As long as Jon is creating Dodgers content at Dodger Thoughts, I see no reason to continue duplicating his efforts here. I’m not going to post new Game Threads or anything else unless Jon determines that he can’t keep up with the daily grind.
You have only to look at the lack of comments on Game Threads here to see why I’m not much inclined to keep them up. Everyone has rightfully gone back to Jon’s place, and I will too.
If Jon indicates he has to stop I’ll be here to pick up the slack.
Pirates at Dodgers. A. J. Burnett v. Clayton Kershaw. Don’t forget it’s a 6:10 PM PT start time this evening. It’s on Prime Ticket.
We know what Kershaw did in his first outing. Burnett had a good one too, giving up three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings while striking out ten and issuing just one walk.
Update: And why has no one mentioned this before? “the Victory Knot at Dodger Stadium is a megasized pretzel designed for four people, and is about 3,080 calories.”
Update: The Dodgers have traded Aaron Harang (and $4.25 million!) to the Rockies for backup catcher Ramon Hernandez. According to one report, it’s a salary dump on the Rockies’ part (Hernandez is due $3.2M this season). According to another report, the Rockies hope to flip Harang to another team.
Oh goodie. Another PVL. Hernandez hit .217 in 50-something games last season.
Lineups will be posted when available.
Lineup:
LF: Carl Crawford
2B: Mark Ellis
CF: Matt Kemp
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
RF: Andre Ethier
C: A.J. Ellis
3B: Luis Cruz
SS: Justin Sellers
SP: Clayton Kershaw
Update: Dodgers win! Dodgers win! Jon has a recap of the events at his place.
Pirates at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, Prime Ticket.
The Dodgers send out their new (used) $147M man Greinke to face Jonathan Sanchez, an ex-Giant who had an absolutely horrible season last year, 1 – 9 with an 8.07 ERA split between the Royals and the Rockies.
In rehab news, Right-hander Chad Billingsley was scheduled to start for Class A Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday night and lefty Ted Lilly will start there on Friday.
Lineups will be posted soon after they’re announced.
Lineup:
LF: Carl Crawford
2B: Mark Ellis
CF: Matt Kemp
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
3B: Luis Cruz
RF: Andre Ethier
C: A.J. Ellis
SS: Justin Sellers
SP: Zack Greinke
Giants v. Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, 7:10 PM PT, KCAL & ESPN2. The Giants send out Tim Lincecum to face the Dodgers’ Josh Beckett. Beckett offers up these thoughts as he begins his first full season with the team:
“In years when I’ve been good, I feel like I’ve gotten off to a good start and built some confidence in April,” Beckett said. “In years where I fall behind, whether it be health or results, I’ve had some struggles trying to catch back up. I think a lot of that is just me being stubborn and trying to make up a few starts in one start and then I fall behind. I’m looking to get out to a good start.”
The Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said Brandon Belt sat out Tuesday’s game due to illness, while the Dodgers’ sat Carl Crawford to “ease him in,” said manager Don Mattingly. Both are expected back for tonight’s game.
Cause for alarm?
This is the first time in Matt Kemp’s six full seasons with the Dodgers that he has gone hitless (0-for-6 with two strikeouts) through the first two games. From 2009-12, Kemp was a combined 13-for-31 (.419) with two homers and nine RBIs in the Dodgers’ first two games of each season.
Bench him!
Tonight’s lineup:
Carl Crawford, LF
Skip Schumaker, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Andre Ethier, RF
Luis Cruz, SS
Juan Uribe, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Josh Beckett, P
Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PT, Prime Ticket and MLBN. The Dodgers send out Hyun-Jin Ryu to make his major league debut against Madison Bumgarner.
The Dodgers of the Seventies were noted for the constancy of their infield, running the same four guys out there for years and years. By contrast,
Monday was Andre Ethier’s sixth Opening Day start in right field for the Dodgers, the most in Los Angeles history. His 959 games played in the outfield also are the third-most as a Los Angeles Dodger, trailing only Willie Davis (1,906) and Dusty Baker (1,092).
I had forgotten the outfield has been somewhat of a revolviing door. It may end up that Kemp and Ethier (if the latter isn’t traded at some point in his current five-year contract) set a similar standard for Dodgers’ outfielders as the Cey, Russell, Lopes and Garvey foursome did for the infield.
This amused me when I read it in the preview: “Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was impressed with Ryu’s camp and said the youngster pitched his way behind ace Clayton Kershaw.”
The “youngster” is a year older than Kershaw.
This will be the Game Thread. Lineups will be posted when they’re available.
LF: Jerry Hairston
2B: Mark Ellis
CF: Matt Kemp
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
3B: Luis Cruz
RF: Andre Ethier
C: A.J. Ellis
SS: Justin Sellers
SP: Hyun-Jin Ryu
Cruz hitting fifth has to be a rare thing in his career, I’d think. Crawford’s absence is a bit of a puzzle, although these lifetime stats for Jerry Hairston Jr. may explain it (Crawford has no record against Bumgarner):
| PITCHER | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Bumgarner | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .429 | .429 | .571 | 1.000 |
USA Today did all the work and published it in today’s edition (my hometown paper offers a cut-down edition of the paper with our regular paper and we get it). I’ve linked to it down there on the right-hand sidebar in the Non-Partisan Baseball Sites section. Have fun using it as a reference for bar bets.
Here’s the video of the opening celebrations from MLB. It includes that moment when Mattingly came out to relieve Magic Johnson (#32) with Sandy Koufax (also #32) to throw the first pitch to Orel Hershiser (#55), as well as the introductions of Maury Wills, Tommy Davis, and Tommy Lasorda.
Giants at Dodgers, 1:00 PM Pacific Time. Kershaw v. Cain. Prime Ticket and ESPN.
Giants v. Dodgers? Who could ask for anything more?
Cain was 1-0 with a 2.73 ERA in four starts against the Dodgers last season, not facing Kershaw head to head. For his career, Cain is 4-8 with a 3.41 ERA in 23 games against L.A.
Kershaw, getting up for his team’s big rival, has been dominant against the Giants. He was 2-3 last year in five games, through no fault of his own. His ERA was 1.62 and he held Giants hitters to a .197 batting average. In 17 career outings against San Francisco, Kershaw is 8-4 with a remarkable 1.37 ERA in 118 innings. His 0.88 WHIP vs. the Giants is his best against any club he’s faced more than twice.
Lineup:
Crawford, C, LF
Ellis, M, 2B
Kemp, M, CF
Gonzalez, A, 1B
Ethier, A, RF
Cruz, L, 3B
Ellis, A, C
Sellers, J, SS
Kershaw, C, P
Gameday here for those without TV access.