SAN FRANCISCO _ The closer is no longer inevitable. The ace walked the park in his last start. The lineup lacks continuity and consistency. The bullpen behaves like butane.
Through 27 games, the 2018 edition of the Los Angeles Dodgers has offered more headaches than postgame handshakes, more defeats than victories. They reside closer to the basement of the National League West than the summit. Their play has wearied manager Dave Roberts. He has seen pitchers combust and hitters fail without protest. He lost a game this weekend when a reliever fell off the mound. He understands reinforcements may not be coming.
Yet Roberts maintained a veneer of confidence Sunday morning, a couple hours before a 4-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants. Perhaps he was posturing for the cameras. Perhaps he was reminding himself of his team's pedigree. Or perhaps he genuinely believes his team's April is an aberration. He insisted his expectations have not dipped.
"When it's all said and done, the Dodgers will be at the top of the division," Roberts said. "I believe that. We believe that. That's why you play 162 games, and not 30, 35, whatever, however many games. I don't even look at the standings anymore."
Roberts should keep his eyes averted. The Dodgers (12-15) lost a series last week to 9-18 Miami and lost three of four to a threadbare Giants team this weekend. On Sunday, Kenta Maeda yielded a three-run homer in the first inning and gave up one more run before exiting after six. The hitters produced two runs in six innings against San Francisco starter Ty Blach.
The schedule offers no relief. On Monday, the Dodgers will bring their mangled starting rotation and popgun lineup to Arizona for a four-game series against the division-leading Diamondbacks. The team planned to activate Rich Hill for the series opener, but Hill was diagnosed with an infection in his left middle finger on Sunday morning.
In Hill's place, the team recalled Brock Stewart; he is the likely starter. The team hopes to recall rookie Walker Buehler to start this weekend in Monterrey, Mexico, against the Padres. Buehler was optioned to class-A Rancho Cucamonga after appearing as the 26th man in Saturday's doubleheader and winning the opener.
"It's manageable," Roberts said. "There's some moving pieces. But we'll manage."
At this juncture, it is unclear what the Dodgers do exceptionally well. They profile as a mediocre team. They entered Sunday with an offense ranked 14th in on-base plus slugging percentage and a pitching staff ranked 11th in earned-run average. Kenley Jansen has blown more saves than he did during the entirety of 2017. Clayton Kershaw owns a 1-4 record and walked six Miami Marlins in his last loss.
The most troublesome area might be the bullpen. Under the leadership of president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, the Dodgers have excelled at assembling inexpensive assets around an All-Star closer like Jansen. That strategy has yet to pay dividends this season.
Handcuffed by fear of violating the sport's luxury-tax threshold, the Dodgers shied away from free-agent relievers like Brandon Morrow and Wade Davis. The front office views this market as inefficient, as teams spend too much for volatile assets.
"When you go out and invest heavily in veteran bullpen arms, you have the comfort on opening day of knowing who your guys are and how you're going to use them," Zaidi said. "When you have a younger mix of guys like we have, or your bringing in guys who may have less defined roles, the early part of the season you're sorting through things and hoping guys emerge. The last couple years, they have."
Thus far their own acquisitions have not panned out. Tom Koehler has not thrown a pitch since injuring his shoulder in spring training. J.T. Chargois has intrigued team officials but has yet to earn the trust of Roberts. Daniel Hudson surrendered five runs in his first three appearances. Scott Alexander walked more batters than he struck out during an unsteady 11-game stint; the team demoted Alexander to triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday. "The fastball command is nowhere near as consistent as it needs to be," Roberts said.
The holdovers from 2017 have also suffered hiccups. The fastball velocity of Tony Cingrani disappeared during his outing on Friday. Cingrani cited fatigue, a condition known as "dead arm," for his performance. Pedro Baez experienced a wretched weekend. He tripped on the mound to balk in the go-ahead run on Friday. A day later, he failed to complete an inning despite the Dodgers holding a 10-run lead.
Zaidi shot down the suggestion of moving Maeda to the bullpen, where he starred last October. Maeda's contract is heavily incentivized for him to remain a starting pitcher. "That's not a real consideration," Zaidi said.
There are no saviors available in the minors. The team does not intend to use Buehler as a reliever. The alternatives in Oklahoma City include Yimi Garcia and Pat Venditte, but the Dodgers expect their improvements to come from the players already on the roster.
"These are our guys," Roberts said on Saturday night. He did not intend his words as a threat. They only sounded that way.
This is the team. They have already promoted their top two prospects, Buehler and outfielder Alex Verdugo. The team is not expected to add much salary before the trade deadline this summer. If the Dodgers intend to win a sixth consecutive division title, they will rely upon the players they've already assembled.
On Sunday morning, Roberts sounded like a man trying to will that outcome into existence. A few hours later, his players made their manager look delusional.
"If you don't believe it, then who will?" Roberts said. "You've got to be your No. 1 biggest fan. You've got to be the biggest fan in your own fan club."
