Aug 20

Game 27, 2020

Dodgers at Mariners, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), ROOTNW, SPNLA

LHP Clayton Kershaw (2-1, 2.65 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers, while LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-1, 5.28 ERA) does the same for the Mariners. Kershaw’s last start was vintage: one hit and one run allowed over seven innings with no walks and 6 Ks. Kikuchi missed his last start with neck spasms, but he’s apparently recovered. The 29-year-old is in just his second year in MLB after 9 years in the Japanese and Australian leagues, where he compiled a 79-59 W-L record with a very good 2.85 ERA.

Yesterday’s high (and low) lights:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1945 Dodger shortstop Tommy Brown becomes the youngest player (17 years, eight months, and 14 days) in major league history to hit a home run. The round-tripper by ‘Buckshot,’ who started his career as a 16 year-old high school student, will be the only run Brooklyn scores off 30 year-old Pirates southpaw Preacher Roe, who goes the distance in the 11-1 rout of the home team at Ebbets Field.
  • 1974 In an 18-8 rout of the Cubs, the Dodgers collect 24 hits and set a club record with 48 total bases, including Davey Lopes’ three home runs, double, and single. The Dodger second baseman’s 15 total bases are the most ever for a leadoff hitter.
  • 1978 In the visitors’ clubhouse at Shea Stadium, Dodger Blue becomes black and blue when Steve Garvey confronts teammate Don Sutton about a Washington Post story in which the pitcher is critical of him. After the right-hander confirms he had made the comments, the argument becomes physical when he makes an inappropriate remark about the first baseman’s wife.

Lineup:

Jul 18

Opening day roster speculation

Who’s gonna be on it?

Pitchers: Pedro Báez, Walker Buehler, Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Clayton Kershaw, Ross Stripling, Blake Treinen, Julio Urías, Alex Wood, Brusdar Graterol and Dustin May

Starting depth could be an issue. After losing Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill (68 starts combined last year) over the offseason, the only veteran starters the Dodgers added were Price and Jimmy Nelson, but both are out for the season. That leaves Urías, Wood and youngsters May, Gonzalez and White to pick up those 68 starts.

Will Smith and Austin Barnes are the catchers. Infielders are Enrique Hernández, Max Muncy, Gavin Lux, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Matt Beaty and Edwin Rios. Cody Bellinger, Mookie Betts, Joc Pederson, A. J. Pollack and Chris Taylor are the outfielders.

Subject to change at any moment, of course.

Jul 25

Game 102, 2018

Dodgers at Phillies, 9:35 AM PDT, TV: SPNLA, NBCSP, MLBN (out-of-market only)

If any member of either team is awake enough to play well behind the two rested starting pitchers I’ll be surprised. The Dodgers send out their young righthander Walker Buehler (4-2, 3.45 ERA) to face the Phillies’ righty Jake Arrieta (7-6, 3.47 ERA). Buehler arrived in Philadelphia from Oklahoma City Tuesday. He’d been sent there as a roster move before the All Star break but didn’t pitch an inning for the team there on this latest visit. Arrieta started the year with two good months, going 5-2 in April and May. His June was awful: he lost four out of five starts. He’s bounced back in July to win two games and lose none so far.

Manager Dave Roberts says he expects Buehler “to stick around for a while.”

Injury updates were announced before Tuesday’s marathon. Tom Koehler is done for the year without throwing a pitch for the Dodgers. Puig and Baez are rehabbing in OKC and will be back for Thursday’s game in Atlanta, and Ryu is about to start rehabbing in the minors. The Dodgers expect him to make at least four starts before returning to the big club.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1962 At Sportsman’s Park, Stan Musial surpasses Giants’ legend Mel Ott as the National League’s all-time RBI leader. ‘Stan the Man’s’ two-run home run off Don Drysdale in a 5-2 loss to the Dodgers gives the Cardinals’ right fielder 1,862 career runs batted in with the Redbirds.
  • 2017 The Dodgers defeat the Minnesota Twins to run their record to 70-31. Kenta Maeda gets his ninth win of the season and Josh Ravin posts his first save.

Lineup when available.

Jan 14

One month away

Today’s news is that A-Gon is reportedly on his way to play for the Mets in the 2018 season.

The Mets get Gonzalez at the league minimum salary of $545,000 in 2018. The Braves are responsible for the $21.5 million owed to him for the 2018 season under his previous contract.

Except for that whole “playing on the East Coast again” issue it looks like Adrian has landed on his feet. Good for him.

Earlier in the week the Dodgers avoided arbitration with all the players they have who were eligible. Here is a copy of the table Eric Stephen of TBLA put together to show the results:

Player Service Time 2017 salary MLBTR projections TBLA guess 2018 salary
Yasmani Grandal 5.115 $5,500,000 $7,700,000 $7,400,000 $7,900,000
Alex Wood 4.123 $2,800,000 $6,400,000 $6,550,000 $6,000,000
Tony Cingrani 4.088 $1,825,000 $2,200,000 $2,300,000 $2,300,000
Josh Fields 4.083 $1,050,000 $2,200,000 $1,900,000 $2,200,000
Joc Pederson 3.023 $555,000 $2,000,000 $2,800,000 $2,600,000
Pedro Baez 3.059 $550,000 $1,500,000 $1,400,000 $1,500,000
Kiké Hernandez 3.054 $550,000 $1,300,000 $1,650,000 $1,600,000
Yimi Garcia 3.004 $550,000 $700,000 n/a $630,000
Apr 03

Opening Day, 2017

The LA Times has a special Baseball 2017 section in its Sunday, April 2 edition.

Padres at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN (out-of market only), FSSD

The Padres send Jhoulys Chacin out to do battle with the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw. Chacin will make his second Opening Day start; the first was for the Rockies in 2013. He was with the Angels last year and finished strong: he had a 0.75 ERA in his last four starts for them. He did well for Venezuela in this year’s World Baseball Classic as well. This will be Kershaw’s seventh straight Opening Day start for the Dodgers. That ties him with Drysdale and Sutton for the team record. This will be the fourth time he’ll face the Padres on Opening Day; he gave up three runs on nine hits in the previous 16 innings on those occasions.

The Padres have two potential Rookie of the Year candidates, “outfielders Manuel Margot and Hunter Renfroe, ranked No. 23 and No. 42, respectively, among MLBPipeline.com’s Top 100 prospects.”

Renfore and Margot excelled for Triple-A El Paso last year en route to a Pacific Coast League championship. Margot batted .304 and stole 30 bases, while Renfroe earned PCL MVP honors by hitting .306 with 30 home runs.

Lineups when available.

Here’s the Opening Day roster. The interesting part is probably the Disabled List, where six guys will start the year:

Pedro Baez, RHP (10-day, right wrist contusion, retroactive to March 30); Andre Ethier, OF (10-day, lumbar disk herniation, retroactive to March 30); Yimi Garcia, RHP (60-day, right elbow surgery); Scott Kazmir, LHP (10-day, left hip strain, retroactive to March 30); Josh Ravin, RHP (10-day, right groin strain, retroactive to March 30); Brock Stewart, RHP (10-day, right shoulder tendinitis, retroactive to March 30)

Here’s the lineup:

May 14

Game 34, 2015

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

The Dodgers send lefty Brett Anderson out to face the Rockies’ righty Chad Bettis. Anderson was a Rockie last year and beat them in a rain-shortened game last Friday in Denver. Bettis has been up and down from AAA to the Rockies over the past three years, making 37 appearances and eight starts in 2013-2014 and earning a 1-6 record with a 6.88 ERA.

Lineup:

The Dodgers put RHP Pedro Baez on the 15-day DL with a pectoral strain and called LHP Daniel Coulombe up to replace him.

Jon has a great evening planned at Dodger Stadium, so cross your fingers that the rain stops in time for the game.

Here’s a good interview with Matt Kemp at Sports Illustrated.

Aug 11

Game 120, 2014

Dodgers at Braves, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN

Newly-acquired Kevin Correia is thrown directly into the fire, making his first start for the Dodgers the very day he’s activated. Pedro Baez was optioned to Albuquerque to make room for him. Correia’s last start was a six-inning, three-run outing against the Padres on August 6. He’ll face Julio Teheran, who is 10-8 with a 2.92 ERA on the season. He had a good game against the Dodgers on July 31, but Kershaw outpitched him (or gave up fewer runs, anyway).

Lineup:

Aug 05

Game 114, 2014

Angels at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSW

Repeat Pitcher-of-the-Month winner Clayton Kershaw goes after his 14th win tonight against Hector Santiago, who’s 3-7 with a 3.76 ERA. Santiago’s last outing was a scoreless two innings in relief in the Angels’ 1-0 13-inning win over the Orioles last Thursday night. His last start was July 27, when he gave up one run and three hits over 5 1/3 innings against the Tigers.

Kershaw, meanwhile, has won 10 straight and is 13-2 on the season with a best in-the-majors 1.71 ERA and 150 strikeouts in 121 1/3 innings.

Lineup:

via Twitter: The Dodgers placed LHP Paco Rodriguez on 15-day disabled list with a Teres Major strain & recalled RHP Pedro Baez from Triple-A Albuquerque.

Oh by the way: “The Angels, at 92-48, have the best Interleague record since 2007.”

Jul 18

Game 98, 2014

Dodgers at Cardinals, 5:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

Dan Haren (8-6, 4.23 ERA) starts for the Dodgers. He undoubtedly hopes to stop giving up home runs in great numbers (17 in his last 12 starts!) for the remainder of the season. Lance Lynn (10-6, 3.14 ERA) will pitch for the Redbirds.

Despite Yasiel Puig’s 3 Ks in the All Star Game and his goose egg in the HR Derby, he had a good first half:

The 23-year-old, second-year pro became one of six players in Dodgers history to record 100-plus hits, 40-plus extra-base hits and 50-plus RBIs before the All-Star break with 106 hits, 44 extra-base hits and 52 RBIs.

Other players in Dodgers history to accomplish the feat include Duke Snider (1954), Willie Davis (1973), Steve Garvey (1977), Gary Sheffield (2000) and Matt Kemp (2011).

That’s some pretty good company right there.

Lineup when available.

Also from Twitter: The #Dodgers today recalled Paco Rodriguez from @AbqTopes. They had roster space because they optioned Pedro Baez back to the Isotopes on July 13.