-
Alden Gonzalez
toronto-the los angeles dodgers‘The players flew here late Wednesday night, hours before their coaches, and arrived alone at Rogers Center for Thursday’s late-afternoon workout. But mookie bets Wasted no time. Before most of his companions could change into their street clothes, he called alex call Feeding baseballs onto a tee so he could hit them repeatedly into the batting cage net.
For Bates, when recessions emerge, his only solution is to try to ride them out. Work gives him rest, but peace can only give success. And when it comes – as it did in the beginning game 6When Bates hit a two-run single that made the difference in a season-saving 3-1 victory toronto blue jays –It means more.
“He’s really hard on himself, and he shouldn’t be because he’s still a superstar and he’s still a guy who’s going to be in the Hall of Fame,” the Dodgers infielder. miguel rojas Said. “But I think it’s a really big thing for him to live in the moment. I’m just happy for him that he got a big hit, got a big night. I’m sure it’ll help him going forward.”
Another hitless performance in Wednesday’s Game 5 loss made Betts 3-for-23 in this World Series, after which he addressed a group of media members in front of his locker and delivered a pithy quote that later went viral on social media. “I’ve been terrible,” he said.
Then he went to work.
Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc said Bates spent most of Thursday’s workout attempting to find more consistency and a more comfortable hitting position that would “allow his natural talent to dominate.” Bates said he wanted to “be athletic again in the batter’s box.”
Before leaving Rogers Center that night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts informed Betts, who had been his No. 2 hitter all year, that he would be batting cleanup in Game 6, a position he has not occupied since 2017.
“I told him he could take the seventh strike at me,” Bates said. “I just want to win.”
roberts wanted shohei ohtani, Will Smith And freddy freeman To get the most plate appearances with the Dodgers’ season on the line, while still placing Betts high enough to get opportunities to score runs. Batting him down was never an option.
Roberts said, “As they say, I’m going to ride with him or die.” “I’m not going to run away from Mookie Betts. He’s a very good player.”
He proved this in the third match on Friday kevin gosmanWho spent most of the first two innings suppressing the Dodgers’ hitters with his splitter. tommy adman The Blue Jays intentionally walked Ohtani after Gausman lined out a double between his sixth and seventh strikeouts. Smith hit a double to score the first run for the Dodgers and Freeman walked, scoring two runs with two outs for Bates, who came to bat looking for a fastball. Bates took a 1-0 splitter for a strikeout, then swung a fastball and fouled out second. Gausman threw his third consecutive fastball, this one a little high and a little inside, and Bates lined it to left field, giving the Dodgers a lead that lasted after one Miraculous, game-ending double play,
“It was great to have the boys come out,” Bates said. “Obviously I’d love to play well for myself, but that’s irrelevant. I want to play well for the guys. I love everybody out there. I know how much we depend on each other. And when they depend on me, I want to come through for them.”
Early this season, while transitioning to everyday shortstop and attempting to recover from a debilitating virus that caused him to lose nearly 20 pounds, Bates suffered the worst offensive struggles of his career. By the end of July, he was slashing just .240/.313/.369. When he turned it around shortly thereafter – slashing .294/.351/.478 over the final two months of the regular season – it looked as if Betts would be off throughout October.
But Bates’ bat slowed down again. and though The struggles were affecting the Dodgers’ entire offense.Bates took it harder than most.
“When he doesn’t perform as well he takes it very seriously,” Edman said, “and he does everything he can to get over it.”
Adman has seen this before. A little more than 12 months ago, Bates was struggling so badly that he locked himself inside the Petco Park batting cage on an off day during the National League Division Series in an attempt to recover from going 0 for 22 in the postseason. Before breaking out of it — and riding that wave to a 1.019 OPS in his last 14 playoff games that year, propelling the Dodgers toward the championship — a staffer joked that Betts made a million changes on that fateful day off in San Diego.
This time in Toronto, Bates joked, “It was more than 500,000.”
Now, perhaps, he can step back. With everything at stake in Game 7, the Dodgers will have Ohtani placed on short rest, tyler glasnow available and maybe blake snell And roki sasaki Coming after them. He’ll take comfort in knowing he’s overcome similar challenges before, most notably riding out a bullpen game to save his season in the same series against San Diego last year. And, if recent history is any indication, he believes he will have the best version of Bates.
“I’m just happy for him that he can get some peace and sleep a little better and come back fresh and help us win another game,” Van Scoyck said.
