If your lineup decisions are making international headlines, that is generally not a sign that your offense is running smoothly.
On Tuesday, the South Korean news site Chosun presented its readers with this headline:
Hyesong Kim Benched as Dodgers Start .093 Hitter
Andy Pages is no longer an .093 hitter. After another hitless evening in Game 4 of the World Series Tuesday, Pages’ postseason batting average crashed to .080.
With two or three games left in the Dodgers’ season, the time for patience has passed. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has publicly floated a lineup change on multiple occasions this October, but he said the time has come to act.
“I think so,” Roberts said. “I’m going to think long and hard and it might look a little bit different tomorrow.”
Roberts listed his options: Stay with Pages in center field, replace him with Alex Call in the outfield, or move Tommy Edman to center field and play Miguel Rojas at second base.
“I’ve got to make a decision,” Roberts said. “So just kind of trying to think through all that stuff and net it out and see what gives us the best chance tomorrow.”
This isn’t all on Pages, but seldom do you find such a clear-cut mandate for change.
Roberts can list all the options he wants, but Pages should not be in the lineup Wednesday.
Pages hit more home runs this season than any Dodger except Shohei Ohtani, and he is a nice defensive outfielder, but his best position is right field.
His glove cannot carry him. Keeping Pages in center field would in no way be akin to keeping, say, Devon White or Willie Davis in center field.
Roberts has started the same nine position players in each game in the World Series and National League Championship Series. Each one has an OPS above .660 except Pages, whose OPS is .215.
In 50 at-bats this postseason, he has four hits — one double and three singles — and no walks.
The Korean news site put into context its bafflement that the Dodgers have limited Kim to one appearance this entire postseason, as a pinch-runner.
“A player with a batting average below 0.1 is still playing,” Chosun reported.
Even if Pages does not play Wednesday, the Dodgers still have issues. They do not believe Kim can solve them at this point in his young career, but even a couple hits from Call or Rojas Wednesday cannot solve them all, either.
In his last 19 plate appearances, Pages has reached base once. That should not be all that critical to the evaluation of a No. 9 batter, but Pages has been batting ahead of Ohtani.
On Monday, the Blue Jays issued four consecutive intentional walks to Ohtani, saying they would not let him beat them.
On Tuesday, Ohtani never batted with a runner on base, and the Blue Jays decided to let Ohtani try to beat them. He went hitless in three at-bats, striking out twice. His teammates went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.
“We’re facing quality arms this time of the year against really good teams, and we’re facing the best of the best, so I think it’s not that easy,” Ohtani said via interpreter Will Ireton.
“But, at the same time, we could do at least the bare minimum to be able to put up some runs.”
The Dodgers are averaging four runs per game in the World Series, league championship series, and division series. Their batting average in each round, in that order: .214, .250 and .199.
The Blue Jays are averaging 6.3 runs in postseason play. The Dodgers have not scored more than six runs in any game in the World Series, LCS or division series.
In the seventh inning Tuesday, the Blue Jays broke the game open by scoring four runs, in an inning that included four singles, a double and an intentional walk.
“They built an inning right there,” Roberts said.
That is what the Dodgers do, when they are at their best: passing the baton, keeping the line moving, whatever your term for keeping a rally going and trusting your teammates to do the same rather than making outs in search of home runs.
They are not at their best now. They have just about run out of time to figure this out. At the least, they can turn the Pages.
The post Shaikin: Dave Roberts finally seems ready to take Andy Pages out of Dodgers’ lineup appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
