Jul 11

Game 89, 2015

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

Taking the place of Carlos Frias, who’s been on the DL since July 1 with lower back tightness, is the Dodgers’ latest reclamation project Brandon Beachy. He’ll be making his first major league start in nearly two years. He last pitched for the Atlanta Braves in August 2013, then had Tommy John surgery (for the second time!) in March of 2014 and has been rehabbing ever since. In four years with the Braves he was 14-11 with a 3.23 ERA. None of those numbers mean a thing now.

Sports Illustrated’s current issue (July 6, 2015) has an illuminating article which cites a study showing that only 67% of pitchers who undergo Tommy John surgery fully recover. And a different statistician cites his numbers to indicate that one of every two pitchers who undergo the surgery throws fewer than 100 innings in the rest of his career.

For Beachy’s sake let’s hope he fits in the “more than 100 innings” category.

His opponent will be rookie right-hander Taylor Jungmann, who’s 3-1 with a 2.43 ERA in six big league starts.

Lineup when available.

Jul 10

Game 88, 2015

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

Mike Bolsinger had success early in the season for the Dodgers, but his last five starts have been less than scintillating. He’s gone no further than 5 1/3 innings in any of them and is 0-2 during that stretch. Overall he’s 4-3 with a 3.09 ERA. The Brewers send out Jimmy Nelson, who’s 6-8 with a 4.50 ERA but has also had trouble getting deep into games recently: he hasn’t gotten past the sixth inning in five of his last seven starts.

Lineup:

Hmm. Nelson’s righthanded, so I can only assume Ethier is tired. Or perhaps Guerrero’s numbers are better than his against Nelson?

Kershaw came in third in the ASG Final Vote count, so he’s going to sit in LA or go home to Texas for a few days, I imagine.

Jul 09

Game 87, 2015

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

Zack Greinke brings his 27 2/3 scoreless-inning streak to the game against Severino Gonzalez. Greinke is 7-2 with a 1.48 ERA and headed for the All Star Game. Rookie right-hander Gonzalez rejoins the Phillies’ rotation for Thursday night’s series finale against the Dodgers. He is 3-2 with an 8.28 ERA in six starts and has been unable to pitch more than 5 1/3 innings in any of them, but the Phillies would rather give him another look than right-hander Kevin Correia, whom they designated for assignment Tuesday.

Lineup when available.

Turner gets a night off, Puig drops down to sixth.

Jul 08

Game 86, 2015

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

Clayton Kershaw tries to even his record at 6-6. He’s pitched much better than that record indicates, including a 2.67 ERA in his last four starts with 35 Ks in 27 innings, games in which he got three losses for his trouble.

He’ll face rookie lefty Adam Morgan, who will be making his third big league start. He went 5 2/3 innings in his first game and got the win, and then went 7 innings in his second and got a loss. He’s 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA.

Lineup when available.

Pederson has been dropped down in the order, probably due to his recent slump.

Jul 07

Game 85, 2015

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

Chad Billingsley continues his comeback after nearly two years spent recovering from elbow surgeries. He’s pitched in four games so far this season for the Phillies, compiling an 0-2 record with a 7.71 ERA over 21 innings. He’ll face Brett Anderson, who’s on a bit of a roll. He’s given up only one run in each of his last three starts and won all of them. At 5-4 with a 3.00 ERA in 16 starts and 96 innings, this has been the most work Anderson’s been able to do in a season since 2010.

Lineup when available.

Jul 06

Game 84, 2015

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

17 of the next 20 games the Dodgers play are against the NL East. At the moment, only the Nationals and the Mets are above .500 in that division, and the Phillies are at the bottom with a 28-56 record.

The Phillies send out Sean O’Sullivan, who’s 1-6 with a 5.76 ERA. The Dodgers haven’t declared their starter as of 1:00PM PT; watch Twitter for news.

Update: It’ll be Eric Surkamp for the Dodgers. He’s got a career 4-3 record with a 6.20 ERA in the majors. His last big league appearance was with the White Sox in 2014. The Dodgers got him from the White Sox in May, and he’s had a 4-2 record with a 4.50 ERA in six starts for AAA Oklahoma City since then.

Lineup when available.
Pfft. Not Surkamp after all. I was lied to.

Tonight’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Phillies:
Pederson CF
Kendrick 2B
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Grandal C
Puig RF
Ethier LF
Garcia P
Rollins SS

Jul 05

Game 83, 2015

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

Mike Bolsinger goes for the Dodgers and Steven Matz goes for the Mets. The Mets’ Matz will be making only his second big league start, and it seems unlikely he’ll do better than his first. In his debut he went 7 2/3 innings against the Reds, gave up only five hits and two runs, got three hits and drove in four runs, and got the win.

Bolsinger, meanwhile, has fallen off from his early-season success. In his first five starts for the Dodgers he was 3-1 with a 1.15 ERA, but in his last six starts he’s 1-1 with a 4.40 ERA. He’s even suffered the indignity of food poisoning, which shortened his last start to four innings.

Lineup:
Today’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Mets:
Hernandez SS
Kendrick 2B
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Puig RF
Van Slyke LF
Pederson CF
Ellis C
Bolsinger P

Jul 04

Game 82, 2015

Mets at Dodgers, 4:15PM PT, TV: Fox

Zack Greinke looks to continue his amazing season (6-2, 1.58 ERA, and he’s probably earned about four more wins) against the Mets’ Matt Harvey, who’s having a good year himself (7-5, 2.99 ERA). Harvey has allowed only two runs in his last 19 2/3 innings, and Greinke has a 20 2/3 scoreless inning streak going.

Reminds me of a song:

I updated Rule #5 to include religion, following cocktail party etiquette:

Keep conversation clean, avoiding any sexual innuendoes. Excessive flirting is not appropriate, especially at a business-related affair. Also, steer clear of taboo topics like dieting, health (yours or theirs), the cost of anything, malicious gossip (yes, you do know when it’s malicious), religion and politics. Most important, don’t leave someone hanging. Close a conversation before moving on to another person or group.

Lineup when available.
Today’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Mets:
Pederson CF
Kendrick 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Grandal C
Puig RF
Ethier LF
Callaspo 3B
Rollins SS
Greinke P

Jul 03

Game 81, 2015

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

This game marks the halfway point of the season. If anyone had told me back in spring training that Clayton Kershaw would have a losing record at this stage of the year I’d have laughed out loud. But Kershaw, who starts tonight, does indeed have a 5-6 record with a 3.20 ERA, mostly because his team has averaged 2.6 runs of support in his last five starts, and he’s gotten three runs of support or fewer in 11 of 16 outings this year.

He’ll face Mets’ rookie Noah Syndergaard, who gave up one run in eight innings in his last start. Overall he’s 3-4 with a 3.59 ERA.

Lineup when available.
Tonight’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Mets:
Pederson CF
Kendrick 2B
Turner 3B
Gonzalez 1B
Puig RF
Ethier LF
Grandal C
Rollins SS
Kershaw P

Jul 02

Off Day Open Thread

Howard Cole has written a fun column about the changes in baseball for those Rip Van Winkles who have been asleep for the past fifty years.

Here’s a taste:

The Yankees were good again until they weren’t, but were again later. The team was purchased by a shipbuilder from Ohio who at one time was suspended from the game for illegally contributing to the campaign of one Dick Nixon (a presidential campaign; which he won!) and pardoned years later by President Ronald Reagan. Like I said, you’ve missed a lot.

Eric Stephen has a look at the Dodgers’ signees during Day One of the International Draft: the big bucks went to a 19-year-old RHP from Cuba, followed by a 16-year-old Dominican outfielder and a Dominican shortstop (from San Pedro de Macoris! Remember when it seemed like half the shortstops in the big leagues came from that little town?) who’s also 16.

Talk among yourselves.