Dave Roberts Really Hopes This Is 'Rock Bottom' for Struggling Dodgers

Things can't get much worse for the reeling Dodgers.

Dave Roberts's Dodgers have dropped seven of their last 10 games. / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers to open the second half of the season. Los Angeles stopped the three-game slide with a win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night but it was back to the bad habits in a 10-7 loss on Tuesday, the club's seventh defeat in its last 10 games. The suddenly mistake-prone Dodgers made two more errors, each of which cost the team a run—and the latter of which resembled something you'd see from a little league team, and not one of the best teams in the majors.

But it hasn't just been poor fielding that has sunk these Dodgers lately. It's been nearly every facet of the game. Since July 4, a 14 game stretch, the Dodgers have averaged just 3.4 runs per game and its injury-ravaged pitching staff has yielded an average of 5.9 per contest. That's far from a winning recipe.

And manager Dave Roberts sincerely hopes that things don't get much worse.

"It better be rock bottom," Roberts told reporters after Tuesday's loss. "As far as how we've been pitching, how we've been playing defense. I think the offense is kind of starting to tick up, which is good. There's certainly more in there. But I think as far as quality of baseball, it's been a tough watch. It really has."

Perhaps the only fortunate part of this slump for the Dodgers is its timing: a week before MLB's trade deadline, which will give Dodgers brass a chance to perhaps jolt the roster with some imports, ideally in the form of some late-inning relievers to ease the club's overtaxed bullpen.

Other than that, it's on Los Angeles to pull itself out of this free fall. As the Dodgers look to maintain a 3.5-game lead in the National League West, the club's next five series will come against teams above .500.

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