Game 58, 2014

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Pirates v. Dodgers, 5:00PM PT, TV: ESPN2 (with seven of the network’s Baseball Tonight crew doing commentary — joy!)

The Dodgers send out Zack Greinke, and you have to like their chances with him pitching. This may only be his second season as a Dodger, but get this: “In 20 career appearances at Dodger Stadium, Greinke is 13-2 with a 2.23 ERA, .219 opponent batting average and 137 strikeouts in 133 1/3 innings.” This season he’s 8-1 with a 2.18 ERA.

His opposite number will be one-time Dodger Edison Volquez, who’s 2-4, 4.30 ERA so far this year. He pitched for Los Angeles in September of 2013, making five starts and going 0-2 for the team before leaving as a free agent.

Puig just keeps adding to his legend: he recorded his 43rd hit of May on Saturday. That tied him with Willie Davis for hits in May. Davis did it in 1971.

Lineup when available.

29 thoughts on “Game 58, 2014”

  2. I would like to see Kemp look more relaxed at the plate.

    I am going to guess that his upper body strength is much stronger than his lower body strength due to him being able to build the strength back up in his upper body after his shoulder healed but the disuse of the muscles in his lower body due to his ankle injury lead to lower body disuse atrophy.

    His swing is therefore powered by his upper body and he is getting top spin on the ball when he does hit it. He is battling at the plate because his strength is not balanced between upper and lower body like it used to be when he was awesome.

    Therefore, Kemp has a better chance of regaining his awesomeness while Ethier and Crawford are as good as they are going to be now. The Dodgers need to trade Ethier to Boston without subsidizing his salary and trade Crawford to Tampa Bay and subsidize his salary. Then they need to put Pederson in CF. Just do it.

    • Everyone would like to do that except Boston and Tampa Bay. Not even whining about what we get in return, other than, Please, Lord, a catcher or two…

      • Hard to get any dialogue here. Boston needs a center fielder and Ethier’s name has been mentioned. Pedroia wants Ethier. So, why be so acute with your reply?

        The Rays might welcome an old favorite back if their share of Crawford’s salary was equal or under his current value.

          • When I said acute I wasn’t saying there was subtle sharpness in your reply. I was urging more dialogue from you and others.

          • I just woke up, it’s 6am and I can reply now 🙂
            Not quite sure the answers, but we certainly need to shake things up a bit

    • What you propose is a salary dump and sticking Pederson in center. Is there something more you are angling at? They don’t need the money and I don’t see how having him in center responds to their immediate needs, which seem to be in the pen and perhaps at catcher.

      • Yes, I admit I don’t like the current payroll but still Pederson is the best c.f. and more exciting player than Ethier. Crawford is a distraction.

        Need to decide if pitching and defense is the first priority or not.

        It would be nice if the Dodgers could get a young catcher and might if they paid much of Ethier’s salary.

        I suspect the Dodgers will try to keep the current team intact this year but hopefully don’t block Seager, aruebureno, Pederson out of next year’s lineup.

  3. What the Dodgers do is more important than what the Gnats do. That said, I still believe in the maxim that there’s only one place, and that’s first place – where I expect the Dodgers to be after 162 games.

    • I agree with your first sentence, but I sure wish the Gnats lost more often

    • I keep reminding myself that we were 9 1/2 games out much later in June last season.

  4. Ugh. Flat game of missed opportunities was not helped by the Greek chorus of ESPN commentators, who never took a single pause or breath.

      • we seem to strike out a lot with runners in scoring position, are we trying to hit every ball out of the park?

        • Of the biggies, Agon, Hanley and Puig have healthy OPS with RISP (actually higher than normal) and low K ratios. Ethier and Kemp, not so good.

  11. having a bad feeling about where this is headed, I hope I am wrong

  15. Tonight’s game starts at 2 a.m. Lillehammer time, so I expect I’ll read the results in the morning.