Game 20, 2016

Marlins at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

Don Mattingly returns to Dodger Stadium with a team that’s lost 11 of its first 17 games. The Marlins are not very good right now, and they face the added burden of being in the same division as the Washington Nationals, so they’re already 7 1/2 games behind in the NL East. They do have Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Fernandez, and they have some guy named Bonds as their new hitting coach with Frank Menechino as his assistant. Fun fact: back in 2001 Bonds and Menechino swung at the lowest percentage of pitches of all major leaguers and still reached base at a combined .447 rate. One was more successful than the other: Bonds hit 73 home runs that season; Menechino’s slash line was .242/.369/.374.

They’ll send lefty Wei-Yin Chen to the hill. He’s 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in three starts. When he was with the Orioles he faced the Dodgers in 2013 and got a win. The Dodgers will counter with the second of their two surprising starters, Ross Stripling, who has a 2.65 ERA in 17 innings but hasn’t gotten a decision yet. Stripling stumbled his last time out in Atlanta when he gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks in 3 2/3 innings.

Lineup when available.

Huh. Utley gets a day off. Fine. Gonzalez gets a day off. Okay, but I didn’t know Grandal even owned a first-baseman’s mitt. Pederson and Seager also get days off, presumably because the Marlins are starting a lefty.

94 thoughts on “Game 20, 2016

  1. 0-2 so far when I am attending games at the stadium. Package must be disappointed in the RBI mojo this year. I know I am! Too early to paint the toes blue?

    • Package just couldn’t handle a team about to win its fourth straight division championship, presently on a pace for 97 victories.

      • He had a difference of opinion with about five of us, but he’s recused himself from this season so far. No need to keep lambasting him.

  2. Zach had another poor outing (7 runs in 6.2 innings), but the Snakes managed to pull off the win.

    • Not exactly a quality start (unless you define a quality start as one that you win).

      • Haven’t seen anything from the national blogs, but will check out the Snake blog as well (were I am guessing they are fit to be tied).

      • This from the Snake Pit: “He rattled off a couple of examples of ones he’d like back — a pitch to Yadier Molina, his last one of the game to Hazelbaker — then said, “Besides that, pretty decent.” But Greinke seemed at least willing to consider the thought that good pitches in other parks might not be good pitches at Chase Field. Greinke managed one of the better pitching seasons in recent baseball history last year by relentlessly pounding the outer third of the plate. But, this season, Greinke has been burned a few times at Chase despite hitting his spot on the outside corner. It happened at least a couple of more times on Monday night”.

        For me, the evidence that it is Chase is mixed. In 10 games prior to this season pitching in Chase Field he had an ERA of 3.34. In 3 games this season he is at 10.10. Although in his 2 non-Chase start this year (Pet Shop and Phone Booth) he has ERA 1.93.

      • Were it really shows up is in dingers. Prior to this year, Zach had given up 8 HR in 62 innings at Chase. This year 5 in 16 innings (and zero in his non-Chase outings).

  3. Old friend Jimmy Rollins off to a good start and has taken over as starting SS with Chisox.

  4. I watched the bottom on the ninth from bed, and it seemed to me as if Ramos was really getting the benefit of the low strike.

  5. Not the comeback Scooplew wanted. And I have to confess I slipped out before the ninth.

  6. Rojas had a dWAR for us in 2014 of 1.8 in only 85 games. An exceptional fielding SS.

  7. Down one run with 4 outs left? Should be no problem after yesterday’s game!

    • Hey RBI. I have been listening but working on some emails. Sorry to leave you out there in the cold.

    • Hang in there, if possible, so you can let us know in detail how the Dodgers pulled it out.

  8. I am freezing. May not make it to nine. I never leave early, but my nose is ice cold.

  9. That’s a strike, yet the other one wasn’t, to Stanton? The at bat that led to a run?

  10. Chen may not let us see it for awhile, the the Fish pen is not very good based on IRS and BS.

  11. I guess Ross gets another inning since it will be the bottom of the order and the team could use the inning.

  12. That was a catcher trying to catch a first base foul ball. Can’t give Stanton an extra strike.

  13. Just tuned in in time to miss both dingers, but I’ll see replays as I watch the rest of the game from bed. It’s almost 12:30 here.

  14. Getting a haircut for the win! (Thompson just got one this morning apparently)

    • No shame in surrendering a dinger to Giancarlo. It seems as if Stripling has a fairly high pitch count so far, though.

      • He seems lucky that he has not surrendered more. A stronger opposing team might have really teed off on him tonight.

  15. This is Grandal’s 46th MLB game at first base, 36th as a starter. I just looked it up.

  16. Ok – this is wildly off topic but does anyone have anything to say about having a rabbit as pet? My wife is thinking of getting our currently pet-less family a lion head rabbit.

      • Just don’t let the Dodgers fleece you. I traveled from the Monterey Peninsula to attend Opening Day with two boyhood friends. It’s a tradition. I bought a beer — for $11.50.

  17. I got my hair cut yesterday, but neither my mother nor my sister have noticed it yet. I always play this game and it usually takes three or four days.

  18. Here’s hoping B*nds gets a richly deserved round of boos from the Dodger Stadium crowd. I should be here right around game time, but not sure how long I’ll be able to stick around before falling asleep.