Aug 31

Game 137, 2014

Dodgers at Padres, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

Hyun-Jin Ryu brings his 13-6 record and his 3.28 ERA to the mound after two weeks on the DL with strained backside muscles. Before he got hurt Ryu had 39 strikeouts in his last 38 2/3 innings overall while walking just six. I don’t think anyone expects that level of excellence in his first appearance back.

Facing Ryu will be Eric Stults, who’s 6-14 with a 4.63 ERA but has a 3-1 record and a 2.43 ERA in five starts in August.

Juan Uribe will come off the DL today or tomorrow. Chris Perez will also come off on Monday. As to callups from the minors Mattingly is being coy, other than agreeing that Joc Pederson deserves to come up when rosters expand September 1.

Lineup when available.

Yep. The first pass had Matt and Yasiel both playing CF with a big hole in RF.

Aug 30

Game 136, 2014

Dodgers at Padres, 5:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD, MLB.tv free game

Zack Greinke brings his presumably-recovering elbow to the mound to face the Padres at Petco Park for the first time this season. He beat the San Diegans on April 1 at Dodger Stadium in his only time facing them this year. Greinke is 13-8 with a 2.79 ERA. Ian Kennedy of the Padres, on the other hand, will face the Dodgers for the fifth time this season. He was the losing pitcher in the Greinke game on April Fool’s Day, in fact. Kennedy is 10-11 with a 3.75 ERA.

In player news, Hyun-Jin Ryu will come off the DL tomorrow and pitch against San Diego. Roberto Hernandez will now pitch on Monday against the Nationals. Mattingly says the matchups make sense, since Ryu has given up only one run to the Padres in 19 innings this year. Hernandez has allowed Washington one unearned run in 15 innings this year. Scott Van Slyke’s ankle isn’t nearly as bad as it looked when he first turned it the other night, as should have been obvious since he was sent up to pinch-hit last night.

Lineup when available.

I don’t know whether it was oversight or Hanley talking his way into the lineup, but the original one had Rojas at short hitting 7th.

Aug 29

Game 135, 2014

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

Dan Haren (11-10, 4.44 ERA) vs. Andrew Cashner (2-6, 2.43 ERA). Haren’s won three of his last four starts. Cashner is making his second start after a two-month hiatus due to shoulder soreness.

Via Twitter: The Dodgers sent RHP Victor Arano to @Phillies as second of two players to be named (Jesmuel Valentin) in trade for RHP Roberto Hernandez.

Lineup when available.

Aug 27

Game 134, 2014

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Clayton Kershaw looks to get his 16th win and avenge the drubbing he got the last time he pitched at Chase Field, when he gave up seven runs in 1 2/3 innings. He’ll pitch against Wade Miley, who’s 7-9 with a 4.29 ERA but has a 1.83 ERA in his last three starts.

The D-Backs team Kershaw will face tonight is vastly different from the one that beat him on May 17. Five guys contributed 15 hits, 13 RBI, and 7 extra-base-hits in that game. Four of the five are currently on the D-Backs’ DL, and the fifth has been traded to the Yankees.

Lineup:

Hmm. Van Slyke replaces Crawford in left and Turner replaces Gonzalez at first. I suppose this is just a way of giving those two guys two consecutive days off, with tomorrow being a travel day to San Diego. That seventy-minute flight is tiring, man.

Aug 26

Game 133, 2014

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Roberto Hernandez makes his fourth start for the Dodgers and Trevor Cahill starts for the D-Backs. Hernandez is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in three starts for the Dodgers, while Cahill is 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA in August after returning from the minors in July.

To make room for the reinstated-from-the-DL Hanley Ramirez the Dodgers optioned Erisbel Arruebarrena to Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga, but they expect to bring him back up when rosters can expand September 1.

Lineup:

For scoreboard watchers, Rockies at Giants, 7:10PM PT, TV: CSN-BA

Aug 24

Game 132, 2014

132 was my company number in boot camp way back in 1972 at the now-closed Recruit Training Center in San Diego.

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

Bartolo Colon will start for the Mets, but the big news is that according to Fox Sports he’s been placed on revocable waivers (see here for a discussion of what that means), so tomorrow’s start might be his last wearing the Orange and Blue. He’s 11-10 with a 3.85 ERA on the season.

The Dodgers send Kevin Correia out to make his third start as a Dodger. He’s 2-0 with a 4.09 ERA in the NL after coming over from the Twins and 7-13 with a 4.87 ERA overall.

In news from the farm, multiple news sources are reporting that the Dodgers will move their AAA affiliation from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City next season. A Dodger-affiliated buyers group is finalizing a deal with the current owner of the OKC Redhawks, which announced it was selling its five minor league properties earlier this year.

Oklahoma City’s elevation is 1,201 feet, while Albuquerque’s is 5,312 feet. The reasoning seems to be that trying to judge players’ skills when they play their home games at the same elevation as Denver is difficult and can lead to disappointment.

In other AAA news,

With a stolen base Saturday night, Dodgers No. 3 prospect Joc Pederson did what no other player has done in the Pacific Coast League since 1934.

Already leading the league with 32 home runs, Pederson swiped his 30th base of the season to become the first 30-homer, 30-steal player in the PCL since Angels Minor Leaguer Frank Demaree did it 80 years ago.

Lineup when available.

Aug 23

Game 131, 2014

Mets at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Zack Greinke starts, two days later than he would ordinarily have done. He and the Dodgers hope the elbow irritation he has been fighting will have dissipated enough for him to return to his usual impeccable self. He’s 12-8 on the year with a 2.75 ERA. Also, and this might be significant, he’s thrown more innings (157 1/3) than any other Dodgers pitcher.

His opponent will be Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Jacob deGrom, a righthander who is 6-5 on the year with a 2.87 ERA in 100 1/3 innings. This is his first time out after coming off the 15-day DL for right shoulder tendinitis.

Hanley Ramirez is still scheduled to come off the DL tomorrow and start at shortstop. For the Mets, Bartolo Colon is back from the bereavement list and will start tomorrow against the Dodgers.

Lineup when available.

Aug 22

Game 130, 2014

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

This is the only visit to Dodger Stadium the Mets will make this year. The Dodgers won two of three against the Orange and Blue at Citi Field earlier this summer.

The Dodgers’ Dan Haren (10-10, 4.59 ERA) tries again to recover the form he had earlier in the season. His last outing was awful, but the previous two had been pretty good. He’ll face LHP Jon Niese, who’s 7-8 with a 3.50 ERA. He went on the DL with a strained left shoulder and since coming off has gone 2-4 with a 4.97 ERA. His last time out he spaced seven hits over six innings, gave up three runs and beat the Cubs.

Lineup when available.

Aug 21

Game 129, 2014

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

Clayton Kershaw tries to shake off the loss he took in his last outing. He’s still 14-3 with a 1.86 ERA. He’ll face Tyson Ross, who is 11-11 with a 2.70 ERA and has worked into the sixth inning or later 20 of his last 24 starts.

Ryu has played catch on flat ground the last two days and continues to work toward pitching off a mound. Uribe took batting practice before yesterday’s game.

Aug 20

Game 128, 2014

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

ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball late game features Roberto Hernandez making his third start for the Dodgers and looking for his second win for the team. He’ll face Eric Stults, who is 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA in three starts this month.

The Padres have averaged the most runs per game (4.57) in the National League since the All-Star break.

Gordon gets a night off tonight. Darwin Barney will start at 2nd base for him. Crawford had a huge night last night, so he gets tonight off as well (?). Van Slyke will take his place in LF.

Update: The Giants won their protest that last night’s game shouldn’t have been declared a complete game loss for them because the Cubs’ ground crew didn’t get the tarp on properly and thus rendered the field unplayable when the umps tried to restart the game. They claimed that not enough was done to dry the infield. It will be resumed in the fifth inning at 2:05PM PT Thursday before the regularly-scheduled game begins at 5:05PM PT.