SAN DIEGO — Mookie Betts turned 32 years previous Monday and had a really particular plan for the way he would have fun. “Hitting,” he mentioned.
Betts went 0-for-4 within the Los Angeles Dodgers ‘ 10-2 loss in Sport 2 of the Nationwide League Division Sequence on Sunday. And although one of many outs was the results of San Diego Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar reaching into the stands to rob him of a house run, it was nonetheless a continuation of Betts’ head-scratching struggles in latest playoffs.
Betts, an eight-time All-Star and two-time World Sequence champion, is 2-for-31 within the Dodgers’ previous three postseason collection, the final two of which led to elimination within the NLDS. He is additionally hitless in his final 22 playoff at-bats, tied for the fourth-longest postseason hitless-at-bat streak by a former MVP.
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts says he believes Betts’ shortcomings in earlier postseasons are beginning to “bleed in” to his present at-bats.
“I will have a dialog with him,” Roberts mentioned of Betts. “The very fact is you possibly can’t change the final ‘X’ quantity of postseason video games. I perceive the burden a participant may need. However all anybody is worried about is correct now and greatest put together your self mentally for tomorrow night time and the primary at-bat. In order that’s going to be mainly my message.”
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Betts estimated taking someplace within the neighborhood of 400 swings throughout Monday’s exercise, together with a number of rounds through which he purposely drove pitches to right-center discipline off a high-velocity pitching machine at Petco Park. He walked off the sphere and mentioned he nonetheless had extra swings to take inside. He is intent on working his approach out of a stoop.
“If there’s one other approach,” he mentioned, “please let me know.”
Shutting it all the way down to clear his head is seemingly not an choice.
“If I flip my mind off, it will worsen,” Betts mentioned. “I’ve to maintain attempting.”
Betts’ manufacturing is essential to a Dodgers staff that’s frequently unsure concerning the standing of star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who has spent shut to 2 weeks nursing a sprained proper ankle and needed to be faraway from the lineup halfway by way of Sunday’s Sport 2. Roberts would not know Freeman’s standing for Tuesday’s Sport 3. However he is aware of others — primarily Betts, who resides behind Shohei Ohtani within the lineup — must step up.
“He is acquired to be Mookie,” Roberts mentioned. “I do not anticipate any greater than he is achieved over his eight- or nine-year profession. And it is also as much as the opposite gamers to chip in additionally. All of my ask is for the fellows to be what they have been, what they’ve proven all through their careers.”
Betts has traditionally been a very good performer in high-leverage conditions throughout the common season, together with this yr, slashing .309/.370/.580 in that circumstance. He posted an .871 OPS within the 18-game run that noticed the Dodgers win the World Sequence throughout the COVID-shortened 2020 season, then a .782 OPS in 12 video games of a 2021 postseason that ended within the NL Championship Sequence. However it has been a battle since.
Betts hasn’t been capable of ignore it.
“It is fairly unimaginable,” he mentioned. “You guys [the media] are doing all of your jobs, however you are asking me about it. So there is no strategy to get away from it. The entire world is aware of. It is not prefer it’s a secret. I do know. No one’s telling me something I do not know already. No one could be any tougher on myself. Solely factor I can actually do is look ahead, however I do know it is there.”
