Andy Pages has had better weeks as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Friday marked the first loss of the Dodgers’ young season, despite a two-run shot from Tommy Edman in the ninth inning making the final score 2-3. In that matchup, manager Dave Roberts noticed a fundamental error Pages made.
In the sixth inning, Pages was caught in a pickle that resulted in a successful pickoff from the pitcher.
“As a young player, you still got to play the game the right way,” Roberts said. “He was doubled off a couple games ago. And this one, you go and you stop — you just can’t. … Gotta eliminate those outs on the bases.”
The intangibles of the game are not just important in the majors, but on a team like the Dodgers that has talent in all corners of the roster, it is more important than ever to ensure fundamentals are up to the high standard this team has set.
The most recent loss on Sunday came with another Pages mistake, but this time defensively.
While up 7-6, the 24-year-old misjudged a fly ball in the gloomy Philadelphia sky that went over his head in the seventh inning to start the Phillies’ rally. The Dodgers got out of that inning down 7-8 and never recovered.
Roberts spoke on the blunder post game.
“He took a bad read. It was a line drive, hit hard. I think he broke in and then broke towards right field, and at that point in time he was beat by the baseball. It was just a tough read.”
In 10 games this season, Pages only has three hits and has struck out 13 times. His abysmal .100 batting average begs the question of if the Dodgers should look elsewhere for center fielding options.
Ohtani was projected from the preseason to pitch for the Dodgers for the first time sometime in May and the process is on track, after he had his second bullpen session with 26 pitches on Saturday, prior to the game in which the California nine avenged themselves on the Philadelphia Phillies, after Friday’s unbeaten streak was snatched from them, to win 3-1, in a game in which Japanese Roki Sasaki went without a decision after pitching four innings, and the win went to reliever Anthony Banda with one inning of work.
Ohtani is on track to recover from right elbow surgery in September 2023 that sidelined him for the entire 2024 season, but manager Dave Roberts is beginning to lay the groundwork for his return.
“It’s one week, but there’s also the middle week, where he takes the mound on a Thursday,” Dave Roberts said of the strategy to get Ohtani back and added, “I think it’s more about trying to keep him on a similar seven-day schedule, and see what the schedule would be like coming out, and build from there.”
Ohtani will cause a six-man rotation for the Dodgers
Once Ohtani is ready to pitch, the Dodgers will be able to implement the plan of a six-man rotation, with which they intend to take care of injuries to their players, who have had an outstanding performance with only one loss that was the responsibility of Japanese Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who with a six-inning effort, left the game down 1-0 against the Phillies.
In addition to Yamamoto, the Dodgers rotation includes two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Roki Sasaki, who has struggled in his first few games, but is in a learning process towards his consolidation.
Dave Roberts has Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin as other reliable starters, while he gets veteran Clayton Kershaw back, so when Ohtani is ready, there should be no problems for the six-man rotation.
