Is The Dodgers Slump Terminal?

If you look at the National League standings, there’s something shocking at the bottom, where the Dodgers came into today’s games tied for the worst record in the NL. The 8-13 start is tied for the poorest the franchise has made since moving to LA, and the team has lost of seven of nine on the recent road-trip, dropping series to the Reds and Nationals, before getting swept by the Mets. Is their season over before it has barely started?

↵That’s likely premature. The Dodgers may have lost seven straight road series, dating back to last season, but they’ve also won five straight series in Chavez Ravine. They will be hunkering down there a lot in the coming games, with 30 of the next 42 contests at home. However, LA is simply allowing too many runs: at time of writing, their pitching staff lead only the woeful Pirates in total runs conceded, and on Sunday send to the mound Carlos Monasterios, a Rule 5 pick with one career start above A-ball.

↵Certainly, the calf injury which sent Manny Ramirez to the DL didn’t help: they are 7-6 when he appears, 1-7 when he doesn’t. And the Dodgers have also played woeful defense: 21 errors have led to 19 unearned runs, both numbers bad enough to lead the league. But it’s the back-end of the rotation which is in disarray. After 12 starts, Vincente Padilla, Charlie Haeger and Chad Billingsley have two wins, with a collective ERA of 6.64. An injury to Padilla, and lack of available options, have led to the Monasterios situation described earlier.

↵The upcoming homestand is a crucial litmus-test, as they face Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Colorado over ten games. The Dodgers will want to post a winning record in these games, though Ramirez is not eligible to return until the last game of the stand. Fortunately for them, the NL West still promises to be one of the tightest divisions in baseball, but they can’t afford to lose much more ground on the rest of the teams.

↵(Ed note: Dodgers dropped fifth straight Thursday, losing to Pittsburgh, 2-0, to fall to 8-14.)