When your eyes deceive you: Joe Torre says the Dodgers have not quit

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Losing can make a team look bad. Look lifeless, like it’s lost its spirit, is going through the motions.

The still fading Dodgers entered Sunday having lost four consecutive games. And often have appeared, like a team going through the motions.

But Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said he has not sensed the Dodgers are simply playing out the string.

‘I don’t think anyone has quit,’ Torre said. ‘They’re going out and doing as much as they can do, but sometimes when there’s not as much at stake as there was earlier in the year, you don’t do as well.

‘But I don’t think anybody’s quit. When you see some of the other players who have been regulars, I think they’re frustrated and disappointed.’

General Manager Ned Colletti, however, did not sound pleased with the Dodgers overall approach when he told Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick:

‘Besides any roster changes, we need to be sharper, we need to play with more edge and focus than we did this year right from the beginning,’ Colletti said. ‘We need to have a relentless passion to succeed and win games.’

Doesn’t sound like he’s all excited about their focus at the beginning, middle or the end.

Still, Torre claimed the Dodgers’ focus hasn’t waned as the season has slipped away.

‘When you look in there, nobody is showing up late,’ he said. ‘I think you get an indication when guys start straggling in and are a little late, that this is an imposition for them. We haven’t had any of that.

‘Frustrating -- yes. It’s been very frustrating, for our young players particularly. You know what Matt Kemp has been through this year. There’s no question what (Andre) Ethier‘s been through, maybe with the addition of being injured. But nobody’s quit.’

-- Steve Dilbeck