Dodgers Update: Fall Behind Giants, Rockies in NL West (Video)

This week in Dodgers News, the team comes home 5-4 after a tough road trip with rain delays, a doubleheader and extra innings. The Dodgers have now fallen behind the Giants and the Rockies in the NL West and both Dan Haren and Don Mattingly think the team isn’t playing to its full potential.

The Dodgers have lost seven times this season in one-run games, and Haren believes the team has yet to find its groove. He told ESPN LA’s Mark Saxon, he feels the team is treading water right now:

“We’re a few games over .500 in a good division and haven’t quite hit our stride yet.”

The Dodgers are still off to a better start than last season, but they’ve also had to deal with a lot of injuries. He mentioned his back is more sore than usual and said he feels discomfort 24 hours a day, seven days a week at this point in his career. Luckily, there are no signs of him being placed on the DL anytime soon.

Mattingly also commented on the way the Dodgers have been playing and didn’t want to blame the circumstances of the road trip on the team’s performance. He told Kevin Baxter of the LA Times:

“I don’t want to accept that just because you had some tough travel and you had some tough games that that changes anything. You get your rest, you reload and you go. That’s just what our game calls for. You travel a lot. You play a lot.”

The Dodgers have some work to do now that they’ll be playing on home turf for a week, and there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. As of now, they have the 33 errors–the second highest number in the league and their bullpen has the most losses in baseball.