Jun 21

Game 76, 2014

Dodgers at Padres, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLB free game

Josh Beckett deserves better than his 4-4 won-loss record. He’s got a 2.49 ERA and his last loss was his defense’s fault. He pitches for the Dodgers at Petco Park tonight. The Padres counter with Tyson Ross, who’s 6-6 with a 3.27 ERA. His last outing wasn’t good; he walked seven in 5 2/3 innings and lost.

Lineup when available. Puig is day-to-day with a sore hip, apparently a recurrence of the flexor problem he had last week. Uribe is scheduled to play infield at Rancho Cucamonga tonight.

Jun 20

Game 75, 2014

Dodgers at Padres, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

The Padres send out Ian Kennedy tonight. He’s 5-8 with a 3.72 ERA. The Dodgers counter with Dan Haren. He’s 7-4 with a 3.54 ERA, but he’s been having trouble with the long ball. He’s given up ten HRs in his last seven starts.

“The Dodgers’ last homestand was their first with a winning record this season. They began it 13-19 at Dodger Stadium and finished 17-20.” Also, they’ve won three straight. They haven’t had a winning streak longer than three games all season long. Can they expand it tonight?

Kershaw talked to ESPN about his no-hitter one day later.

Lineup when available.

Jun 18

Game 74, 2014

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Colorado sends lefty Jorge De La Rosa and his 6-5, 4.12 ERA to the mound to face the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, who is 6-2 with a 2.93 ERA.

Can the Dodgers finally be getting onto some kind of a roll? They’ve won 8 of their last 12 and 4 of 5 on this homestand.

This should affect the lineup: “Kemp is hitting .419 with three homers and 10 RBIs against De La Rosa. Adrian Gonzalez is right behind him against the Rockies left-hander at .361, also with three homers and 10 RBIs.” Maybe facing this guy will help Adrian break out of his slump.

Shortly after the game last night Hanley Ramirez tweeted the following:

Lineup when available.

Jun 17

Game 73, 2014

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

It’s the Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (1-4, 4.53 ERA) against the Dodgers’ Zack Greinke (8-3, 2.65 ERA). They faced one another on June 7 and neither got the decision, as the game went into extra innings and Brandon Barnes hit a walk-off triple in the 10th.

Chad Billingsley is going to have a second surgery, this one to repair his flexor tendon. “The flexor tendon runs alongside the ulnar collateral ligament that tore and was transplanted last year in a Tommy John procedure. If the flexor tendon tears further after an injection and rehab, it could compromise the repaired ligament,” so he decided on surgery rather than stem-cell injection and therapy. He should be ready for spring training next season.

Jun 16

Game 72, 2014

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Rockies pitch a kid making his second big league start, Tyler Matzek. The Dodgers counter with southpaw Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is 7-3 with a 3.33 ERA on the season. Young Mr. Matzek is a native of Mission Viejo and a 2009 first-round pick (11th overall) out of Capistrano Valley High School. He will be taking on the Dodgers in front of friends and family.

The Rockies have won five straight, including three come-from-behind wins against the Giants in San Francisco over the weekend, while the Dodgers took two of three from the D-Backs.

In case you missed it, Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn died earlier today of cancer of the salivary gland. The cancer first appeared in 2009 and then came back in 2012.

My first memory of Gwynn is as a point guard for San Diego State. When he played for SDSU the school was in the WAC, as was the U of Hawaii. You know how some guys do their best against particular teams? Gwynn seemed to be on top of his game whenever UH played SDSU, as did Marshall Faulk for the Aztecs in football.

Here’s Gwynn at SDSU:

Jun 15

Game 71, 2014

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Josh Beckett (4-3, 2.35 ERA) takes the hill for the Dodgers against Bronson Arroyo (6-4, 4.22 ERA) of the D-Backs. Arroyo has been sneered at by some media folk for his hair and his guitar, but he’s a tough bird: apparently his arm has been hurting, but he’s never missed a start in his fifteen years in the bigs and doesn’t plan to now.

Jun 14

Pregame reading

A runner and writer named Rachel Toor has written a remembrance of a summer she spent in Missoula, Montana where she met Bob Welch in a fork of the Columbia River. Over that summer he and she dated a little and he taught her to pitch.

It’s a nice piece of writing about a guy we oldsters remember pretty well.

Jun 14

Game 70, 2014

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN, SNLA Spanish

Dan Haren takes his record of 6-4 with a 3.49 ERA to the hill for the Dodgers. He’ll be facing Josh Collmenter, who is 4-3 with a 3.65 ERA.

If they had Uribear back this would almost be the season’s starting lineup. Juan is running curves (?) on the field and may be ready for a rehab assignment soon.

In other injury news, Chad Billingsley tore his flexor tendon on his way toward rehab outings in Albuquerque and will talk to reporters about his options today.

Jun 13

Game 69, 2014

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Clayton Kershaw will start for the Dodgers, who have been bad-to-mediocre at home with a 13-19 record. Kershaw appears to be back to his usual brilliant self, however; he’s 5-2 with a 3.17 ERA; The rookie Chase Anderson will start for the D-Backs. He’s 5-0 with a 3.14 ERA.

Lineup when available.