Monthly Archives: June 2014

Jun 11

Game 67, 2014

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Dodgers at Reds, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Dodgers send out Hyun-Jin Ryu, who’s been spectacular on the road this season. He’s 5-0 with a 0.95 ERA away from Dodger Stadium. Overall, he’s 7-2 with a 3.08 ERA. The Reds counter with Johnny Cueto, a righty with a 5-5 W-L record and a 1.97 ERA. If you see that ERA and say “shouldn’t he be better than .500 in wins and losses?” you’d be right. Eleven of his thirteen starts this year have been quality ones. Either his bullpen has let him down or he’s gotten no decision in half of those starts.

Jun 10

Game 66, 2014

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Dodgers at Reds, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Josh Beckett (3-3, 2.57 ERA) goes for the Dodgers against Mike Leake (3-5, 3.29 ERA) of the Reds. In five career appearances (four starts) against the Dodgers, he is 2-2 with a 4.80 ERA. Another thing: in the last eight games the two teams have played, each team has won four. Six have been one-run affairs.

Bob Welch, who won 211 games in the major leagues for the Dodgers and As, died yesterday. He was only 57. Here’s Jon Weisman’s appreciation of the former pitcher.

Gordon and Puig are both in the lineup, so hopefully their respective hips are fully recovered.

Jun 09

Game 65, 2014

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Dodgers at Reds, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA and ESPN (no blackout, supposedly)

Dan Haren has fallen on hard times recently, but he’s still got a 5-4 record and a 3.50 ERA. His opponent is LHP Tony Cingrani, who’s got a record of 2-6 with a 4.09 ERA. Cingrani had a good five innings last Wednesday against the Giants but gave up three runs after two outs in the sixth and lost the game.

I think we can assume that some of the Reds really look forward to facing Dan Haren:

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, right fielder Ryan Ludwick and shortstop Zack Cozart each have a pair of home runs in their careers against Haren. Phillips is 6-for-18 (.333) with five RBIs against the right-hander, Ludwick is 5-for-9 (.556) with four RBIs, and Cozart is 3-for-5 with four RBIs.

Puig and Gordon are still day-to-day. Apparently Gordon is more iffy than Puig, since Puig is in the lineup today.

Jun 08

Game 64, 2014

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

Kershaw v. Jorge De La Rosa. Clayton has a career 5-3 record at Coors Field, but that’s with a 5.24 ERA. De La Rosa is a lefty, and the Dodgers have had trouble with guys who throw from that side all year (207/.338/.282 slash line).

No Gordon (hip), no Puig (hip), no Ethier (see: lefthanded starter), no Turner (unknown). This is a makeshift lineup indeed!

Jun 07

Game 63, 2014

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

Zack Greinke (8-2) against Jhoulys Chacin (0-4). While the AL already has a ten-game winner (Buehrle of Toronto), there’s no NL pitcher who’s yet gotten to nine wins. Greinke can become the first today. Chacin missed a month with a shoulder strain. He’s started six times since he came back and the Rockies have lost all six. Oddly, the right-handed pitcher is better against left-handed hitters than he is against right-handed ones, so Mattingly may adjust his lineup accordingly.

Lineup when available.

Jun 06

Game 62, 2014

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Dodgers at Rockies 5:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA

After a 4-6 homestand, the Dodgers take their show on the road. Tonight they send out Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is 6-2 with a 3.09 ERA overall and a shiny 4-0 away from Dodger Stadium with a 0.56 road ERA. The Rockies will send out rookie Eddie Butler, who’s considered their Number 2 prospect. He’s a right-handed 23-year-old who was 4-4 with a 2.49 ERA in 11 starts at Double-A Tulsa. Last year, he had a Rockies organization-best 1.80 ERA in 28 starts split between A and Double-A.

Via Twitter we learn that the Dodgers have optioned Erisbel Arruebarrena to Triple-A and selected the contract of Miguel Rojas from the Isotopes. In addition, they moved Chris Withrow to the 60-day disabled list.

Young Mr. Puig went hunting for snow (can it be that this is the first time he’s been in the stuff? I suppose so!) and built an “LA” fort.

More Puig: Jay Jaffe of SI celebrates the Wild Horse’s one-year anniversary with some applause and some video.

Lineup when available.

Jun 04

Game 61, 2014

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White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

I think it’s safe to say the Dodgers’ starter tonight, Josh Beckett (3-2, 2.52 ERA), has been a pleasant surprise. Nobody knew what to expect from him after his thoracic surgery last year. Even aside from the no-hitter he threw in his next-to-last start, he’s done well. The White Sox send out John Danks (3-5, 4.66 ERA).

Jun 03

Game 60, 2014

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White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10PM, PT, TV: SPNLA

Dan Haren goes for the Dodgers. He hasn’t won since May 12 and his record is now 5-3, 3.28 ERA. I’m sure that’s not what he’d like it to be (although it ain’t all that bad), but it pales in comparison to poor Hector Noesi, who’s starting for the White Sox. The poor guy is 0-14 with a 5.87 ERA over his last 40 appearances, including 19 starts. His last two starts were quality but resulted in no decision for him each time, despite a 2.70 ERA in 13.1 innings.

The Dodgers’ Justin Turner has six RBI in his last three games. Over the last month he’s hit .339, raising his season average to .261.

On the All-Star ballot, “. . . Dodgers star Yasiel Puig (935,276) made an astronomical jump from fifth to first in the outfield voting. He now leads a field that includes Charlie Blackmon (last week’s top outfield vote-getter, now with 883,186 votes) and Giancarlo Stanton (863,307) as the outfielders currently in position to start.”

Puig says thank you to the fans and voters.

The Dodgers put together a Year-in-Review video of Mr. Puig which is full of memories of last season and the first two months of this one.

Jun 02

Game 59, 2014

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Today brings a couple of nice long-form pieces about the Dodgers and their family:

Here’s a wonderful profile of Vin Scully from Cee Angi at SB Nation.

And Jon W. has written about Yasiel Puig and his predecessors in supposed “uniqueness” in MLB. Jon argues that there have been plenty of guys who, when they first came up, were viewed in the same jaundiced way that Puig was last year after committing some of his baserunning mistakes and non-cutoff-man throwing “errors.”

White Sox (!) at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

It will be Clayton Kershaw (3-2, 3.57 ERA) for the Dodgers and Jose Quintana (3-4, 3.61 ERA) for the Sox. This will also be the Dodgers’ and their fans’ first opportunity to see the Pale Hose’s exciting rookie, 27-year-old Jose Abreu. He was the American League’s Player and Rookie of the Month for April of this year, but he’s been on the DL with a left ankle injury for the past two weeks.

Abreu and the Dodgers’ Puig know each other very well. They played together for Cienfuegos in the Cuban League a couple of years back. He also knows young Erisbel Arruebarrena, who’s currently holding down a spot on the Dodgers’ bench.

Lineup when available.