Editorials

Dodgers: The Real Reason Why LA is Losing, is Dave Roberts on Hot Seat, & More!

The Dodgers continue to tumble down the standings, having lost 4 in a row, 7 of their last 8, and 14 of their last 18. On today’s Dodgers Dougout, we take a deep dive into LA’s skid and tell you why it could be symptomatic of a league-wide problem.

Next, we take a look at the worst losing streaks in team history and discuss how big of an impact losing streaks can have on World Series contending teams. Plus, we discuss if Dave Roberts’ performance as the manager and what it would take to get him actually on the hot seat.



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So, it’s pretty easy to look back and really see what’s wrong with the Dodgers right now… Farmer John isn’t making Dodger Dogs anymore! Ever since we all learned that this legendary union had changed, the boys in blue went into a serious tailspin!

All joking aside, who or what really deserves the blame for this stretch of awful play for LA? Let me know what you think!

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Join your DNpostgame host Doug McKain while we break down all the latest with your LA Dodgers. We use our 850,000 fans from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook to gain insight into what the fans are thinking and do our best to represent all perspectives in the Dodgers Community!

NEXT: Fans Weigh in on Corey Seager’s Future at Shortstop

Doug McKain

Doug McKain is a lifelong Dodger fan and hosts Dodgers Nation’s “DNpostgame” show online. He also hosts Dodgers DougOut and the LA Sports Report on YouTube. DMAC is also a rabid Lakers fan, and lover of all Los Angeles sports.

42 Comments

  1. Well it’s easy. Roberts doesn’t have the DH anymore. When he has to manage, it hasn’t been that pretty. They had a chance too bring Bob Melvin before Roberts and look what he’s done since getting the A’s job. Well really there isn’t a lot of really good manages out there. Just like the Cubs hired Ross. I think it’s time for AJ Ellis too get a shoot at managing this team.

    1. Not having the DH, and I wish the MLBPA would have fought more for this, especially NL GM’s. But with how this awful BP has been unable to hold leads is a problem. Robert’s in game decisions are ones he’s struggling with now are those which he didn’t have to make last year. The bench is short and suspect too.

  2. Mr. Leal: I know what the Dodgers need! By gum by golly a General Manager who spells as well as you do ! Then maybe AJ Ellis could finally have a shot at shooting the team… what a great way to start a rebuild!

      1. I don’t know how Roberts has survived this long. Nevertheless this team looks lethargic and maybe a dreadful losing streak is the only thing that will rattle their complacent laurels.

  3. Roberts is the reason for real concern for fans. He keeps trotting out bullpen pieces that give up runs and leads. Dip into the alternate site, make a trade because this team will waste good starting pitching and demoralize our lineup with this group as constituted. Cleavinger, White, Nelson, Santana, Uceta, Vesia , Kelly are the pitchers the highest payroll in MLB will ask to win a championship? After Kenley, Treinen and Victor I have zero confidence in any pitcher coming out of the pen.

    1. and that’s all on doc? he only has so many to choose from. Maybe its just who Andrew got, and certainly we have injuries to a number of players.

  4. My disagreement with Roberts is pulling starting pitching at 6 innings and putting in a bullpen that has been atrocious. No lead is safe when they come in as shown last night.

    1. actually the lead was safe – Dodgers won. With a huge lead you do put in your worse relievers, and save the best relievers JIC.

  5. If the Dodgers fail to make the playoss, Roberts is gone. He can’t be blamed for everything-especially all of the injuries. The GM failed to bolster the bullpen during the offseason. We are paying the price for that neglect, now. Even last night’s win, over the lowly Angels, was a bullpen disaster!

    1. doc isn’t going anywhere for all the reasons you mentioned. “He can’t be blamed for everything-especially all of the injuries. The GM failed to bolster the bullpen during the offseason.”

      1. Actually there are 3 really good bullpen pieces (knebel, Gonsolin, and Price) currently on the IL. Hard to pin that on AF.

        1. exactly – injuries have decimated the pen and hitters. starters holding on while we did lose Dustin for the year. Getting these key hitters and pen players back will right the ship.

  6. Did Roberts trade Floro for Vela?
    Did he trade Kolarek for Neuse?
    What about McGee and Baez? Was it Roberts who let them walk?

    No. It was Andrew Friedman, who replaced baseballs best GM (Zaidi) with himself and the results of his part time GM work are just beginning to come in. That’s right, expect things to get worse. Friedman pretty much gutted the bullpen (and passed on Joc and Kiki) so he could pay Baurer.
    Ownership should show Friedman the door.

    1. as bum4ever said ” Actually there are 3 really good bullpen pieces (knebel, Gonsolin, and Price) currently on the IL. Hard to pin that on AF.”

  7. LOL Easy to say who is to blame.. same one who is to blame for many of their losses,, ROBERTS… he got lucky last year.. but will not happen this year.. they keep him as manger.. the tailspin will contuine… he has always sucked as a manger and luck has played a big part for him..but luck runsout..and he is shown as the loser he is

    1. pretty strong words calling doc a loser when his teams have won the NL West EVERY year he’s been the manager. No other Manager in this span has done that

      1. Agree his record is good but who cldnt manage this team to a title. We have Allstars up n down lineup. He screws up players with putting them in different batting orders and playing every position. Not every player out there is kike. This resting players who make millions is just down ridiculous. Robert’s also is out managed with use of the bullpen….he is clueless. Go ask Bouchy on how to use a bullpen.

  8. what’s wrong?…..roberts!
    he trots out a different lineup every day.
    he’s still in love with jansen.
    he rests pro athletes way too much.
    he hasn’t a clue to manage his bullpen.
    but…..he’s a nice guy

  9. *the lowly Angels with a better record than the Dodgers. If Justin Turner hadn’t been resigned, there’s no telling where we’d be in the standings. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Trevor Bauer doesn’t opt after this year and sign with a REAL team.

  10. IN SATURDAY’S NIGHT GAME ROBERTS PULLED CLAYTON KERSHAWIN THE SIXTH INNING WHIC H COULD NOT HAVE BEEN FATIGUE. CLAYTON’S PREVIOUS OUTING AGAINST
    THE CHICAGO CUBS LASTED ONLY ONE INNING. THE CLUB’S RUN PRODUCTIVITY IS LOW AND OSTENSIBLY IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME WHEREAS THE TEAM’S MORALE WILL BE ON THE SAME LEVEL.I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THE DODGERS FOR SIX DECADES AND AT NO OTHER TIME HAVE I EVER WITNESSED SUCH SENSELESS DECISIONS BY A DODGER MANAGER. ANOTHER FACTOR IS THAT ROBERTS FORGET ABOUT PLAYING “SMALL BALL” INSTEAD OF HAVING THE PLAYERS SWING FOR THE FENCES WITH EACH AND EVERY PLATE APPEARANCE. ALL OF THE TEAMS IN THE NL WEST HAVE GOTTEN BETTER AND IF THE TEAM DOES NOT NOT PUT TOGETHER MORE WINNING STREAKS THAN LOSING STREAKS. COME SEPTEMBER THE TEAM WILL BE THE
    DOORMAT IN THE NL WEST.

  11. Every year many fans call for the firing of Roberts. Every year the Dodgers are in the playoffs with a chance to take it all. Roberts does make many very questionable decisions. However, for years we have watched the bullpen destroy the team chances in the playoffs, or World Series.
    Roberts is not responsible for the GM’s yearly failures.
    All great teams have great closers. It’s one of the most important positions on the team.
    The GM may have to pay a premium price to get a great closer,,but imagine how unstoppable the Dodgers would be then.

  12. This is not the time to be decide Roberts’ future. The end of the season will be the time for that. Same thing for Friedman and the rest of the coaching and medical/conditioning sfaff members.

  13. Dodgers not doing the simple things: tagging up from 2nd base whe ball is hit deep to center field; all the players are swinging at high pitches; when you go against a guy who can’t find the strike zone, why swing @ the first pitch; these simple things make one wonder what they do preparing for teams & particular pitchers. Do they? Who is the current hitting coach, do they have one? Who is the bullpen coach, ahead 14-0 and almost choking away the game?? Something is stinking @ Chavez ravine!

    1. hitting coach got them a 14-0 lead!!! see you can’t blame the hitting coaches when one day the offense shows up and the next day it doesn’t

      1. which can also be a good sign – the Dodgers were in that many games right up until the last out. will they revert to the mean – sure will, the team is too good not to

        1. Are you Dave Roberts Brother. I mean obviously players need to share the blame a little bit, but if you can’t look at Roberts and his lack of Managerial skill then you have to be a relation to him. As far as winning goes any cardboard cutout can sit on the top step of the dugout and win enough games to win this division with this roster over the last few years. When you play the better teams though & in the playoffs the manager decisions play an important role. By the way tell Dave I said hi when you see him at your next family reunion.

  14. Unfortunately with A manager like roberts the team will never scrap any wins on close games. Roberts mentality of everyone hitting a home run will get him nowhere. Now that the bats are dead it would be wise for roberts to play small ball but i don’t think he knows what that is and that’s why it’s frustrating to watch

  15. I agree with AJ, Roberts has always looked for the home run. He has no clue how to manage and manufacture runs.!

  16. Good managers and coaches are rare, very rare. I’ve been a Dodger’s fan since the early 1950s. Friedman might put away his statistics for a year and study Wesley Branch Rickey. Roberts might study Leo the Lip and gain a little wisdom. Alex Cora has turned the Red Sox around because he is very good. He made a mistake, lost his job for a year, and learned from his mistake. Baseball and the Astros learned nothing.

    I’ve had 84 years to make mistakes and learn.

    Friedman and Roberts are not as smart as they think they are.

  17. The further we go in the line-up and this is no secret there is very little consistency in hitting the baseball. In fact is the Dodgers can’t hit the ball. If your looking for that great at bat or a walk off for get about it. The stars are gone with exception of Betts or Turner. But even these guys can’t do it by themselves. The team right know has no chance of winning. As a matter of fact who would think the Angeles would have come back while trailing by 14 runs to a one run game. The only reason I am still watching is the Dodgers have a second to none in starting pitchers.. This bullpen game only show how crappy the the pen really is. Close game make a huge opening for a loss. Look, I understand coming up from triple A is challenging but I lack patients. I old

  18. Let’s see. I have been calling for Robert’s head for years now. Honestly I disagree with 99% of the moves he makes. I can’t list all of his idiotic moves because there are just to many. Sometimes I think that he is working for the other team, but then I just realized that he is stupid. The man struggles to make a proper line up. Who gets the best lead off hitter in baseball (Betts) and puts him second behind Muncy. Probably the same guy that takes an MVP (Bellinger) that has hit more homeruns in the NL than anyone since coming into the league in 2017, and drop to the 6th spot (genius he’s not). He doesn’t stand up for his players and the Dodgers when there is good reason to do so. For example when Muncy got pulled off of 2nd base in the world series he acted like he didn’t even want to come out of the dugout. And when Bellinger hit that homerun in Colorado and the umpires didn’t make a call until after they stopped play and huddled up to talk about it. Well Turner and Bellinger didn’t know where to go because those idiots didn’t make a call. Its not that hard to find out where the ball is. Either the outfielder has it or it’s a homer. Make a damn call already. We should not have been penalized because the umpires are stupid. But yet again the weak dodger manager was reluctant to even come out of the dugout let alone put up an argument. What do you think Lasorda would have done in both of those situations. He would of went nuts, without question. The Dodgers have to beat the other team and their own manager and I’m tired of it. Please don’t resign him. Let’s get Socia…..

  19. After Jansen’s third consecutive blown save and two to the Giants, how much longer must Roberts and KJ be defended? The dodgers won the WS on spite of both and because Urias became the real closer. Jansen will kill you in critical games and Roberts continues with his bonehead blind faith in him. It’s becoming apparent that Zaidi was the real brains and not Friedman. Yes injuries have been a huge factor but bringing in Jansen again tonight was inexcusable.

  20. Dave Roberts needs to be fired. He is mismanaging line-ups and relief pitching so badly that the Dodgers are losing games that they should not lose. Why is Dodger’s current best hitter A.J. Pollock who is batting over .300 batting 7th and 8th in the line-up most of the time? Why is Bellenger who is batting around .160 is batting 4,5,6th most of the time? Why does Will Smith who is doing ok but lacks being clutch performer batting 4th or 5th? This is the reason why Dodgers leave men on the bases and losing games a lot. You need players who can perform well under pressure on those important spots. Dave Roberts also messes up choosing relief pitchers at most important times as well. He is so stubborn and keep bringing up Victor Gonzales and Kenley Jensen at most important times and losing games. Not to mention he loves to bring in unproven minor leaguers at critical moments to mess up the game. He really needs to go. Perfect replacement would be Nomar Garciaparra who seems to have perfect thoughts on manageing games. Most of the time his views are exactly right. Please REPLACE Dave Roberts as he thinks he got Dodgers the championship last year. Anyone with that much talent could have won not one but several during last few years. All of the credit should go to Andrew Friedman for bringing in right players not Dave Roberts.

  21. I don’t understand why he brings in Gonzalez.. This guy has lost it, can’t pitch. It just pisses me off

  22. I can’t figure out why ,when we need to win the division , these guys are rentlessly rested. and why we take a guy hitting 158 and not only play him everyday but move him out of the 8 spot to bat 5th???? Sure looks to me like Dave is playing for the wild card and just trying to keep everyone healthy. That’s alot of eggs to put in a wild.card basket and if we get knocked out in one game I sure would like to see some repercussions for the coaching staff. I mean Cody moves to bat 5th goes o for 4 and leaves 3 guys on base. At this point you got better odds letting some pitchers hit in that situation.

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