![](./pubData/source/images/pages/page5.jpg)
EL SEGUNDO HERALD September 14, 2017 Page 5
Dodgers Look Horrible, But
That Really Doesn’t Matter
By Adam Serrao
It has become a year of records and streaks
for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have simultaneously
looked like the utter and complete
best team and now the absolute worst team in
Major League Baseball this season. The Boys
in Blue, who at one time not long ago looked
destined for greatness, began looking black and
blue. As of last Sunday, they were still stuck
in a losing streak that they simply couldn’t
seem to halt. Every great baseball team hits
a skid. It’s simply a matter of how long that
skid lasts. For the Dodgers, while it seems as
if their current slide was lasting forever, it’s
better for the team to figure it out now during
the stretch run of the regular season than
once the playoffs roll around in early October.
It wasn’t long ago that everyone around
baseball was talking about how the Dodgers
hadn’t lost a series to an opposing team since the
beginning of the month of June. Since that time,
someone obviously took it upon themselves to
create a voodoo doll with a big Los Angeles
logo on the front of it in an effort to bring a
team that looked like one of the best ever back
down to the mean. Now as of last weekend,
the Dodgers hadn’t won a series since late
August, finding ways to lose games in every
way imaginable. They could lose close, like
they did last Friday night in a 5-4 loss to the
Colorado Rockies. They could get demolished,
like they did in a 13-0 loss to the Arizona
Diamondbacks. Or, they could lose two games
in one day like they did two weeks ago when
they dropped a doubleheader to the San Diego
Padres over the Labor Day weekend.
Labor seems to be the key word here, as
the Dodgers are struggling on the mound
and most notably, at the plate. “It’s bad right
now,” Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw began to
explain. “There’s no getting around that. When
you compare it to the first half, however many
games we played it’s pretty stark opposite. If
anything, it doesn’t make this easier.” Nothing
is ever easy about losing. Especially when
you’re Clayton Kershaw and your team had
won the previous 16 consecutive games that
you had started. Even the great one had been
made victim of the slide, however, as the threetime
Cy Young Award-winner pitched arguably
his worst outing of the year by giving up four
earned runs through just 3.2 innings in a 9-1
loss to the Rockies last Thursday night.
From going 53-10 and on pace to capture
the most wins in MLB history to losing eight
of the team’s first nine games in September
(and the five games in a row preceding that) is
demoralizing, to say the least. Even still, there
is no reason to worry just yet. Rival manager
of the Rockies, Bud Black, perhaps summed
it up the best when speaking of the Dodgers
slide after his team’s 5-4 win in Los Angeles
last Friday night. “If you look at the landscape
of our game and you look at every team – all
30 of them – you see segments of the season
like this. It’s what happens over the length
of six months. It’s very difficult to sustain a
great deal of success because there’s always
someone on the other side coming for you.”
The majority of the Dodger losses during their
skid have not only come at the hands of their
rivals from the NL West, but the rivals like the
Rockies and the Diamondbacks who are fighting
for their playoff lives. To say that those
teams simply want it more right now, especially
when up against the best team in all of baseball
and the one that is in first place in their division,
would be an understatement. While that
doesn’t sound good to say of a Dodgers team
that should want every game just as badly as
their opponent does, winning 90 games and
basically clinching your division before the last
week of August goes a long way to afford you
some time of relief in a long 162-game season.
What we’ve seen of the Dodgers lately is
manager Dave Roberts being very liberal with
his disabled list. Kershaw, Yu Darvish, Corey
Seager, Cody Bellinger and more have all been
thrown on the DL lately, not because most have
serious injuries, but because Roberts would
rather have them around, fully healthy and
clicking on all cylinders in October rather than
in August and September. Missing key players
and offensive pieces of the roster like the ones
listed above can certainly do its part to throw a
wrench into the concept of outscoring an opponent.
What it also does, however, is gives other,
lesser involved players, the opportunity to get
at-bats in competitive situations in order to gear
up and get them ready for a World Series run.
If the Dodgers know one thing about playoff
competition, it’s how easy it is to get beaten when
you’re off of your game. Los Angeles has won
four consecutive NL West titles, yet has come
up short every single year when the games tend
to matter the most. Whether you’re the 2006 St.
Louis Cardinals, the 2000 New York Yankees,
or a handful of other great teams from the past,
a slump is a necessary part of a great season.
Like winning, losing becomes contagious. Once
the games begin to matter again for a team
that is still miles ahead in its own division,
winning will do its part to reappear, turning
any memory of a so-called losing streak into nothing
but a distant memory. Some might say that
winning is always important on a night-in and
night-out basis, but most Dodger fans would
much rather have the “Ws” pile up once the new
and more important season begins in October.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com
Talented Trio Will Lead
Girls’ Volleyball This Season
Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo High School girls’
volleyball team looks to build on the success
enjoyed in 2016. Last year, the Lady Eagles
finished 15-9 and advanced to the CIFSouthern
Section quarterfinals.
The team lost nine seniors from last
year’s team that tied a program record for
the farthest advancement in the CIF playoffs.
SBA loans.
Business credit lines.
Cash management services.
Commercial RE, construction
and equipment loans.
Tiffany Clyne
Senior Vice President
310.321.3282
tclyne@grandpointbank.com
1960 E. Grand Avenue, Suite 1200
El Segundo, CA 90245
grandpointbank.com
Five-Star
Superior Rating
by BauerFinancial
The Lady Eagles lost to Alemany in
the quarterfinals of Division 5. Head coach
Eduardo Bacil will look to fill key positions,
including outside hitter and setter. Eight
players return from last year’s squad with a
host of seniors. Maddie Kurke, a four-year
starter, leads the team as an outside hitter.
She had a hitting percentage of .306 with
Romero and Freeman Lead
Eagles Over Oak Park
By Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo Eagles improved to 2-0
with their 35-3 win over Oak Park in a
non-conference game. It marked the third
consecutive win over Oak Park, including a
CIF-SS semifinal win in 2013 and last season’s
30-19 non-conference win on the road.
The Eagles wasted no time in taking an
early lead and building on it in the first
quarter. Junior quarterback Matt Romero
guided his team on a seven-play 48-yard
drive capped by a seven-yard touchdown
pass to Kyle Freeman.
After the Eagles defense stopped Oak Park
on their next possession Danny McEntee, who
was named So Cal Prep Legends Athlete of
the Week for his game against Leuzinger,
returned the punt 35 yards to inside the
Oak Park five-yard line. Penalties moved the
ball back and two plays later Romero found
Freeman open on an identical swing pass
that led to the first touchdown. This time,
it was from eight yards away and resulted
in a 14-0 lead.
El Segundo scored its third touchdown
of the first quarter with less than a minute
remaining. Starting from the Eagle 40-yard
line, Romero found Devin Bonney open for
a 40-yard pass play. McEntee’s 15-yard run
helped set up his four-yard touchdown run.
Tyler Villalobos, who was perfect on PAT
attempts, made it 21-0.
The Eagles were dominant on offense in
the first quarter, but were stopped by Oak
Park’s adjustments in the second quarter.
Oak Park was unable to get any offense going
throughout the first half and settled for
23-yard field goal late in the second quarter.
The second half was marred by numerous
errors including unsportsmanlike penalties,
personal fouls and false starts by the Eagles.
Still, El Segundo’s offense was able to move
the ball. On their first possession the Eagles
drove the ball to Oak Park’s five-yard line,
but penalties pushed the ball back and the
team settled for a field goal attempt that was
partially blocked and missed.
“There are three
types of baseball
players: Those who
make it happen,
those who watch
it happen and
those who wonder
what happens.”
– Tommy Lasorda
Kylee Glickman is a defensive specialist who recorded 230 digs last season.
See Girls’ Volleyball, page 8
See Eagles, page 8