Dodgers at Padres, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: FSSD, SPNLA
The Dodgers send LHP Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 2.25 ERA) out to face the Padres’ LHP Eric Lauer (2-3, 4.41 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series. While Kershaw’s velocity is down some, his sliders are sharp and he’s been able to vary their speeds. Lauer has been bitten by the “one bad inning” bug, which has precluded him going longer than six innings in any game this season.
Bellinger has evolved into a complete hitter, Matt Kelly of MLB.com says.
Pollock will be out for several months. He’s having surgery to remove hardware left from previous operations from his elbow.
Manager Dave Roberts would not provide an estimated time frame for Pollock’s return, but said it should be this season. Typical hardware removals require one to two months of recovery before a player can return to competition to assure the holes in the bone where the screws were removed are fully healed. Hardware is sometimes left on the bone for added protection, and because removal can be more trouble than it’s worth.
This will be the third operation on Pollock’s right elbow since 2010. The previous two required five-month recoveries, but Roberts said that isn’t expected to be the case this time.
The dilemma that is Urias’s youthful arm and how to protect it while at the same time getting its benefit.
Today in Dodgers’ history:
- 1947 In a controversial move, Branch Rickey trades five Dodgers, including southerner Kirby Higbe, to the Pirates for five-foot, six-inch left-hand-hitting outfielder Al Gionfriddo and $100,000. Some believe ‘the Mahatma’ made the deal to send a message to the team about his commitment to breaking the color barrier and his support of Jackie Robinson, the first black to play in the major leagues this century. It’s a darned good move, considering that Gionfriddo made a game-saving catch of a DiMaggio fly ball in Game 6 of that fall’s World Series.
- 2004 Similar to last season, the aging outfielder Rickey Henderson re-signs with the Atlantic League’s Bears, hoping for a shot of returning to the big leagues. The 45 year-old future Hall of Famer batted .339, hit eight home runs, drove in 33 runs, scored 52 runs, and stole nine bases for the Newark team last season before joining the Dodgers in July.
- 2009 Defeating San Diego 2-1 in 10 innings, the Dodgers tie a franchise record, winning their ninth consecutive decision at home from the start of the season. The 1946 club also reeled off nine straight victories at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field at the beginning of the post-war campaign.
Lineup when available.
Tonight’s Dodger lineup at Padres:
Hernández 2B
Bellinger 1B
Turner 3B
Seager SS
Taylor CF
Verdugo RF
Barnes C
Pederson LF
Kershaw P#Dodgers | @Biofreeze pic.twitter.com/oaWRZxcIIE— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 3, 2019
NPUT
The dominant Kenley!
Won’t you bring him home Matt Beaty?
Woo-HOO! Came back while I was at a concert!
Nicely done, Dodgers!
Not quite the 8-0 comeback today in Cincinnati, but I’ll take it
How sweet it is!
https://youtu.be/ksMjDifxCnI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zls8DFx9UCw
Kenley on!
Myers not wearing batting gloves.
Noticed him grabbing some dirt.
Doc saves Max from getting tossed and he comes up with a tap dance and drives in go-ahead run.
A pitcher’s ump.
Max smax!
Nice to see Barnesy getting good wood.
Alex has smacked the ball well three times, but with no results.
Max with the tap dance.
Max gets lowballed.
The horsehide has left the Barnes!
Well, QS.
Well that inning oozed with potential, but small results.
There they go!
Bring them home, Red.
Renfroe can’t get to that one. CT3!
Throwing a lot of pitches.
Belli down!
And up!
Ouch
Well, some crisply hit balls by CT3 and Alex.
Just as Joe Davis says the Padres’ outfield defense is weak, Renfroe makes a couple of very good catches.
One was good, one was lucky.
Results are the same either way.
Does look like an adventure out there.
Klayton looks crisp with his pitches.
But his hair is uncharacteristically short.
Oops.
Samson.
You spoke too soon.
His two exes, Puig and Machado, with dingers first time they face him.
I’m watching at a friend’s, checking in on occasion.
Should the Dodgers stop being so frugal about retiring uniform numbers? Plaschke of the LA Times thinks so.
I agree.
Fernando should have his number retired, Plasche lost me at Garvey. He basically dismisses Cey and Lopes, even though they were statistically better players (just not the statistics Plasche believes in).
I would hate for them to follow the Yankees’ example. The Yanks have had a lot of great players, but they are at a point where they’re starting to run out of numbers. I’m pretty sure they don’t have any single digit numbers left. Jeter’s #2 was the last one to go.
I’d say Fernando for sure. Maybe a group retirement for “The Infield?”
The Athletic evaluates the NL West.
The story also notes that Matt Beaty’s call-up means he’s reunited with a former rival, Walker Buehler. Beaty went to Belmont University in Nashville, a mile away from Vanderbilt’s campus where Buehler was playing. In 2015, the Dodgers drafted both players: Buehler in the first round, Beaty in the 12th.
Vandy and Belmont play one another twice each season, once at each other’s field. In 2015 Belmont won both games, which Beaty says Walker prefers not to discuss.
More lefties in the lineup.
1. Enrique Hernandez (R) 2B
2. Cody Bellinger (L) 1B
3. Justin Turner (R) 3B
4. Corey Seager (L) SS
5. Chris Taylor (R) CF
6. Alex Verdugo (L) RF
7. Austin Barnes (R) C
8. Joc Pederson (L) LF
9. Clayton Kershaw (L) P
1. Ian Kinsler (R) 2B
2. Franmil Reyes (R) RF
3. Manny Machado (R) SS
4. Hunter Renfroe (R) LF
5. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B
6. Ty France (R) 3B
7. Wil Myers (R) CF
8. Austin Hedges (R) C
9. Eric Lauer (R) P
With Pollack out and Freese still nursing his leg, and having brought up a lefty, not much choice.
Freese available off the bench?
Apparently as PH.
Kinsler in a Padres lineup seems weird to me. He’s a Ranger.
And I’m sorry that Tatis Jr. is on the IL with a hamstring injury. He’s fun to watch.