So this is what rock bottom feels like....

Dodgers mount a come back and fall short. Dodgers outhit their opponent and still lose. Dodgers starter keeps the game winnable, Dodgers bullpen blows game. Adrian Gonzalez fights through injury to contribute and its still not enough. 2/3 of the outfield gets hits and steals bases while Andre Ethier just gets to be plain terrible.

No matter how many times we've seen this team have various positives , there's always been a charcoal lining in 2013. In the month of May there has been only one unavoidable truth: The Dodgers lose.

It's like watching a sad movie you've seen before. You know it's gonna suck soon but you sacrifice your well being to see the entire thing through. You sit in front of your TV for hours while the few happy parts entertain you and remind you why you love this movie, all the while distracting you from the inevitable unhappy conclusion that you somehow forgot about completely.

The Dodgers 21st loss of the season was their 8th consecutive heartbreak of the month. An all too familiar result for a franchise that has lost any semblance of home field advantage in 2013. Their 7-12 home record at Chavez Ravine is the 3rd worst in the entire MLB and is the only home record in their division below .555. In a division that has annually become a tightly contested dog fight, the Dodgers (13-21) have already put themselves at the back of the pack and on a leash. 2nd best On Base Percentage in the sport, 2nd lowest run total... alot of bark, no bite.

In a year where the front office was curiously mum on the status of Don Mattingly, they have become even more non committal as the mounting losses have shaken the confidence of everyone including the man himself during his unsettling post game interviews. While president Stan Kasten refuses to show his cards, I cant help but think hes already made up his mind to keep things the way they are. If it didnt look as if Mattingly was on the hot seat after last season, he sure must be now. When it comes to Donnie Baseball the prevailing sentiment is that he's a pretty calm guy that doesn't lose his cool when things get tough (MVP's tend to be that way). Most notably, players love to play for him. But considering they haven't ever been a team with the clutch gene or one that has gotten even remotely close to playoff contention since he took the reigns, it's a curious sentiment...

Jon Heyman put it perfectly when he tweeted:

#dodgers players love donnie baseball, but have funny way of showing it. team cant hit w/ risp. 7 straights Ls. down 5-3.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) May 11, 2013

After this tweet, AJ Ellis did his AJ-thing and had an RBI single in the 8th inning, but like we've all come to expect was stranded at 3rd base when Dee Gordon grounded out to end the threat, and essentially the Dodgers evening. And on an night where all the emotional debris floats to the surface of our collective Dodger-conscious, the exhale comes a little easier knowing that it can't get much worse.

And now you're thinking ...

"Oh really Reis? It's always darkest before the dawn?! Thats all you've got for us!? The most pessimistic Dodger fan on twitter is gonna conclude his once-a-month blog post with the 'hey it has to get better' mantra?!!??!!??"

You'll be happy to know that this 8-game losing streak has only strengthened my jaded thoughts to new heights. This year's combination of health issues, lack of clutchness, and head scratching roster management has left me both angry and happy at the same time. A bizarre malaise of numbness and frustration that allows me to turn on Dodger games each night to cap my day with a torturous act of self loathing.

As anyone who follows me knows, I'm still concerned with whether Don Mattingly is the guy who can get this team to the promise land based upon his unsuccessful albeit brief run as dodgers skipper. The front office has painstakingly clung to the "let's see what he can do with a healthy roster", while the court of public opinion is that eventually this falls on the players.

Regardless of what or who is to blame... (I say it's the depth issues brought on by Ned Colletti's apparent lack for long term vision) the point is that the sad movie has played 8 nights in a row. I haven't been able to turn it off and it's getting to the point where I'm not even noticing the good parts anymore (yea... I had to be informed by Vin Scully Matt Kemp has a 9-game hitting streak going on).

Well respected sports psychologist and good friend Dr. Kenneth Hartline tweeted a nice little uplifting note my way this evening:

 Which brings me to my final point... This is rock bottom. It's not as cold as I'd though it'd be... Wait never mind. Booze gives a false sense of warmth.

TDB's Odds and Ends

The Los Angeles Dodgers have MLB's best record after the first 10 games of the season,. The team's 9-1 record has the Dodgers off to their best start since their World Title season of 1981. The team has benefited from the piping hot start of Matt Kemp, who recently received his 2nd straight (3rd straight if you count last season's final week)"player of the week" award. Kemp is off to a MLB best .487 batting average (among players with at least 30 at-bats), and leads all of baseball in HR's (6), RBI's (16) and runs (13). Looks as if Kemp is doing his best to remind everyone that he certainly is the player who deserved last season's MVP and has the ability to remain in that form, year in and year out. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for ALL Dodgers, fans and teammates alike, that Matt didn't win the award last season. Because it certainly seems as if Matt is determined to prove all those Braun voters wrong. Here are a few other thoughts I have after seeing the Dodgers' first home stand:

- I think that Andre Ethier has gotten back that spark he once had (especially at home), and I think part of that comes from that fact that Kemp is doing what he has. Professional athletes are extremely competitive beings, and just being around the MVP-type caliber of Matt Kemp's play (both being beside him in the outfield and near him in the lineup, Ethier is going to feel compelled to at least TRY and best Kemp's contribution. Lest we forget, it IS a contract year. And if Ethier can put together a healthy season with numbers that rival that of Kemp's, then he can sit down with the GM and say "you gave this guy 180 mill, and we're neck and neck in stats, lets talk big money".

- If any team was due for the fortunes in close games to fall in their favor this year, it had to be the Dodgers. But their early season success isn't simply the law of averages finally giving the Dodgers a few W's. The proof is in the pudding. The Dodgers proved last season that you can have the best position player and pitcher in baseball, and still find ways to lose close games. And it came from the rest of the lineup being extremely underwhelming. While Ned Colletti put together another one of his annual bargain bin free agency shopping sprees. This years crop of yawn-inducing 1 and 2-year contracts actually seem to be providing a little bit of balance. I hate giving Colletti ANY kind of credit but this roster feels stronger than last years.

* AJ Ellis gets on base, Dioner Navarro/Rod Barajas never did.
* Mark Ellis = Jamey Carroll with stronger bat/glove
* Adam Kennedy and Jerry Hairston platooning = Less Uribe.
* Capuano and Harang > Kuroda and a vacant 5th slot
* Keeping Juan Rivera around works with protection Kemp and/or Ethier

- Dee Gordon will continue to give us the maddening ups and downs that are guaranteed when you have a rookie starter in his first full season. Take yesterday for example: letting a fairly easy ball get right by him costing Kershaw a chance at the win. But that play was preceded by a fantastic over the shoulder catch, and followed by a heroic 2-strike walk-off single through the left side of the infield. Patience is a virtue when it comes to following the paths of rookies with electric talent like Dee's. They tend to handle the extremely hard plays with ease, and botch the easy ones. But the end result to these growing pains could be something beautiful.

- It's GREAT to have Vin Scully back in the booth at Dodger Stadium after getting over a serious cold that kept him bed ridden for a number of days. Dodger Stadium celebrated their 50th anniversary on opening day and there was a glaring absence. The man who has been the voice of the Dodgers for every one of those 50 seasons (and then some) fortunately returned in time to help Major League baseball celebrate Jackie Robinson Day. His first hand accounts of Jackie breaking the color barrier and forever changing history, could never be replaced. For a moment there, we all got a glimpse of what life is going to be like when Vin is no longer the voice of the Dodgers. Odds are the organization will find a suitable talent to fill the booth when Vin has decided to call it a career. But you can't ever replace a legend, and those few games reminded us how lucky we all are to have the standard in hall of fame broadcasting.


Cheers.