Plaschke: Dodgers' inability to improve bullpen at trade deadline haunts them again

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2 days ago

A lazy, lovely afternoon at Chavez Ravine was startled awake Sunday by three blue-curdling screams.
The Dodger bullpen had struck again.
Eighth inning, one out, Dodgers leading the Toronto Blue Jays by a run, rusty Blake Treinen on the mound.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., boom, nooooo!
Addison Barger, boom, nooooo!
Ninth inning, game tied, Alex Vesia on the mound acting like a closer because the Dodgers don't have a healthy closer.
Ernie Clement, boom, not again!
Battered by three home runs in the last two innings Sunday, the Dodgers lost a game they should have won, blew a game they should have had, and planted an ominous message deep into the bowels of sweaty Dodger Stadium.
Read more: Dave Roberts criticizes Shohei Ohtani after Dodgers' frustrating loss to Blue Jays
This is a team trying to win a second consecutive championship without an adequate bullpen.
The 5-4 loss wasted a sterling start by Tyler Glasnow, frittered away 10 hits and 13 walks from a burgeoning offense, ruined a chance to sweep the team with the best record in the American League, and created a trivia question that will be bandied about the league until the last week in October.
What standout reliever did the Dodgers acquire at the trade deadline?
Nobody.
What standout reliever had their critics been begging them to acquire for weeks?
Any of them.
Maybe Andrew Friedman's previous deadline brilliance convinced everyone into thinking he could pull something off again, and maybe the public pressure was less than usual because of the credits earned by the 2024 title, but here's guessing much of Dodger nation woke up Monday morning after watching a reliever tagged with the loss in three of the last six games and thought...
What just happened? Is it too late to fix?
What happened was the Dodgers' belief in the recovering health of their bullpen. And, um, yeah, unless you want to bring Bobby Miller up from Oklahoma City to close games (not a bad idea, eh?), it's not getting fixed anytime soon.
Michael Kopech, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates should all be returning from the injured list, and the thought is that the Dodgers can find a closer somewhere in there, but you've seen them all and do you agree?
There is also the belief in this weird bit of Dodger closer history — the final inning in their last two championships was worked by a starter.
This is countered by the fact that the last two times Friedman didn't make a significant pitching upgrade at the deadline they were eliminated in the first round.
So, yes, Friedman hasn't lost any of his smarts and Dave Roberts hasn't lost any of his savvy and they can probably piece this mess together for short periods in October.
But between now and then, you need someone to make the big pitch in the clutch situation and save the offense from itself.
You need a closer so you don't have the eternal optimist Roberts looking oddly despondent late Sunday afternoon.
'This is frustrating because I just felt there is no way we should lose this game today,' he said.
He wasn't so upset with Vesia and Treinen — both guys have been put in tough spots, especially Treinen, who recently came off the injured list.
He was mostly upset with the Dodger offense that made the withering bullpen — which has recorded the most innings in baseball — so necessary.
The Dodgers had a 3-2 lead after six innings. The back-to-back dingers in the eighth cost them that lead.
The Dodgers came back to tie it on a bases-loaded walk to Freddie Freeman in the eighth.
Clement's long ball grabbed the lead again for the Blue Jays in the ninth.
'Yeah, it's pretty frustrating,' Vesia said.
But equally frustrating was the 16 men the Dodgers left on base, including leaving the bases loaded three times, twice in the last two innings.
'We had them on the ropes numerous times,' Roberts said. 'And for us not to win is so frustrating.'
Read more: Blake Snell turns in a performance befitting his 'Snellzilla' nickname in Dodgers' blowout win
How disappointed was Roberts? When is the last time you've heard him criticize Shohei Ohtani's play? Well, he did it Sunday, twice in a span of a minute.
First, there was Ohtani ending the sixth inning by getting thrown out attempting to steal third base with Freeman at the plate.
'Not a good baseball play,' Roberts said.
Then there was Ohtani striking out with a wild swing on a low and outside full-count pitch from Mason Fluharty — he of the 5.15 ERA — with bases loaded in the ninth.
'We've got to come up with one right there,' Roberts said. 'Chasing the ball down below ... is something that we can't have.'
You know what could have prevented all this angst? A deeper bullpen. A more rested bullpen. A fixed bullpen.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.