Game 7, 2016

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Dodgers at Giants, 1:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-BA

Scott Kazmir of the Dodgers tries to build on his first start of the season in which he went six shutout innings, gave up only one hit, walked none and struck out five. He’s 1-1 with a 1.42 ERA in two career starts against the Giants. Johnny Cueto pitches for the Giants. He’s 2-5 with a 2.79 ERA in eight career starts against the Dodgers. He went seven good innings in his first start, giving up one run on six hits, striking out four while walking none.

Lineup when available.


Happy Birthday to one of yesterday’s heroes: Charlie Culberson is 27 today. Barnes caught Kazmir in his first game, and A.J. has played two in a row, so the younger guy’s playing today. Van Slyke left yesterday’s game with back tightness he says isn’t serious but is persistent.

125 thoughts on “Game 7, 2016”

  4. One great thing about being in Buenos Aires is no MLBTV blackouts whatsoever, at any time of year.

  5. This makes you appreciate and understand Maddux’s greatness even more. Also makes you wonder (well, does me, anyway) how much more his great mental game paired with the physical gifts of some greatly talented but underachieving hurlers would have achieved. From ThinkBlueLA piece on Stripling…

    “I wouldn’t say mechanically, they really didn’t touch me mechanically, but I would say with Maddux there, it was a lot more pitch selection,” Stripling said. “I threw a live BP with him right at my back hip – they had a net behind me and he was standing right there – and he would say ‘Did you see what that batter did right there?’ and I was like ‘No, not really,’ and he was like ‘He kind of stepped open a little bit. Throw it outside corner right here.’ You’d throw it outside corner and they wouldn’t hit it. So it’s pretty incredible to see him to be able to see baseball like that when I’m just up there trying to survive.

    “You can kind of read a swing and stuff, but when you let go of the ball, it’s kind of hard to watch the ball and watch [the batter] and all this stuff, and he is just like picking up all these nuances,” added Stripling. “It’s pretty incredible. So that’s one thing I want to get a lot better at because he showed me kind of what it can be. I’m definitely not there yet.”

    http://www.thinkbluela.com/index.php/2016/04/11/its-wasnt-just-his-pitching-that-earned-ross-stripling-5th-starter-job/

    • I always admired Maddux, no matter which team he was pitching for. He was an artiste.

  6. Interesting typo elsewhere about Stripling’s great first start–

    “Shame to let our relief corpse spoil Ross’ debut”

    Maybe a bit early to refer to it as a corpse, but you kinda understand the sentiment.

  7. Got off the plane late Sunday in Buenos Aires, only to learn that you guys had let me down. Didn’t get to sleep until after 2 a.m. (10 p.m. California time, however).

  8. Heh. “Roberts, who could find the positive in an ant invasion at a picnic, said he still felt “great” despite losing three-of-four to the Giants.”

  11. 4-3 road trip not bad but it feels like we could/should have been at least 5-2.

    • We scored 17 runs vs. the Giants but allowed 26. That puts the average score at 6.5 to 4.3 against us. With 42 runs in seven games, the Dodgers are averaging exactly 6 runs per game.

      • Sure, but we had one in the bag today and our starter couldn’t hold on. That’s frustrating.

        (It’s only Game Seven, Link. Be calm. There’s a long way to go.)

    • On top of losing a four-run lead in the first game of the series, particularly to the Giants.
      My daughter, a Dodgers fan, went to the game yesterday, so she saw our only win in the series.

  13. Unless the Dbacks skip a pitcher because of a day off on Monday, we won’t face Greinke this week.

  14. Current batting averages of the 1-7 hitters in the Dodgers lineup:
    Utley .310, Seager .333, Turner .308, Gonzalez 444, Puig .400, Pederson .292, Thompson .400.
    Excellent batting averages, but we need to do more with RISP and we have hit only three homers.

  15. 9th inning: Turner with a single, AGon a walk, Puig with a double and Joc with a single.
    And then we will see what happens from there…

  16. Dodgers top and middle of the order get one more crack at this. Let’s finish the same way we started friends.

  17. I realize the Dodgers haven’t done a lot with the bats since the first inning – but you can’t pin this one on them. 6 runs should be enough to win most games.

  19. Hopefully the Dodgers can be just as hospitable when they host the Giants later this week.

  28. I was thinking it was Roberts’ strategy to keep Kazmir in until the Giants took the lead.

      • I can judge on only what I have seen to date, which is, of course, premature. But Kazmir stayed in after allowing three homers….I must admit that I get too hyper about the Dodgers when they play the Giants.

  31. This would be a strangely memorable 100th win for Kazmir if he could somehow get the win today.

  40. I guess the Dodgers need to start hitting home runs as well. They have been mostly missing from the offense this year.

  50. So is Grandal due back on Tuesday? And does that send Barnes down or someone else (Johnson, Culberson, Thompson)?

    • Good question. Second base will need someone as I would guess that Quique will see a lot of left field action until SVS is fit. That would seem to be Howie’s slot, however.

  54. Excellent start. Now if Kazmir can come close to the way he pitched the other day we should get a split in this series.

    Huh. If he wins this it’ll be the 100th of his career. Here’s his record.

    • I was just thinking – it would hurt to lose another game in this series that we started with a sizeable lead. 5 runs is a healthy cushion, hopefully.

  59. Maybe if the Dodgers can get a 3rd run here, the game won’t need to go to extra innings later!

  66. Let’s get some more RISP hits today. I can’t believe they had 21 at bats in that situation yesterday. That seems like a lot.

  68. Anyone following the Masters? It feels like it could be a wild ride to the finish today.

  69. Alright. I hope to be around a bit more this afternoon. Although I might work on my taxes today so frustration levels may be high independent of the baseball game!