Bellinger still can’t buy a hit
Roberts says he won’t bench the probable rookie of the year.
HOUSTON — The calendar soon will turn to November, a month that should be a glorious one for Cody Bellinger.
He almost certainly will be announced as winner of the National League rookieof-the-year award. He might just win it unanimously, as Corey Seager did last year.
That happy day will come.
The October days have been terribly unpleasant and hugely unproductive for Bellinger, presenting the Dodgers with an immediate concern. Should he even be in the starting lineup for Game 4 of the World Series?
He struck out in all four of his at-bats in Game 3. The Dodgers lost 5-3, and for the first time this postseason, they trail in a series.
Bellinger, the Dodgers’ cleanup batter, is 0 for 11 in the World Series, with seven strikeouts.
“Today was the first day where I kind of felt out of place,” Bellinger said.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he anticipated Bellinger would remain in the lineup.
“I don’t see giving him a day off,” Roberts said.
Bellinger set an NL rookie record with 39 home runs. That counts for nothing in October. In 47 postseason at-bats, he is batting .213, with 19 strikeouts and a .245 on-base percentage.
Turner Ward, the Dodgers’ hitting coach, said the Astros have done a particularly fine job of what he called “manipulating the strike zone” against Bellinger. They get him to swing at a pitch at the edge of the strike zone, and he misses, and then he swings at a pitch an inch or two off the plate, and he misses.
“When Cody gets back into the zone again, he’s going to start killing it again,” Ward said.
In the second inning, Bellinger struck out on three pitches, all curve balls. In the fourth inning, he struck out on four pitches, three of them curveballs. In the sixth inning, he struck out on three pitches, all curveballs.
All three of those at-bats came against Houston starter Lance McCullers Jr., who faced 22 batters. McCullers did not strike out any of the other 19 batters.
Bellinger had one more at-bat, in the eighth inning, against Brad Peacock. He struck out on eight pitches, all fastballs.
“I had a few bad at-bats today,” Bellinger said. “I’ll be the first one to admit it. I’ve been in situations like this before, where I had four strikeouts. The next day, four strikeouts again. It just takes one good swing to get out of it.”
He said he had good atbats, if hitless ones, in the first two games of the series.
“That’s what happens when you face [Dallas] Keuchel and [Justin] Verlander,” Bellinger said.
It would be unlike the Dodgers to bench a player based on a small sample size, in this case defined as three games of the World Series. And, with Adrian Gonzalez inactive, the only player on the World Series roster that started more than two games at first base this season is Chase Utley, who is hitless in all 14 postseason at-bats.
So the Dodgers have no great options if they want to bench Bellinger for a day. In addition, Bellinger provides what Roberts called “premium” defense as well as “presence … in the lineup.”
“It’s just trying to get Cody to slow down a little bit,” Roberts said. “I think he’s been a little too quick. And tonight you saw balls below the zone. He was on the defensive. So I think that he’s trying his hardest. He’s trying his tail off. I think we’ve got to get him to slow down and stay in the strike zone.
“If you look at the pitches tonight, a lot of balls out of the zone.”
Bellinger, 22, made history of sorts, becoming the youngest player since Mickey Mantle to strike out four times in a World Series. Mantle turned out all right. Seager, last year’s NL rookie of the year, suspects his presumptive successor will turn out all right too
“Nothing to really worry about,” Seager said. “Bellinger is going to be all right, and he is going to come back tomorrow and be good for us.”
‘Today was the first day where I kind of felt out of place.’ — Cody Bellinger