Dodgers: Dave Roberts Still Confident This Team Wins the Division
It’s tough to not glance over at the division standings as a Dodgers fan right now. For as well as they’ve been playing lately, Los Angeles still has a gap to close to beat out the Giants in the NL West by the end of September.
And it seems like every time the Dodgers win a game, San Francisco comes through with a victory to keep that distance. But that doesn’t seem to change the mindset of the players and coaches trying to chase them down.
Every time someone is asked about the division race, the answer is that they have to win the games in front of them. That was no different for Dave Roberts this week who said that he is still expecting the Dodgers to take the NL West.
I think with the guys that we have, there is a very ‘win-today’ mindset. So I don’t think there is any added pressure. We’ve got to win. It is what it is. The Giants have earned where they’re at and we’ve got to catch them. That’s just the way it goes. Our goal, our expectation is still to win the division.
Win today, that’s the mantra of the Dodgers as of late. They can’t control what happens with the Giants, but they can control the games that they have in front of them. And to their credit, they’ve come through this week. They took 5 out of 6 on the road trip and have a favorable matchup at home to start the week in the Pirates.
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No one envisioned the Dodgers chasing the Giants at this point in the season. But no one predicted the Giants would be playing this well either. It might come down t the wire, but Los Angeles just has to keep winning games and taking as many series as possible.
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The best news is that Bellinger is looking healthier and can now push off his back foot when batting, which helps…everything! when swinging the lumber. Having that bat back is very important.
However, I don’t think anyone here is confident in Roberts himself. How many games will he be responsible for losing? He’s already the league leader in that category. He needs to go…
Yes and Roberts in his own way could keep Dodgers out of winning division. We all know thos ways.
If the Dodgers stay true to form, after scoring 14 last nite, they’ll only score 1 tonite and make some pitcher you never heard of look like Cy Young in the process. On the other hand if they score a bunch and win maybe it means they finally get that they are running out of time if they want to avoid the WC game.
Tim:
Well, you are not being negative when you mention the Dodgers’ habit of coming out flat offensively the next game after an offensive explosion–it’s pretty much in their DNA to do so.
So yes, we’ll be looking for the Dodgers in tonights’ game to break that bad habit and if they do, as you said, it will be a good sign.
Of course, aside from their bad habit, coming back from a tough 6 game East Coast road trip, when the games were so long due to rain delays and extra inning games, it’s likely they’ll be gassed.
We’ll see…
Good point here as far as tonight’s game. It may be being gassed for why they make the Pirate’s pitcher look like Cy Young.
SIGH!!! What doew Roberts know???? he can’t manage…. how many games has he lost??? TO MANY!!!!….Hee is a JOKE!!!
They’d have a better chance if he wasn’t the manager. Who’s decision was it to put in Nunez last nite? The guy has shown he can’t pitch at the major league level in his past outings.His change up looked like he was just slowing his arm motion down. Even little league pitchers are not taught to do that.
It was obviously Robert’s decision to put him in but thankfully he was replaced after facing 3 batters. Or maybe an outside chance he was directed to put him in by the FO. IDK
I agree Dodgerglenn. Roberts benefits from a strong and deep club and he’s been lucky that enough of his moves work out. Putting pitchers in who were just activated is not a wise move in my opinion. I could be wrong, but………..
We can win the division if Davey Dingbat stays home.
Whenever DR says he’s confident about something, I get nervous. We need to sweep the Pirates, even with a short rotation. The Giants show no signs of laying down for us. The Dodgers need to pick up at least one game per week on the Giants for the remainder of the regular season.
Dodger106W, it’s best if one just takes what Roberts says he’s confident about something with a grain of salt. An example is that he’s confident that all these BP won’t catch up to the BP or the team in general.
Well, I’m glad he’s confident. Me, not so much. Dodgers had several opportunities to take over first place, however that being said, they can’t continue to take 1 step forward and 2 steps back. I have concerns about the bullpen that now may be made worse with our starting rotation taking another hit. I question the move to pick up Duffy. At first I thought it was good until I read further that he’s on the injured list.. We have 2 healthy starters (maybe 3 if you count Price, I don’t). I’m in favor of bringing Bauer back if cleared and disagree with the nameless players who don’t want him back. I call them cowards for not coming forward with the reason why and their name. He only makes the rotation stronger, which would be second to none.
Kershaw
Scherzer
Buehler
Bauer
Urias
He would have a better reason to be confident if Kershaw, Bauer and Mookie were all coming back. But instead, the Vagiants just got Longoria back, and they just keep getting hand outs from these other teams, they have a very weak schedule, and their manager is extremely ticked off that he didn’t get the manager job that Roberts got. Zaiidi knows this, and Zaiidi knows Roberts just like we do. Roberts is the most predictable manager in the history of dimwits. He won’t do anything out of his ordinary routine. 2-3 guys in the 7th inning relief, Trienen 8th, Kenley 9th… NO CLUE after that…Starts all lefty righty matchups, disregarding who’s Hot etc etc etc. We’ve been watching this movie over and over and over. So has Zaiidi and their manager, and with the factor I’ve mentioned, his predictable moves kill him and this team when it counts the most…. Literally, the definition of insanity…..
Agree! Lets keep going on and take one game at a time. I believe LA Dodgers will overtake the SF Giants before the playoffs time. And at that time all players within the organization are pretty much healthy. I am sure Dodgers will depend their crown this year. Go go go Dodgers! ???
Can someone please explain to me why Billy McKinney is playing every day (or even why he and his.200 average are still on the team) with Pollack and Beaty sitting on the bench?
This clown should be headed for his third DFA, instead of the starting lineup. Roberts talks about urgency and then plays this scrub every day. I don’t get it.
Billy McKinney came through last night (defensively and offensively), but I must agree that prior to his homerun, DR’s reasoning did not make much sense. Despite some of DR’s managerial decisions, I too believe that we still have a chance to overtake the Giants, and we may likely have to accomplish this feat without Betts or Kershaw.
Although Dodgers’ fans should be primarily focused on the Dodgers doing what the Dodgers need to do, I cannot help but to notice that lately the Giants seem to be fighting to win games against their “weaker” opponents. I do not believe that the Giants maintain this phenomenal pace for the remainder of the season (or maybe I am simply hoping that the Giants cannot.) Regardless, the Dodgers have got to keep fighting for this Division by playing great ball despite any strategic shortcomings and/or the fact we are playing without certain players.