Dodgers Dugout: Would whoever stole the Dodgers offense please return it

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell,  and I just realized that I had as many hits as Adrian Gonzalez did last week, and I didn’t set one foot in Dodger Stadium.

The lost week

Remember when the Dodgers were on pace to win 102 games? Well, forget all that. Now they are on pace to win 81 games after a seven-game stretch in which they finished 1-6, with the one win coming when Clayton Kershaw pitched a three-hit shutout, struck out 14 and knocked in the only run with a single. The team offense is now being featured on the side of milk cartons throughout Los Angeles, so if you see it, please alert authorities.

Let’s take a look at some of the numbers from the last seven days:

--Adrian Gonzalez went 0 for 19.

-- Kershaw tied for the team lead in RBIs with two.

--The only regular to hit above .250 was Yasmani Grandal, who hit .333 with a homer and two RBIs.

--Chase Utley and Carl Crawford both went two for 14 (.143).

--Yasiel Puig went one for 20 with no walks.

--Howie Kendrick went one for 12 and ended April with exactly zero extra-base hits.

--As a team, the Dodgers hit .159 and “slugged” .236

--Pitching-wise, Chris Hatcher had an 11.57 ERA and lost his set-up job to Joe Blanton and Pedro Baez.

--Ross Stripling got shelled in his only start, giving up five runs in 4 2/3 innings.

In short, it was a tough week all around. However there are two ways to look at it. You can either convince yourself that this is a team with no shot at making the playoffs, or you can remind yourself that the team was still in first place in the weak NL West after Sunday's loss, and can’t possibly be as bad as last week (or as good as the first week). And remind yourself that the last time the Dodgers lost six in a row was the same season in which they went 42-8 on their way to the division title.

Of course the big problem is I just don’t see this team winning a World Series with this bullpen. The only person you can rely on so far is Kenley Jansen. Maybe they can convince him to start coming in during the seventh inning and get some nine-out saves.

Then again, Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi have had only 18 months to fix the bullpen, so we should stop complaining.

The magic number

Each week I will look at a uniform number a current Dodger is wearing and go through the history of that number with the Dodgers. When I was a kid and went to games, I was always curious as to who wore the number of my favorite players. Then again, I was a strange kid. For best Dodgers to wear the number, only the stats you compile while you are with the team and wearing that number count.

Next up is:

No. 3 (Carl Crawford)

Best Dodgers to wear No. 3: Joe Stripp (1932-37), Billy Cox (1948-54), Willie Davis (1961-73), Steve Sax (1982-88).

Others to wear No. 3 with the Dodgers: Pete Coscarat (1938-41), Alex Kampouris (1942-43), Red Barley (1943), Al Campanis (1943), Boyd Bartley (1943), Gene Mauch (1944), Art Herring (1944), Eddie Basinski (1944), Babe Herman (1945), Red Durrett (1945), Fats Dantonio (1945), Stan Rojek (1942-47), Chico Fernandez (1956), Elmer Valo (1957-58), Glenn Burke (1976-78), Enzo Hernandez (1978), Rudy Law (1978-80), Jeff Hamilton (1988-91), Jody Reed (1993), Eddie Pye (1995), Chad Fonville (1995-97), Alex Cora (1998-2001), Cesar Izturis (2002-06), Julio Lugo (2006), Brady Clark (2007), Delwyn Young (2008), Ronnie Belliard (2009-10), Xavier Paul (2009-11), Juan Castro (2011), Eugenio Velez (2011), Adam Kennedy (2012), Skip Schumaker (2013).

What Vin Scully means to me

I asked you to tell me your best Vin Scully memory, and I got a lot of responses. I will publish selected ones in each newsletter. And keep emailing them to me.

Rich Jones: To me Vin Scully is baseball. I have been listening to him for 44 of my 50 years. So many thoughts come to mind as it relates to Vin and his impact on me over the years. Here are a few:

--I could literally taste the lunch meat and hot dogs when Vin would narrate a Farmer John commercial.

--An endless amount of Sunday afternoons spent relaxing with Vin on the call. No better way to wrap up a weekend.

--Listening to him call the game from my transistor radio under the covers of my bed so my Mom would not hear...Found out years later she knew all along...but she said she couldn't blame me, she loves Vin as well.

--The Kirk Gibson home run call.

--The incredible feeling in knowing that my son has grown up listening to Vin Scully and truly grasps how amazing he is. 

--The understanding that from listening to Vin, my son and I can share a love for baseball, Vin Scully and the Dodgers. The happiness this brings me is immeasurable.

--His ability to weave a story into the call of a game is unmatched, and an amazing gift. A gift only he has, and a gift all Dodger fans have enjoyed for 67 years. (I'm blessed to live out of market now so I am able to enjoy Vin via satellite. I feel for the local fans).

--The endless sadness I will feel when he has called his last game this season and the tears I will cry the day he leaves this Earth. A part of me will go with him, but fortunately a part of him will stay with me forever.

The TV situation

I wish there was a lot of good news to report, but there isn't. Last week, Rep. Janice Hahn (D-San Pedro) invited representatives for Time Warner Cable and DirecTV to meet in her office to discuss the continuing impasse that keeps over 60% of Southland households from being able to watch the Dodgers on TV. 

Time Warner was willing to meet, but AT&T, the parent company of DirecTV, refused, saying any meeting should be "conducted on a business-to-business basis ... without unproductive public posturing."

It is believed AT&T is unhappy when the public learned in March that TWC had made short-term offers to try to get SportsNet LA on the air this season. AT&T felt Time Warner was trying to apply pressure to it by leaking the offers to the public.

However, Frontier Communications and Time Warner Cable accepted her request for a face-to-face meeting regarding carriage of SportsNet LA and will meet in her San Pedro office on Thursday. So, if you have Frontier Communications, cross your fingers.

If you would like to complain about the Dodgers’ TV situation, here’s who to contact:

For the Dodgers, click here or call (866) DODGERS ([866] 363-4377). (I hope you like form letters).

For Time Warner, click here.

For your local cable or satellite provider, consult your bill for the customer service number and for the website.

And finally

New Rams quarterback Jared Goff will take up Yasiel Puig on his offer to be his guest at a Dodger game, almost three years after Goff tweeted he hopes Puig gets a fastball in the ribs. Read all about it here.

Have a comment or something you'd like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me and follow me on Twitter: @latimeshouston