In the past few weeks, Los Angeles Dodgers have seen their standing in the NL West to go from first place to third. The bullpen was scuffing, if not full on imploding, almost every night. They suffered a humiliating 15–0 loss to the San Francisco Giants at home, ultimately getting swept by their rivals.
The team has been plagued by injuries all season long, and overall, the team seems to be lacking any oomph.
But the last two games could point to the tide turning for the team. They beat the cross-town Angels 2-0 and 2-0 in consecutive games, one of which featured a brilliant performance from that beleaguered bullpen.
Eight different pitchers came in Wednesday night to face the Angels lineup, allowing only two hits, both to Luis Regnifo.
Fabian Ardaya has a great article Thursday in The Athletic highlighting what the bullpen did to try to right the ship. They have held multiple group meetings where everyone voiced their concerns and issues, and for now, it seems to be working.
“I think it just elevates us all to go out there and know that we can do this on a consistent basis,” (Yency) Almonte said. “These two games show us, hey, if we can go out there and attack guys, we can have these nights more consistently. … If you have this uniform on, you’re a good guy. You have elite stuff. Go out there and just prove it”, Almonte told The Athletic.
The Dodgers had an off day Monday and Thursday of this week, and are also off Monday of next week. The team is hosting their Blue Diamond Gala tonight, and will be hosting the Houston Astros this weekend. They then head to Colorado and Kansas City, and home to face the Pirates and the Angels again. Only two weeks of games remain before the All-Star break.
Los Angeles currently sits 3.5 games out of first behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants, who seemingly now can’t lose.
Max Muncy and Chris Taylor should be returning to the lineup very soon. Julio Urías goes out on a rehab start on Sunday. The schedule remaining before the break isn’t too overwhelming (aside from the pitching staff having to pitch in Coors Field), and hopefully the team can use the momentum from the last two games to put them in a good position from which to start the second half of the season.