Jul 23

Game 97, 2015

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

This game has two of the most recognizable pitchers in baseball: Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who is 7-6 with a 2.68 ERA and a 20-inning scoreless streak, versus Bartolo Colon of the Mets, who’s 9-8 with a 4.68 ERA and a couple of really bad outings recently in which he gave up seven runs in two of his last five starts. Interestingly, Kershaw hasn’t had a decision against the Mets since July of 2012, but he’s 5-0 with a 1.58 ERA against them for his career.

Lineup when available.

Jul 22

Game 96, 2015

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Dodgers at Braves, 9:10AM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN, SportsSouth

The Braves are looking for a sweep.

Mike Bolsinger only pitched four innings in his last start for the Dodgers. That was the game that was eventually postponed by power outages in Washington. He’s 4-3 with a 3.04 ERA in his 14 starts this season. Julio Teheran only went 4 2/3 innings in his last start for the Braves, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs against the Cubs and not figuring in the decision.

Lineup when available.

Jul 21

Game 95, 2015

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

Brett Anderson is 5-5 with a 3.17 ERA and he’s making his 19th start of the season for the Dodgers. He hasn’t made that many in a year since he made exactly that number for the As five years ago. He’s been on a pretty good run in his last six starts: he’s allowed three runs or fewer in each of them.

Anderson’s opponent will be fellow lefty Alex Wood, who’s 6-6 with a 3.76 ERA and coming off a horrible last start. He gave up seven earned runs and ten hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Rockies. This is Wood’s third year in the big leagues, all with the Braves. Lifetime he’s 20-20 with a 3.15 ERA.

Carl Crawford comes off the DL today and will be a fourth or fifth outfielder, and he says he’s okay with that.

Lineup when available.

Barnes starts at catcher for the second day in a row. Grandal’s jaw must still be hurting.

Jul 20

Game 94, 2015

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Dodgers at Braves, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, Sports South

Right-hander Brandon Beachy makes his second start of the year for the Dodgers after missing all of 2014 with Tommy John surgery and rehabilitation. He went 4 innings and gave up 3 runs in his first outing on July 11, walking 3 and striking out 2. He wasn’t very pleased with his performance:

“I’d like to tell you I feel really accomplished, but in this moment, I didn’t accomplish what I set out to do. I didn’t set out to pitch in a big league game. I set out to dominate a big league game,” he said.

Beachy will face Matt Wisler, who’s pitched well in 4 of 5 starts this season and compiled a 3-1, 3.10 ERA while doing so.

Tidbits: Carl Crawford is expected to be reinstated sometime during the series, which means somebody has to go down to Oklahoma City or get released or designated for assignment.

The Braves are 22nd in MLB in runs scored and 27th in slugging percentage. The Dodgers have a best-in-MLB team fielding percentage of .989 and only 38 errors, fewest in the big leagues.

Lineup when available.

Jul 19

Game 93, 2015

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Dodgers at Nationals, 10:35AM PT, TV: SPNLA, TBS, MASN

Two of the best pitchers in the game this season have at it: Zack Greinke (8-2 with a microscopic 1.39 ERA) for the Dodgers versus Max Scherzer (10-7 with a 2.11 ERA) for the Nats. Greinke has a 35 2/3-inning scoreless streak (the HR in the All Star Game doesn’t count). Scherzer has a different kind of streak: he hasn’t walked a batter since June 14.

Some interesting things about these teams:

Over the past two seasons, the Dodgers and Nationals have been two of baseball’s best teams after the All-Star break. In 2013 and ’14, the Dodgers were a league-best 85-48 (.639) from the Midsummer Classic forward. The Nationals were 83-53 (.610), third-best.

Another thing we Dodger fans might not have realized: since Adrian Gonzalez came to the Dodgers in mid-2012 no one in the NL has knocked in more runners than he has. How many? 296.

Lineup when available.

Jul 18

Game 92, 2015

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Well, let’s call this the rest of Game 91 as well as Game 92. The Dodgers are still at the Nats at 1:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS1 and MASN. But Friday night’s game, suspended due to electrical power failure (not home run power failure, since it featured four-baggers from Adrian Gonzalez of the Dodgers and Yunel Escobar of the Nats), will be resumed at 11:05AM PT. It’s anybody’s guess who’ll be pitching for either team.

In the regularly scheduled game the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw makes his first start of the second half, hoping to improve on his 6-6 record and 2.85 ERA. His opponent will be Doug Fister, who’s 3-4 with a 4.08 ERA and a long layoff: he hasn’t pitched since July 6. He spent the latter part of May and the first half of June on the DL with a tight forearm.

Below the fold, some evidence that current players know how to use social media.
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Jul 17

Game 91, 2015

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Dodgers at Nationals, 4:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

Mike Bolsinger (4-3, 3.08 ERA) goes for the Dodgers against Jordan Zimmermann (8-5, 3.22 ERA) of the Nats. Bolsinger pitched his first quality start in a month in his last outing before the break, while Zimmermann struggled for five innings against the Orioles but got the win anyway.

The Nats are 48-39 and lead the NL East by 2 games over the Mets. The Dodgers are 51-39 and lead the NL West by 4 1/2 games over the Giants.

Lineup when available.

Jul 12

Game 90, 2015

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

The biggest surprise about Brett Anderson for the Dodgers this season might be that he’s remained healthy throughout. He’s 3-3 with a 3.12 ERA, coming off a loss which snapped a three-start winning streak. The biggest surprise about Kyle Lohse for the Brewers might be how poorly he’s pitched. He’s 5-10 with a 6.29 ERA, his highest since 2010 when he underwent forearm surgery in June and couldn’t come back till mid-August.

Lineup:

Ethier may still have hamstring tightness, which kept him out of Friday’s lineup. Maybe the shakeup of the order has some logic to Mattingly, but it has none to me.

Jul 11

Game 89, 2015

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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

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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.