LOS ANGELES — Matt Kemp was a .318 hitter on July. He hits .290 now.
Max Muncy has one hit in his past 10 games, along with 23 strikeouts. Ross Stripling is out with a convenient toe injury, but he gave up nine earned runs in 8-2/3 innings before that.
The saviors of the first half have stepped back.The Dodgers are back to their original cast, plus Manny Machado and Brian Dozier, their trade pickups.
Machado probably had his most skilled offensive game since he’s been here, with three hits on Sunday, and Dozier broke the last tie with a double in the Dodgers’ first. They beat Houston, 3-2, when a series sweep might have seeded some unease, with a trip to Oakland and Colorado upcoming.
With 49 games remaining and too many National League teams to fit into the five-team playoff funnel, it’s clear the Dodgers need a little 2017 magic to get through 2018. Joc Pederson might be best-positioned to bring it.
Pederson got the leadoff homer off Justin Verlander on Friday. On Sunday he led off with a walk from Gerrit Cole and got driven in by Dozier. He is hitting 258 this season, compared to .212 last year, and has an OPS of .874, which is an improvement of .136.
Most of the power sources from last year have backslid, except for Yasmani Grandal.
Cody Bellinger’s OPS is off .151 and his average is down to .238 from 267. Justin Turner, basically hurt all season, is down from .945 and .322 to .771 and .258.
Yasiel Puig is off .019 on his OPS, Chris Taylor .067, Austin Barnes .315. That’s why the Dodgers pursued Machado and Dozier when most of their base was pleading for bullpen help. They did get John Axford, and on Sunday they got double-play balls from Dylan Floro and Scott Alexander to usher in Kenley Jansen.
Before that, Walker Buehler gave up George Springer’s “first-pitch ambush” home run, as Manager Dave Roberts put it, but then that’s become Springer’s Dodger Stadium custom, his three coins in the fountain.
Later, Springer left with a thumb problem as he tried to steal second, and Buehler was outstanding until Floro relieved him.
Pederson declined comment on his metamorphosis, but Turner has seen every stage.
“He understands himself so much better as a hitter now,” Turner said. “The power was always there, but he’s done a good job of trying to hone it, not to strike out as much. His day-to-day consistency has been much better.
“I see him shooting balls to left field when he has those opportunities, and I see him recognizing balls he can hit out of the park now.”
It’s surprising to realize Pederson is only 26, considering how long the Dodgers anticipated his coming. They saw him launch 26 and 25 home runs in his first two seasons. Then Bellinger and Corey Seager arrived, and Pederson seemed like yesterday somehow. This is his fourth full season.
The scouts see the pinwheeling home run swings, like the one that struck out against Verlander in a game-turning situation Friday night. They also see what happens when Pederson keeps his balance and locates the middle of the field, and that’s why he remains an ascending player.
Pederson struck out 170 times his rookie year, a 29 percent rate. Last year the rate was 21.1 and this year it is 15.9.
“Watching him in the playoffs, that’s something we were all proud of,” Turner said, smiling. “It was almost like he grew up before our eyes. And then he continued it through the offseason and spring training.”
Remember what Pederson did in the Division Series against Arizona? Of course you don’t. He wasn’t on the 25-man roster. He earned that with a four-hit September that included no home runs and two RBIs.
Then he re-joined the band against the Cubs. In the World Series he got one hit in all six games he played, with three home runs and six RBI.
“He earned his spot on that playoff roster through batting practice, really,” said Turner Ward, the hitting coach, “and working with (assistant hitting coaches) Brant (Brown) and Luis (Ortiz). Even now you don’t see a big variation in what he’s doing. When he does run into trouble he generally knows why.
“Failure is the hardest, most painful, most frustrating learning tool in this game. But it’s also the best learning tool. Those pitchers, they’re always telling us what we need to do in their own way. For Joc, having that self-awareness is huge.”
It’s also the process of Pederson forgetting what last year was like, The future depends on how many other Dodgers remember.