Dodgers Hitting the Wall

These are tough times for the Los Angeles Dodgers. They just went through their second long losing streak of the season, finally beating the Angels 10-5, but find themselves three and a half games behind the Giants and in third place.

LAist is particularly concerned that in the past week the Dodgers have given up more than seven runs a game. Duaner Sanchez, Darren Dreifort, Wilson Alvarez, and even Guillermo Mota have struggled in the losses, while Hideo Nomo is doing nothing to reassure fans his velocity will return. Oh, and now staff ace Odalis Perez might be hurt as he's feeling pain in his rotator cuff (not the best place for a pitcher to feel pain), and will undergo an MRI tomorrow. While the Dodgers were figuring whether to panic or not over pitching, the Chicago White Sox went ahead and snatched up Freddy Garcia from Seattle. LAist hypothesizes that Seattle GM Bill Bavasi--a former Dodger player personnel man--was hoping to rip off Paul DePodesta through his intensive knowledge of LA's minor league system.

And while Shawn Green struggles to find his swing, Milton Bradley is banged up, Juan Encarnacion has an aversion to getting on base, and the Astros beat the Dodgers to Carlos Beltran.

Perhaps DePodesta should use this opportunity to accept that this Dodger team is heavily flawed, and consider a full-blown makeover of the team. Just an idea LAist wants to throw out there...