LOS ANGELES_Dave Roberts was a key member of a Boston Red Sox team that ended an 86-year-long championship drought by winning the World Series in 2004. And while Roberts wouldn't compare the Los Angeles Dodgers' current dry spell to what Boston's long-suffered fans endured, he said he can sense a similar frustration.
"It's been a long time," the Dodger manager said of the team's title-less string, which dates to 1988. "We in the clubhouse understand that there's a lot of anxiousness with our fan base. And rightfully so.
"We checked a box off by clinching the division. So now it's up to us to go out and finish what we started."
Exactly how _ and when _ the Dodgers finish the season could well be determined by what happens over the next week, Roberts said. Because after securing the team's fifth consecutive National League West crown, he had just eight games to prepare the Dodgers for the postseason.
That process didn't get off to a good start Saturday, with left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu leaving in the third inning of a 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants after taking a Joe Panik line drive off his left arm. Ryu, who was in the conversation for spot in the playoff rotation, sustained a forearm contusion. X-rays were negative but if he is unable to pitch this week, Roberts may have to rethink his plan to move right-hander Kenta Maeda to the bullpen.
When Ryu left the field flexing his pitching hand, he joined Justin Turner, the National League's second-leading hitter, in the clubhouse. Turner missed his second straight game Saturday with what the Dodgers are calling a stomach virus, and although Roberts was unsure when he would play again, the manager said the team needs to get its regulars back on the field sooner rather than later.
"The goal is to get us continuing to sustain that momentum that I think we created over the last couple of days. And play good baseball," Roberts said hours before the Dodgers saw their modest two-game winning streak snapped. "Give our guys a little bit more continuity winning some games and, as a result if home-field throughout (the playoffs) is a byproduct, that's great."
The Dodgers lead the Cleveland Indians by a game in the race to finish with baseball's best record.
"But the No. 1 thing," Roberts said "is us feeling good about the way we're playing going into the postseason."
The Dodgers played well enough Saturday _ just not well enough to win.
With a crowd of 51,093 looking on, Gorkys Hernandez gave the Giants a first-inning lead for the second night in a row, rapping a double to left on the game's first pitch, then coming around to score two outs later on a Buster Posey single.
San Francisco doubled its lead in the fifth against Brandon McCarthy, who was pitching for the first time since July 20. And Hernandez _ who went 3 for 4 with a walk_started the rally again, singling to center with one out, stealing second and scoring on a two-out single to center by Denard Span, who also had three hits.
Those were the only two hits McCarthy gave up in his three-inning outing.
Giant starter Madison Bumgarner (4-9), meanwhile, was brilliant, allowing just two singles through his first six innings. Both hits came in the third inning but Bumgarner got out of the inning with help from a double play, then retired 11 batters in order before Enrique Hernandez ended the streak with a one-out double in the seventh.
An inning later Austin Barnes gave the Dodgers their only run of the night, lining his seventh home run of the year into the left-field pavilion.
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