'They're clearly a better team': Dodgers get bell rung in Philly

PHILADELPHIA -- Coming into the three-game series against the Phillies, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wouldn’t say this was a litmus test for his club. After all, it’s a roster that is missing significant pieces both on offense and in the starting rotation.

Roberts did, however, say that his team would be taking information from a series between the teams with the two best records in the National League. After a three-game sweep, which ended with a 5-1 loss on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park, the Dodgers came out understanding just how much ground they’ll need to make up over the next two months if these two teams meet again in October.

“They’re clearly playing a lot better baseball than we are. They’re clearly a better team than we are right now,” Roberts said. “We really didn’t do much well this series. Starting pitching, defense, we had a mistake tonight on the bases. Situational hitting, getting hits -- all that kind of stuff, we were outplayed.”

There was no way around it. The Dodgers got thoroughly beaten by a Phillies team that, right now, looks like the better team in just about every way. Los Angeles’ offense was held to just five runs and it didn’t have a starting pitcher get through five innings, a recurring theme over the past few weeks.

“We didn’t play very good that series,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who went 0-for-10 in the three games. “There’s nothing to spin it any different way. We didn’t hit. We didn’t do much. As a group, we just have to put it behind us, go to Detroit tomorrow and try to win a series.”

Over the years, putting tough stretches behind them has been much easier for the Dodgers. This season, though, the lengthy list of impact players on the injured list has made it much more difficult.

Offensively, the Dodgers are without Mookie Betts, who was arguably the favorite to win the NL MVP Award before suffering a fractured left hand on June 16. They're also without Max Muncy, who last played on May 15 due to a strained right oblique. Even with some inconsistencies, Muncy provides a constant presence in the middle of the lineup that allows other hitters to slide down in the order.

On the pitching side, the list of injured players is even longer. Clayton Kershaw, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler are all on the injured list. Of the group, Kershaw is the only one for whom the club has a general idea of when he could be back on the mound. Bobby Miller, who started on Tuesday and allowed nine runs over four innings, is going to spend extended time in the Minors.

All those factors have turned the Dodgers, who were one of the best teams in the league over the first 50 games of the season, into an underperforming club over the past two months. After the three-game sweep at the hands of the Phillies, L.A. is now 26-24 over its past 50 games, including 22-22 in its past 44.

“I think ... we don’t have much margin for error,” Roberts said. “I hate to say you’ve got to play perfect baseball to win, but it’s seeming like that. … I think we’re getting guys opportunities. When we do get guys back, guys are going to know that they had their opportunities to perform. That’s kind of where my head is at.”

Yes, the Dodgers will get healthier and should return to their usual dominance. The talent and the backs of the baseball cards suggest so. But over the next three weeks, Los Angeles will also need to infuse the current roster with more talent before the July 30 Trade Deadline.

Adding a starting pitcher -- or two -- will be at the forefront of discussions. Relying on injured pitchers to get back in time for the stretch run is always risky. Adding some more firepower to the lineup could also be beneficial.

But in the meantime, the Dodgers will need to try to weather the storm. They didn’t do a good job of that in Philadelphia, and a lot of their current issues were on full display.

“I mean, we are injured. We have a lot of guys missing. No one really cares about that -- nor does anyone in here,” Freeman said. “This is the group we’ve got. We want to go out there and win every ballgame. We just didn’t play very well this series. We’ve got three games left [before the All-Star break] to try and end on a positive note.”