The scene within the locker room on Sunday night time was harking back to this time final 12 months.
Mookie Betts exhaled.
He stared down on the carpet and ran his hand over his cleanly shaven head.
“I don’t really know what to say, bro,” he stated.
Within the wake of a 10-2 defeat on Sunday night time, the Dodgers are tied with the San Diego Padres of their Nationwide League Division Sequence at one recreation apiece.
Betts is hitless in six at-bats.
He stated of his at-bats within the first two video games of this best-of-five collection, “They’re all outs, so all terrible.”
With the collection transferring to Petco Park in San Diego for the following two video games, Betts stays caught in a postseason stoop that has stretched into its fourth October. He’s three for 44 in his final 12 playoff video games, relationship to Recreation 4 of the 2021 NL Championship Sequence.
When the Dodgers had been swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks final 12 months within the NLDS, Betts was 0 for 11.
He can’t proceed like this.
For the Dodgers to keep away from elimination at this stage of the postseason for the third consecutive 12 months, Betts has to begin hitting.
Shohei Ohtani will probably be pitched to with excessive warning over the rest of the collection, because the Padres seem decided to not let him beat them once more. Freddie Freeman may not even play in Recreation 3, as his sprained ankle stored him from enjoying on Sunday past the fifth inning.
Dodgers gamers (from left) Mookie Betts, Miguel Rojas and Edgardo Henriquez sit within the dugout through the ninth inning Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)
The burden to restart the offense is squarely on Betts, who’s within the fourth season of a 12-year, $365-million contract.
To be truthful, he was not more than a handful of inches on Sunday from ending his private October disaster.
Within the first inning, Betts lined a first-pitch sweeper by Padres starter Yu Darvish over the brief wall in Dodger Stadium’s left-field nook. Betts thought he’d homered. So did Darvish and FS1, which displayed a graphic on its tv broadcast that learn, “HOME RUN!”
Moments later, Betts realized that Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar had reached over a number of pairs of outstretched arms to safe the ball in his glove.
Almost homering was of no comfort to Betts.
“I mean, it didn’t matter,” he stated.
These playoffs had been presupposed to be totally different. Over the past month of the common season, Betts punished opponents who pitched round Ohtani.
Twice in September, Ohtani was deliberately walked in entrance of Betts. Each occasions, Betts made the opposite group pay, as soon as with an extra-inning residence run towards the Angels and the opposite time with a run-scoring single that broke a ninth-inning stalemate towards the Atlanta Braves.
Within the NLDS opener, Betts drew three walks, however two of them had been intentional with first base open. In his two different plate appearances, he struck out trying and grounded out.
His at-bats in Recreation 2 after his near-miss within the first inning weren’t significantly aggressive. He struck out within the third inning. He popped as much as second base within the sixth. He grounded out to 3rd base within the eighth.
“Not doing it,” Betts stated. “So I’ve gotta figure it out.”
Supervisor Dave Roberts didn’t sound as involved, implying the standard of his final couple of at-bats had been affected by the lopsided rating.
“It’s two games,” Roberts stated. “I’m not worried.”
Final week, Betts broke out of a two-week stoop to ship a vital two-run single towards the Padres in a win that clinched the NL West title for the Dodgers. He later estimated that he took 300 to 400 swings earlier within the day.
Between now and Recreation 3 on Tuesday night time, Betts stated he would “probably go three- or four-hundred more.”
He added, “We’ll see when the game starts.”
With Betts, caring has by no means been the issue. If something, his drawback is that he cares an excessive amount of. However caring doesn’t essentially result in outcomes. Betts is aware of that, which is why he didn’t make any guarantees.
Requested how assured he was of manufacturing on this collection, he supplied an sincere response..
“I’m confident I’m gonna keep giving my best,” he stated.
