Sep 26

Game 154, 2015

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

Brett Anderson tries to get past his worst start of the year. He gave up five runs including two home runs in 4 2/3 innings against the D-Backs on September 21. He’ll face right-hander Kyle Kendrick, who had a bad outing himself his last time out on Sunday against the Padres, giving up six runs in four innings. Anderson’s looking for win number ten to go above .500 for the season; Kendrick is looking for win number seven against thirteen losses.

Lineup when available.

Update: New Lineup:

Adrian rests back, Grandal moves to first base.

Sep 25

Game 153, 2015

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

The Dodgers, whose magic number is down to three, send Mike Bolsinger out to see if he can recover the form he showed before being sent down to AAA in the wake of the Latos-Wood acquisitions in July. He had a 2.83 ERA to that point, but he’s had a 6.23 ERA in his three starts since returning. Overall he’s 6-4 with a 3.26 ERA in 2015. He’ll face right-hander David Hale, who’s 4-5 with a 6.32 ERA. Hale spent the year starting until September; he’s only made four appearances this month, all in relief.

Lineup when available.

Sep 24

Game 152, 2015

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 12:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

This is another battle of lefthanders. Clayton Kershaw has won nine of his last ten starts with a 1.17 ERA during that stretch. He’s 14-7 with a 2.18 ERA overall. He’s only pitched against the D-Backs once this season, back on April 11, and they got five runs off him in 6 1/3 innings. His opponent will be Patrick Corbin, who’s 6-4 with a 2.99 ERA. He lost to the Dodgers on September 13, giving up eight hits and two runs in six innings. That was the Greinke game in which Kenley Jansen gave up a 3-run HR to Saltalamacchia in the ninth with two outs, making it a lot closer game than it had been.

Lineup when available.

Sep 23

Game 151, 2015

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN

First, this is not good news:

The Diamondbacks start Chase Anderson (6-6, 4.52 ERA) against the perennial All Star To Be Determined (as of 1:45PM PT). Anderson is taking the place of Rubby De La Rosa, who’s had a tough time with the Dodgers this season (0-3, 11.21 ERA).

Lineup (and pitcher) when available.

Carlos Frias starts for the Dodgers.

Sep 22

Game 150, 2015

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

Alex Wood (11-10,3.63 ERA) goes for the Dodgers against Robbie Ray (4-12, 3.72 ERA) of the D-Backs. Wood’s last start was an eight-inning one-hitter against the Rockies. Ray’s last win was against the Dodgers on September 11, Wood’s worst outing of the year as a Dodger. That was the game in which he gave up eight runs in only 1 2/3 innings.

Goldsmith likes Wood’s pitching: He’s 4-for-7 lifetime off him with two home runs, including one in that Sept. 11 game.

Lineup:

Utley and Pederson sit to start, as does Ethier since Ray is left-handed.

Sep 21

Game 149, 2015

Point of fact: up until this Pirates series the Dodgers had won seven consecutive series. They’ve been playing very well. Sometimes we don’t realize it.

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

Brett Anderson is 9-8 with a 3.35 ERA and hunting win number 10. The lefty hasn’t won that many since his rookie year of 2009, thanks to injuries. He’s made four starts against the D-Backs this season, going 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA. His opponent will be Jhoulys Chacin, who’s 0-1 with a 2.95 ERA in the big leagues this season. He was signed to a minor league contract by the Diamondbacks in June. He pitched for the Rockies for six years amassing a record of 38-48 and an ERA of 3.78.

Lineup when available.

The grand experiment of putting Chase Utley at third base begins.

Sep 20

Game 148, 2015

Pirates at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Dodgers ask Mike Bolsinger (6-3, 3.13 ERA) to keep the Pirates in check while hoping they can get some runs of the Buccos’ ace Gerrit Cole (16-8, 2.60 ERA). Oddly, the California-born Cole has ne3ver lost in his home state; he’s 4-0, with one win each in San Francisco, San Diego, Anaheim and Los Angeles.

The Dodgers’ magic number to win the division is seven. The Pirates need to win to keep ahead of the Cubs in the second wild card spot by remaining in second place in the NL Central behind the Cardinals. Their magic number to lock up that spot is four. The Cards clinched a postseason spot today by virtue of the Diamondbacks’ win over the Giants. Their magic number to win the division is eleven, and they have one more game against the Cubs and three against the Pirates to cut that down.

Lineup when available.

There’s also this news: Bolsinger is officially part of the rotation for the rest of the season.

Sep 19

Game 147, 2015

Pirates at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw (14-6, 2.12 ERA) pitches tonight against the Pirates’ Francisco Liriano (10-7, 3.45 ERA). Kershaw has an unusual streak going: in each of his last seven starts he’s given up no more than one run. He’s going for his tenth straight win tonight. The left-handed Liriano had a lousy outing last time he pitched, but he’s 3-0 lifetime against the Dodgers. Two guys who’ve had success against him in the past are Heisey (.333 in 15 ABs) and Kendrick (.438 in 16 ABs).

Lineup when available.

Sep 18

Game 146, 2015

Pirates at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Zack Greinke goes for win number 18 against only three losses this season. He’s 12-1 with a 1.53 ERA over his last fourteen starts. He’ll face the Pirates’ Jeff Locke, who’s 8-10 with a 4.43 ERA but coming off an excellent start against the Brewers.

In case you missed it, the Dodgers designated Mat Latos for assignment.

Then there’s this:

Lineup when available.

In addition, they’ve activated Howie Kendrick from the DL, but since he hasn’t played any rehab games they’re going to go slowly with him.

Sep 16

Game 145, 2015

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Just as last night, two lefties take the mound against one another this evening in the rubber match of the series. Alex Wood (10-10, 3.81 ERA) goes for the Dodgers, trying to recover from his worst outing since he joined the team in July. In that one he went only 1 2/3 innings and gave up home runs to two Diamondbacks. His Rockies’ opponent will be Jorge De La Rosa (9-6, 4.28 ERA). Somehow he’s pitched enough against the Dodgers to achieve a 7-10 lifetime record against them.

Lineup when available.

If I’m Wood I’m wondering if I need to throw a shutout to win.

No, no, that’s not fair. Most of those guys can hit perfectly well.