Padres at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD
Andrew Cashner (3-6, 4.42 ERA) goes for the Padres while Scott Kazmir (7-3, 4.37 ERA) goes for the Dodgers. Here’s a bit of a surprise: Kazmir hasn’t lost in his last ten starts. Cashner pitched well in his first start last Sunday after coming off the DL, giving up just two runs in six innings against the Yankees.
A-Gon has been very successful against Cashner; he’s hit .344/.432/.750 with four homers. Likewise, Alexei Ramirez and Adam Rosales have a combined .930 OPS in 62 plate appearances against Kazmir from their days in the AL when he was there.
Lineup when available.
Tonight's Dodger lineup vs. Padres:
Utley 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
González 1B
Puig RF
Grandal C
Kendrick LF
Toles CF
Kazmir P— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 8, 2016
Haven’t been able to comment much here for a good while. Doesn’t look like that’s likely to change much soon. Have kept on top of things, tho.
Question for those with eyes about the Kazmir mystery. Disregarding the almost-meaningless 7-3 W-L record, you’d think someone with this partial stat line
97.2 IP 90 H 15 HR 39 BB 106 K .241 BAA 1.32 WHIP might pitch to better than a 4.52 ERA and go much deeper into games.
From some quotes I’ve seen his mental game and focus may not be the best. Averaging over a K per inning says his stuff is good. And there was hope he’d fixed his first-inning troubles with a simulated inning before taking the mound start before last when he did do better. Then last night, pffftttt.
Does he just lose command all of a sudden and groove pitches, as the dinger total might indicate? Other ideas? He really needs to step up and go deeper in games. But, pfffftttt…
NPUT
What’s everybody’s first impression of Toles? I think he did good especially considering this was his first start in Dodger Stadium.
Quite a leap for a fellow who was out of baseball in 2015, started the year in A ball and only 8 games at AAA. His speed helped him to recover from some misreads and almost reach some well-hit balls.
Pederson not returning immediately after All Star Game. Now saying he dislocated his shoulder.
Thompson not exactly taking Pederson’s job from him.
Wow! The Phone Toles for Whom?
While searching, I can’t find any reference to a dislocated shoulder.
Sometimes what we look for is right under our noses 😉
http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article/188741994/clayton-kershaw-joc-pederson-staying-on-dl/
So Kazmir’s unbeaten streak is now at eleven! (not quite comparable to Strasburg’s 12-0 record going into ASG).
Fer Heaven’s sake, three dingers by a guy hitting under .200 at the start of the game!
In fact, going 5-5 put him just above the Mendoza line at .204.
Kingmanesque!
Game done in a tidy 3:45.
We win!
5 for 5. Impressive, sir.
So much for Lucroy…
He could become the backup, though…
Good point. I’d love for this to be permanent!
Lucroy and Braun for Grandal?
Well, I’m not hoping for extra innings to see him try and match Utley from earlier this week.
Grandal gets another AB!
Gnats winning 6-2 in the bottom of the 8th, natch.
They’ll get theirs after the break.
Seager over-swinging tonight.
Just warming up for the HR derby I guess. Cause the “ruining your swing” narrative can never start too early.
Campy, Piazza and Grandal. Only Dodger catchers with 3 in a game.
I think I know who the player of the game could be. Maybe. Potentially. Certainly.
He must regret that bunt. Maybe an outside chance of another AB.
The bunt just kept him loose and limber and kept the pitchers on their toes!
Grandal!!!!!
Grandal trying to make up for a slow year all in one night!!
It worked.
His OPS increased by 80 points in one game to reach league average!
Nice
Yas!
I have dread. Yes, I do.
Peace. Be still. They got this!
But scoring a run there would have been so helpful.
Padres getting some fluky base hits tonight. Frustrating.
Or now I guess I could say the Dodgers are getting some tough errors tonight.
Not making this easy, are you, Dodgers?
Baez – 2 pitches 3 outs over two different innings. He could teach our starters a thing or two!
Checking the box score I see that Cashner has the very rare negative game score. At -12 it doesn’t matter whether you are talking Celcius or Farenheit – either way he was cold.
Wow. Baez almost threw that away. Grandal saved his bacon.
Hardest throw by Howell tonight was him throwing his glove after getting pulled.
Pecked to death by ducks.
Wow. Crazy game tonight.
Pitch carefully to Upton tonight.
We need to stop this now, guys.
In other news – do you think the Mets are concerned about their starting pitchers? Yikes for them.
Harvey’s done for the year. Thor and Matz both have serious problems. So I’d say, yeah.
Thor did alright tonight, though the Mets lost to the Nats 1-3. Strasburg was lights out and went deep in the game with a no-no. Now 12-0.
Bullpen running on fumes.
I wanted to see Grandal hit his third straight dinger, but I loved the bunt nevertheless.
Artistry should not be overturned.
He’s out I believe.
Good.
Fantastic throw by Grandal.
Grandal is amazing tonight.
This could be a long night.
Yes. Yes it certainly could be.
Good news (Grandal and Dodgers are raking); bad news (another bullpen game).
Oh baby. I’m truly not a fair-weather fan but this does feel good.
Perhaps tonight is the balm, the salve for the last few games.
Oh the poor bullpen. That phone is going to start ringing again soon.
One of the relievers are going to secretly disconnect that phone.
And now keep pitching. Keep pitching.
Just keep hitting. Just keep hitting.
Kazmir being old Kazmir
Hit parade in the bottom of the first!
More balls than strikes thus far, Kazmir.
Note that the Dodgers have a new starting CF tonight in callup Andrew Toles, who’s made a meteoric rise through the organization since signing with LA after sitting out last year entirely. Major speed.
Why not Thompson in CF, I wonder. Twitter doesn’t say anything about it.
He has been playing a lot with Joc out so a chance to give him a rest with the righty on the mound, would be my guess.
I guess!