This is all to familiar

by Phil Gurnee on Aug 27, 2008 10:58 AM PDT Comment 0 comments

While Dodger fans ponder the latest inability of the Dodgers to find a way to score via the basehit it should be very familiar to everyone concerned. It was only a year ago when the same problem manifested itself leaving everyone groping for an explanation.

108 Thu, Aug  2 box LAD  SFG  L   2-4       58-50    2     1.0  3:18 B Zito       B Tomko       56,000 -
109 Fri, Aug  3 box LAD  ARI  L   0-1       58-51    3     2.0  2:32 D Davis      C Billingsle  51,582 --
110 Sat, Aug  4 box LAD  ARI  L   7-8       58-52    3     3.0  2:55 L Hernandez  D Lowe        52,921 ---
111 Sun, Aug  5 box LAD  ARI  L   0-3       58-53    3     4.0  2:19 B Webb       B Penny       48,803 ----
112 Tue, Aug  7 box LAD @CIN  L   0-4       58-54    3     4.0  2:40 B Arroyo     M Hendrickso  22,057 -----
113 Wed, Aug  8 box LAD @CIN  L   0-1       58-55    4     5.0  2:28 A Harang     C Billingsle  20,462 ------
114 Thu, Aug  9 box LAD @CIN  W   5-4 (11)  59-55    3     5.0  3:35 S Proctor    V Santos      25,965 +
115 Fri, Aug 10 box LAD @STL  W   2-1       60-55    3     5.0  2:41 J Beimel     A Wainwright  44,595 ++
116 Sat, Aug 11 box LAD @STL  L   1-6       60-56    3     6.0  2:27 B Looper     D Lowe        44,260 -
117 Sun, Aug 12 box LAD @STL  L   2-12      60-57    4     6.0  2:54 A Reyes      M Hendrickso  45,379 --
118 Mon, Aug 13 box LAD  HOU  L   1-4       60-58    4     6.5  3:02 R Oswalt     C Billingsle  49,511 ---
119 Tue, Aug 14 box LAD  HOU  L   4-7       60-59    4     6.5  3:01 M Albers     B Tomko       49,399 ----

So in a 12 game stretch last year we scored less then 3 runs 8 times thus resulting in an 2 - 10 record.

This year
Gm  Date            Team Opp     Score       W-L  Rank      GB  Time Winner       Loser         Attend Streak (+win -loss)
125 Tue, Aug 19 box LAD  COL  L   3-8       64-61    2     1.0  3:20 U Jimenez    H Kuroda      46,687 -
126 Wed, Aug 20 box LAD  COL  L   3-4       64-62    2     2.0  3:04 T Buchholz   J Broxton     48,183 --
127 Thu, Aug 21 box LAD  COL  W   3-1       65-62    2     2.0  2:36 D Lowe       J de la Rosa  44,885 +
128 Fri, Aug 22 box LAD @PHI  L   1-8       65-63    2     2.0  2:28 K Kendrick   G Maddux      42,620 -
129 Sat, Aug 23 box LAD @PHI  L   2-9       65-64    2     3.0  2:41 C Hamels     C Kershaw     45,019 --
130 Sun, Aug 24 box LAD @PHI  L   2-5 (11)  65-65    2     3.0  4:11 C Durbin     J Beimel      43,039 ---
131 Mon, Aug 25 box LAD @PHI  L   0-5       65-66    2     3.0  3:00 B Myers      C Billingsle  40,873 ----
132 Tue, Aug 26 box LAD @WSN  L   1-2       65-67    2     3.0  2:36 C Balester   D Lowe        26,110 -----

You would think having Manny instead of Hillenbrand would have helped but alas it has not. What is wrong with the makeup of this team that they are unable to deliver a simple single with a runner in scoring position? Are we to old and they get worn out(Kent, Nomar, Blake), to young and they are not yet used to playing in August(Kemp, Etheir, Loney, Martin)? I can't buy that.

Sample size applies to this whole shindig, but I just found it strange that we are replicating early August of 2007 in exactly the same way in late August this year. It certainly is not the quaility of the pitching. Not with the stiffs being thrown at us. No matter what the reason, if they don't turn it around on a dime this team is destined to look more like Jon Weisman's 2005 Dodgers then the team I felt so optimistic about two weeks ago.

The optimism was based not on the past record of the Dodgers but on the fact I had hoped we had closed two offensive black holes at SS and 3rd base while greatly improving our offensive capabilities by playing the best outfielders we had. On paper it still looks good to me, but the execution is certainly lacking. Why teams go into offensive slumps is mystifying but it is becoming quite irritating that we do it in August.

I'm not sure what is more irritating. That the Diamondbacks can't put us a way and leave us with a glimmer of hope or that we can't catch such a flawed team. It doesn't help that our bench has reeked for most of the season but right now the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the starters who are just not doing the job.