has been critical of Glasnow\u2019s propensity to do the opposite. Even before Glasnow went on the injured list this season, he largely fixated on his analysis of how he felt rather than his ability to show up and pitch well regardless of the soft factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince I got back from the IL, it\u2019s been easier to kind of put it out of my head and go compete,\u201d Glasnow said. \u201cIf my stuff sucks, it\u2019s kind of whatever. Just compete, try to get in the zone, get some weak contact. It\u2019s helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is what has been most notable about this stretch for Glasnow of late, even if that comes with a caveat of having his last start pushed back due to back tightness. He\u2019s always had tantalizing stuff, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his Aug. 30 start against the Arizona Diamondbacks and not allowing a hit on Monday against the Colorado Rockies. Now, he\u2019s marrying it with the mindset that the organization has hoped he can embrace.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s coming at the right time. The Dodgers acquired Glasnow with October in mind and then went out and won a World Series with him on the shelf. For as well as he\u2019s pitched, it\u2019s not all that clear how Glasnow fits into an October picture now. Still, his health, availability and renewed focus could be valuable for the Dodgers at just the right time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis ability to block out noise and just focus on the hitter, that pitch, I think that\u2019s the most telling thing for me,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
(Photo of Michael Conforto: Thearon W. Henderson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 When fortune turned for the Los Angeles Dodgers, even Michael Conforto reaped the benefits. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":228082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2502,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-228081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115206952406524486","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}