Monday night’s ugly loss by the (now) 87-56 National League West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers to the (now) 68-77 fourth-place division-rival San Diego Padres ranks right up there as one of the ugliest of season.
Not only were the Dodgers outscored and outhit 11-8 and 14-9 respectively by the Padres, the normally flawless Dodgers defense committed a top-of-the-ninth-inning error that turned a (then) very winnable 7-7 tie into that aforementioned 11-8 loss. (Yes, the Dodgers scored what would have been and should have been a walk-off game-winning run on a RBI single by Dodgers designated hitter J.D. Martinez in the bottom of the ninth).
That ninth-inning error was a game-deciding collision between Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor and center fielder James Outman on what should have been a routine flyout to Outman (the center fielder is the captain of the outfield) for what should have been the first out of the inning but instead set up a four-run inning for the Friars.
“The rule of thumb is if you can get to it as a center fielder, it’s your ball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame. “They’re both very good defenders out there. Looking back at it, they were both calling it as loud as they could. But to be quite honest, if one of them heard it, that’s C.T.’s responsibility to relent. But clearly he didn’t hear it.”
As you would expect from a respectful rookie outfielder, Outman took full blame for Taylor’s (rookie) error.
“Kind of like the non-verbal communication, just peeking,” a solemn Outman told reporters postgame. “I kind of had my eyes locked on the ball and didn’t peek or anything, so it’s one hundred percent on me.
“There is a fine line, for sure,” Outman added. “It’s just kind of feeling it out and knowing the range of who you’ve got to your left and right. I was a little overanxious, overambitious.”
But as kids today say: ‘It is what it is,’ and as old-school baseball fans say: “Tomorrow’s another day.”
The silver lining to Monday’s should have been Dodgers win is that Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy slugged his 35th home run of the season, a mammoth 422-foot solo shot to right-center field in the bottom of the third inning, to give the Dodgers a (then) 3-2 lead.
Muncy has now homered at least 35 times in four of his six seasons with the Dodgers (2018, 2019, 2021, and 2023). The only Dodger player in franchise history to have done so more times is Dodgers Hall of Famer is Duke Snider, who did so five times consecutively (1953 to 1957).
Play Ball!
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