Jul 06

Game 84, 2015

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Jul 01

Game 80, 2015

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

The Dodgers send Brett Anderson (4-4, 3.13 ERA) out for his third start against the D-Backs this season. On May 3 he pitched five scoreless innings against them, while June 10 he was tagged for four earned runs in five innings.

The D-Backs send Robbie Ray (2-3, 1.98 ERA) out for his second turn against the Dodgers. On June 9 he went 6 2/3 innings against them, gave up two runs on four hits and lost the game.

Molly Knight’s new book chronicling the Dodgers’ 2014 season has caused a furor about Yasiel Puig. According to Knight he alienated some of his teammates last season. Knight will point out that Puig takes up only one chapter in the book, but Puig is so polarizing that when advance copies made it to some sports reporters they immediately began pulling out juicy anecdotes about him.

Lineup when available.

Huh. Lefty starter for the other team plus last game of the road trip means heavily right-handed lineup.

Jun 30

Game 79, 2015

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

Senor Frias (5-5, 4.31 ERA) for the Dodgers and Senor De La Rosa (6-3, 4.69 ERA) for the D-Backs. This is the third time Frias has started against the Arizona team, and he gave up only one run in those previous twelve innings. De La Rosa has also started twice against the Dodgers, but he’s been pretty bad, giving up fourteen runs in ten innings.

Lineup when available.

Jun 29

Game 78, 2015

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Dodger at D-Backs, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Dodgers’ Bolsinger (4-2, 2.95 ERA) versus the Diamondbacks’ Webster (1-1, 6.46 ERA). Each pitcher was originally signed by his opponent today, Bolsinger by the D-Backs in the 15th round in 2010 and Webster by the Dodgers in the 18th round in 2008.

Lineups later.

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

Jun 28

Game 77, 2015

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Dodgers at Marlins, 10:10AM PT, TV: SPNLA

Zack Greinke (5-2, 1.70 ERA) goes for the Dodgers. He hasn’t allowed a run in his last two starts, but he hasn’t gotten a win in either game. The Dodgers’ offense remains mired in a team-wide slump, at least when Kershaw and Greinke start. The Marlins send rookie Jose Urena to the hill. He’s 1-3 with a 4.34 ERA, but 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA at home.

The Marlins have their own scoring problems, now that it’s known they won’t have Major League home run leader Giancarlo Stanton for about a month due to a broken bone in his wrist.

The Marlins have declared it Josh Beckett Appreciation Day. Beckett pitched the last three injury-plagued seasons of his career with the Dodgers, but he broke in with the Marlins in 2001 and pitched the next four seasons for them, including their 2003 World Series-winning season when he was named MVP of the Fall Classic.

Lineup when available.

Jun 27

Game 76, 2015

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

The Dodgers’ lefty Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 3.33 ERA) gets the start against the Marlins’ Tom Koehler (5-4, 3.76 ERA). Kershaw’s last start was a quality one, but all three runs he gave up came on home runs, which he’s given up more often this year than in the past. He may catch a break, though, because Giancarlo Stanton may be sidelined after he hurt his left hand in Friday’s game. Koehler missed his last start with a stiff neck, but his previous one was a good one in which he held the Yankees to one run and three hits over seven innings.

Puig’s torn callus may have healed enough to let him start. It was well enough to let him pinch-hit on Friday and stay in to play the field after that.

Lineup when available.