DENVER -- The beatdown Thursday was cathartic. The lasting feeling is what could've been.
The Los Angeles Dodgers rocked the Colorado Rockies for the second time in four days and did what they'd hoped to when arriving at the friendly offensive confines that are Coors Field. Thursday, it meant home runs for Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages, strong days for Mookie Betts and Alex Freeland, and a nice start under the circumstances for Clayton Kershaw in a 9-5 win.
The problem? The other two games this week, in which they helped the 37-win Rockies add two to their season tally.
"Can't take anything for granted in Colorado, obviously," Kershaw said.
An exhilarating sweep of the San Diego Padres was immediately followed by a dud and a split to a Rockies team that only recently has escaped being on a historic pace for futility. The week before, it was a series win over the American League East-leading Toronto Blue Jays that was immediately followed by getting swept in Anaheim against the Angels.
"I wish we'd have won all four. It just didn't happen," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "They beat us two games pretty handily. That's just the way baseball is. We've got to go out there and, regardless of the standings, we've got to beat those guys."
Especially given the nature of two of the losses in Colorado, it feels like a letdown. Take Wednesday, when Tanner Gordon -- whose career ERA had been 8.30 in 72 2/3 innings before the start -- allowed just one run in six innings.
"The results are the results," Roberts said Wednesday night. "The performance is the performance. It certainly speaks to it. I'd like to think it's not a letdown. But when you're at Coors and putting together some of these at-bats -- I don't have the answer."
The result: a two-game lead in the National League West coming out of last weekend now sits at one entering another three games against the Padres and a missed opportunity.
"I think we definitely could've produced more," said Freeland, who collected a double and triple as part of a three-hit day. "But you know what, we're gonna take this win today and take this momentum into San Diego."
"Let's get out of here," Kershaw quipped.
When they arrive in San Diego, they'll have reinforcements. Closer Tanner Scott will be activated off the injured list Friday, with fellow reliever Kirby Yates slated to be active as soon as Saturday.
The spot found Michael Conforto again in the second inning Thursday. The mere fact that a day off for Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández meant Conforto was hitting cleanup was a statement of just where the Dodgers' lineup is at. The result, a strikeout with the bases loaded, was the continuation of a $17 million gamble that has gone bust.
He finished the day hitless with a sacrifice fly. Through Thursday, only two hitters with at least 350 plate appearances have produced a worse OPS than Conforto's .611. Among that group of players, Conforto and Nick Castellanos are tied with a league-worst 0.8 WAR, according to FanGraphs.
"I've obviously given Mike a lot of leash," Roberts said. He sat down Conforto for a series of conversations this past week, urging the one-time All-Star to dial back his urge to make up for lost numbers. It resulted in a strong weekend against the Padres, but he remains in a hole.
The Dodgers simply need better production in left field. Entering Thursday, only the Kansas City Royals have produced a lower Outs Above Average (-2.4) out of the left-field position than the Dodgers (-1.9). Among the teams level with the Dodgers in left-field ineptitude this season are the Padres, who went out and addressed the issue last month in acquiring the red-hot Ramón Laureano.
Conforto's relative upswing in July (.827 OPS) was enough that the Dodgers felt content with Alex Call being their lone position player acquisition. Roberts reiterated Thursday that he sees left field largely as a platoon between the two, though Call put together a solid series at Coors Field to bring his Dodgers numbers to 9-for-30 (.300). Thursday, Call reached three times in five plate appearances, drawing a pair of walks to go with a single.
"As you start kind of getting into September, you've got to figure out the guys that you're going to go with," Roberts said. "I think it's just up to the guys that are in there that day to go out there and perform."
A return to health could also change things. Roberts pointed to Kiké Hernández's likely return next week as a potential tipping point. Perhaps Hernández could play center field against left-handed pitching, moving Pages to right field, Hernández to left and Conforto (and Call) to the bench. It appears to be under consideration. Maybe Kiké Hernández takes some left-field starts. When Hyeseong Kim returns, that's another left-handed bat in the mix.
Roki Sasaki's status on the far periphery of the Dodgers' postseason roster projection is a testament to not only the health of the club's starting pitching right now but also how strange every part of Sasaki's rookie season has been. Even a clear step forward, like he had in his second rehab start with Oklahoma City on Wednesday, comes with reasons for apprehension.
Sasaki's fastball velocity ticked up to 96.0 mph on average, an improvement from the 93.4 mph he averaged on the pitch in his first game action since May. That still is far from the heights Sasaki has been hoping to dial up his velocity to, but it's an improvement nonetheless. The results were better, too: He recorded 10 outs, pitching into the fourth inning while allowing two runs (one earned), walking three and striking out two. Most of the hits he allowed weren't all that hard-hit.
Still, there's reason for skepticism that Sasaki can be any sort of contributor the rest of the way. He has thrown 59 four-seam fastballs through two rehab starts. Only one has gotten a swing-and-miss. The same issues with his fastball's shape remain from before his injury. The only short-term solution is finding a way to keep his fastball velocity ticking back up.
"I think it needs to keep trending up," Roberts said of the quality of Sasaki's stuff. "But this is his second rehab assignment. I think he was 4 to 7, which is really good, and then another uptick, which is our expectation, that should play here. But yeah, we've still got to build him up, and he's still got to perform."