Alexander: For Dodgers, a frustrating night continues a frustrating stretch
A controversial call is the difference as the NL-leading Phillies get a monster night from Kyle Schwarber and take two of three in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — Maybe a good fight would wake the Dodgers up. Old school baseball, you know.
Right now, in the hollowness of (a) waiting for their stars to get healthy and (b) trying to get certain starting pitchers straightened out, anything would do. Manager Dave Roberts got himself kicked out of Wednesday night’s 9-4 loss to Philadelphia after a controversial and non-reviewable play (we’ll explain), and that didn’t fire the lads up but merely frustrated them. Later, relief pitchers Michael Grove and Matt Strahm both hit batters, and the sides snarled at each other but went no further.
All in all, it wasn’t a good evening. But it hasn’t been a good 5½ weeks.
“We had this guy (rookie pitcher Tyler Phillips) on the ropes, and he stayed in longer than he should have, and we left the door open,” Roberts said. “They took advantage of it to their credit, and we lost a series to a good team. And, that’s, it’s really frustrating. Yeah, this is a frustrating one.”
This “Waiting for Mookie” business is getting old. The Dodgers are now 22-20 since their No. 1 MVP candidate, Mookie Betts, suffered a fractured hand June 16 when he was hit by a pitch. More ominously, they’re 15-18 since June 28, when the schedule turned more challenging after nine games against the Colorado Rockies, Angels and Chicago White Sox.
(And if you have to ask why Betts is the No. 1 MVP candidate and not Shohei Ohtani, well, that record when Mookie’s not in the lineup pretty well underscores the “valuable” part, doesn’t it?)
So the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West over the Arizona Diamondbacks and Padres was trimmed to three games Wednesday night. The Phillies had been in a skid of their own (3-12) before winning Sunday in Seattle and then taking two out of three in The Ravine.
If you’re the opponent in someone else’s get-right series, could that be a sign of trouble?
Right now, the team that has won 10 of the last 11 National League West titles shouldn’t be considered the favorite to win this one, with the Diamondbacks and Padres both charging hard. Dodger fans might have never imagined themselves saying, “Thank goodness for extra wild card teams.” But look at the bright side: Maybe their team will avoid that first-round bye that has helped trip them up the last two Octobers.
There are 47 games remaining to change direction and change the script, but it’s going to have to come against the roughest part of the schedule. Of the Dodgers’ next 35 games, 30 are against teams that currently possess division leads or wild card spots or are within five games of playoff contention, including 10 against division leaders Milwaukee, Baltimore and Cleveland and eight against current wild card teams Arizona and Atlanta.
That stretch starts with three games against Pittsburgh this weekend, and the Dodgers will almost certainly see Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes in one of them, though as of Wednesday night the Pirates’ pitching plans were “TBD” for the series.
It’s also the Dodgers’ “Alumni Weekend,” which is a useful distraction at times like this. When the present is a struggle, pacify the fans by bringing out reminders of better times.
Wednesday night’s game turned on a defensive interference call by third base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt in the sixth inning, and the call dramatically affected the outcome.
Nursing a 4-2 lead, Dodger reliever Alex Vesia gave up a leadoff double to Alec Bohm. Brandon Marsh then bunted. Third baseman Kiké Hernandez fielded the bunt and fired to shortstop Miguel Rojas covering third; Rojas put the tag on Bohm in time, but Wendelstedt ruled that Rojas had blocked Bohm’s lane to the bag and thus the runner was safe.
Roberts argued that Bohm did have a lane to the bag – between Rojas’ legs – but it’s not a reviewable call. Nor is it explainable, evidently, because not only was Roberts ejected – the 12th of his career and first this year – but he later said he couldn’t get Wendelstedt to explain why he called what he called.
“As I looked at the replay, he missed the call,” Roberts said afterward, his arms folded and his body language tense. “This might be the first time I’ve ever said that. You know, it was an egregious missed call.
“Their job’s hard. (But) that changed the game. When you’re playing baseball and you are an infielder on the move, trying to field a ball coming to you, and you have an oncoming baserunner, you still have to secure the baseball, know that the runner is still coming towards third base, and then you got to put (on) a tag. It’s a tag play.
“And so as I saw the replay, Miggy fielded the baseball about a foot in front of the bag, two feet in front of the bag, and did give Bohm a lane because his legs were spread wide, with the glove making the tag. … The spirit of the rule was to deter infielders from blocking the bag, not giving a baserunner a lane or a spot towards a bag and potentially hurting the base runner.
“And so this play again, (Rojas is) on the move. He fields the ball. His legs are spread wide, so the lane is in between his legs and he makes a tag. And so with that – again, it’s fast. It needs to be reviewable. That play changed the complexion of the game, and he got it wrong.”
Instead of a runner on first and one out, it was first and third and no outs. Joe Kelly replaced Vesia, got J.T. Realmuto on an infield grounder that scored a run, walked Nick Castellanos, got Bryson Stott for the second out, walked Johan Rojas, wild-pitched home the tying run and then gave up the second of Kyle Schwarber’s three home runs, a 426-foot, 109.7 mph shot into the right field pavilion on a changeup for an 8-4 Phillies lead.
Rojas suggested afterward, “I think he (Wendelstedt) predetermined (the play), and he’s looking for it so he can get some attention … It bothers me when a guy like him or any umpire’s trying to kind of like predetermine a call instead of like, watch it play and let it happen, and then after that you made like a make a conclusion.”
Then again, Hunter isn’t the first Wendelstedt to make a controversial call in this ballpark. His dad, Harry, made the famous (or, if you’re from the Bay Area, infamous) ruling that the San Francisco Giants’ Dick Dietz made no attempt to get out of the way when hit by a Don Drysdale pitch on May 31, 1968, protecting what would turn out to be Drysdale’s then-record 58 inning scoreless streak.
See, in baseball things do even out. Sometimes it just takes a few decades.
jalexander@scng.com