Hip better, Betts 'in a good place mentally'

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mookie Betts’ troublesome right hip seems to be doing OK these days. The All-Star Dodgers outfielder is also free from the worries that he had about the injury. Now he’s focused on getting his offense back to a comfortable spot, too.

“I’m in a good place mentally just knowing that I can actually run and go play the game the right way, play it hard and not have to worry about anything.” Betts said. “Definitely helps clear my mind. It’s easy to just focus on the game.”

Betts missed 16 games in August with right hip inflammation, the same injury that caused him to sit out six games in late July. The Dodgers played some of their best baseball during Betts’ second stint on the injured list, going 14-2 while chasing down first-place San Francisco.

Los Angeles has cooled off since then.

Heading into Saturday’s game with the Giants at Oracle Park, the Dodgers were 5-3 in the eight games after Betts was activated and were batting just .206 as a team.

Betts has been cold at the plate, too. He had three hits in 25 at-bats (.120) since coming off the IL with two home runs and eight strikeouts.

“I’ve hit a couple balls hard then mixed in a pretty decent amount of bad at-bats,” Betts said. “It’s a part of the game. We’ve been playing well as a team so that’s all I really care about.”

That the Dodgers collectively have struggled offensively since getting one of their most important pieces back has manager Dave Roberts puzzled.

“Individually our offense is so talented but collectively it’s been very inconsistent,” Roberts said before Saturday’s game in San Francisco. “I don’t have an answer. It just hasn’t happened as such.”

Betts is confident the results will come now that his hip isn’t an issue. When he scored from first base on Corey Seager’s double against Atlanta on Tuesday, it put to rest any concerns he had.

“We all saw it was tough for me to make it just to third in general. Now I was able to score from first and stay in the game,” Betts said. “My mental [state] is clear, my mind is clear and I just can go play. That was the first time I actually had to run like that. Now that it’s checked, I’m pretty much mentally clear.”

Betts was the Dodgers' primary leadoff man before his second trip to the IL. Since his return, he’s mostly been slotted in the 3-hole in Roberts’ lineup.

“It takes a little time to get used to when your first at-bat some guys are on base, especially with Trea [Turner] and [Max Muncy] in front of me,” Betts said. “Other than that, it’s pretty much the same. Just a different routine in the first inning.”

Betts had spoken out earlier in the season about the team’s intensity and whether it was high enough on a consistent, day-to-day basis. That’s no longer the case, although he says the Dodgers will have to get better over the final month of the season if they are to get into the postseason.

“Early on we had a bunch of guys struggling. Once you get guys playing well, obviously the intensity is going to be better,” Betts said. “We also know that we’re down in the standings. We have to play better baseball in order to get into the playoffs. Just getting into the playoffs is our motive. However we get there is how we get there, but we have to be intentional on being more intense throughout each game.”