Apr 24

Game 19, 2016

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

The Dodgers ask Alex Wood to do better at Coors Field than he has in the past. He’s made three starts and given up 15 earned runs on 21 hits in 11 innings in his career there. He’s 1-2 with a 5.06 ERA and more walks (8) than strikeouts (7) so far this season. His opponent will be Jordan Lyles, who’s 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA and 9 strikeouts with only 6 walks in his three starts this year.

In other words, this could be an all-staff game from each team, and runs may be easily come by. If they are, you can bet these two guys will be in the middle of it as long as the starters remain in the game:

Yasiel Puig is a career .571 hitter (4-for-7) against Lyles, with a home run and three RBIs.

Nolan Arenado has only faced Wood nine times, but he’s done his damage, hitting a pair of home runs and plating five while batting .333.

Lineup when available.

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 22

Game 17, 2016

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

Scott Kazmir (1-1, 6.43 ERA) tries to get his groove back after two consecutive poor starts, both against the Giants. He’s only made one career start against the Rockies. It was at Coors Field and he got the win, but that was in 2007 when Kazmir was a Devil Ray. His opponent will be Jon Gray, the third draft pick overall in 2013. He made his ML debut last year, but tonight will be his first game of this season. He’s a righthander with a fastball, changeup, slider and curve.

Lineup when available.

I got to wondering and looked it up: Utley has the third highest number of hits this young season as a leadoff guy: 16. The two guys ahead of him are Gonzalez with 22 and Puig with 17. (Seager has 14 while Pederson and Hernandez each have 13).

Apr 20

Game 15, 2016

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

Ross Stripling (0-0, 2.03 ERA) goes for the Dodgers, while Julio Teheran (0-2, 6.35 ERA) goes for the Braves. Teheran’s start slipped a day; he was scheduled to be Tuesday’s starting pitcher but came down with a fever, so Williams Perez took his place.

The Dodgers had the best fielding percentage in the big leagues coming into the game, then they muffed three ground balls to the infield and raised their error total for the season to seven.

Puig has changed! Yet another story about Yasiel’s resurgence as player and good guy, this one from Sports Illustrated.

Lineup when available.

Apr 14

Game 10, 2016

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

The D-Backs send lefty Robbie Ray (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 2 runs, 4 hits, 3 strikeouts and 4 walks in 6 innings) to the mound for his second start of the season. The Dodgers send the righthanded Ross Stripling out for his second start after his stunning first one, when he threw 7 1/3 innings of no-hit ball (and got no decision; thanks, bullpen!) against the Giants.

Lineup when available.


Don’t ask me why Barnes is at second. If Utley needs a rest, why not play Kendrick there? Instead, Howie’s at third and Turner gets a day off too. Puig and Gonzalez seem to be the only guys who play every day.

Apr 13

Game 9, 2016

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

Old friend Rubby De La Rosa has had horrid luck against the Dodgers, going 0-3 with an 11.21 ERA against them in his career. Overall he’s 22-25 with a 4.61 ERA in his five previous seasons in the big leagues. Alex Wood has similar career stats: he’s 26-27 with a 3.36 ERA in three previous seasons.

Lineup when available.

I hadn’t thought of getting both Kendrick’s and Utley’s bats in the lineup in quite this way, but…we also see Yasmani Grandal making his first start of the season after he came off the DL Tuesday.

Here are some highlights from Opening Day:

First, Mr. Puig at second base switching hands on the base.

Now, here are the two throws to get Castillo at home, Puig to Turner to Ellis.

Apr 09

Game 6, 2016

Dodgers at Giants, 1:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-BA

The two aces go at one another for the first time this year: Kershaw (1-0, 0.00 ERA) against Bumgarner (1-0, 5.40 ERA). Kershaw is 9-3 with a 1.16 ERA in 14 starts at the Giants’ home park, while Bumgarner is 13-7 overall against the Dodgers with a 2.45 ERA in 22 appearances.

The Dodgers got 9 hits in Friday night’s game but only converted them into two runs. Had they gotten more young Stripling might have gotten a win for his efforts rather than a no-decision. They are still hitting well: Puig, Utley, Gonzalez, Seager, Ellis and Turner all singled and Pederson got a double. For the second night in a row the bullpen gave up the go-ahead or winning runs.

Lineup when available.


Hmm. Several unfamiliar faces in the lineup against MadBum. I wonder what the reasoning is.

Apr 08

Game 5, 2016

Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBC-BA

Ross Stripling makes his debut against the most bitter rival the Dodgers have in the rival’s home park. Welcome to the big leagues, kid! He’ll face Matt Cain, who’s fallen from previous stardom due to elbow and forearm injuries to the #5 starter’s spot in the Giants’ rotation (which is still better than Tim Lincecum, who hasn’t thrown a pitch since June of last year and is now a free agent, rehabbing from hip surgery).

Puig and Gonzalez have eight and seven hits respectively for the Dodgers in this young season; Seager and Utley have six, Pederson has five. The pitching’s been excellent until Thursday, when not only Wood but the bullpen (saving Louis Coleman, who threw 1 1/3 innings of hitless ball) failed, Wood after four good innings.

Lineup when available.


Carl Crawford gets a day off for the second day in a row.

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.

Feb 22

Puig! Puig! Puig!

The young man says he’s going to get back to his 2013 form this season.

“I want to improve on last year, which was my worst season in all aspects,” Puig said. “I’ve never hit so poorly, not even when I was a little kid. Coming off such a bad season, I have to work on my body, my hitting, on hitting the cutoff man, all that’s required to do well in American baseball.”

[snip]

“I want us all to be together, and for me to join in, so we don’t lose in the playoffs again,” Puig said. “I’m tired of making the playoffs and not going further and reaching the World Series.”

I hope he succeeds in doing that. If he can stay healthy and be a team player he’s a tremendous athlete.