MIAMI -- Slumps are inevitable in baseball, even for the best of teams. Even for teams that took last year's World Series to seven games. So, while there's no panic in the Dodgers' clubhouse, there was some frustration.
"It's a team-wide slump essentially," manager Dave Roberts said. "I can't recall anything like this, where we just haven't had any semblance of consistency from any facet."
It's difficult to explain, but that's how slumps work.
"So for me, the coaches, try to encourage these guys to stay the course whether it's out of the 'pen, starters or timely hitting," Roberts continued. "There's still a lot of good things as far as the way the guys are playing. Hopefully results will turn."
Chase Utley showed some rare emotion over the recent skid during Wednesday's game.
"I think it can bring out things," Roberts said. "Chase is a guy that certainly hides his emotions really well. So for him to show some emotion out of frustration is not necessarily a bad thing. I know he's trying like heck to turn things around for us.
"But again, it's not from lack of care from any of our guys. But the bottom line is we've still got to be productive.
"I think it goes where you're down, you're frustrated, and then you're upset, and then I think it gets to be comical at some point because you're doing everything you can possibly do as a team. For it to not show any fruits, it gets frustrating. So I think levity is OK right now. We still are trying our tails off. We'll turn this thing around."
If you're looking for a silver lining, here it is; after falling to the Marlins on Wednesday; the Dodgers dropped 10 games under the .500 mark (16-26) for the first time since June 23, 2013 (32-42).
That 2013 slump lit a fire: Los Angeles went 60-28 the rest of the season and won the National League West by 11 games, starting a string of five consecutive division titles.