Jim Alexander: Have the Dodgers been playing with fire?

LOS ANGELES – Maybe this should be the message to Dodger fans at the All-Star break:

“Just don’t look for a while. Take a break. If necessary for your sanity, take the rest of July and most of August off from baseball. Maybe things will have stabilized by then.”

Yeah, it’s a sacrifice if you’re a devoted fan. But if it keeps your blood pressure from spiking, it’s worth it.

Remember the middle of last season? Yes, we all know how the year ended: a memorable Game 7 in Toronto followed by a dogpile on the diamond and a parade a few days later. But last July and August were, by Dodgers standards, hideous.

They were thrashed by Houston 18-1 last July 4, which seemed at the time to be one of those unusual nights but turned out to be a sign of things to come. They were swept by Houston at home, went to Milwaukee and were swept by the Brewers, and lost 10 of 12 during that stretch and 21 of 33 extending into mid-August.

In the aftermath of Sunday’s come-from-ahead 5-3 loss to Arizona, completing a three-game sweep by the Diamondbacks, the suggestion – the hope? – was that the four-day All-Star break might provide a reset before the Dodgers resume the season in Yankee Stadium next Friday.

Maybe. Maybe not. A year ago, the Dodgers ended a seven-game losing streak and then beat the Giants twice in San Francisco before pausing for the All-Star break. When they came back, they endured a 10-14 stretch in which they were swept again by the Brewers at home coming out of the break, and then were swept by the Angels at Anaheim in mid-August. And then there were the bullpen meltdowns, which extended into September (but, fortunately for the team and its fan base, weren’t an issue in the postseason).

By the time the Angels were done with them last Aug. 13, the Dodgers’ nine-game lead had disappeared and they were one game behind the Padres in the division.

The point?

It’s a long season, for one thing, and things do have a way of sorting themselves out. The Dodgers, the most talented team in the division then as now, wound up winning the West by three games, were forced to play the wild-card series as the No. 3 division winner and swept Cincinnati, and went 13-4 in the month of the season that matters most.

But while it’s not advisable to panic, Dodger fan, take nothing for granted.

One danger sign was some shoddy play from the home team in this series with the Diamondbacks, and really the whole week. Andy Pages had a fly ball go off his glove in center field in the fifth Sunday, setting up a run. And Max Muncy, who had a rough series defensively, tried to throw Geraldo Perdomo out at home on an infield grounder in the sixth but bounced it off Perdomo’s back, allowing him to score and wiping out the remnant of what had been a 3-0 Dodgers lead.

Over the weekend, the Dodgers committed six errors, five of which (plus a wild pitch Friday night) contributed to the scoring in a series in which Arizona outscored L.A. 23-8. This was on the heels of being routed by San Diego in a series finale last Sunday and then blowing leads in all three games against last place Colorado. The Dodgers committed three errors in the last two games of that series, too.

“We didn’t play well the last five or six days,” manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “And you’re facing a team (Arizona) that’s fighting for their lives. And it showed this series.

“… I think at the end of the day we gave away too many bases. We didn’t play good defense, and then situationally, we weren’t good offensively. When you do that, you lose three.”

Just a slump, Muncy said.

“You go through slumps, both offensively and defensively,” he said. “Mentally, it’s just one of those stretches for us right now and I think everyone’s ready for the break.

“You just try to weather it.”

Maybe the standings have had an impact. After beating the Padres July 4, they led Arizona by 14 games and San Diego by 15. And maybe when you’re already looking ahead to September, subconsciously or otherwise, you find yourself vulnerable to teams who are fighting for wild-card spots.

“No, I think it’s just coincidence,” Muncy responded. “We played really flat. They didn’t. They took advantage of opportunities. We didn’t. It’s just one of those series. We have them every now and then.

“I know we’re supposed to win every single game, but we do lose some from time to time.”

True. But it helps if you don’t gift-wrap them.

And the four-day break is an opportunity to get away, at least for those who didn't attend Tuesday’s All-Star Game (including Roberts, his coaches, and players Pages, Muncy, Freddie Freeman and Justin Wrobleski, but not Shohei Ohtani while he rests his knee).

Maybe the break will refresh their attention spans.

When the grind resumes Friday on the East Coast, their first two opponents are the Yankees (three games back in their division, a solid lead in the wild-card standings but hearing it from their fans due to a midseason slump of their own) and the Phillies (trailing Atlanta by two games in the division but with a two-game cushion in the wild-card standings).

The games aren’t getting any easier, in other words. The guys who were around here a year ago certainly should be aware that a big lead in July can shrink significantly.

And while reinforcements will ultimately be arriving from the injured list – Kiké Hernandez and Will Smith among position players, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Edwin Diaz on the pitching side – wouldn’t it be better to maintain that cushion in the standings rather than getting careless with it?

Letting last year’s big lead get away meant having to play in the Wild Card round. It also meant not having home field advantage in the remaining series. Why run that risk if you can avoid it?

“At the end of the day, it’s just trying to expect the best of your ballclub,” Roberts said. “With the talent that we have, we expect to have the best record in baseball. And so that’s our standard.

“That’s kind of what we’re playing for.”

So here’s the deal, Dodger fan: When they get back to that standard, feel free to resume watching.

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