Exclusive | Dodgers World Series hero sounds alarm after ugly sweep to Braves: We have to stop beating ourselves
The Los Angeles Dodgers can explain away a bad week.They can survive a bad month.
They’ve developed enough October scars and earned enough championship rings to understand that baseball seasons are rarely linear. But what they absolutely can not do is beat themselves. “We need to start playing better baseball — our brand of baseball — which is not beating ourselves,” Miguel Rojas told the California Post recently in an exclusive interview. Those words felt particularly prophetic after the Dodgers were swept by the Braves in Atlanta, dropping them to 11-13 in August and 24-24 since July 1.On Tuesday night, the Dodgers put the tying run on third with nobody out in the ninth and stranded him.Wednesday, they recorded the first two outs of the bottom of the ninth before allowing Atlanta to walk them off.
Thursday, the bats disappeared entirely, striking out 11 times against Chris Sale in a 1-0 shutout loss.Three games.Three different ways to lose.Still, inside the Dodgers clubhouse, nobody is reaching for the panic button.“We’ve been in that situation before.
We’ve been against the wall.We’ve been on top,” Rojas said.
“I think it’s because of the experience that we know we will turn it around.”Kiké Hernández believes the Dodgers’ annual late-summer swoon has almost become predictable.“If you really follow Dodger baseball the last three years, it’s almost like it’s a trend for the team to struggle around this time of the year,” Hernández told the California Post.“A little grind, a little tough stretch is not going to make us doubt or panic in any sense.”There is also an unavoidable physical toll.Manager Dave Roberts noted that no team has logged more baseball — or more miles — than the Dodgers during their championship run.“You’re talking about Seoul to New York to Tokyo to Canada,” Roberts told the California Post.
“We have played more baseball than anyone.”Roberts, however, refuses to make fatigue an excus...