LOS ANGELES — Bring back Brent Honeywell!
Not even necessarily for the beneficial bullpen vibes, though those wouldn’t hurt.
But for Mookie Betts.
If only.
The Dodgers’ hard-working and multi-talented star is stuck in another postseason slide, spinning his wheels; he’s just 5 for his past 40 at-bats.
On Tuesday, Betts had one hit in four tries – a little-and-late single with the Dodgers trailing by five runs in the eighth inning in a 6-2 Game 4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, who wound up doubling up Betts at second base one batter later. It was like a basketball player finally getting a 3-pointer to go down with his team down by 40 points.
And now this compelling, closely contested World Series is tied 2-2 – and waiting for the electric Betts to shuffle into frame. To make the Jays pay for all the times they’ve intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter who bats right before Betts. To make them at least think about thinking twice in those situations, which came up four times (but really five) in Game 3, when Betts was 1 for 8.
So I’m telling you: What Betts could really use is a batting practice session with the turtleneck-wearing, wear-it-for-the-team reliever to whom the Dodgers didn’t tender an offer following their World Series championship last season.
Remember, last year, when Betts had himself a marathon hitting session – 300 or 400 swings he estimated then – ahead of Game 3 of the National League Division Series? How he showed up early at Petco Park for the Dodgers’ scheduled workout and swung in the cage and then on the field and, finally, took his cuts against Honeywell.
Do you remember why? Of course you remember why.
Betts’ postseason demons were back, haunting him on the backside of a successful regular season, mocking him when the games mattered most – the second season stubbornly spooky for Mookie. He was 0 for 6 in the first two games against the Padres. That meant he was 0 for his last 22 across multiple playoff series, and if you took another step back, 3 for his previous 44 playoff at-bats.
He needed an intervention.
Up stepped Honeywell to exorcise those postseason bugaboos: “I fed him down the middle and said, ‘Crank that [expletive] out of the ballpark,’” Honeywell told reporters last postseason. “That’s what I said … ‘I’m throwing it down the middle and I want you to hit it as far as you can.’”
Remember what happened? Of course you do!
Betts hit .321 for the rest of the playoffs, hit four home runs and drove in 16 runs and the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees to win the World Series.
With no Honeywell to knock the cobwebs off, what’s Betts best bet for improving his luck at the plate? His comfortability? His output?
More of what he’s doing now, said Betts on Tuesday night, a crush of cameras and reporters in his face.
“Do the same thing I do every day,” Betts said. “Go to sleep, do my homework, come to the park and hang out with the boys and get ready to play. There’s nothing more, (no need to) add extra stuff. It’s already enough. You can’t add more to yourself.”
There isn’t much more Betts can do, to be fair. The man is a yeoman on the diamond, having spent the past couple of seasons showing up early and sweating out infield drills to refine his skills at shortstop. The result: A late-career transition that’s about as rare as many of the feats Ohtani regularly pulls off.
So smooth is Betts in the middle infield now that he’s among the Gold Glove finalists at the position – a remarkable achievement. He’s also one of baseball’s good guys, recognized Monday as the winner of this year’s Roberto Clemente Award, which annually recognizes the major leaguer who best represents the philanthropic values of the late Hall of Famer.
All a testament to Betts’ commitment to playing well and doing good.
That might be why Manager Dave Roberts said he wasn’t stressing about Betts.
“Mookie’s very matter of fact,” Roberts said before Game 4. “Understanding the game and the strategy behind it, and the way Shohei’s swinging the bat, the way Mookie’s swinging the bat right now – he even said it, he’s like, ‘I can’t blame them.’ He would do the same thing.
“[But] there’s a certain competitor that comes out, certainly, and you want to make the other team pay for that decision, and that’s certainly in there.
“So I’m going to keep betting on Mookie hitting behind Shohei and if they keep giving him opportunities, I know he’s going to come through.”
That, or they might actually need Honeywell to come back through and feed Betts some get-right BP.