Page 8 June 15, 2017 Inconsistent Dodgers Finding Success in NL West By Adam Serrao Outside of Clayton Kershaw, there has been almost nothing consistent about the Los Angeles Dodgers other than the team’s ability to stay in contention in the National League West. Manager Dave Roberts has done his best to maneuver around injuries and poor play at times to put together a successful pitching rotation, bullpen and starting lineup that have kept the Dodgers hovering near 15 games over .500. Los Angeles’s ability to make the postseason has never really been in doubt, but do the Dodgers have enough offense and starting pitching to win when October rolls around and games start to mean the most? As of last week, the Dodgers’ starting pitching rotation ranked second in all of baseball in combined ERA. A collective 3.48 ERA has the Dodgers sitting just in front of the St. Louis Cardinals at over a third of the way through the regular season--but other than Kershaw, who can the Dodgers really rely on? Rich Hill has been in and out of the lineup with blister problems and has been inconsistent. Kenta Maeda has been sent to the bullpen because of ineffectiveness and Hyun-Jin Ryu can’t get through a game without seemingly giving up at least four runs. Scott Kazmir is an afterthought at this point, until he proves he can stay healthy and compete against major league hitters. That leaves Alex Wood, who is having a great season, and Brandon McCarthy as the only two somewhat reliable pitchers behind Kershaw who are getting the job done. Despite the lack of big names, the Dodgers City Council from front page continuing as companies develop a fine touch that draws web traffic. This happens in several ways, starting with individuals clicking on a daily post sent to their email account. That can lead to a “like” and a suggestion to “follow us.” This is how a social media relationship starts. When posts on a Facebook company or team page are shared, it creates greater awareness of products, promotions including sales and discounts, and charity and special events. In general, today’s web-savvy marketing team uses the Internet to inform, entertain and engage people around the globe. Advertising and promotional events are still a part of the mix. There are some advantages that social media has over broadcasted messages, such as print ads and billboards, because of the size of the web audience. Here are a few examples of how digital marketing using social media is a give-and-take proposition: Social media generates up-to-date information about the customer. The data can answer such questions as “who’s my customer”, “what do they like” and “what is their opinion of our brand.” Greater brand awareness = more loyalty. When social media is balanced and puts the customer first, it creates an important bond. One study found that 53 percent of people who follow a brand online say they’re loyal to it. When you do advertise, choose the right time and place. Sharing content, such as a video or a newly published report, doesn’t take a lot of time to distribute on social media. Also, a Facebook ad can be built and released so it connects with a target audience. For example, a clothing company can ramp up promotion of new snow boots as the first major winter storm of the year approaches. Everybody’s doing it, why aren’t you? Customers will wonder why a company or brand isn’t on social media nowadays. It’s just the way business is done. You know what they say about keeping up with the Joneses. Plus, a study by The Aberdeen Group found that companies that interact with customers online have a financial advantage over competitors who rely on phone-based customer service, which consumers really dislike anyway. The bottom line is the bottom line: Companies that use social media for marketing and sales say it’s easier to spot the key decisionmakers and get connected through sites such as LinkedIn, which is used by professionals. Nearly 75 of companies surveyed reported an increase in sales within the first year of trying business-to-business or business-to-consumer marketing online. • have somehow been able to limit their opponents to very few runs. Roberts credits competition amongst some of the pitchers as a main factor in the staff’s success. “Competition is always a good thing,” he explained. “When you have very good starting pitchers--and we decided to go with a five-man rotation, which makes sense. There’s going to be a tough conversation with somebody.” That tough conversation has already happened with both Ryu and Maeda, who are the only pitchers on the staff with ERAs over 4.00. In all, seven pitchers have made at least five starts for the Dodgers this year. When the playoffs arrive, Los Angeles will only need one to rely on, other than Kershaw, to strike fear into an opposing lineup. Right now, it’s hard to tell if that one is currently on the roster. Speaking of striking fear into opponents, the Dodgers’ offense has struggled to do so lately, specifically with Justin Turner out of the lineup. Turner has since returned from injury and in doing so, immediately injected energy into his teammates on offense. “It seems J.T. is the glue to our offense and clubhouse,” Roberts admitted of his third baseman. Other than Turner, not many players in the Dodger lineup have been tearing the seams off of the ball this season. To begin the month of June, the offense as a whole failed to score more than two runs in six out of seven games during a slump in which the Dodgers lost five of seven games while Turner was out. They were also shut out twice during a month of June in which the team has been among the worst offenses in the league. During the month of May, the team was among the best in the league at hitting. Dating back to last Sunday, the only player on the entire roster with a batting average over .300 was Turner. Chris Taylor was close at .296 and has certainly done his part to inject some life into the batting order. Cody Bellinger has shown the ability to launch the ball out of the park, especially lately, but was still only batting in the high .240s as of last weekend despite his amazing display of power. That’s where you’ll also find the likes of Yasiel Puig (.234 as of last week), Adrian Gonzalez (.255 as of last week), and the newly acquired Logan Forsythe (.196 as of last week), just to name a few. Once they get past Turner, there simply doesn’t seem to be much in the lineup to fear for an opposing pitching staff. As Turner goes, so does the batting order. “You realize how valuable he is as a player, in the clubhouse and on the field, and to get him back is going to be a huge lift,” Roberts explained. “It sort of will allow guys to hit in their place in the order and just add length to our lineup.” Length has been something that the Dodger lineup has been in desperate need of lately. When going up against other elite pitchers and teams from the National League, like the Washington Nationals for instance, the Dodgers have struggled mightily. In eight games before Turner’s return to the lineup (three of which were against Washington), the Dodgers batted .166 as a team and .113 with runners in scoring position while losing five of those eight games played. That was, however, before a three-game set with the Cincinnati Reds that the Dodgers swept. The Reds sure have their own way of helping an offense get back on track. Despite their inconsistencies, L.A. still has a better record now than the team that made an appearance in the NLCS did at the same point of the season last year. The Dodgers may be inconsistent and sporadic at times, but they are certainly getting the job done and winning the games that they should be winning. Any possible addition to bolster the pitching rotation and the starting lineup, however, will certainly be welcomed and may even be the difference between simply making it back into the playoffs and what could finally be an appearance in the World Series for the first time since 1988. • - Asixlion@earthlink.net “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” – Bobb Unser
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