Monthly Archives: September 2014

Sep 12

Game 147, 2014

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBC Bay Area

Hyun-Jin Ryu faces Madison Bumgarner. Ryu is 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA against the Giants this season; Bumgarner is 2-1 with a 2.41 ERA against the Dodgers this season. This year Ryu is 14-6 with a 3.16 ERA overall; Bumgarner is 17-9 with a 3.02 ERA overall.

It will be Greinke v. Hudson on Saturday night and Kershaw v. Petit Sunday afternoon.

Lineup when available.

Also from Twitter: “The Dodgers have selected the contract of LHP Scott Elbert from Triple-A Albuquerque, and designated RHP Red Patterson for assignment.”

Sep 10

Game 146, 2014

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

The Dodgers send Dan Haren out to do battle with Ian Kennedy. Haren’s 12-10 with a 4.17 ERA and has had three consecutive good starts. Kennedy has already made five starts against the Dodgers this year, going 0-2 with a 3.90 ERA. He’s 10-12 with a 3.75 ERA overall this season.

The Padres have beaten the Dodgers three of their last five meetings, which is not what you’d expect in games between the first-place and third-place teams in the division.

The Diamondbacks play the Giants tonight at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Josh Collmenter goes for the D-Backs and Ryan Vogelsong goes for the Giants.

Lineup:

Huh. No Gordon. Just resting, I hope.

John_from_Aus linked to this article at Dodgers.com in the comments to the last post. It’s a discussion of Puig’s slumping bat. Is it just a slump or could he be injured?

Sep 09

Game 145, 2014

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

Roberto Hernandez attempts to get his game back in order after struggling his last three starts, going 1-2 with a 6.46 ERA and .322 batting average against. He’ll face Andrew Cashner, who’s making his fourth start since hitting the disabled list with right shoulder soreness. In his previous three starts back, he is 0-1 with a 2.50 ERA.

Lineup:

Sep 08

Dodgers win, but oh you kids

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The Dodgers managed to throw the ball away three times on one play in the sixth inning, allowing two runs to score. Fortunately the Dodgers had already scored eight runs by that point. With the 9-4 win (Kershaw’s 18th) they have a 3 1/2 game edge on the Giants, who were idle tonight. The D-Backs open a three-game series in AT&T Park with the Giants tomorrow.

Sep 08

Game 144, 2014

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

Clayton Kershaw is steaming toward another Cy Young Award with a 17-3 record and a 1.70 ERA. His opponent will be Odrisamer Despaigne, who’s 3-5 with a 3.06 ERA in his first 13 MLB starts. He pitched in LA on July 10 and gave up two runs in seven innings, losing to Kershaw 2-1.

If you thought Matt Kemp was finally getting back to full health and form, you’re right. In fact, this season’s OPS of .831 is only slightly below his career OPS of .842. For the second half of this season he’s got a slash line of .307/.376/.584 with 11 home runs. (That’s Batting Avg/On-Base Pctg/Slugging Pctg, for those of us who never remember).

Lineup:

Sep 07

Game 143, 2014

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

Zack Greinke (13-8, 2.72 ERA) goes against Trevor Cahill (3-10, 5.06 ERA). Cahill has had a horrible year which has included a trip to Single A Visalia and Triple A Reno. His last time out he gave up five hits, walked six, and surrendered three earned runs in four innings.

Lineup:

Sep 06

Game 142, 2014

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

Hyun Jin-Ryu is 14-6 with a 3.18 ERA. The next game he wins will be an MLB career high for him. He’ll face Chase Anderson, a rookie righthander who’s 8-6 with a 3.75 ERA. Ryu is 2-0 against the D-Backs this season, while Anderson is 1-1 against the Dodgers. He gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings the first time out, but that was the game in which the Diamondbacks bombed Clayton Kershaw for seven runs and eventually won 18-7. His second time out he only gave up two runs in five innings but lost to Kershaw. He’s probably thanking his lucky stars that at least he’s facing Ryu rather than Clayton again.

Lineup:

Puig is sick and getting an IV, Mattingly says. In other player news, Paco Rodriguez, who’s still on the DL, suffered an unspecified “setback” during his bullpen session Tuesday.

Sep 05

How many innings can one arm throw?

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According to Dodgers.com Beckett is thinking about retirement.

Beckett needs surgery to repair a torn labrum and a lesion in his left hip, whether he pitches again or not.

[snip]

He’s a high-mileage 34-year-old, having thrown 2,051 innings in 13 big league seasons.

I don’t doubt Beckett might decline a four-month rehab, as the article suggests is needed. He hurts, he’s made more than $116M in his career and has a couple of small kids, so why not retire? Other than the no-hitter this year I suspect he hasn’t had much fun this season. He even says “It takes four hours of [therapy] work to do two hours on the field.”

I think baseball may have seen the last of Josh Beckett as a player. But that bit about his innings pitched raised a question for me — is 2,051 IP high-mileage? Over 13 years he’s averaged 209 IP over a 162-game period. He was a full-time starter when he was 22 years old. Among Dodger starters:

  • Dan Haren is 33 and has thrown 2,202 innings in 12 MLB seasons for a 162-game average of 215 IP.
  • Kevin Correia is 34 but has thrown only 1,397 MLB innings for a 162-game average of 168 IP in 12 seasons.
  • Roberto Hernandez is 34 with 1,248 MLB innings for a 162-game average of 190 IP over 9 seasons.
  • Hyun-Jin Ryu is 27, has 7 years of Korean League experience and 1,269 innings there in addition to the 336 he’s got in the big leagues, averaging roughly 178 IP (the Korean Leagues throw off the 162-game calculation).
  • Chad Billingsley is 30 and has 1,175 MLB innings for a 162-game average of 195 IP over 7 seasons (and 12 innings).
  • Kershaw, believe it or not, is 27 but has 1,349 MLB innings himself and has averaged 223 IP over a 162-game period in 7 seasons.

Of the three guys who are the same age as Beckett, Haren’s the closest in hard use. He’s always been a starter. Correia pitched his first five years in relief and as a spot starter. Hernandez was a full-time starter in his second year in the bigs.

If Beckett is high-mileage, then Haren, averaging 215 IP, and Kershaw, averaging 223 IP, are the two guys who could also be classified as such. We can only hope Kershaw doesn’t injure himself throwing that many innings every year.

Sep 05

Game 141, 2014

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

18 of the Dodgers’ final 22 games are against division opponents. 19 of the Giants’ final 22 games are against division opponents. The NL West championship is going to be decided this month, although perhaps not in games the two teams play against one another. Their last meeting is a three-game series ending on the 24th of September in Los Angeles. After that the Dodgers close out the season with three games at home against the Rockies, while the Giants go home to play the Padres for four games.

It starts tonight as Dan Haren (11-10, 4.27 ERA) tries to keep up his current two-game streak of quality starts. He’s given up just one earned run in his last 13 innings. The D-Backs will counter with a left-hander named Vidal Nuno, who’s pitched in horrid luck all year. He’s 2-9 with a 4.46 ERA, but some of that was in 78 innings with the Yankees. He’s 0-4 with a 3.23 ERA in 61.1 innings since coming over to the Diamondbacks. They’re 1-9 in his starts for them.

Lineup:

Van Slyke could be forgiven if he’s distracted or sleepy. His wife Audrey gave birth to their second son, Eli, early Thursday morning.

Sep 03

Fewer road games for Vinnie next year

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Arrgh! Say it ain’t so!

But it is so.

Scully said he has decided to skip road games, at least early in the season. In addition to the Dodgers’ home games, the 86-year-old Scully currently travels with the team to Anaheim, Arizona, San Diego and San Francisco.

“I’m going to go to Anaheim for sure,” Scully said Tuesday night. “But I’m going to try to cut back on nights on the road. I really want to spend more time at home.”

Enjoy him while we’ve got him, folks.