Jun 04

Game 61, 2014

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White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

I think it’s safe to say the Dodgers’ starter tonight, Josh Beckett (3-2, 2.52 ERA), has been a pleasant surprise. Nobody knew what to expect from him after his thoracic surgery last year. Even aside from the no-hitter he threw in his next-to-last start, he’s done well. The White Sox send out John Danks (3-5, 4.66 ERA).

Jun 03

Game 60, 2014

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White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10PM, PT, TV: SPNLA

Dan Haren goes for the Dodgers. He hasn’t won since May 12 and his record is now 5-3, 3.28 ERA. I’m sure that’s not what he’d like it to be (although it ain’t all that bad), but it pales in comparison to poor Hector Noesi, who’s starting for the White Sox. The poor guy is 0-14 with a 5.87 ERA over his last 40 appearances, including 19 starts. His last two starts were quality but resulted in no decision for him each time, despite a 2.70 ERA in 13.1 innings.

The Dodgers’ Justin Turner has six RBI in his last three games. Over the last month he’s hit .339, raising his season average to .261.

On the All-Star ballot, “. . . Dodgers star Yasiel Puig (935,276) made an astronomical jump from fifth to first in the outfield voting. He now leads a field that includes Charlie Blackmon (last week’s top outfield vote-getter, now with 883,186 votes) and Giancarlo Stanton (863,307) as the outfielders currently in position to start.”

Puig says thank you to the fans and voters.

The Dodgers put together a Year-in-Review video of Mr. Puig which is full of memories of last season and the first two months of this one.

Jun 02

Game 59, 2014

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Today brings a couple of nice long-form pieces about the Dodgers and their family:

Here’s a wonderful profile of Vin Scully from Cee Angi at SB Nation.

And Jon W. has written about Yasiel Puig and his predecessors in supposed “uniqueness” in MLB. Jon argues that there have been plenty of guys who, when they first came up, were viewed in the same jaundiced way that Puig was last year after committing some of his baserunning mistakes and non-cutoff-man throwing “errors.”

White Sox (!) at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

It will be Clayton Kershaw (3-2, 3.57 ERA) for the Dodgers and Jose Quintana (3-4, 3.61 ERA) for the Sox. This will also be the Dodgers’ and their fans’ first opportunity to see the Pale Hose’s exciting rookie, 27-year-old Jose Abreu. He was the American League’s Player and Rookie of the Month for April of this year, but he’s been on the DL with a left ankle injury for the past two weeks.

Abreu and the Dodgers’ Puig know each other very well. They played together for Cienfuegos in the Cuban League a couple of years back. He also knows young Erisbel Arruebarrena, who’s currently holding down a spot on the Dodgers’ bench.

Lineup when available.

Jun 01

Game 58, 2014

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Pirates v. Dodgers, 5:00PM PT, TV: ESPN2 (with seven of the network’s Baseball Tonight crew doing commentary — joy!)

The Dodgers send out Zack Greinke, and you have to like their chances with him pitching. This may only be his second season as a Dodger, but get this: “In 20 career appearances at Dodger Stadium, Greinke is 13-2 with a 2.23 ERA, .219 opponent batting average and 137 strikeouts in 133 1/3 innings.” This season he’s 8-1 with a 2.18 ERA.

His opposite number will be one-time Dodger Edison Volquez, who’s 2-4, 4.30 ERA so far this year. He pitched for Los Angeles in September of 2013, making five starts and going 0-2 for the team before leaving as a free agent.

Puig just keeps adding to his legend: he recorded his 43rd hit of May on Saturday. That tied him with Willie Davis for hits in May. Davis did it in 1971.

Lineup when available.

May 31

Game 57, 2014

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

Ryu vs. Cumpton. The Dodgers’ Korean lefty against the Pirates’ Georgia Tech righty. Ryu threw a 7-inning perfect game in his last outing, faltering in the eighth. In Cumpton’s last appearance on Memorial Day he gave up seven hits in six innings and allowed two runs.


Just to make the day worse, here are some unpleasant facts. When Puig came up in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded yesterday and popped up, it added to this frustration:

Los Angeles is hitting a Major League-worst .111 with the bases loaded, and the team has produced just 15 RBIs in 36 at-bats. The Major League average with the bags full is .240 this season, and Cleveland leads the league with a scorching .429 bases-loaded clip.

In a lineup filled with sluggers, that’s amazingly bad.

May 30

Game 56, 2014

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

So what does Josh Beckett (3-1, 2.43 ERA) do for an encore? Pull a VanderMeer? It seems unlikely, but yaneverknow. His opponent will be Francisco Liriano, who’s 0-5 with a 5.06 ERA. That’s disconcerting to the Pirates since he had a 16-8 record with a 3.02 ERA last year. Oddly, Drew Butera caught Beckett’s no-hitter last week and he caught Liriano’s no-hitter when they were with the Twins in 2011.

Adrian Gonzalez gets the night off and Van Slyke plays first for him.

May 29

Game 55, 2014

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

The Pirates send out Gerrit Cole and his 4-3, 3.76 ERA record against the Dodgers’ Dan Haren and his 5-3, 3.16 ERA. Haren has been better at home than on the road, with a 2.39 ERA in four starts. The Pirates have won four of Cole’s last five starts.


In terrible news for Chris Withrow and bad news for the Dodgers, Withrow has been diagnosed with a torn ligament in his right elbow and will likely need Tommy John surgery, which would incapacitate him for a year.

In case you’re wondering about the seemingly growing number of pitchers needing the surgery this year, Dr. James Andrews has just released a paper which says your perception is correct. There have been more this season than in the past.

May 28

Game 54, 2014

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

The Reds have had to face two excellent pitchers already in Ryu and Greinke, and tonight they get Kershaw. All he’s done is go 3-1 on the season with a 3.49 ERA and 2-1 lifetime with a 2.78 ERA against the Reds. In those games the Reds are hitting .214. The Reds send Homer Bailey out against the Dodgers. He’s 3-3 with a 4.01 ERA in eight career starts against them and 4-3 with a 5.34 ERA overall on the season.

Matt Kemp is playing left field because Crawford has been placed on the 15-day DL. The Dodgers have purchased Jamie Romak’s contract from the Isotopes. Romak has been playing mostly 1st and 3rd in Albuquerque with 8 games in the outfield. He’s a 28-year-old from Canada. This is his twelfth year of pro ball and his first callup to the major leagues.

According to Jay Jaffe at Sports Illustrated, Yasiel Puig is a “disappointing” fifth in the first release of All-Star ballots for the outfield, behind Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies, Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, Ryan Braun of the Brewers and Gioancarlo Stanton of the Marlins. Pack the ballot box, people!

May 27

Game 53, 2014

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

Zack Greinke brings his 2-runs-or-fewer per start streak (now at 22) and his gaudy 7-1, 2.01 ERA record out to face Alfredo Simon, who’s got a 6-2, 2.31 ERA record of his own.

Hanley Ramirez’s sore calf kept him out of the last few games, but he’s back in there at shortstop tonight. Matt Kemp is still out, which is surely not making him happy.

May 26

Game 52, 2014

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After yesterday’s excitement, the season goes on at a slightly lower level.

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

The Reds send Johnny Cueto to the hill. He’s 4-3 with a 1.86 ERA this season, coming off a bad outing in which he gave up six runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Nationals. The Dodgers counter with lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, who’s 4-2 with a 3.00 ERA. In his last start he went six innings and gave up two runs to the Mets, winning 4-3.

In an attempt to get Matt Kemp’s bat into the lineup without harming the defense, Mattingly is going to start him in left field for a while. In eight-plus years in the major leagues he’s averaged four errors per season, and he’s already got that many in just 39 games this year. And that doesn’t count the balls he’s not gotten to or taken bad routes on.

“Here’s where we’re going with Matt,” Mattingly said on Sunday morning after he put Andre Ethier in center for a third consecutive game. “We’re going to start working Matt a little bit in left field. We’re going to continue to work him in center. We’re just feeling like we’re giving him time to really get healthy. Not that’s he’s not healthy, but give him a chance to get all the way back.”

Kemp, who missed only 11 games from 2008-11, missed 145 games from 2012-13 due to injuries. He is currently hitting .264 with 13 doubles, five home runs and 13 RBIs in 42 games this season.

Lineup when available.

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