Monthly Archives: June 2016

Jun 19

Game 71, 2016

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Happy Father’s Day to all you merry commenters and to your fathers as well.

Brewer at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSWI

Two righthanded fathers (Garza, six kids; Maeda, one) go at each other this afternoon. The Brewers’ Matt Garza (0-0, 2.25 ERA) is making only his second start of the year; he missed the first ten weeks with a strained right lat muscle. In his first start he went four innings, gave up one run, struck out five and walked only one. His opposite number, Kenta Maeda (6-4, 2.75 ERA) took a line drive off his shin his last time out; the team insists there was no lasting damage and he’s good to go.

Howie Kendrick is 8-15 lifetime against Garza.

Lineup:

Jun 18

Game 70, 2016

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Brewers at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSWI

The opposing pitchers today have known one another for more than ten years, as teammate, roomie, and good friend. Mike Bolsinger of the Dodgers brings his 1-4, 5.76 ERA to bear against the Brewers’ Chase Anderson, who’s 4-6 with a 4.42 ERA.

They lived together from their time in Double-A up to their rookie seasons in Arizona. Bolsinger was the best man at Anderson’s wedding in 2013. When Bolsinger married in January, Anderson was in the wedding party.

They want to beat each other, of course.

Lineup:

Gracious, I hope Howie hasn’t forgotten how to play second base. He seems to have played almost everywhere but there this season.

Jun 17

Game 69, 2016

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Brewers at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSWI

The Brewers send out righthander Zach Davies (5-3, 2.88 ERA), who’s 23. He’ll face the 19-year-old Julio Urias, who’ll be making his fifth start. He’s 0-2 with a 5.82 ERA, but he’s improved each time out, and if the Dodgers’ offense was consistent he’d have a better record. Davies has allowed just two earned runs in the 21 innings he’s pitched in June and has lowered his ERA in each of his last five starts.

Urias probably only has two or three more starts with the Dodgers before they put him in the bullpen in the bigs or down at OK City, because they’re trying to limit the number of pitches he’s going to throw this season. The plan is still a little vague.

Lineup:

Jun 16

Game 68, 2016

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Brewers at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSWI

The Brewers open up a four-game series with the Dodgers tonight, sending righthander Junior Guerra (3-1, 3.31 ERA) out to face the Dodgers’ Scott Kazmir (5-3, 4.52 ERA). Kazmir walked five in his last start against the Giants and left after just five innings, but he’s won his last three decisions. Fun fact: when he throws his first pitch tonight Kazmir will become one of the small number of pitchers who have faced all thirty MLB teams over their careers. In other milestone news, Jansen’s save last night was his 161st as a Dodger. That ties Eric Gagne for most ever by a Dodger reliever.

The Brewers’ Braun (OF) and Lucroy (C) have both been mentioned in trade rumors. I can’t see the Dodgers wanting Braun, but they might want a catcher who’s less vulnerable to injury than Grandal has shown himself to be over his 160 games in a Dodgers uniform.

Lineup:

This is Venable’s first start in Dodger blue.

Jun 15

Game 67, 2016

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 12:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

Clayton Kershaw brings his gaudy 9-1, 1.52 ERA record to Chase Field, which has not been his favorite road stadium. He’s made 11 starts there and gone 4-7 with a 3.90 ERA. The only stadium where he’s done less well is Coors Field in Denver. His opponent will be lefty Patrick Corbin, who’s 3-5 with an ERA of 4.81. He’s done pretty well against the Dodgers: the Dodgers have gotten two or fewer runs against him in three of his four home starts against them, and overall he’s 3-4 with a 3.78 ERA in 10 career starts against the team.

Lineup:

Jun 14

Game 66, 2016

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

The Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda (5-4, 2.70 ERA) goes against the D-Backs’ Archie Bradley (2-2, 5.22 ERA) in a battle of righthanders. Maeda has won two of his last three starts and made two quality starts in a row. Bradley has lost two straight but has a 3.79 ERA since his callup from Reno May 29.

Goldschmidt continues to be a terror against the Dodgers: he’s now hit 23 home runs against them in his career. That’s bad enough, but he’s only 28 and in just his sixth year in the big leagues. He may hit a lot more against them before he’s through.

In personnel news:


I have no idea why they think they have a need for a sixth outfielder, particularly a 32-year-old one with a .251 career batting average and a lifetime OPS of .722.

Lineup:

Jun 13

Game 65, 2016

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A, MLB.tv

Zack Greinke (8-3, 3.84 ERA) faces his former team for the first time, but he faced them before he ever became a Dodger too. He was 2-0 with a 2.52 ERA against them before 2012. Greinke has won five straight starts. He’ll be opposed by Mike Bolsinger (1-3, 5.75 ERA), who has yet to go past the sixth inning in any of his four starts.

Lineup:

Jun 12

Game 64, 2016

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Dodgers at Giants, 5:30PM PT, TV: ESPN

19-year-old lefty Julio Urias makes his fourth start for the Dodgers. So far he’s shown signs of improvement each time out, but it’s not reflected in his W-L record (0-1) or in his ERA (6.94). One thing for sure, he’s getting starts in big markets: his third road start will be in San Francisco, and the previous two were in NYC and Chicago.

Urias’ opponent will be veteran righty Jake Peavy. He had a horrible April with an 8.61 ERA and improved to a 4.73 ERA in May, dropping his overall ERA to 6.41 to go with a 2-6 W-L record.

Lineup when available.

Jun 11

Game 63, 2016

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Dodgers at Giants, 4:15PM PT, TV: Fox

The Dodgers send Scott Kazmir (5-3, 4.46 ERA) to do battle with Jeff Samardzija (7-4, 3.33 ERA). Kazmir has made two starts against the Giants this season and they haven’t been good: he’s given up 10 runs in eight innings in the two games. In Samardzija’s last start he went five innings against the Cardinals and gave up six runs on nine hits, four of them HRs.

Puig goes to Lake Elsinore Rancho Cucamonga to begin rehab on Monday. The Dodgers want him to shorten his swing a bit while there, hoping to reduce his rotation and “eliminate some of the strain he exerts.”

Lineup when available.


I just noticed that in this lineup all members of the infield hit first. Then Roberts goes off script and has C Yasmani hitting between CF Joc and LF Howie. Come on, Doc, symmetry is important!

Jun 10

Game 62, 2016

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN (out-of-market only), NBC Bay Area

Two heavyweight pitchers go at one another tonight, each with only one loss this season, one with eight wins and one with nine. The eight-game winner is the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw, who also sports an ERA of 1.46. He’s got a career record against the Giants of 17-7 with a 1.60 ERA, and if that’s not enough, in the Giants’ home park he’s 9-3 with a 1.23 ERA. Facing him will be new-to-the-Giants Johnny Cueto, who’s 2-0 with a 4.40 ERA in two starts against the Dodgers this season but has a losing record overall (4-5) against Los Angeles.

This is the last series the two teams play against one another until August, but from that point forward nine of their last 38 games will be head-to-head.

The Dodgers’ draft picks are enumerated and expounded upon here. Their first pick was a left-handed hitting high-school shortstop named Gavin Lux.

Lineup: