In the words of Chubby Checker: How low can Dodgers go?
Dodgers second baseman Enrique Hernandez heads for the dugout after striking out against Astros starter Mike Fiers in the eighth inning Friday night in Houston.
Back in the early 1960s -- you know, right after dinosaurs roamed the Earth -- Chubby Checker had his last Top 10 hit with “Limbo Rock,†a Caribbean-themed dance song that asked the question:
How low can you go?
Today the Dodgers can only hope they have discovered their season’s answer to that question. They were no-hit Friday night by the unheralded Mike Fiers, a 30-year-old right-hander who has never won as many as 10 games in a single season and owns a career 3.57 earned-run average.
So was this rock bottom or a sign of more difficult offensive days to come?
“I was on a Tampa team where we got no-hit like three times in a year and still made it to the playoffs,†said outfielder Carl Crawford. “It’s a big deal to people who want to make it a big deal. But at the end of the day it’s one loss and we have to move on.â€
It’s the moving on part that still has to be proven. One loss? Of course, no arguing. Just a rough stretch? They can only hope.
“At the end of the day, it costs you a game,†said Manager Don Mattingly. “That’s the way you look at it. If you get two-hit, does it make it feel better? Or five hits? Or nine hits? Does it make it feel any better? Not really. The fact that you get no-hit is just kind of like icing on the bad part of the cake.
“I think at the end of the day it’s a loss. You have to get over it. You can’t afford not to.â€
Can’t dispute that last part. While the Dodgers have lost three consecutive games to start their eight-game road trip, the ubiquitous Giants have pulled back to within 1½ games of the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West.
In Wednesday’s first game of the trip they managed one hit against A’s starter Felix Doubront (six innings) and two against Jesse Chavez (eight innings). And now no hits against Fiers. These are not Cy Young candidates.
So is this it, was Friday as low as the Dodgers could go?
“A no-hitter is kind of hitting rock-bottom,†said catcher Yasmani Grandal. “You can only go up from there. You come back [Saturday] and you face a brand-new guy. That’s the good thing about this game. You’ve always got another day.â€
The Dodgers have been no-hit 17 times in franchise history, and it hasn’t always signaled a season death knell. The Dodgers were no-hit in 1981 and 1988 and went on to capture the World Series. They won their division one other time, and twice finished second.
It doesn’t have to signify the Grim Reaper has come calling for their season.
“Who knows, maybe we come out [Saturday] and get 25 hits,†Grandal said. “Baseball’s a crazy game like that.â€
Crazy would be a record $300-million team not making the playoffs. If that were to happen, plenty would be wondering, how low can you go?
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