LOS ANGELES -- Repetition creates familiarity, but it is doubtful that the Los Angeles Dodgers will ever get used to what is happening during a cruel 2016 season.
Already racked with injuries, the Dodgers put two more players on the disabled list before Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then starting pitcher Brett Anderson, in his 2016 debut, lasted just one inning after injuring his left wrist in an 11-3 loss.
A team that has put a National League-record 26 different players on the disabled list this season is starting to circle back for some repeat entries. On the just-completed homestand alone, Scott Van Slyke, Brandon McCarthy and Josh Ravin went on the DL for the second time this season. Hyun-Jin Ryu was already put on the DL for a second time.
The Dodgers are losing players more quickly than they are getting them back, it seems. Anderson had been out all year, after going through an arthroscopic back procedure during spring training. Twenty-seven pitches into his 2016 debut, he sprained his wrist while trying to make a play on an Adam Frazier comebacker.
Give Anderson credit for enduring three more pitches. But his 30-pitch outing only further taxed an already busy bullpen that had to pick up 7 1/3 innings on Saturday, when McCarthy had to leave the game. McCarthy went on the DL because of a hip problem. Ravin, who also pitched Saturday, went the way of the DL because of triceps tightness.
The record for most players on the disabled list in one season is the 27 the Boston Red Sox watched go down with injuries in 2012.
This is not the way for the Dodgers to have success with a championship season, but it is one way to test the limits of your medical plan.
"To not get too far ahead of ourselves, we have to look at who we have available that particular day and try to win a baseball game," Roberts said. "We've done a good job of not worrying about things we can't control. We'll see what happens with Brett."
The Dodgers tried to address the starting pitching issue at the non-waiver trade deadline, but the guy they got from the Oakland Athletics was on the disabled list already, and that is where he will stay for the time being. Rich Hill was supposed to have a rehab start Monday and pitch next weekend in Cincinnati, but that timetable will be scuttled.
Hill will have a rehab outing in the dry air of Arizona on Wednesday or Thursday, with the idea that his finger will feel less friction in lower dew points. Halting a start in Cincinnati, where humidity figures to be high, and moving it to the following homestand might make more sense, but the Dodgers aren't saying when Hill might make his Dodgers debut.
"We've come this far by being cautious, and every day is a benefit toward the healing process for Rich, and when you get into Cincinnati with humidity ... a lot of different variables played into that scenario for us," Roberts said.
Perhaps a new team slogan has emerged. Los Angeles Dodgers baseball: A lot of different variables.
Somehow, some way, though, the Dodgers have remained in contention in the National League West, and they continue to sit a game behind the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers and Giants were tied atop the division as recently as Wednesday morning.
Like moving the kitchen to the guest room and making the old kitchen a game room, the Dodgers have been rearranging the areas of the house to make things feel new again. Roberts was asked if all the injuries have been maddening, but he kept the conversation positive.
"I don't think it's been as much of a circus as it might seem," Roberts said. "I think that the players, the coaches, myself, we look at the 25 guys we have that day and try to win a game. So it's actually been very simple. When you look outside of that, there is a lot of noise and distractions, but I think everyone in that clubhouse has done a good job of not concerning ourselves with who's hurt, things like that."
The Dodgers seemed to get good news on the injury front Sunday morning, when Clayton Kershaw had yet another throwing session, this one very aggressive in nature. The club is confident that Kershaw could be ready to pitch in September.
But as Ryu, McCarthy and Anderson have shown, there are no guarantees when a pitcher returns. All three came away with completely different injuries following their season debuts. The difference is that while those three went through some kind of surgical procedure, Kershaw has not dealt with something as invasive for his back issue.
The club would do well to hold things together until Kershaw comes back, though nobody can say that one player is all the club needs to run the table in October, even if that player is as wildly talented as the team's left-handed staff ace.
The Dodgers could use a healthy Justin Turner back at third base too. The player who has helped to lead the offensive revival has been out the past two days because of a contusion on his right hand. He would give the Dodgers a 27th player on the disabled list, though Roberts said the injury does not appear to be that serious.
The rotation is where the Dodgers can least afford more issues. Although teams can typically project their rotations through a road trip or a homestand, the Dodgers tend to have to reassess things on a daily basis.
The plan for three games at Philadelphia this week is to have Kenta Maeda, Scott Kazmir and Bud Norris start, but that plan is only a recent development. When the latest Dodgers' game notes were drafted, the Dodgers starter for Thursday's game was still listed as TBD.
Moving on to the weekend series at Cincinnati, any number of options could be on the board. Ross Stripling, Julio Urias and Brock Stewart, all of whom have made starts this season, are currently available, though considered bullpen options at this stage of the season. All that is known is that Anderson's start Sunday created more questions than answers.
"It feels like kind of snake-bit," Anderson said. "To finally get weak contact after some hard hit balls in the first [inning] and then a dive and land on my wrist weird, and it kind of stiffens up, yeah it's s----y. I don't know what else you can say. It sucks. I think I should be fine going forward, but to just put our bullpen in that situation after McCarthy [Saturday] is just embarrassing on my part. Hopefully I'll come back tomorrow and feel decent and pitch like I know how I can next time."
The Dodgers have gotten used to not knowing what will happen next.
