Aug 05

Game 107, 2015

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Dodgers at Phillies, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Old friend Aaron Harang starts for the Phillies. He had a stretch of bad luck (eight straight losses between May 24 and July 1) and then went onto the DL with a foot injury. He came off it on July 30 and got a win, but he’s still 5-11 with a 3.97 ERA. The Dodgers counter with Brett Anderson, who’s 5-6 with a 3.14 ERA but has missed only one start all season, a welcome change for a guy who’s missed parts of every year since 2010.

Lineup when available.

Aug 04

Game 106, 2015

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Dodgers at Phillies, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN

Jimmie Rollins returns to the town where he holds records for most hits, most doubles, and third-most runs in Phillie history. He did that while playing 1,047 games for them.

The Dodgers’ new acquisition Alex Wood makes his first start for the team after going 7-6 with a 3.54 ERA for the Braves. He last pitched on July 27 against the Orioles, giving up no runs, three hits, no walks and seven strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. His opponent will be Hawai’i-born Jerome Williams, who’s 3-8 with a 6.36 ERA and who had a horrible last outing, giving up ten hits and four runs in only 4 2/3 innings.

Lineup when available.

Aug 02

Game 105, 2015

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Angels at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSW

The Angels send Cory Rasmus (0-0, 0.00 ERA in 1 inning this season) to the hill against the Dodgers’ newly-acquired Matt Latos (4-7, 4.48 ERA). Latos has a 3-3 record with a 2.96 ERA in his last seven starts after coming off the DL where he’d been recovering from an inflamed knee. In fact, as Eric Stephen says at True Blue LA, Latos has had two different seasons in four months this year.

If Rasmus’s name seems familiar, it’s because he’s the younger brother of Colby Rasmus, who’s an outfielder for the Astros now but had previous stints with the Cardinals and Blue Jays.

Lineup when available.

Aug 01

Game 104, 2015

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Angels at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS1, FSW

Kershaw is scheduled to pitch after two scratches with a sore hip. He still has his 29-inning scoreless streak. His opponent will be rookie Andrew Heaney, who’s been everything the Angels (and Dodgers) hoped he would be when he was traded from the latter to the former for Howie Kendrick. In his first six starts this season he’s gone 5-0 with a 1.79 ERA.

Let’s hope Albert Pujols doesn’t come up in a spot where he can do damage. Lifetime he’s hit .455 against Kershaw and has a .586 on-base percentage in 29 plate appearances.

Lineup:

I’ve seen no explanation for Pederson’s absence from the lineup.

Jul 31

Game 103, 2015

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Angels at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSW

Clayton Kershaw brings his hopefully-comfortable hip and his 29-inning scoreless streak to bear against the Angels’ Hector Santiago, who’s 7-4 with a 2.43 ERA. Santiago had a rough outing in his last game but had a 1.13 ERA over his previous five starts.

Believe it or not, the Angels have always given Kershaw trouble (relatively speaking). He’s 2-2 with a 3.76 ERA against them; that’s the highest ERA he has against any team he’s faced more than three times.

There will probably be moves later in the day to get to 25 players on the active roster, and there might even be another transaction or two. Who knows?

New news:

Lineup when available.


Kiké in centerfield? Huh.

Jul 29

Game 102, 2015

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Athletics at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSNCA

The Dodgers send Clayton Kershaw to the mound tonight nursing a 29-inning scoreless streak and admiring a July in which he won three of his first four starts with an ERA of 0.27. His opponent will be Jesse Chavez, who is 5-10 but has a 3.45 ERA. His last start was pretty bad, though: he gave up four runs in three-plus innings against the Giants.

There’s late word that the Dodgers-Marlins trade of Matt Latos and Michael Morse to the Dodgers for prospects may be falling apart over medical issues. Stay tuned.

Lineup when available.


You’ll note that Kershaw isn’t starting any more and Bolsinger is. Kershaw apparently has a sore muscle in his hip or glute.

Jul 28

Game 101, 2015

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Athletics at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN, CSNCA

Here’s an interesting note which may or may not be taken as true (that’s why they’re called rumors): the Dodgers may listen to trade offers for Yasiel Puig. That’s the hook for the entire post, and there’s not much else there other than what we already knew: the team is unlikely to give up either Seager or Urias but it wants/needs starting pitching. The author thinks it unlikely they’d move Puig, and in fact the same site reported two days ago that the team had assured him he wasn’t on the block. However, that same day Ken Gurnick of MLB reported there had been no such assurances.

I can’t see trading Puig. He’s an excellent outfielder with a lot of potential upside and he’s cheap. He’s being paid $4.5M this year and the Dodgers control his future for three more years for just $19.5M. That’s less than one Crawford-year.

In other trade news of note within the division, the Rockies traded Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays for Jose Reyes and three pitching prospects. Since neither team needed a shortstop, why they swapped them must have had more to do with money (Tulo’s owed $113.7M over the next five years) than anything else. None of the other three teams in the division have made any deals yet, at least not ones made public. The next time we see the Angels they’ll have old friend Shane Victorino with them, as he was traded by the Red Sox today.

In tonight’s game it will be Brett Anderson (5-5, 3.33 ERA) going for the Dodgers against his former team, which trots out ace Sonny Gray (10-4, 2.30 ERA). Anderson says and the team agrees that his Achilles tendon is fine now after causing him to leave his last start early. Gray has cooled off some recently. He’s 2-1 with a 3.95 ERA and .232 opponents’ batting average over his last six starts after going 5-3 with a 1.37 ERA and .190 opponents’ batting average over his previous nine starts.

Lineup when available.

Jul 26

Game 100, 2015

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Dodgers at Mets, 10:10AM PT, TV: SPNLA, TBS

New dad Zach Greinke shortens his 3-day paternity leave to pitch against the Mets’ Jacob deGrom. Both men pitched in the All-Star Game 10 days ago. Greinke is 9-2 with a 1.30 ERA and 117 Ks on the year; deGrom is 10-6 with a 2.18 ERA and 120 Ks. Greinke has a 43 2/3-inning consecutive scoreless streak going, while deGrom has given up 3+ earned runs only once since mid-May and has walked only nine men and struck out 83 in those 11 starts. He’s 7-2 over that span of games.

Lineup when available.

Jul 25

Game 99, 2015

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Dodgers at Mets, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Righty Zach Lee, Los Angeles’ first-round pick in the 2010 Draft out of McKinney High School in Texas, will start for the Dodgers in his major league debut. He’s 7-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 12 starts this season for Triple-A Oklahoma City. Matt Harvey (8-7, 3.19 ERA) will start for the Mets. He’s walked at least four batters in each of his past three starts, two of them losses.

Scott Van Slyke made a heckuva play in the ninth inning of last night’s game:

Lineup when available.

A-Gon sits, Crawford gets his first start since his return from an extended stay on the DL this season, and Puig gets the day off. Puig’s about seven years younger than Ethier, so you’d think Andre would get the day off instead, but no. Mattingly works in mysterious ways.

Whoops. Updated lineup:

A-Gon says his neck is well enough to allow him to play, I guess, so Turner shifts to third base and Callaspo sits.

Jul 24

Game 98, 2015

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Dodgers at Mets, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

In Zack Greinke’s absence (no official word yet from the Dodgers about any newborn child) rookie Ian Thomas starts for the Dodgers against Jon Niese of the Mets. Thomas came over from the Braves with Callaspo in return for Juan Uribe in a six-player deal at the end of May of this year. This will be his first major league start after 23 relief appearances. Niese has been excellent over the past two months; he’s gone at least seven innings in five of his last seven starts while compiling a 2.00 ERA. Overall he’s 5-8 with a 3.36 ERA.

Update: Congrats to Mrs. Greinke and her husband Zack: 19″, 6 pounds, 5 ounces baby boy!

Lineup when available.