Category Archives: Game Threads

For discussion of today’s game

Apr 23

Game 18, 2016

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Dodgers at Rockies, 5:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOT Sports

Kenta Maeda makes his fourth start of the season, and he’s already joined some elite Dodger company after his first three games. He’s

2-0 with an 0.47 ERA through his first three starts, joining Fernando Valenzuela (0.33 in 1988), Billy Loes (0.37 in 1952), and Sandy Koufax (0.40 in 1955) as the only three Dodgers to post an ERA under 0.50 through their first three big league starts.

His opponent will be Tyler Chatwood, who’s 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA.

A tale of two Gonzalez’s: The Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez has 19 HRs in 77 games at Coors Field during his career, while the Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez has hit .320 (99-for-309) with 19 homers and 61 RBIs against the Dodgers in his career.

Lineup when available.

Apr 22

Game 17, 2016

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Dodgers at Rockies, 5:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOT Sports

Scott Kazmir (1-1, 6.43 ERA) tries to get his groove back after two consecutive poor starts, both against the Giants. He’s only made one career start against the Rockies. It was at Coors Field and he got the win, but that was in 2007 when Kazmir was a Devil Ray. His opponent will be Jon Gray, the third draft pick overall in 2013. He made his ML debut last year, but tonight will be his first game of this season. He’s a righthander with a fastball, changeup, slider and curve.

Lineup when available.

I got to wondering and looked it up: Utley has the third highest number of hits this young season as a leadoff guy: 16. The two guys ahead of him are Gonzalez with 22 and Puig with 17. (Seager has 14 while Pederson and Hernandez each have 13).

Apr 21

Game 16, 2016

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Dodgers at Braves, 9:10AM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSO, MLBN (out of network only).

Clayton Kershaw (2-0, 1.64 ERA) and the Dodgers make their last appearance at Turner Field versus right-hander Matt Wisler (0-1, 4.61 ERA). Kershaw hasn’t pitched much against the Braves in his career; he’s 2-0 in six career starts against them with a 1.79 ERA. He and the Dodgers would to exit with a win, both to take this series 2-1 and to improve the franchise record at Turner, where they’re 30-41 going into this morning’s game.

The game starts at 6:10AM my time, so someone else please find the lineup and post it in the comments. I ain’t getting up at 5:30 just to do it.

Apr 20

Game 15, 2016

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Dodgers at Braves, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSO

Ross Stripling (0-0, 2.03 ERA) goes for the Dodgers, while Julio Teheran (0-2, 6.35 ERA) goes for the Braves. Teheran’s start slipped a day; he was scheduled to be Tuesday’s starting pitcher but came down with a fever, so Williams Perez took his place.

The Dodgers had the best fielding percentage in the big leagues coming into the game, then they muffed three ground balls to the infield and raised their error total for the season to seven.

Puig has changed! Yet another story about Yasiel’s resurgence as player and good guy, this one from Sports Illustrated.

Lineup when available.

Apr 19

Game 14, 2016

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But first, Vin Scully reads a grocery list. Yep, someone sent the Sunday Night Baseball crew an audiotape of Vin reading just that back in the 1970s, and they played it during a tribute they offered to him during the third inning of tonight’s game.

Dodgers at Braves, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSO

Alex Wood (1-1, 4.50 ERA) goes for the Dodgers against some guy named TBD. It will probably be Julio Teheran (0-2, 6.35 ERA, 17 innings, 9 BB, 14 Ks). This will be Wood’s first appearance at Turner Field since he was traded to the Dodgers last July for Hector Olivera, Paco Rodriguez and minor-leaguer Zachary Bird. Olivera has played five games in left field for the Braves this season and Rodriguez will miss the entire year after Tommy John surgery.

Lineup when available.

Apr 17

Game 13, 2016

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Giants at Dodgers, 5:00PM PT, TV: ESPN

Two undefeated pitchers face one another this afternoon on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball: Jeff Samardzija for the Giants and Kenta Maeda for the Dodgers. The Giants’ pitcher got his first win his last time out against the Rockies, going eight innings and giving up only two runs. His ERA is 3.38. Maeda has one win to go along with a gaudy 0.00 ERA, going six shutout innings in each of his first two starts.

This being Maeda’s first season in MLB, he has no record against the Giants. Samardzija is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA in four career appearances, including two starts, against the Dodgers.

Blog note: foul tip asked a question this morning in the previous post’s comments:

foul tip • 5 hours ago

“Link, what happened to the links on the right side of the page?”

Linkmeister Mod foul tip • 2 hours ago

“They’re there, but you have to scroll down. You notice that the post and comments are now centered rather than left-justified, too?

“WordPress is insistent that its customers upgrade to its new releases, so I did yesterday and poof! They mucked up something to do with the style. I’m hoping they’ll send out a fix real soon now.”

Apr 16

Game 12, 2016

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Giants at Dodgers, 3:10PM 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-BA

This game matches the Giants’ Johnny Cueto and the Dodgers’ Scott Kazmir against each other for the second time in a week. Cueto got the better outcome in the first game: he survived a five-run first inning and went six more to get the win. Kazmir gave up three HRs and six runs in four innings but escaped with a no-decision.

The Dodgers optioned catcher/infielder Austin Barnes to OK City and reinstated right-handed pitcher Chris Hatcher from paternity leave on Friday.

Bumgarner and the snake: a fable told by Vin Scully.

Lineup when available.

Apr 15

Game 11, 2016

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Giants at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBC Bay Area, MLBN Free Game (out of area only)

Kersh v. MadBum for the ninth time. The Dodgers’ lefty is 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA this season, and Bumgarner is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA. ‘Nuff said.

Giants catcher Buster Posey has stepped into the batter’s box against Kershaw more times than any player in the Major Leagues, but he has struggled with a .228/.256/.329 line in 75 plate appearances. That’s his worst OPS against any pitcher with a minimum of 25 plate appearances.

The Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez has fared even worse against Bumgarner. The first baseman’s .151/.191/.200 in 47 plate appearances adds up to his worst OPS against any of the 49 pitchers he’s faced 25 times or more in his career.

It’s Jackie Robinson Day around the majors, so every player will be wearing uniform number 42. Jackie’s wife Rachel and daughter Sharon will be at Dodger Stadium for the game, and I hope you saw the Ken Burns documentary about Jackie earlier this week on PBS. As far as I’m concerned, Rachel was the star. There’s one oddity about this celebration, though; there are fewer African-American players in baseball now than there were 10 or 15 years ago, and this season there are only fourteen black pitchers in all of baseball. Where are the Bob Gibsons and Dave Stewarts and Vida Blues and Doc Goodens and Fergie Jenkins and Mudcat Grants? Gone to the NBA?

Lineup:

Even this early in the season it’s becoming very apparent that Dave Roberts is not averse to platooning or playing the matchup game. There are very few if any lefties in his lineup against the left-handed Bumgarner.

Apr 14

Game 10, 2016

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Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

The D-Backs send lefty Robbie Ray (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 2 runs, 4 hits, 3 strikeouts and 4 walks in 6 innings) to the mound for his second start of the season. The Dodgers send the righthanded Ross Stripling out for his second start after his stunning first one, when he threw 7 1/3 innings of no-hit ball (and got no decision; thanks, bullpen!) against the Giants.

Lineup when available.


Don’t ask me why Barnes is at second. If Utley needs a rest, why not play Kendrick there? Instead, Howie’s at third and Turner gets a day off too. Puig and Gonzalez seem to be the only guys who play every day.

Apr 13

Game 9, 2016

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Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

Old friend Rubby De La Rosa has had horrid luck against the Dodgers, going 0-3 with an 11.21 ERA against them in his career. Overall he’s 22-25 with a 4.61 ERA in his five previous seasons in the big leagues. Alex Wood has similar career stats: he’s 26-27 with a 3.36 ERA in three previous seasons.

Lineup when available.

I hadn’t thought of getting both Kendrick’s and Utley’s bats in the lineup in quite this way, but…we also see Yasmani Grandal making his first start of the season after he came off the DL Tuesday.

Here are some highlights from Opening Day:

First, Mr. Puig at second base switching hands on the base.

Now, here are the two throws to get Castillo at home, Puig to Turner to Ellis.