Dodgers' Distress
The Los Angeles Dodgers looked as good as anyone coming off of their sweep of their inner city rival the Los Angeles Angels nine days ago. It is truly amazing how much can change in such a short amount of time. Since then, the Boys in Blue have lost five of their last seven games which includes losses by three of the newly acquired Dodgers. Jim Johnson was having a rebound year with Atlanta, shocking the baseball world. The Dodgers have needed some bullpen help for awhile now, hence the move of bringing Johnson in. It’s certainly safe to say that he has not been doing well. Johnson suffered two losses in three games during the Pirates sweep of the Dodgers in Pittsburgh a couple of nights ago. Johnson looked absolutely terrible in both affairs, not the type of help Don Mattingly wanted. Alex Wood, acquired with Jim Johnson, from Atlanta made his Dodger debut starting off against the Phillies. That was the game that started this collapse for the Dodgers. Walking away with the loss, Wood’s acquistion was questioned. To make it a full story, Mat Latos also made his Dodgers debut against the Pirates, who shelled him for six runs in just three innings.To make it all worse, these games against the Phillies and the Pirates were all away games. Imagine what the flight all the way back to Los Angeles was like for these guys.The new picking acquisitions are not paying off whatsoever. That is one problem that is causing the Dodgers’ distress. Adrian Gonzalez has a stiff neck and nobody plays well with injury. Justin Turner is on the disabled list, leaving a huge hole in the middle of the lineup. Yasiel Puig and Joc Pederson cannot figure anything out at the plate.The offensive struggles hurt this team beyond belief, especially because these four guys are the ones most heavily relied on in the Dodgers lineup. Time to panic? I would say yes. The pitching staff is almost extinct with all of their injuries, and if Adrian Gonzalez’s injury becomes serious to couple Justin Turner’s injury, then the Dodgers are in real deep trouble. The lead they have over the Giants isn’t safe enough and the Dodgers really need to turn it around if they have any hopes for a deep postseason run. Follow me on twitter - @nathanpigg5