Apr 28

Game 23, 2016

Marlins at Dodgers, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

The Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda makes his fifth MLB start today, and he’s already a record-setter:

Maeda (3-0, 0.36 ERA) has made four starts and allowed a total of one run, becoming the first pitcher since at least 1913 to begin a career in that fashion. The Japanese right-hander is only the third pitcher since 1900 to throw at least 25 innings in his first four Major League starts while allowing no more than one run, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in his last start Saturday against the Rockies at Coors Field, finishing with 6 1/3 scoreless innings to record his third win of the season.

He’ll face right-hander Jose Fernandez, who was the NL’s 2013 Rookie of the Year but then needed Tommy John surgery in May of 2014. He started his recovery in August of 2015 but suffered a biceps strain and didn’t come back until mid-September. He’s 1-2 with a 4.37 ERA this year and hasn’t shown that he can pitch well consistently on the road. He has a career record of 5-10 with a 3.81 ERA away from Miami. He did beat the Dodgers once at Dodger Stadium in 2013.

If you think Stanton kills the Dodgers in Los Angeles, you’re right.

In 18 career games at the ballpark, Stanton is 21-for-66 (.318) with eight home runs and 21 RBIs. In this series alone, he’s 4-for-10 (.400) with three homers, one double, six RBIs and three walks.

Lineup:

Apr 23

Game 18, 2016

Dodgers at Rockies, 5:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOT Sports

Kenta Maeda makes his fourth start of the season, and he’s already joined some elite Dodger company after his first three games. He’s

2-0 with an 0.47 ERA through his first three starts, joining Fernando Valenzuela (0.33 in 1988), Billy Loes (0.37 in 1952), and Sandy Koufax (0.40 in 1955) as the only three Dodgers to post an ERA under 0.50 through their first three big league starts.

His opponent will be Tyler Chatwood, who’s 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA.

A tale of two Gonzalez’s: The Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez has 19 HRs in 77 games at Coors Field during his career, while the Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez has hit .320 (99-for-309) with 19 homers and 61 RBIs against the Dodgers in his career.

Lineup when available.

Apr 17

Game 13, 2016

Giants at Dodgers, 5:00PM PT, TV: ESPN

Two undefeated pitchers face one another this afternoon on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball: Jeff Samardzija for the Giants and Kenta Maeda for the Dodgers. The Giants’ pitcher got his first win his last time out against the Rockies, going eight innings and giving up only two runs. His ERA is 3.38. Maeda has one win to go along with a gaudy 0.00 ERA, going six shutout innings in each of his first two starts.

This being Maeda’s first season in MLB, he has no record against the Giants. Samardzija is 1-2 with a 4.91 ERA in four career appearances, including two starts, against the Dodgers.

Blog note: foul tip asked a question this morning in the previous post’s comments:

foul tip • 5 hours ago

“Link, what happened to the links on the right side of the page?”

Linkmeister Mod foul tip • 2 hours ago

“They’re there, but you have to scroll down. You notice that the post and comments are now centered rather than left-justified, too?

“WordPress is insistent that its customers upgrade to its new releases, so I did yesterday and poof! They mucked up something to do with the style. I’m hoping they’ll send out a fix real soon now.”

Apr 12

Game 8, 2016 (aka Opening Day at Dodger Stadium)

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A, MLBN (out of market only)

The visiting D-Backs send Patrick Corbin (0-1, 5.14 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda (1-0, 0.00 ERA). The next run Maeda gives up will be the first one of his American MLB career. All the runs Corbin gave up in his first start were via home runs; the Dodgers only have three so far this season so he may be safe. On the other hand, Maeda has one of the Dodgers’ HRs; Corbin may need to be careful pitching to him.

The Dodgers are expected to activate Howie Kendrick and Yasmani Grandal from the disabled list for this game, which means they’ll have to put two players on it or send two down to Oklahoma City. I hope I don’t have to type that too often. I still think of Albuquerque as the location of the AAA affiliate, even though Las Vegas was the site for a few years recently.

Lineup when available.

And there’s this news from Ken Gurnick as well: “Roberts said Van Slyke on DL. Grandal active.”

Apr 06

Game 3, 2016

Dodgers at Padres, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

Two righthanders face off: newcomer Kenta Maeda meets Andrew Cashner. Maeda is fresh off an 8-year career in the Japan Central League with Hiroshima in which he was 97-67 with a 2.39 ERA; Cashner is in his 7th year in the big leagues with a record of 26-42 and an ERA of 3.59. He went 0-3 against the Dodgers last year but had a 3.38 ERA, getting little to no run support in three of his four starts against them.

The Dodgers have to be greatly encouraged by Yasiel Puig’s performance in the first two games, with 2 triples among his 3 hits in 6 ABs and 3 RBIs already.

Lineup when available.

Jan 05

New Year, New Post

Rob Neyer at FoxSports:

The Dodgers were expected to spend WHATEVER IT COSTS to retain the services of Zack Greinke. Absent Greinke, or maybe even with Greinke, the Dodgers were expected to acquire one of the other big-time pitchers out there: David Price or Johnny Cueto.

Greinke signed with the Diamondbacks, Price with the Red Sox, and Cueto with the Giants. Ergo, the Dodgers had (or are having) a lousy winter. Right?

Before exploring that question in some detail, we should start with this salient fact: The Dodgers won 92 games last season.

Thank you, Mr. Neyer. The pundits and fans do somehow forget the team has won three titles in a row, and only two of them were Greinke-aided. It can survive without him.

Neyer points out that the Dodgers re-signed Anderson, who was pretty good and figures to be close to that again. They signed Kazmir, who figures to be better than Anderson. They signed Maeda, who only has to be an average pitcher for him to replace the 12 guys who tried to fill that role at the back end of the rotation last year. They also still have Wood, who’s young and whose history is better than his performance with the Dodgers last season. They’ll get Ryu back, and we don’t know yet how complete his recovery might be. Finally, they’ll get McCarthy back mid-season, and if he’s recovered most of his form that will be the equivalent of getting a mid-season trade for a starter done without giving up a player or two.

Neyer thinks the Dodgers will be pretty good this season. So do I.

Dec 26

Post-Christmas stocking-stuffers

Speculation remains the currency of choice among the beat reporters, it seems.

Dodgers meet with Maeda, says MLB.

The Dodgers met with Japanese free-agent pitcher Kenta Maeda on Thursday, according to several Japanese media outlets.

[snip]

The Dodgers are believed to prefer a trade for Miami ace Jose Fernandez or Tampa Bay fourth starter Jake Odorizzi, but don’t want to deal such top prospects as Corey Seager or Julio Urias to do it.

They also reportedly have some interest in Scott Kazmir, one of the few remaining free agents who could crack their rotation.