{"id":56858,"date":"2025-04-28T06:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T06:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858"},"modified":"2025-04-28T06:48:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T06:48:30","slug":"bravo-dodgers-andy-pages-surges-as-he-finds-a-way-to-be-myself-regardless-of-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858","title":{"rendered":"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

An aggressive power hitter as he rose to the big leagues, Pages didn\u2019t know who he was supposed to be batting at the bottom of the Dodgers\u2019 order. He\u2019s hitting now that he isn\u2019t worried about that.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>
The Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages reacts as he returns to the dugout after hitting a home run during the fifth inning of their game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. His four-hit game Sunday was part of a 10-for-12 weekend and a 16-for-32 stretch over the past nine games. (AP Photo\/Jessie Alcheh)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 For Andy Pages, it was all about location, location, location.<\/p>\n

Sixteen games into the season, he was hitting just .137. Batting at the bottom of the Dodgers\u2019 lineup \u2013 15 of his 25 starts this season have been as the No. 9 hitter \u2013 he didn\u2019t know who he was supposed to be. He had made it to the big leagues as an aggressive power hitter but batting ninth he was also a setup man, charged with turning the lineup over and giving opportunities to Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts at the top of the order.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never hit in that spot in the order,\u201d Pages said through an interpreter after going 4 for 5 with a career-high four RBIs (while batting sixth). \u201cAt first I was more passive, trying to see as many pitches as possible. That\u2019s never helped me. In my career, that\u2019s never helped me because I get too passive. The pitches in the zone, I need to hit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Pages said he spoke with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and they told him to \u201crelax, to be myself.\u201d So he stopped thinking about where he was hitting \u2013 and started hitting.<\/p>\n

His four-hit game Sunday was part of a 10-for-12 weekend and a 16-for-32 stretch over the past nine games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more because I haven\u2019t thought as much about where the team has me hitting,\u201d he said of the surge. \u201cI\u2019ve simply done what I\u2019ve instinctively always done and things are turning out well that way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The difference for Pages has been \u201c1,000 percent\u201d a mental adjustment, not any swing changes, Roberts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that a big part of individual success is knowing who you are,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd some people are mechanical-based, and some people \u2013 are sort of \u2013 have an approach, have an idea what the pitcher is trying to do, and then go out there and be a hitter. And that I think, in my opinion, what works best for Andy (is to be) not too concerned about where his hands are at, where his stride is at, all that stuff.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Veteran outfielder Teoscar Hernandez has been a mentor to Pages, talking him through some defensive struggles and baserunning mistakes as well as his early-season slump.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody goes through that,\u201d Hernandez said of Pages\u2019 struggles finding his way as an everyday major-leaguer. \u201cHe was going through a tough moment from the beginning of the season. Now he\u2019s feeling more comfortable at the plate, getting better pitches to hit, more selective, and he\u2019s enjoying everything that is happening to him right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be tough. I went through that, and it was not fun. But at the same time, you have to go through that to get to the good moments, the moments that he\u2019s going through right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

SWING DADDY<\/h4>\n

Shohei Ohtani took some time to find his swing as a father. After missing two games\u00a0for the birth of his first child, Ohtani returned to action and had just two hits in his next 16 at-bats.\u00a0He broke out with three hits, all for extra bases (two doubles and a triple), in Saturday night\u2019s game\u00a0and was 2 for 4 with a double and a walk on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Roberts said he saw some \u201coveraggressiveness\u201d in Ohtani\u2019s initial at-bats after returning, some of which had surfaced before his paternity leave. Roberts said the 2-for-16 slump was probably a combination of the disruption of leaving the team, the life change of a first child and the slight funk he was already in at the plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, if I recall, he wasn\u2019t lighting the world on fire right before,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cAnd then you take a couple days where you\u2019re just being a husband and a father. So the timing, out of sync, makes sense. It takes time and hopefully he\u2019s turned a corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

KERSHAW TWO<\/h4>\n

Left-hander Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to continue his minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City by making two starts in the next week \u2013 Tuesday and Sunday (on four days of rest).<\/p>\n

Kershaw will try to stretch out to five innings or 75 pitches on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Recovering from foot and knee surgeries last November, Kershaw has made two rehab starts, one with OKC and the other with Double-A Tulsa. He pitched three scoreless innings for OKC then allowed one run in three innings for Tulsa.<\/p>\n

Kershaw is on the 60-day injured list and not eligible to be activated until mid-May.<\/p>\n

ALSO<\/h4>\n

The Dodgers signed former major-league utilityman Nick Senzel to a minor-league contract and assigned him to OKC. Senzel, 29, was the second overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft and has played for the Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox over the past six seasons. He was playing in the Mexican League this year and batted .591 in 26 games before signing with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/h4>\n

Marlins (RHP Edward Cabrera, 0-1, 6.14 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Dustin May, 1-1,3.68 ERA), Monday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An aggressive power hitter as he rose to the big leagues, Pages didn\u2019t know who he was supposed to be batting at the bottom of the Dodgers\u2019… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nBravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An aggressive power hitter as he rose to the big leagues, Pages didn\u2019t know who he was supposed to be batting at the bottom of the Dodgers\u2019...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-28T06:48:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858\",\"name\":\"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location - News 365\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-28T06:48:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-28T06:48:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd62b4f1523cc864d4f4e151cc009bc0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png\",\"width\":760,\"height\":760},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"News 365\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd62b4f1523cc864d4f4e151cc009bc0\",\"name\":\"MsThao\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38555279c6b6b7febdf09c87b184059dc428484397a9d8d577024da5d6e35287?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38555279c6b6b7febdf09c87b184059dc428484397a9d8d577024da5d6e35287?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsThao\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location - News 365","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location - News 365","og_description":"An aggressive power hitter as he rose to the big leagues, Pages didn\u2019t know who he was supposed to be batting at the bottom of the Dodgers\u2019...","og_url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858","og_site_name":"News 365","article_published_time":"2025-04-28T06:48:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":760,"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MsThao","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsThao","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858","name":"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location - News 365","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png","datePublished":"2025-04-28T06:48:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-28T06:48:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd62b4f1523cc864d4f4e151cc009bc0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-79.png","width":760,"height":760},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=56858#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bravo!! Dodgers\u2019 Andy Pages surges as he finds a way \u2018to be myself\u2019 regardless of location"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/","name":"News 365","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bd62b4f1523cc864d4f4e151cc009bc0","name":"MsThao","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38555279c6b6b7febdf09c87b184059dc428484397a9d8d577024da5d6e35287?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/38555279c6b6b7febdf09c87b184059dc428484397a9d8d577024da5d6e35287?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsThao"},"url":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56875,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56858\/revisions\/56875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}