The highly-anticipated three-game series between the National League’s top two teams was anything but. The Los Angeles Dodgers were swept on the road by the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. The series exposed every one of the Dodgers’ flaws.
After losing 5-1 in the series finale, the Dodgers learned how much ground they have to make up if they two meet again in the postseason.
“They’re clearly playing a lot better baseball than we are. They’re clearly a better team than we are right now,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters in Philadelphia. “We really didn’t do much well this series. Starting pitching, defense, we had a mistake tonight on the bases. Situational hitting, getting hits — all that kind of stuff, we were outplayed.”
The Dodgers were held to just five runs and didn’t have a starting pitcher complete five innings in the series, a recurring theme over the past few weeks. They are also dealing with an injured list of 15 players, but Freddie Freeman is not using that as an excuse.
“We didn’t play very good that series,” said Freeman, who went 0-for-10 in the three games, via MLB.com. “There’s nothing to spin it any different way. We didn’t hit. We didn’t do much. As a group, we just have to put it behind us, go to Detroit tomorrow and try to win a series.”
Despite the injuries, the Dodgers have to find a way to finish the first half of the season on a high note. Taking down American League Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal on Friday might get some momentum back. It will be up to the guys in uniform to get it going through the All-Star Break and beyond.
