IfShohei Ohtani continues playing like this, he will establish another historic benchmark.
Two years after becoming the founding member of the 50-50 club, Ohtani has a chance to produce baseball’s first-ever 200-200 season: 200 strikeouts as a pitcher and 200 strikeouts as a hitter.
All of this is really just another way of saying Ohtani still isn’t hitting.
If Ohtani masks the Dodgers’ deficiencies when he’s at his best, he also magnifies them when he’s whiffing at the rate he is now.
The Dodgers have lost five of their last seven games, and Ohtani has struck out 11 times in that period, including three times in a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Friday night. The defeat dropped the two-timedefending World Series championsinto second place in the National League West for the first time this season, a half-game behind the San Diego Padres.
Pointing to his track record as a slow starter, Ohtani has said he should be rounding into form offensively next month, but the Dodgers don’t have the luxury of waiting.
Not with the problems they have.
Their series-opening defeat to the Cubsrenewed fears that in Edwin Diaz’s absence, their bullpen will be as combustible as it was last year, as their three most-trusted relievers combined to blow what was once a four-run lead.
Alex Vesia inherited a runner from starter Emmet Sheehan in the seventh inning and he scored. So did two runners Vesia allowed to reach base.
Blake Treinen served up a homerto Alex Bregman in the eighth inning and would have been charged with another run if not for a perfect throw by shortstop Hyeseong Kim to nail Ian Happ at the plate.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
