The Los Angeles Dodgers went up against the San Diego Padres over the weekend and collected another sweep against an NL West division rivals. Over the three-game series, the Dodgers outscored the Friars by an impressive 20-4 to secure a comfortable 15.5 game lead over the division’s second-place team.
In the 18 games since the All-Star break, the Dodgers have gone 15-3 and are on an eight-game winning streak, with a well-deserved day off on Monday. Even some players who have been struggling as of late are finally finding their stride.
Most notably, Dodgers centerfielder Cody Bellinger went yard not once, but twice in Sunday’s game. They were Bellinger’s 14th and 15th home run on the season and it was his 15th career multi-homer game.
Dodgers infielder Max Muncy has also been struggling but has been making some (very) good contact over the past week against the Giants and the Padres. In fact, Muncy went 7-for-19 (.368) with two doubles and two home runs against the two division rivals this past week.
During his postgame interview, Dodgers left-handed starting pitcher Tyler Anderson had a positive perspective on some of the challenges his teammates have been facing.
“You know, it’s really nice to see some guys that struggled earlier are starting to kind of turn around and have really good at-bats,” Anderson said. “I think that’s really positive for them. Puts them in a great spot, but as a team, too, it just makes everybody feel good and you know everybody is pulling for each other all the time. So to see some guys who were maybe struggling and maybe turn it around and start having some good at-bats, really good at-bats, and be rewarded for that is really encouraging for everybody.”
First baseman Freddie Freeman echoed his pitcher’s sentiment about the struggles, as well as the team’s cohesiveness.
“For two months, I mean, I feel like we’ve just been playing really good baseball,” Freeman said emphatically. “With how complete this team is that we have, when you play both sides of the baseball – pitching and the offense, getting two-out hits. Cody getting going, Max is getting going, our bullpen has been unbelievable so when you just kind of put it all together like we have the last couple of months it’s going to be tough to beat us.”
Anderson went 7.0 innings and secured his thirteenth win of the season, with only one loss. He allowed only two hits and one walk while striking out three to lower his season ERA to an impressive 2.72. The southpaw has been a pleasant surprise for the Dodgers starting rotation, especially with injuries plaguing several of their starters and relievers.
“Today the plan was to go out and attack and try to throw strikes and get in the zone and get ahead,” Anderson outlined.
He definitely managed to do that and then some, as he and the bullpen held the Padres scoreless on Sunday. In fact, the Padres did not have a single runner reach second base on the day.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had this to say of the weekend series against the now-distant NL West second-place Padres:
“I think the thing that we can appreciate most is we just played all-around good baseball,” Roberts explained. “I mean those guys (Padres) came out that first inning, that first game, and really taxed (Dodgers right-hander Tony) Gonsolin. And from that point on, I thought that we controlled the entire series. We just got great pitching and double plays when we needed to get the double plays. The bullpen was great. We had some timely hitting. And from everyone throughout the lineup contributed all series.”
After the weekend sweep, the question posed to many of the players surrounded the excitement over the recent trade deadline. The Padres acquired not just 2019 World Series winner, silver slugger, and All-Star outfielder Juan Soto, but also All-Star first baseman Josh Bell.
Even though it was on everyone’s mind, the Boys in Blue took it in stride. The team agreed that this was just like any other series and Los Angeles plays to win no matter who is in the other dugout.
Freeman reiterated what most Dodgers fans already know.
“I think you guys knew going into the series it was just another series for us,” Freeman said. “Obviously, this is my first year here, rivalries and stuff. I’m getting used to them, but for me, I just look at the schedule and we play the schedule. And I think that’s what we had our mindset going into the series and we treat it as any other series. And we came out here and played the baseball we’ve been playing for two months now. When we play our kind of baseball it’s really tough to beat us.”
Bellinger also acknowledged the improved lineup and concurred with his teammates.
“It obviously feels pretty good,” Bellinger said of his two-home-run day. “With that being said, they definitely got better and their lineup is better. But you know we came in, played our game and, you know, I think that’s the most important thing. It was nice to come home from a long road trip, play in front of the home crowd, and just play the game the right way.”
“Our plan is to go out and try to win every day,” Anderson said matter-of-factly. “It doesn’t matter who it is. If their uni (uniform) is brown and yellow, or if it’s green and whatever, green and yellow. It doesn’t matter who we play, we want to win every game, so regardless of who the opponent is, I think we all try to prepare the same way.”
Once all doubt had been removed that the Blue Crew were not concerned about any perceived rivalry, the team was able to focus on what an outstanding and tight-knit group they have formed. Freeman expressed it best when describing how special their cohort is.
“I mean, I think we’ve all felt the special feeling even when we were winning games early on in the season,” said the six-time All-Star and 2021 World Series winner. “We were telling you guys we weren’t playing the baseball that we thought we were playing the baseball. We were still winning games and now we’re playing the baseball that we envisioned and we’re not losing many games since the end of it. Come on, eighteen games out of the break and we’ve played that kind of baseball over that course of eighteen games to end it like we did over the last stretch, that’s a pretty good run.”
Los Angeles has always had a high standard for its sports teams, the Dodgers being no exception. Roberts explained it perfectly when he called the club “relentless.”
“This is a relentless team,” Doc stated. “I think it just goes back to just putting a certain expectation on how we play baseball. Win or lose I think we can all deal with that. How we play, I think the bar has been considerably raised.”
It is indeed a high bar. As long as they can stay the course, this relentless team that has made it to the postseason nine times and is already on track for a tenth, should be just fine.
Let’s go Dodgers!