It is easy to get spoiled as a Dodger fan when your team has 110 wins and is seemingly breaking records each and every night since clinching their postseason berth. However, it bears remembering that it takes two teams to play, and any team can win on any given night.
Sunday was a perfect example of this. Los Angeles dropped the third game of a six-game series against the Colorado Rockies with a score of 4-1. They made some gains with their starting pitching but ultimately could not bolster it with their offense.
The Boys in Blue still have three more chances to add to their historic year before they close the 2022 regular season Wednesday afternoon. The players are only focused on one game at a time and have not even considered the playoffs…yet.
Dodgers utility outfielder Trayce Thompson confirmed this mindset during his postgame interview with SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson.
“I don’t really think about it like that,” Thompson explained. “I just go out like, you know, ‘we got a game tomorrow.’ Just got to do what I can to prepare and, you know, be in a good spot to help the team win a game tomorrow. I don’t know, maybe I’m just naive, but I haven’t really thought about any of those days in the coming weeks. But I just try to take care of today. And now that today’s over, try to prepare for tomorrow.”
Thompson has had a rough couple of weeks at the plate but has managed to bounce back over the weekend. Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts has been paying attention to the improvements with the outfielder who singled twice, took a walk, and stole a base.
“You know, since he came up, he’s had some big hits for us, and played a great defense and performed very consistently,” Roberts shared. “So the last couple weeks, I think, has been a little grind for him. But he’s still taking walks when he needs to. And for him to get a couple hits, I thought was really good. And he’s hit good pitching. His quality at-bat isn’t going unnoticed.”
Dodgers starting left-handed pitcher Tyler Anderson had his own struggles, going a total of five innings while still collecting another milestone for himself. He gave up six hits and two earned runs, including a home run off of 86 pitches, with 63 of those called strikes.
He may have gotten the loss, but he managed to strike out ten batters. That matched his career high, which he has accomplished two other times. The last occurrence, coincidentally, was as a member of the Colorado Rockies against the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 6th, 2017.
Anderson shared his thoughts after the game as to how his outing went.
“It’s good. You know obviously, you don’t want to go out with a loss,” said Anderson, stating the obvious. “I feel like, for the most part, I made pretty good pitches. I feel like I’m in a good spot. I’ll take that overall. I think, obviously, I’d like a little more length, too, but in general, I’m just feeling good enough and healthy, which is good.
“For me the regular season was good,” the starter continued. “But, you know, I didn’t want to come here to have a good regular season, I wanted to come to play on a team that has a chance to go to the postseason, so, you know, once that starts, hopefully the best starts are ahead of me.”
Regardless of how the game played out, the squad is elite and will be heading into the postseason within a couple of weeks. Looking back, Roberts summarized his thoughts on the team and how they show up to each game ready to play.
“I think there’s a relentlessness to it,” the Doc recapped. “Some of it’s innate – Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts – some of it is learned by some guys. But I think just, as a group, it’s a very focused group. It’s a testament to these guys and the coaches to show up every single day to kind of try to realize a certain standard or bar that we’ve created here. It’s the best team we’ve had.”
Most fans would agree with their skipper that this team is pretty special. You statistically cannot win every game. Despite this, the Dodgers have done a great job making a statement this season, proving why they lead the league. This was evident by the loud cheering throughout the stadium as players entered the batter’s box or made stellar plays.
Here’s to the final three games of the series against Colorado and hopefully stockpiling a few more wins.
Let’s go Dodgers!