Cubs at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA
Dan Haren tries to right the ship and forget July, for good reason. Last month he posted a 9.47 ERA and a .329 batting average against and unsurprisingly lost all four starts he made. He’ll face Mission Viejo native Kyle Hendricks, who’s started three games for the Cubbies this season. He’s 1-1 with a 2.33 ERA over 19 1/3 innings, walking 6 while striking out 14.
Lineup:
Today's #Dodgers lineup
Gordon 2B
Puig CF
Gonzalez 1B
Ramirez SS
Crawford LF
Kemp RF
Turner 3B
Ellis C
Haren P
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 1, 2014
Maholm seems likely to be done for the year. Under normal circumstances, I’d say he’s replaceable but Ned missed the deadline for picking up any decent help. It’ll be a lot more difficult to do so in August.
NPUT
Haren & Perez aside (and perhaps that’s where they should be), the bats have only brought in 7 runs the last 3 games. The will only cut it if Zack or Kersh were pitching . . . which is what happened for two of those games.
Have woken up here to 14 degrees (F) and frozen water pipes!
I thought Australia was supposed to be hot and dusty. Must be climate change!
That’s why they call baseball “the summer game.”
Stats and talent aside, Haren is pitching scared.
Ned is going to have to be creative. We are in the early stages of 20 games in a row with questionable 4-5 and Mahon hobbled. I recall last year at this same time going into Chicago for a four game series with Nolasco, Ryu, Capuano and Fife starting. We actually swept that series giving up 6 runs and scoring 16.
By all accounts AJ Ellis is a nice man and a funny man but he is no longer a Major League Catcher. His hitting is totally unacceptable and his defense has sunk to the same level. It is embarrassing him and the team. Time and past time to make a change. I never thought I would say this but even Fedex would be an improvement…
Here’s the video of Puig’s two-base score on the double-play attempt in the sixth inning.
I hope the limp at the end isn’t too serious
Hamstring. Day to day, I think.
That was unpleasant all around.
Did everyone go to bed?
And Ethier is back in center now, giving Puig a rest after that crazy run.
Okay, that play at home was almost worth the entire game. Puig is just amazing. I think he totally psyched out their catcher on that play. Can’t wait for you guys to see the replay.
Haren + Perez+ no bats= sad.
Ugly.
Haren out 9-3 at first after review.
As Vinny keeps reminding us, this feels almost inevitable. But it has far more to do with Haren than anything else. Poor guy. He just can’t pitch a lick right now.
Well, that was ugly.
At least Rizzo stayed in the park.
Home Run Haren.
He must dread that distinctive crack-of-the-bat sound. I bet he hears it in his sleep and flinches.
Well nuts, even Vin is repeating the money bags thing about three Fridays, three Saturdays, and three Sundays only occurring every 800 Augusts. Before this year, it happened in 2008, 2003, 1997, and every 7th year throughout history. Isn’t there anyone with critical thinking capacity in the broadcast team? (Sorry for the rant.)
Seven! Is it too much to ask for?
Only if the bats don’t come alive. Methinks it will take more than 2 runs to win tonight.