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Dodgers’ self-critical Mookie Betts not happy with ‘inconsistent’ start

April 12, 2023

SAN FRANCISCO — Mookie Betts was asked Monday afternoon to assess his start to the season.

“It’s been trash,” Betts said, leaning his head back for emphasis. “It’s been (expletive) terrible, bro.”

And then he went out and led off the game with a home run, the first of three hits, two RBIs and three runs scored in the game.

“Mookie said that?” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

“It’s typical of Mookie, man. It’s like (long-time college football coach) Lou Holtz, where he was always the underdog, everyone’s better and he’s just gonna try hard. Mookie’s always trash. He knows he’s the best player on the field every day.”

Monday’s three-hit game raised Betts’ batting average to .293 with a .945 OPS – hardly trash. But the disparity between his pregame assessment and his results Monday night is reflective of what Betts sees as lacking in his game so far this season.

“It’s been consistently inconsistent. Consistently inconsistent,” he said, identifying his main self-criticism. “That’s part of the game, right?”

A year ago, Betts was hitting .190 in late April and acknowledged beating himself up over it at the time, eventually emerging from his poor start with a scalding May (a .345 average, 1.157 OPS and 12 home runs).

“Last year, I didn’t have a clue. Last year, I was just lost,” Betts said. “I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. I was going and just wasn’t sure of myself, wasn’t sure of what I wanted to do in the box and the mechanics I wanted to work on. Now I’m a lot more sure. This year is a lot better than last year obviously from the beginning. I’m more sure, more confident. Plus J.D. (Martinez) is here. That’s my dude. He keeps me in line.”

Betts said he has also continued a practice he started last year of listening to inspirational or self-help books on tape, giving him better tools to handle the mental challenges of the ups and downs that come with a baseball season.

Roberts has his own philosophy about Betts’ start.

“I think he’s gotten off to a fine start,” Roberts said. “Out of the gates, you just want to kind of hold serve. If you can get out of the gates and then you can kind of find your footing. What you don’t want to do is dig yourself a big hole and chase the whole year.”

LOCAL HERO

Rookie outfielder James Outman grew up in Redwood City, just south of San Francisco, as a Saan Francisco Giants fan. His return to play at Oracle Park sent a parade of local media to Outman’s locker before the games Monday and Tuesday.

Outman’s friends and family, however, have not swamped him with ticket requests for the games. The rookie said he has only had to leave about eight tickets a day for friends or relatives.

Why not more?

“I don’t think they can bring themselves to wear Dodgers gear,” Outman joked.

MUNCY MASH

After his two-home run, seven-RBI game Monday, Max Muncy was asked to explain his history of success at Oracle Park – nine home runs, a .590 slugging percentage and 1.013 OPS in 36 games. The ballpark by the bay is not known as a hitter’s park, particularly for left-handed hitters.

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“It’s a weird place to hit,” Muncy said. “The wind is blowing in your face all the time. It’s cold. It was raining all night tonight. The acoustics are really weird. When you hit the ball square, it doesn’t sound very good here. It’s something to do with the air and the wind blowing all the time.

“So I really don’t have an answer for you. Because mentally it’s not a great place to hit. And then when you look out there to right field, you see how big it is. It’s kind of like, ‘Oh man.’ But maybe that’s part of it for me. Seeing right field and you see you don’t really want to hit it there. So that allows me to stay within myself, stay in the middle part of the field. Maybe that’s it.”

Muncy was not in the Dodgers’ starting lineup Tuesday. Roberts told him before the San Francisco series that he would get the middle game off with the Giants starting left-hander Alex Wood. Muncy has never hit Wood well (2 for 9 with four strikeouts) and Wood was the pitcher who hit Muncy in the hand during summer camp in 2020, leaving Muncy with a fractured finger.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (LHP Clayton Kershaw, 1-1, 3.75 ERA) at Giants (RHP Alex Cobb, 0-1, 2.53 ERA), Wednesday, 6:45 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

Orange County Register

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Dodgers’ self-critical Mookie Betts not happy with ‘inconsistent’ start

LOCAL HERO

MUNCY MASH

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