The Los Angeles Dodgers finally put together a clean run, and Miguel Rojas says the message from Dave Roberts behind it was as blunt as it was pointed.
After Wednesday night’s 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals completed a sweep and gave the Dodgers three straight victories for the first time since July 25, Rojas said Roberts made it clear he wasn’t leaning on what the club accomplished in the past. Not with the team stumbling through a stretch that had produced nine losses in 13 games, including Thursday’s series-opening defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Roberts has now been through his third seven-game losing streak in 11 seasons as Dodgers manager, and the recent skid pushed him to demand more urgency from his team.
“He told us that he’s happy and proud and really fortunate that he had the opportunity to manage back-to-back championship teams,” Rojas told USA TODAY Sports, “but he also said that he could care less about the last two years. He wants to win so bad.
That’s the motivator he is. He’s still hungry to win this year, and wants everybody else to be hungry."
That tone, according to Rojas, is part of what makes Roberts effective in a clubhouse loaded with talent and expectations. The Dodgers are constantly talked about as a team with a shot to join the small group that has won three straight World Series titles, and the oddsmakers still seem to treat them that way. Roberts, though, was focused on the present.
“This is a tough job managing us with all of the personalities in here," Rojas said. “He deals with so much stuff, but he keeps things under control.
This is the only clubhouse I’ve been a part of that everybody is happy with their job. You know how hard that is to have 26 guys on the same page, and guys who want to play every day.
"But he does a really good job of making everybody understand where they are. He always has a good touch on when and how to send a message."
The response showed up quickly against Kansas City. The Dodgers trailed by at least one run in all three wins, but veterans answered the call, especially Mookie Betts. The down year he’s having at the plate - a .235 batting average - looked a lot better over the three-game stretch, when he went 6-for-11 with two home runs.
Betts drove in the tying run in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s comeback win and got the Dodgers on the board first in Wednesday’s victory.
Momentum, though, didn’t fully carry over into Thursday’s matchup with Milwaukee, where All-Star closer Edwin Díaz blew yet another save. Even so, the Dodgers were solid for eight innings, and the hope now is that the urgency Roberts asked for sticks as the series goes on.
“He told us that we have the opportunity to do something historic," Rojas said. "So let’s take advantage of it."
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