Braves will lose for lopping off lefty Maholm

The Atlanta Braves probably lost their National League Division Series with the Dodgers before it started. Quality left-handed pitching is the one proven way to slow down the Dodgers when they are at their best, and the Braves decided to short themselves of left-handed starters.

Lefty Mike Minor did the Dodgers in Friday afternoon. For whatever reason, the Atlanta Braves elected to not have any other left-handed starting pitchers (Public domain image).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

After the Atlanta Braves evened up their National League Division Series with the Dodgers on the strength of six strong innings from left-hander Mike Minor Friday, it's more evident than ever that the Braves gave the series away when they set their pitching staff.

By leaving left-handed starter Paul Maholm off their roster for this series, the Braves undercut their ability to exploit the one discernible flaw on the Dodgers. Long ago, we mentioned here that the Dodgers were susceptible to good left-handed pitching. Even when the Dodgers were in the midst of 42-8, when they were winning every kind of game imaginable -- when they scored fewer than three runs and won, when they allowed more than four runs and won, when they were out-hit and won, when the other team scored first and the Dodgers still won -- the one way to slow them down was to throw at least a decent left-handed starter.

Maholm qualifies. He finished the season with a 4.41 ERA to go with his 10-11 record, but he is a veteran with some guile, and he was effective against the Dodgers – two starts, 13 1/3 innings, 12 hits and three earned runs (2.03 ERA) with three walks and six strikeouts.

The one hope for the Dodgers, we supposed, would be the return to form of Matt Kemp, who hits left-handers better than anyone. That possibility crumbled, though, when the Dodgers disabled Kemp at the end of the season.

Then, the Braves gave the Dodgers a gift, putting only one left-hander in their rotation for this series. With all the information and intelligence that goes into running baseball teams nowadays, it's remarkable that the Braves could just miss that.

We don't really know who made that call. Somehow, though, general manager Frank Wren and manager Fredi Gonzalez decided to take on the Dodgers with only one left-handed starter.

A recent Sports Illustrated piece points out that when we only consider players on the Dodgers' roster for this series, they are .282/.345/.424 against right-handers and .260/.324/.406 against lefties. That's a difference of 39 points in OPS, from .769 to .730.

On July 29, when we first touched on this, the Dodgers' .261 batting average against lefties led the league, their .321 on-base percentage ranked third, their .401 slugging average ranked third and their .721 OPS ranked second. When the season ended, the Dodgers were batting .253 against lefties (seventh), with a .315 on-base percentage (eighth), a.391 slugging average (seventh) and a .706 OPS (sixth). So, it's not merely that the Dodgers finished where they finished, but how they finished, which had to be at even lower rates during the last two months to bring down those averages.

Minor gave up a run in the first on a Hanley Ramirez double Friday, then the Dodgers didn't advance anyone else to second base through the fifth inning. The Braves won, 4-3, bringing the best-of-five series to a 1-1 tie.

It defies explanation, perhaps, but the Dodgers have a lot of right-handed batters who hit better against right-handed pitchers. And they have no left-hander hitters who hit better against left-handed pitchers. Left-handers especially neutralize Carl Crawford at the top of the Dodgers order, and, unless Nick Punto is playing, the bottom of their order is useless against lefties.

It would seem that the smart play for the Braves would have been to start Minor in Games 1 and 5, and Maholm in Game 2 or 3. That way, they get the majority of starts by left-handers. The Braves still could audible to rookie lefty Alex Wood for a start, but that’s not in the plans and he already has been used once in relief.

So, the Dodgers don't have to face another left-handed starter for the remainder of the series, which picks up with Game 3 at Dodger Stadium Sunday afternoon. That’s enough to make the Dodgers a rather comfortable favorite to win the series, perhaps as soon as Monday.

Ryu rolls: Dodgers 9, Milwaukee 2

The Dodgers picked up the rubber game of their three-game series in Milwaukee, 9-2, Wednesday, largely because the Brewers couldn't pick up ground balls. The Dodgers actually did pick up ground balls and starting pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu picked up half of the outs he induced on balls that hit the ground.

Dodgers right hander Hyun-jin Ryu improved to 4-2 with a 3.30 ERA Wednesday as the Dodgers won, 9-2, in Milwaukee (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Generic 2.0 license).


By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The game: May 22, Dodgers at Milwaukee, National League. The Dodgers entered the game 18-26, fifth place NL West, seven games behind Arizona. Milwaukee entered the game 18-26, fifth place NL Central, 10 1/2 games behind St. Louis.

The pitchers: Dodgers, Hyun-jin Ryu, left hander (4-2, 3.42). Milwaukee, Wily Peralta, right hander (3-4, 5.94).

The result: Dodgers 9, Milwaukee 2.

Summary: If it's any consolation to the Dodgers, they're not the worst last-place team in this league. Their victory gave them two out of three in Milwaukee, which isn't the worst last-place team in this league, either. Fortunately for the Dodgers and Milwaukee, there's still Miami.

The pitching: Dodgers starter Hyun-jin Ryu struggled with his control and velocity in the first two innings, during which he usually fell behind hitters, regardless of what he threw, and allowed three singles to go along with a walk. But he dialed up opportune ground balls, such as an inning-ending double play from Jonathan Lucroy with runners on first and second in the first inning, then an inning-ending grounder from Jeff Bianchi with a runner on third in the second inning. It had to help Ryu that his own hitters came through for him in the early innings, especially with a five-run second inning that gave him a 6-0 lead. A night earlier, we saw Dodgers consistently fail to hit with runners in scoring position through the early innings, and this was little help to Zack Greinke, who pitched under stress all night from his hitters failing and couldn't make it through the fifth inning. Ground balls produced 11 of the 22 outs that Ryu pitched ... Brandon League actually pitched the ninth without anyone scoring, but he came in with a 9-2 lead, so, uh, good for him ... He did get the Brewers to hit three ground balls, though ...

The Brewers had little hope with Wily Peralta, although the right hander was consistently 95-96 MPH with his fastballs. In the second inning, after Carl Crawford and Mark Ellis bashed first-pitch singles and Adrian Gonzalez reached on a fielding error, Peralta declined to test the strike zone and issued back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to Scott Van Slyke and Nick Punto, capping a five-run inning. Peralta allowed seven runs before he could get six outs. It figured that even the Dodgers could hold that lead ... The Brewers are on the bottom of the National League with a 4.53 staff ERA ....

The hitting: The Dodgers finished the day with 12 hits -- 10 of them were singles. They bunched five of them together with two walks and an error to score five runs in the second inning. They actually hit a bit with runners in scoring position (six-for-15) this time, but it was hardly a landmark performance against the National League's worst pitching staff ... Matt Kemp singled with a runner on third in the first inning Wednesday, going one-for-two with RISP for the game. This season, he now is .177 (eight for 45) with RISP. Eight singles ... Andre Ethier, who sat Wednesday, is eight-for-41 (.195) and a homer with RISP ... Ethier's replacement Wednesday, Scott Van Slyke, was two-for-four with a double and two RBI ... Dodgers pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu wore a zero for four collar Wednesday, dampening what has been a pretty good season at the plate between himself, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke as starting pitchers batting ninth. Between them, the three now are .245 (13-for-53) with a homer and five RBI ... As the day began, the three were a combined .253. Six American League teams were getting lower batting averages from their designated hitters -- Cleveland (.247), Oakland (.246), Detroit (.237), Chicago (.226), Houston (.207), Tampa Bay (.187) and Baltimore (.160) ... In fact, the AL average across the league for designated hitters was only .251 ... Even crazier, the NL was getting a .284 average from its designated hitters in inter-league games ...

The base running: One of the upsides to playing against the Brewers is that you get to run against their catcher, Jonathan Lucroy. Wednesday, the Dodgers were two-for-two stealing against Lucroy, and the Dodgers didn't even play Dee Gordon in this one. Carl Crawford and Matt Kemp swiped those bases. For the season now, Lucroy is only two-for-20 throwing out base stealers, 10 percent. The league average is 30 percent ... By contrast, Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis, who sat Wednesday, has been the NL's best at killing base thieves, 11-for-24 (45.8 percent). His replacement Wednesday, Ramon Hernandez, failed against the only Brewer who tried stealing against him. It was no one other than Lucroy. But Hernandez still is two-for-four this season ... We all know, of course, that the pitchers are vital as to whether their teams do or don't control the opposition's running game ...

The fielding: Nick Punto made an error for the Dodgers at shortstop Wednesday, and there's no apologizing for that, but he's one guy on this team about whom there is no question about his effort and alertness, so ... Remembering Tuesday, Punto couldn't handle hard short hop from Jeff Bianchi and everyone was safe, including Milwaukee's Carlos Gomez at third. Right away, though, Punto blocked a wandering Gomez off third base, took a pickoff throw from Matt Guerrier and made the tag for the out ... Good baseball play. The man redeems himself ... However, Brewers infielders Rickie Weeks and Jean Segura were beyond redemption Wednesday. Between them, their fielding misplays in the second inning cost the Brewers four runs and took them out of the game. With the bases loaded and one out, Dodgers leading only 1-0, Carl Crawford hit a routine ground ball to the left of Weeks, playing second base. It appeared that Weeks had a double play on his mind, but he didn't pick it up first. Instead, the ball bounced right past him, allowing two runs to score. The official scorer in Milwaukee, a soft touch, ruled it a base hit. The next hitter, Mark Ellis, singled, loading the bases. Then, Adrian Gonzalez hit a ball slightly to shortstop Segura's right. Segura, too, had a double play cooking, but he booted it, allowing another runner to score and keeping the bases loaded. Brewers pitcher Wily Peralta, apparently succumbing to the uselessness of getting ground balls, walked two more hitters to force home two more runs, capping a five-run inning .. In the sixth, Segura and Brewers center fielder Carlos Gomez let a simple popup fall between them ...

Strategic moves: We all want Dee Gordon to succeed, because his speed is a nice dimension for the Dodgers' offense. Sadly, his mental errors are destructive. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly sat Gordon Wednesday after the shortstop made the worst squeeze bunt imaginable on Tuesday. Gordon bunted the ball right back to the pitcher, who had an easy play at the plate on Andre Ethier coming in from third ... There's talking among the Dodgers brass about bringing up outfield prospects Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig from Class AA Chattanooga. Probably not a good idea. They can't develop without playing, and it's not obvious where they would play for the Dodgers. The Dodgers certainly aren't going to sit Carl Crawford, the best of their outfielders right now, and that leaves only Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier to be seated. Implausible ...

What now: The Dodgers improved to 19-26, still fifth in the NL West, but they gained a game on first-place Arizona, which lost to Colorado, so they are six games down. Milwaukee is 18-27, fifth in the NL Central and 11 down to St. Louis, pending the Cardinals' result at San Diego later in the day ... The Dodgers return to Los Angeles to play the Cardinals in a weekend series that begins Friday. Opening up that series, the Dodgers have scheduled left hander Chris Capuano (1-2, 4.84) against St. Louis right hander Lance Lynn (6-1, 3.27). Capuano is coming off two straight quality starts, during which he allowed a combined two runs in 13 2/3 innings against Miami and Atlanta ... The Cardinals lead the NL Central and have the best record in the National League, 29-16 entering Wednesday's games ... The Dodgers are done with Milwaukee for the year, winning four of six from the Brew Crew. Milwaukee won six of seven meetings between the two clubs in 2012 ... Teams playing against the Brewers this year apparently get better against them with familiarity. The Brewers are 8-8 in the first game of a series, 8-8 in the second game, 3-10 in the third game and 0-2 in the fourth game.

Bullpen blows up again: Atlanta 5, Dodgers 2

We might say that no lead is safe for the Dodgers, the way their bullpen is going, except that the Dodgers don't score enough to build big leads. Instead, they blow small leads, as they did in Atlanta for the third straight day Sunday, a 5-2 loss.

Receiving another chance to close out a lead, if only by default, Brandon League couldn't get the Atlanta Braves to hit the ball on the ground Sunday (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Share Alike-Attribution Generic 2.0 license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The game: May 19, Dodgers at Atlanta, National League. The Dodgers entered 17-24, fifth place NL West, seven games behind Arizona. Atlanta entered 24-18, first place NL East, 1 1/2 games ahead of Washington.

The pitchers: Dodgers, Matt Magill, right hander (0-0, 6.92). Atlanta, Mike Minor, left hander (5-2, 2.75).

The result: Atlanta 5, Dodgers 2 (Baseball-reference.com box score).

Summary: The Braves swept out the Dodgers, who blew their third late-inning lead in as many games in Atlanta. But the last two, including Sunday's, were such small leads based on so few runs that it's not reasonable to blame them entirely on the bullpen.

The pitching: Dodgers starter Matt Magill came out getting swings and misses at his four-seam fastball, finishing three strikeouts in the first two innings that way and notching a fourth strikeout during that time frame with his slider. But Atlanta starter Mike Minor matched Magill strikeout for strikeout. Through five innings, both pitchers had eight strikeouts. The difference was that the Dodgers, particularly Carl Crawford, hit some balls hard against Minor, which resulted in their 2-1 lead through five ... The Dodgers bullpen stitched it together in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, lefty J.P. Howell came in with a runner on first and no outs, waited through a rain delay and, right away, had to put up with another runner on base by an error to bring up two on and no outs. But Howell struck out Brian McCann, then got a fly out from Andrelton Simmons. With Saturday's killer, Evan Gattis, coming up as a pinch hitter, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly brought in Ronald Belisario, who threw all sinkers and sliders to force an inning-ending ground ball ... Belisario began the seventh by getting the first two men out, then walking Jordan Schafer. With Jason Heyward, a left-handed hitter, coming up, Mattingly called on lefty Paco Rodriguez, who ruined that strategy by hitting Heyward. So Mattingly called right away on Kenley Jansen, who whiffed Justin Upton by throwing all cutters to end the inning ...

But Jansen began the eighth by allowing a single to Freddie Freeman and a walk to McCann, and the disaster was begun with the Dodgers still up, 2-1 ... Enter Brandon League ... When third baseman Juan Uribe right away booted Simmons' sacrifice, meaning the Dodgers couldn't make an out even when the Braves gave them one, the bases were loaded. Freeman, not a fast runner, was now on third, so the Dodgers might have still choked the inning with a ground ball. In some past failures, League could at least make hitters put the ball on the ground. Not this time ... That was a 94-MPH sinker that pinch hitter Gerald Laird lined to right for a single on the first pitch to knock in the tying run ... That was an 85-MPH splitter that Ramiro Pena hit deep to right for a sacrifice fly to drive in the lead run ... That was an 85-MPH slider that Chris Johnson lined cleanly to left field for another single to knock in another run ... Finally, League got someone to hit the ball on the ground -- because Schafer bunted. That drove home another run, too ...

The hitting: The Dodgers put single runs together with the top of their order in the early innings ... In the first, Carl Crawford led off with a line-drive double to left and moved up on a ground ball to the right side by Mark Ellis, just back from the disabled list. Next, Minor buried a two-strike curve to Matt Kemp in the dirt. Kemp swung and missed for the strikeout, while Braves catcher Brian McCann blocked the pitch. But Adrian Gonzalez followed with a fly ball to center, which knocked in the first run ... In the third, Crawford led off with a walk, took third on Kemp's hard double to left and crossed on another sacrifice fly to left by Gonzalez ... But after the third inning, the Dodgers made 14 straight outs before Andre Ethier walked with two down in the ninth and the Dodgers trailing by then, 5-2.

The base running: The Braves made more outs on the bases than the Dodgers, getting caught stealing twice. Dee Gordon, who makes a big share of the Dodgers' base-running mistakes, began the game on the bench, but entered in a seventh-inning double switch.

The fielding: Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis is letting passed balls by him again -- four this year -- but teams run on him at their peril. In the first inning, Ellis threw out Jason Heyward while Justin Upton swung at strike three to complete an inning-ending double play. In the fourth, Atlanta catcher Brian McCann tried to run on Ellis with Andrelton Simmons batting and two out, but Ellis threw him out ... For the season, Ellis has thrown out 10 of 23 attempting base stealers, 43.5 percent. The league average is 28.6 percent ... Playing shortstop, Nick Punto short-armed his throw for an error in the fifth, allowing Simmons to reach base as the leadoff hitter. The error cost the Dodgers a run, as Atlanta later in the inning hit two two-out singles against Dodger starter Matt Magill to get the run home ... Rain delayed the game with a man on first and one out in the sixth, Dodgers leading, 2-1. After play resumed, the Dodgers were a different team. It began with the very first hitter, when second baseman Mark Ellis botched a grounder, enabling Freddie Freeman to reach and putting runners on first and second ... The killer error came in the bottom of the eighth, runners on first and second, no one out, Dodgers ahead, still 2-1, and Simmons batting. Anyone seeing that game knew Simmons was bunting. But third baseman Juan Uribe came up too fast on the bunt down the third base line and didn't even field it. The error loaded the bases. If Uribe makes the play, they get one out, then the Dodgers can intentionally walk the next batter and maybe get out of it with a double play, except that reliever Brandon League couldn't make anyone hit the ball on the ground. Following Uribe's error came a clean single, a deep sacrifice fly, a clean single and a sacrifice bunt, all of which drove in runs.

Strategic moves: After a loss like this, blaming the manager seems almost obligatory. Surely, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly can't hang it all on his bullpen. In that spirit, but not as a second guess so much as a thought for the future, we'll offer one idea. In the seventh, Dodgers leading, 2-1, Mattingly brought in reliever Kenley Jansen while double-switching with Dee Gordon entering as shortstop to replace Nick Punto. It seemed like an odd choice, considering the following: 1) Punto, we believe, is the team's best defensive third baseman; 2) third baseman Juan Uribe was batting seventh and Punto eighth (The ninth spot was due up for the Dodgers in the eighth. That's where Mattingly slotted Gordon); and 3) with a 2-1 lead, it makes sense to double switch for defense. Thus, it seemed more sensible to put Gordon at short, move Punto from short to third and remove Uribe from the game. As it turned out, Uribe made a crucial error in the eighth to open up a four-run inning by the Braves. The Dodgers only had two more innings to bat at that point, so batting the pitcher seventh instead of eighth would not have been a huge sacrifice. As it turned out, leaving Uribe in to play third base was a huge sacrifice. As it turned out, the seventh spot didn't even bat for the Dodgers in what remained of the game.

What now: The Dodgers fell to 17-25, still fifth in the NL West, seven games behind Arizona. If it's any consolation to the Dodgers, Arizona has the worst first-place record in baseball, 25-19 ... The Braves are 25-18, leading the NL East by 2 1/2 games over Washington ... The Dodgers have a chance to right themselves as they go to Milwaukee for three games. The Brewers are the last-place team in the NL Central at 17-25, same record as the Dodgers ... And the Dodgers will have their three best pitchers going -- Clayton Kershaw, Zack Grienke and Hyun-jin Ryu. We say that as if the Dodgers hadn't just wasted two good starts from Chris Capuano and Matt Magill ... The Milwaukee series starts Monday (5:10 p.m. PDT) with the lefty Kershaw (4-2, 1.40) going against Brewers right hander Yovani Gallardo (3-3, 4.50).

Goldy hammers Dodgers again: Arizona 3, Dodgers 2

Paul Goldschmidt hit four homers in three games at Dodger Stadium as the Arizona Diamondbacks swept three straight from the Dodgers. Next up for the Dodgers, the Miami Marlins come to town, and it's an open question which of those two clubs is worse right now.

Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt has hit six homers in 14 career games at Dodger Stadium (Creative Commons license).

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The game: May 8, Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers, National League. Arizona entered 18-15, third place NL West, one game behind San Francisco. Los Angeles entered 13-19, fifth place NL West, 5 1/2 games behind San Francisco.

The pitchers: Arizona, Wade Miley, left hander (2-1, 3.06) Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw, left hander (3-2, 1.62)

The result: Arizona 3, Los Angeles 2.

Summary: Arizona slugger Paul Goldschmidt won this game by himself, driving in all three Diamondbacks runs with two homers. An error by Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon put the other runner on base. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, but for one fastball to Goldschmidt, pitched another fine game.

The pitching: Arizona starter Wade Miley blew through three innings his first time through the Dodgers order. When the Dodgers came back with the top of their order in the fourth, they tagged Miley for doubles by Nick Punto and Adrian Gonzalez, then a single by Andre Ethier. Dodgers led, 2-0. Somehow, Miley ended up outdueling Kershaw in this game. The Dodgers never again put more than one runner on base. 

In a very tightly pitched game, neither pitcher could give up anything. Of 68 at-bats in this game, 17 were decided on pitches with hitters ahead in counts, and six of those were 3-2. The 3-2 pitches resulted in a homer, a double, two singles, a walk and a fly out. The hitters counts accounted for seven of the 14 hits in this game -- one-fourth of the at-bats and one-half of the hits. Throw out the 1-0 counts, in which the hitters were one-for-six, and hitters were six-for-11 connecting from ahead.

Both starting pitchers threw strikes -- Kershaw throwing 72 strikes in 104 pitches and Miley throwing 75 strikes in 102 pitches. Kershaw gave up one earned run in seven innings, while Miley gave up two earned runs in 7 2/3 innings. Neither pitcher deserved to lose, and neither one did. Kershaw took a no-decision and his ERA fell from 1.66 to 1.62. Miley took the win to go 3-1 with an ERA reduced to 2.93. 

The hitting: As usual, not much to speak of with the Dodgers. Dee Gordon was their big bopper, their only player with two hits. The Dodgers fourth inning had the stuff Dodgers fans might dream about. Gordon led off with a line single to right, then Punto doubled to right and Gordon came all the way around from first. Would have been nice to see Matt Kemp get in on this, but he continues to struggle with runners in scoring position and he flied out on an 0-1 pitch. With runners in scoring position, Kemp has six singles in 35 at-bats (.171) with 12 strikeouts. Gonzalez followed Kemp with a double to drive in Punto. An out later, Andre Ethier singled to left and drove in Gonzalez. That was all the Dodgers could put together for the entire game.

The Diamondbacks actually put together fewer hits, but they were longer. In the sixth, after Didi Gregorius reached on Dee Gordon's error, Kershaw faced Goldschmidt, who was only one-for-16 against him. Kershaw went down and in for a ball, down and away for a strike, then down and away for a ball. The next pitch, a belt-high 92 MPH fastball on the outer half, wound up way into the left field bleachers and resulted in a tie game. At that point, the viewer is thinking that the Dodgers should throw Goldschmidt hard on the hands and tie up his arms so he can't get them around the outside pitch. Kenley Jansen tried that in the eighth inning, a 3-2 fastball on the hands. Goldschmidt hit it over the left field fence to give Arizona the lead.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly mentioned after the game that it really doesn't matter who pitched to Goldschmidt, who hit four homers in the three-game series. Goldschmidt hit one against Chris Capuano, but he also homered off Brandon League, Kershaw and Jansen. It seems to not matter who is pitching, or even what they throw. In 14 career games at Dodger Stadium, Goldschmidt has six homers and 15 RBI.

The base running: Dee Gordon puts a spring in the Dodgers' step. He's a threat to score from any base. He tore it up scoring from first on Nick Punto's double to right field in the fourth inning. If he can be the offensive player he's been in these five games since he's been up, he's a lift. But we've also seen the bad Dee Gordon, the guy who doesn't seem quite sure what he's supposed to on the bases or in the field. Gordon had a nice at-bat in the fifth against Miley, working a 1-2 count to 3-2, fouling off a couple pitches and hitting a line drive single to right-center field. Then, before Miley even threw a pitch to Punto, he picked Gordon way off first base to end the inning. Which might not have been so bad, except ... 

The fielding: ... Gordon apparently took that pickoff with him to the field in the top of the sixth. The leadoff hitter, Gregorious, hit a two hopper to Gordon's right, which the Dodger shortstop olayed as he tried to backhand it. The error put a runner on for the next batter, Goldschmidt, who homered to make it a 2-2 game. Kershaw and Juan Uribe also made infield errors Wednesday night for the Dodgers.

If the Dodgers were merely hitting poorly, they could still be more fun to watch. But they are so dead defensively. You never see infielders diving after balls, nor do you see outfielders charging the gaps. It seems that the Dodgers don't have an outfielder who can get a throw to the infield without wheeling and taking a couple steps, and that's with base runners flying. The Dodgers just don't take charge of what's happening out there when they put their gloves on.

Strategic moves: Here's the rule -- play to tie at home and play to win on the road. If you can just tie the game at home, you definitely extend the game to your next chance at bat. If you merely tie on the road, you might not extend the game to your next at-bat.

Mattingly has taken some grief for bunting, a lot of it from people who think the actuarial tables prove that bunting is always a bad strategy because it doesn't add up over the long haul. But even Bill James will tell you that you can never partition the tables finely enough make that call. It depends entirely on the situation. 

Here's a situation. Skip Schumaker doubled to lead off the ninth against Arizona reliever Heath Bell Wednesday night with the Dodgers trailing, 3-2, at home. The next batter up is A.J. Ellis, followed by Ethier, and Carl Crawford is available as a left-handed pinch hitter. Arizona has two left handers in the pen, but both have worked in the last couple days and neither is probably going to get the ball from Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson here no matter what happens. 

It's just obvious here that the Dodgers have to get a bunt down, moving Schumaker to third with one out. Suddenly, a closer who collapsed last year has the tying run on third with two good left-handed hitters coming up, and if he throws one in the dirt, the game is tied. Suddenly, an Arizona catcher has worry about a ball in the dirt, and he also doesn't want to call a pitch that can be hit into the air. Suddenly, an Arizona manager has to ask himself how to play the infield, how much he trusts Bell, and if he might trust one of his untested left handers a little more. The whole dynamic changes with that runner on third and one out.

Instead, Mattingly let Ellis hit against the right-handed reliever. Ellis grounded out and Schumaker didn't advance. Next, Ethier struck out when he should have been just trying to put his bat on the ball with a runner on third. Then, Crawford flied out to end the game. 

In defense of Mattingly, one might argue that Ethier and Crawford, with the platoon and advantage, might have been able to get the run home with a clean hit between them. Ellis had a five-game hitting streak alive, and maybe his bat had a hit in it. But it is precisely the problem with the Dodgers that they're not hitting, and when you're not hitting, you can't count on hitting. You have to create opportunities in which you can score without getting a hit. The Dodgers failed to do that, and they failed to score, as usual. The decision to not bunt, of course, was unusual. The Dodgers led the major leagues with 82 sacrifice bunts last year.

What now: The Dodgers fell to 13-20, 6 1/2 behind the Giants, who won, 4-3, at home against Philadelphia in 10 innings. The Diamondbacks, 19-15, remain one game behind the Giants, who are 20-14. The Dodgers have lost seven in a row, including the first three of this home stand. They have lost nine of their last 12 games at Dodger Stadium. Miami comes in this weekend, and the Marlins, 10-25, are playing no worse than the Dodgers. Friday night, the Marlins will send up 20-year-old right hander Jose Fernandez (1-2, 3.48), who threw seven innings of one-hit shutout pitching with nine strikeouts last week in Philadelphia. The Dodgers will come back with Matt Magill, who gave up five runs without getting five hitters out in his start last week at San Francisco.