It's just the end of July, so it's not time to hit the panic button yet, but I definitely see some red flags on this Dodger team.
For starters (no pun intended) the starting rotation needs to improve. Since the middle of May, Chad Billingsley has seen his ERA go up nearly two runs, and since improving to 9-3, he is 1-3 with a 6.47 ERA.
Yikes.
Clayton Kershaw and Randy Wolf have been solid, Hiroki Kuroda is starting to turn it around and he'll be fine, but the fifth starter spot is a disaster. In the last three outings by a guy filling that spot, the ERA is 7.15.
That's why losing out on Cliff Lee is absolutely devastating. Roy Halladay wasn't realistic, but Lee was. They could have gotten him without giving up Bills or Kershaw. Trading one of the young pitchers to get another pitcher defeats the purpose of solidifying the entire rotation from top to bottom.
On top of that, losing out on Lee to the Phillies is doubly horrible. This makes me wonder what Frank McCourt and Ned Colletti are thinking. The Dodgers have the caliber of prospects that the Phillies gave up to get Lee. They should have done it. It would have been a great move.
Lee, Bills, Kershaw, Wolf, Kuroda is a damn good rotation. Now Schmidt, McDonald or Weaver is saddled at the back end as they try to secure the National League's best record, which is no guarantee.
Okay, it's not a huge deal that this team suffered it's first three-game losing streak of the season, but the fact that it comes at the beginning of this tough road trip is not a good sign. It could easily become a four or five game losing streak. The Phillies are already starting to narrow the gap in the NL.
And as good as the Dodgers were for 60 games (40-20) they've been extremely mediocre for the last 40 games (22-18). Which team are they?
It appears the club is trying to cover up its mess by trading for George Sherrill, but with Hong-Chi Kuo returning and with Brent Leach pitching well, that move doesn't make a lot of sense.
As far as starting pitching goes, they probably go after Jarrod Washburn and bring him into crash and burn for a couple of months. No way that guy is as good as his 2.64 ERA says. He can only get worse.
So now what? This season now has feeling of impending doom. I feel like the team is a bit of a glass house. I hope they prove me wrong.
I feel the same way.
Now we need to get Halladay i know it would require a crazy amount but i think we need him to even be a challenge in the playoffs.
The offense has been mediocre.
This whole St. Louis series was painful to watch.
We need that pitcher where we can basically say "we have the game won."