Sep 18

Game 146, 2015

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

Zack Greinke goes for win number 18 against only three losses this season. He’s 12-1 with a 1.53 ERA over his last fourteen starts. He’ll face the Pirates’ Jeff Locke, who’s 8-10 with a 4.43 ERA but coming off an excellent start against the Brewers.

In case you missed it, the Dodgers designated Mat Latos for assignment.

Then there’s this:

Lineup when available.

In addition, they’ve activated Howie Kendrick from the DL, but since he hasn’t played any rehab games they’re going to go slowly with him.

Aug 01

Game 104, 2015

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.

Jun 24

Game 73, 2015

Dodgers at Cubs, 5:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN2

Another battle of righthanders today, as Chicago native Mike Bolsinger goes for the Dodgers while Kyle Hendricks goes for the Cubs. Bolsinger is 4-2 with a 2.87 ERA; Hendricks is 2-3 with a 4.28 ERA. Hendricks has made six starts at Wrigley and remains winless, while Bolsinger is winless on the road and 1-2 in his last five starts.

Lineup:

Kendrick gets a night off before a getaway day game.

Jun 14

Game 63, 2015

Dodgers at Padres, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

Mike Bolsinger brings his 4-1 record and his 2.08 ERA out on the road, where his ERA is 3.78. He’s going to try to get the better of James Shields, who’s unbeaten at 7-0 with a 3.79 ERA. Shields has made three career starts against the Dodgers and has never lost to them.

Howie Kendrick and Jimmie Rollins have both had success against Shields in the past, each hitting a cool .500 in 32 and 14 ABS, respectively.

Lineup (From ESPN; the Dodgers haven’t tweeted it yet).

J. Pederson, CF
Y. Puig, RF
A. Gonzalez, 1B
H. Kendrick, 2B
Y. Grandal, C
A. Ethier, LF
J. Rollins, SS
A. Callaspo, 3B
M. Bolsinger, P

May 08

Game 29, 2015

Dodgers at Rockies, 2:40PM 5:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Dodgers’ Brett Anderson was a member of the Rockies last season, but injuries to his finger and his back cut his season short and they let him depart at the end of the year. Anderson is 1-1 with a 4.21 ERA for the Dodgers. His opponent will be Eddie Butler, who’s 2-2 with a 3.81 ERA.

Lineup:


Kendrick gets a day off and Turner plays second in his place. Adrian Gonzalez celebrates his birthday but doesn’t get the day off, and the Dodgers got their pink Mother’s Day gear today.

Apr 08

Game Three, 2015

Padres at Dodgers, 7:10PT, TV: SNLA Spanish, SportsNet LA, ESPN2

Each team has won one game in the opening Clash of the Titans of the NL West, so tonight is the rubber match. The Padres send out Andrew Cashner, who’s 1-2 lifetime against the Dodgers. Don’t let that fool you, though. He’s got a 1.53 ERA with 45 Ks in 53 innings against the home team. His opponent will be Brandon McCarthy, who last year had a 2.61 ERA against the Padres in two starts for the D-Backs, giving up one run in 14 innings.

Adrian Gonzalez is 6 for 9 (.667) to start the season, with 2 singles, 2 doubles, 2 home runs and 4 runs scored. Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick are each 3 for 8 (.375), Carl Crawford is 2 for 6, and nobody else has more than one hit.

Lineup:

Apr 05

Opening Day 2015

Padres at Dodgers, 1:10pm PT, Dodger Stadium

Here it is at last, the first day of the new season, with the changes the new management made over the winter soon to be on display.

Will Jimmy Rollins play better defense than Hanley Ramirez? Will Howie Kendrick hit better than Dee Gordon? Will Kershaw win a fourth Cy Young Award? Can he lead the National League in ERA for the fifth consecutive year? Will Hyun-Jin Ryu recover from his shoulder woes and win more than fourteen games? Can Kenley Jansen come back from his foot woes and regain his form as an elite closer? Will the Dodgers miss Matt Kemp’s bat more than they’ll be helped by Puig’s play in right field? Can Uribe play up to his standard of the past two years while remaining healthy enough to play 125 games or so? Can Justin Turner keep up his torrid hitting from last year while coming off the bench and playing all over the infield? Will Joc Pederson keep up the hitting he did in spring training? What’s going to happen with André Ethier?

Questions, we have questions. Today we start getting answers.

Lineup:

Feb 11

Open Thread #10

Correction: I thought the Dodger Insider post I linked to was written by Jon Weisman. I’m still not used to thinking of that site as a multi-author blog. It was actually written by Cary Osborne. I’m sorry for the misattribution!

By Mr. Weisman’s Cary Osborne’s calculations, the moves the Dodgers made during the off-season have made them the most improved team in the West in terms of Defensive Runs Saved.

Huh? What’s that number, you ask? Defensive Runs Saved is an attempt to determine the value of a player against other players of the same position. As Joe Posnanski put it at his blog: “the number determines (using film study and computer comparisons) how many more or fewer successful plays a defensive player will make than league average.”

Here’s the full-on explanation from its creators at The Fielding Bible, if you’re interested. It’s lengthy.

Anyway, Jon Cary says

Gone from the Dodgers are Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and Dee Gordon, who combined for -37 DRS. In are Howie Kendrick, and Jimmy Rollins and what appears to be either Joc Pederson or Andre Ethier. Since there isn’t enough Major League statistical data on Pederson, we’re going to slot Ethier into the replacement for Kemp. Rollins, Kendrick and Ethier combined for six DRS. That’s a swing of +43 DRS.

He’s got the other NL West teams’ DRS data, and he comes up with the startling fact that the Dodgers are the only team in the division whose changes over the winter give it a net positive number.

Huh.

Dec 10

Winter meetings, Day Three

Update: Kemp is gone to the Padres for catcher Yasmani Grandal and a pair of pitching prospects. Fedex also goes to the Padres, along with about $30M to defray part of the cost of Kemp’s contract.

Wow! In very short order today the Dodgers

  • Got 36-year-old shortstop Jimmy Rollins from the Phillies to fill the gap left behind when Hanley Ramirez went the free agent route
  • Traded Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to the Marlins in exchange for pitcher Andrew Heaney, backup catcher Austin Barnes, minor leaguers Enrique Hernandez and Chris Hatcher
  • Flipped Heaney to the Angels for second-baseman Howie Kendrick
  • May be close to signing free-agent pitcher Brandon McCarthy
  • and have discussed adding pitcher Cole Hamels and second-baseman Chase Utley to the Jimmy Rollins deal with the Phillies

And there’s still tomorrow to find deals which send Ethier, Crawford or Kemp to somebody for a starting pitcher or prospects!

Now that they’ve gotten Kendrick, I can’t see why they’d want Utley except as more bait to trade off, as they did with Heaney (hey, kid, I’d have liked to see you pitch!). Do the Phillies need an outfielder?

Update: changed the post title to day 3, which is accurate. I lost a day somewhere.