After the first ten days of the season we can say the NL West is showing depth beyond the Dodgers and Giants. Whether the D-Backs and Rockies can keep up their good play remains to be seen, but so far the division looks more competitive than anticipated.
Dodgers at Cubs, 5:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN (out-of-market only)
Brandon McCarthy (1-0, 2.00 ERA) goes for the Dodgers against John Lackey (1-0, 4.50 ERA) of the Cubs. McCarthy allowed two runs on four hits in six innings last Thursday against the Padres. Lackey went 7-4 with a 2.62 ERA at home last season; this is his first start at Wrigley this year.
The Cubs got their banner Monday; tonight they’ll get their rings.
Late news: Franklin Gutierrez goes on the 10-day DL with a strained left hamstring.
Lineup when available.
Tonight's Dodger lineup at Cubs:
Toles LF
Seager SS
Forsythe 3B
González 1B
Grandal C
Pederson CF
Utley 2B
Puig RF
McCarthy P pic.twitter.com/1zKRXsnw69— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 12, 2017
NPUT @ 0637HST, 0937PT.
Nice to win a close one again. Dodgers now 1-2 in one run games.
The last regular season one-run game that the Dodgers won was Sept. 25, 2016. You might remember it as the Culberson walk off, division clinching, last Vin broadcast at DS game.
Last one run win was against these here Cubbies at Wrigley, with Klayton winning 1-0 in second game of the NLCS.
Took a break to finish washing the dinner dishes, just returned to the computer, and Voila! Very nice, important early-season win.
Woo-HOO!!!
How sweet it is!
We win!
YES!
Appropriately, last out to Toles!
Crazy route but in the end it worked.
One more, Kenley . . .
Taste of things to come, 6 months from now?
Definitely plenty of tension for this early in the year!
One more DP would be just grand.
Or a pop up to Grandal.
— and any other type of out.
Time to lower that ERA Kenley.
Time to lower the boom on these guys!
Seager battling.
Like Scoop, saw the Toles K on Gameday and thought it was the end of the half inning. Lo and behold.
Never say die.
That must have been one heckuva throw by the catcher for Utley to score from first, even with him running on the 3-2, two-out pitch.
They said all the way down the line . . . after Mo was talking about a hit going to the same place.
Overthrew it. Nobody backing it up.
And the catcher bobbled the recovery.
Utley slid into homeplate?
Oh yes.
I saw “swinging strike” and Gameday and assumed the inning was over. Remarkably, it isn’t. Bob’s WOW! was the tipoff.
Getting nice messages from the future is always nice! — been there, done that.
Little League RBI. LOL.
We will take it!
Did my weights through this nail biter so I am sweating! And Utley scores!!!!
He must have been really hustling to score from 1st on that play.
Gotta love his hustle.
WOW!
If you can’t be good, be lucky!
Might be up to Toles to produce more runs.
He did . . . kinda.
Time for SVS to restore my confidence in him.
Let’s see what we can do with this lead off walk.
Comedy of errors.
Hopefully we’ll be laughing when this is all over!
I saw a segment on TV showing how Hershiser had been working with Avilan to build up his self-confidence. So far, so good.
Good for the Bulldog!
It’s still frustrating, but I’ll be happy if it’s true tonight: The first shall be last (scoring).
Of course, I’d be happy if the Dodgers score a bunch right here!
Been loving Stripland in the bullpen. Along with Wood (prior to Monday), Dayton and even Romo – they seem pretty solid.
As a Dallas Cowboys fan, it’s odd seeing “Romo” still active. (And, obviously, odd for us to be rooting for him, but laundry changes everything.)
Could be worse. He could have played for the Mavericks.
Go, Bullpen!!! YES!
Bring in Jansen now?
Nope. Avilan.
get the K!
Yes!
Uno mas . . .
Yes!
Jinx!
You owe me water . . . since my kidney stone earlier this year precludes just about everything else!
Yikes. A buddy of mine had kidney stones.
Not. Fun.
Take care of yourself Bob.
Thanks, Dave — I’m trying.
Speaking of trying, the stone hit Jan. 19 and continued until the next night. So not only was I in physical pain, I was suffering because the 20th was the inauguration.
My sister had kidney stones. Hope you are doing well, Bob.
Thanks, Scoop. Drinking lots of water, not adding salt and avoiding (for the most part) caffeine and dark-colored soda.
Never have I wanted a phrase to be true as I did for “This, too, shall pass.” Lol
(Tho I didn’t know it at the time, I had it easy — mine lasted less than 48 hours. A colleague had some hit the Sunday after me . . . the next Thursday morning, they finally had to operate on him!)
Seager turning into Steve Sax this year.
–and unfortunately, he;s not the only one on the team . . . 1 per game now, right?
If you’re not getting the runs, you can’t be giving them away . . . hopefully this won’t amount to that.
Not a good throw, but AGon’s error.
Seems strange when the throw was the problem.
Once again hitting with RISP appears to be poor.
Seems like a common refrain, especially in the playoffs.
14th in league at .242
https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/stats/byteam?cat=Situational&cut_type=39&sort=722&conference=MLB&year=season_2017
Stripling’s looking really good so far.
One could argue that all of the current division leaders are a surprise to be there. Certainly Arizona, Cincinnati, Detroit, and LA Angels. And to lesser degrees NY Mets and Baltimore.
C’mon, JT — we’ve been missing that big hit all night!
— and continue to search for it. (“big” as in clutch — not taking away fro Toles’ shot)
Only one out so could have let Joc hit and then pinch hit for Utley.
Yeah I would have gone that route as well. Rather lose Utley than Joc.
Good news about Zack Lee.
Hopeful!
Are the two games in Chicago low scoring because balls curve more in cold damp weather?
I am enjoying being a part of the fuller comment thread tonight. Nice to be in conversation with many here again!
Yay for our little Dodger community! 🙂
A game this close (read: scary) means I can’t break away!
I think Brandon McCarthy bears a slight resemblance to the Disney animated version of Ichabod Crane.
Don’t know if Brandon is a horse rider or not – but did hear a story that he doesn’t like to share his dessert with anyone. Apparently he is as deadly serious about that as Adrian Beltre is about not wanting his head touched.
Great job McCarthy.
Good tag, good use of review!
Is everybody glad that Trace Thompson is back on the team?
Yes indeed.
I thought he would get more time in OK after missing most of last year and having to take it easy in the off season. He was not the hottest hitter in OK.
10 ABs there, no hits.
Saving his hits for the Bigs perhaps…
Here’s hoping . . .
Dodgers have been lacking hits in big situations . . . their record would be MUCH better with a few of them.
He was off to very slow start at OKC – no hits yet this season.
I’m impressed with McCarthy’s performance. He’s unruffled by runners on base.
Low pitch count, too. Maybe he’s fully recovered.
T’would be nice.
Even more impressive than his start v. the Pads.
Phew! That crowd noise got me again.
I liked it better when we got runners on. Felt more hopeful.
Some people are never satisfied.
Ha!
🙂
The Dodgers’ unusual run-scoring this season:
10 or more runs (3-0)
4 through 9 runs (0-0)
0 through 3 runs (1-4)
In eight games we have scored 42 runs (an average of 5.25) and allowed 25 (3.13).
Funny – I was just beginning to crunch those numbers myself. Our up to the minute run differential is +18. The 4-4 record does not flatter those numbers.
How about following the Olympics’ old model — throw out the shutout vs. and the first game?
But our first game was the best one so far.
Can we just throw out the ones Kershaw loses? There shouldn’t be too many of those hopefully but they are often extra hard to take.
Great Expectations! It’s more than just a book!
I know; I saw the movie.
I’m with you, but statistically throw out the best and the worst.
Ah I gotcha now.
I am worried about how the Bulgarian judge scores.
Another DP. Helpful.
Baltimore hit five homers before there were any outs in the third tonight at Boston to take a 9-0 lead. It is now 9-5 Orioles in the top of the 6th.
Lackey at 81 pitches. I was going to say this game is flying along but perhaps it only feels like that after Monday’s 2 hour delay of game to start.
Isn’t that what that old pitcher Einstein was talking about re time being relative? (Albert may not’ve been good with a ball, but he definitely pitched his theory!)
Zing.
Welcome back to us.
Strikes out 9 but walks the pitcher!
Wanted to keep Mac from resting?
Ha.
I didn’t like the cheer I heard on radio when Bryant hit that, but I guess the fans were watching with their hearts (and nearly stopping mine!).
C’mon, bats!
I felt that exact same thing upon hearing the crowd.
Well, no LOBs in that inning.
Lackey improving every inning.
Glad Dodgers scored already. Cold windy nights in Chicago keeps the scoring down. At least his pitch count is up.
Yay – Joc didn’t strike out. Lackey racking up the K’s.
I like double plays.
LOB for the Dodgers are as DP’s for the Cubs. Discuss.
Harder to pile up LOBs when DPs also pile up.
Too many LOBs. Not enough RBIs.
Yeah – I can’t figure out if they have solved Lackey or not.
The strike zone is equally confusing.
What’s the word on Turner? How long is he out for?
Available to PH tonight, should play tomorrow.
That’s good news.
That was kinda ugly Utley.
Gotta swing at at least one of those.
Exactly.
Utley is no longer Utley.
Utley lost at the plate.
Never mind. Toles!!!!
Another rain delay?
No, just a Toles trot around the bases.
Never look away!
McCarthy looked good last week v. the Pads. The Cubbies will be more of a test.
Meanwhile, Grant applies last night’s lessons in a broader context: http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2017/4/12/15273970/sf-giants-left-field