Apr 21

Game 13, 2015

Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Brett Anderson has started two games for the Dodgers so far this season, going six innings in one game and five innings in the other. He got a no-decision in the first game and picked up a win in the second. He’s got an ERA of 3.27. He’s only made three starts against the Giants in his career, and he’s 0-2 with a 5.25 ERA.

Anderson will face two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, who hasn’t looked like the same pitcher he was in 2008 and 2009 when he won those awards in quite a while. He’s started two games this year. In his first outing he looked like a throwback to those years, though; he went 7 scoreless innings, walked 3, struck out 5 and gave up 4 hits. Unfortunately he didn’t get a decision. His second outing was similar: he went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs while walking only 1 and striking out 4. In that one he got a loss. Lincecum is 9-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 24 career starts against the Dodgers.

Lineup:

Puig is in the lineup, which means his hamstring is better. It also means that Mattingly knows he’s 8 for 14 against Lincecum in his short time in the big leagues.

Apr 19

Game 12, 2015

Rockies at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Brandon McCarthy trots out for the Dodgers hoping for a more reasonable start than his last one. In that game he struck out ten, walked none but gave up four home runs in seven innings of work, with no decision for his trouble. His opponent will be Eddie Butler, who has five starts in the big leagues. Three were last year, two of those were against the Dodgers, and they didn’t go well. He was 0-1 with a 9.90 ERA. This season he’s 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings, which looks good but hides the 10 walks and 6 strikeouts so far in those two starts.

Lineup when available.

Uribe is probably just taking a day game off after a night game. Puig’s hamstring is beginning to worry me, and I imagine it’s worrying his employer more.

Apr 18

Game 11, 2015

Rockies at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Fun facts: Zack Greinke is 19-1 against the NL West since joining the Dodgers. He starts today against the Rockies’ Jordan Lyles. Lyles hopes Puig’s hamstring is still tight: he’s 3-5 career against Lyles with a home run and three RBI.

Another fun fact: A-Gon has been on base at least twice in each of the Dodgers’ first ten games. That ties him with Jackie Robinson for the second-longest streak of its kind in franchise history. Zack Wheat has the record at 13 games way back in 1923.

Lyles is 1-0 in his two starts this season, going 12 innings while giving up 4 walks and striking out 5. He’s got an ERA of 2.25. Greinke is also 1-0 in his two starts, going 13 innings while walking one and striking out 11. His ERA is a microscopic 0.69.

Here’s André’s throw from right field last night which got Rosario at the plate:

Lineup when available.

Puig’s back in right field. Ethier shifts to left.

Apr 15

Game Nine, 2015

Mariners at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN2

On Jackie Robinson Day, the Mariners start Taijuan Walker, who last week had a first start of the season he’d rather forget: he gave up 9 hits and 9 runs in 3 1/3 innings in a 12-0 loss to the A’s on Friday. He’s 3-4 with a 4.15 ERA in 12 appearances (nine starts) over the past three years for the Ms.

The Dodgers counter with Brett Anderson, who gave up five hits and three runs but got no decision in a game the Dodgers lost to the Diamondbacks 4-3. Lifetime against Seattle Anderson is 7-4 with a 1.81 ERA in 15 games, all but one a start.

Lineup:


I’m not sure who that Van Skyle guy is playing left field. Puig is out, presumably to rest his hamstring again. Tomorrow’s an off-day, so he’ll have had three days to let it recover before the Rockies arrive.

In other personnel news, the Dodgers claimed left-handed pitcher Ryan Dennick from the Reds and designated left-handed pitcher David Huff for assignment.

Apr 14

Game Eight, 2015

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

David Huff is a 30-year-old veteran with a lifetime 25-28 record and a career ERA of 5.02 in the major leagues. He’s been called up from Oklahoma City and is filling the fifth starter role for the Dodgers this evening. I imagine his 2-0 record with a 1.32 ERA over 13 1/3 innings during spring training had a lot to do with his call-up for this start. Darwin Barney was sent down to OKC to make room for Huff.

He’ll be opposed by RHP Hisashi Iwakuma, whose first start didn’t go well. He’s 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA. He’s a good pitcher, though, as witnessed by his 38-21 record with an ERA of 3.11 in his four years in Seattle. That’s after eleven years in the Japanese league where he compiled a 107-69 record and had an ERA of 3.25.

Lineup:

Puig gets the night off. I wonder if this is just to keep Andre fresh.

Apr 11

Game Five, 2015

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

Clayton Kershaw goes for his first win of the season against rookie Archie Bradley. Bradley is regarded by MLB.com as the D-Backs top prospect. In spring training he was 3-2 with a 1.61 ERA, 14 Ks and a 2.00 WHIP over 22 innings.

It seems like a mismatch, but as Joe Garagiola once said, “baseball is a funny game.”

Lineup when available.

And now it is:

Puig is off to a slow start at 2 for 17, so that may explain why he’s sitting this evening.

Sep 16

Game 151, 2014

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

Dan Haren goes for the Dodgers. He’s 3-0 with a 0.69 ERA in his last four starts and 13-10 with a 3.99 ERA for the season. After that mid-season slump he’s seemingly reduced the number of sinkers he’s thrown by 12 percent, says one statistical outfit, and that may have helped the turnaround. He’ll face Tyler Matzek, a rookie whose 5-10 and 4.23 ERA look bad, but may be misleading. In his last four starts he’s given up just four earned runs, including a three-hit shutout against the Padres. He’s 3-1 over those games. The loss was a four-hit 6 1/3 inning performance in which he gave up two runs but got no run support.

In other news, Ryu’s shoulder MRI on Monday showed no damage. He got a cortisone shot and will meet the team in Chicago. He’ll miss his next scheduled start but he’ll throw a little in Chicago and see how the shoulder feels.

Nobody on the Dodgers’ side is explaining what the cause of the mild flareup of tempers between Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig was during last night’s game. The press and we bloggers have therefore been free to speculate, as Steve Dilbeck of the Times notes and sneers at.

Via Twitter: “The Dodgers select the contract of LHP Daniel Coulombe from Double-A. RHP Stephen Fife was recalled from Triple-A and placed on 60-day DL.”

Lineup:

Sep 10

Game 146, 2014

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

The Dodgers send Dan Haren out to do battle with Ian Kennedy. Haren’s 12-10 with a 4.17 ERA and has had three consecutive good starts. Kennedy has already made five starts against the Dodgers this year, going 0-2 with a 3.90 ERA. He’s 10-12 with a 3.75 ERA overall this season.

The Padres have beaten the Dodgers three of their last five meetings, which is not what you’d expect in games between the first-place and third-place teams in the division.

The Diamondbacks play the Giants tonight at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Josh Collmenter goes for the D-Backs and Ryan Vogelsong goes for the Giants.

Lineup:

Huh. No Gordon. Just resting, I hope.

John_from_Aus linked to this article at Dodgers.com in the comments to the last post. It’s a discussion of Puig’s slumping bat. Is it just a slump or could he be injured?

Sep 06

Game 142, 2014

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Hyun Jin-Ryu is 14-6 with a 3.18 ERA. The next game he wins will be an MLB career high for him. He’ll face Chase Anderson, a rookie righthander who’s 8-6 with a 3.75 ERA. Ryu is 2-0 against the D-Backs this season, while Anderson is 1-1 against the Dodgers. He gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings the first time out, but that was the game in which the Diamondbacks bombed Clayton Kershaw for seven runs and eventually won 18-7. His second time out he only gave up two runs in five innings but lost to Kershaw. He’s probably thanking his lucky stars that at least he’s facing Ryu rather than Clayton again.

Lineup:

Puig is sick and getting an IV, Mattingly says. In other player news, Paco Rodriguez, who’s still on the DL, suffered an unspecified “setback” during his bullpen session Tuesday.