Apr 04

Game 2, 2017

Padres at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

The visiting Padres send lefty Clayton Richard to the mound in hopes he’ll continue pitching as well as he did over the last two months of last season, when he induced ground balls at a 64 percent clip. The Dodgers hope Kenta Maeda does as well in his first start of 2017 as he did in his major league debut in Game Three of last season; he shut out the Padres for six innings and hit a home run. The Dodgers say he’s added a cutter to his repertoire this year.

A couple of interesting things about the Dodgers pitcher:

Maeda tossed three perfect frames and struck out four Angels in his Spring Training finale on Thursday. He needed just 29 pitches. In five spring starts, Maeda posted a 3.00 ERA and a .182 batting average against.

Among pitchers who gave up at least 300 batted balls last season, Maeda led the way by allowing just 28.2 percent to be hit with an exit velocity of 95 mph or harder. Teammate Clayton Kershaw was fourth in that category, at 31.0 percent.

Lineup when available.


Let the platooning begin. Joc sits against a lefty, Kiké plays. Toles sits against lefties too? I dunno. Certainly against this one.

Sep 22

Game 153, 2016

Here’s an interesting point about Vinnie’s broadcasting style: Bob Costas pointed this out to Jason Stark, and Stark repeats it here: the production follows him. He doesn’t get directed “Okay, now insert a 10-second blurb about the upcoming homestand or bobblehead day.” Nope, he tells his stories and the guys in the truck just follow along.

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOTRM, MLBN (out-of-market only)

Brett Anderson makes his third start of the year for the Dodgers after first recovering from back surgery and then going on the DL for blisters. He’s 0-2 with a 24.75 ERA in the four innings he’s pitched this season. His opponent will be Tyler Chatwood, who’s 11-9 with a 4.13 ERA this year. He’s given up five home runs in his last four starts and given up at least six runs in three of the four.

Lineup when available.

Howie instead of Turner at 3B has a ripple effect: it puts Toles in LF.