Game 161, 2014

Rockies at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, KDOC-56

Nobody’s calling Dan Haren a hot young prospect anymore, unlike his opponent in today’s game, a right-hander named Eddie Butler. Haren’s luck against the Rockies throughout his career has been poor: he’s 7-9 with a 5.19 ERA in eighteen starts against them. He’ll be on a pitch count today, the team says. Young Mr. Butler made only his second big league start last Saturday and went six innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk to the D-Backs.

Hun-Jin Ryu reported he felt fine after throwing off a mound for the first time in two weeks Friday. He only threw 20 pitches, though. He’s scheduled to throw a full bullpen session tomorrow. An aside: I’m not sure that’s going to be all that representative of his control or velocity, since as I understand it he doesn’t throw between starts, unlike his American-trained counterparts. We’ll have to see.

This is a mildly interesting bit of trivia:

The Dodgers will finish the season without a losing streak longer than three games, joining the 1988 (161 games) and 1924 (154) teams as the only ones in franchise history without a four-game losing streak in a season.

Their longest winning streak of the season was six, for comparison.

Lineup when available.

Update: If the Dodgers’ Twitter feed is to be believed, Clayton and Ellen Kershaw are expecting their first child. Less importantly, Jeremy Lin is going to throw out the first pitch.

31 thoughts on “Game 161, 2014

    • Bottom line is the win — not many of those in extra innings.
      Looks like Haren had a decent game.
      A-gon keeping ’em coming.
      Bats have been coming alive midgame+ — and in bunches.
      Let’s hope Donnie & braintrust are learning what they need to learn.

        • Now that’s not the news I’d like to hear, Link — the offense going MIA. (Here I was trying to be soo supportive of them.) Was it at least the JV squad?

          I think I also have to stop having expectations of an all-powerful, always-effective offense and settle on scoring more runs than the opposition.

      • Bottom line is that, in a meaningless game, some bench players got a chance to stretch out in game conditions while regulars were able to rest.

  1. Thanks for that trivia at the end of your post, Link, but I think it’s much more than “mildly interesting” — I think it’s revelatory.

    This team never rocketed to the stars, streak-wise, but they also never sank to the depths.

    They’ve been “the little team that did” (not just “could” — and with the largest payroll, I guess they’re not so little).

    Perhaps this stealth way of racking up wins, along with our expectations, created the false impression that they’re not as good as their record indicates (a feeling I had 3/4 of the way through the season).

    Such a team seems to be made for the playoffs . . . a week from now we’ll have a better idea!

    Go, Blue!

    • Personally, I think they’re not as good as last year’s team, primarily because of the erratic bullpen, though the bench is quite a bit better. Still, though, I would favor them over any possible opponent except the Nats (as opposed to the Gnats).

      • That erratic bullpen (Kenley) cost them the rubber match in the last meeting between LA and D.C.

        At the moment, I give the offensive nod to this year’s team. (And I’ve been a big a critic of the offense this year.) Last year, when Hanley went down in the LCS, the offense disappeared. While the offense has gone MIA numerous times this year, there are quite a few hot hitters right now for LA — and I’m impressed with the way they handled the two pressure series with SF.

        • I couldn’t worry less about Kenley. It’s the mid-game weenies – Wilson, League, Pérez (hopefully he doesn’t make the roster) – that concern me.

          • I am going to guess that Perez is a lock, based on his performance since he came back from the DL. A WHIP of .875 (benefiting from a babip of .188). Assuming they go with 8 relievers that leaves two out of Paco, Baez and Elbert to make the team, no?

        • A healthy, and back on track, Kemp should help the offense during the playoffs. Last year, when we lost Hanley we were dead meat.

  2. Butler’s overall numbers are unimpressive, though the sample size is small. He was poor v. the Dodgers in Denver, and has only three K’s in 11 innings.