Oct 17

New Dodgers Notes

10/27: New Dodgers’ post up top

Buster Olney of ESPN offers up seven things the Dodgers should do this off-season.

  • Re-sign Zack Greinke, no matter how much he wants or how long he wants it for
  • Decide on Mattingly’s fate
  • Add another deluxe starting pitcher
  • Decide Puig’s fate.
  • Keep Howie Kendrick
  • Shore up the bullpen
  • Change the clubhouse culture

On Puig: Olney reports that on the day Puig started in the series against the Mets he caught the last bus from the hotel, he didn’t start the stretch period with the rest of the team and he didn’t take as many cuts in the batting cage as usual. He thinks the Dodgers need to decide whether Yasiel’s “quirks” can be lived with and if so, they need to get the other players to learn to live with them too.

Well, maybe. From what we’ve read in the media Puig does seem to have a little trouble with clocks, but he’s shown nothing to me that would indicate he’s not a team player.

On clubhouse culture: He says some players felt “unsettled because for others besides Kershaw and Adrian Gonzalez and a handful of others, there was no sense about who might be headed out the door and who might arrive. Some players spoke about a diminished sense of investment in each other.” Olney then says the Giants, Cardinals and Pirates all exude mutual respect and esprit de corps, and the Dodgers don’t have it.

Who’s to say? He’s certainly in a better position to know that than am I. I can certainly understand if some of the everyday players whose names no one but fans know might feel like they’re parts to be slotted in from day-to-day.

If you’ve got an Insider account at ESPN you can read the whole thing.

10/27: New Dodgers’ post up top

Oct 16

ALCS Game One, 2015

Blue Jays at Royals, 4:30PM PT, TV: Fox

After two five-game division series, neither team has its best pitcher available for Game One. Tonight the Jays send Marco Estrada to the hill. He started Game Three of their half of the ALDS when the Jays were down 0-2 and had to win; he went 6 1/3 innings and allowed the Rangers only one run. He’ll face old friend Edinson Volquez, who went 5 2/3 innings and gave up three runs to the Astros in Game Three of the other half of the ALDS, losing to Dallas Kuechel.

For added drama, two and a half-months ago the Royals and Blue Jays played a game that featured three hit-by-pitches, three ejections, several other up-and-in fastballs and one benches-clearing incident. Whether there are any hard feelings I leave to your imagination.

Prospective rotations: The Blue Jays will start David Price, Marcus Stroman and R.A. Dickey in Games 2-4, respectively. Kansas City will counter with Yordano Ventura in Game 2 and Johnny Cueto in Game 3.

Oct 15

NLDS Game Five, 2015

Mets at Dodgers, 5:00PM PT, TV: TBS

“This one’s for all the marbles.” “Win or go home.” “There’s no tomorrow for one of these teams.”

Those are clichés for a reason: they’re all true. Banal, trite, and eye-roll inducing, but true.

The Dodgers ask Zack Greinke to do what he’s done all year: hold the other team to fewer than three runs as he did in all but two starts and score more than that themselves. The Dodgers will have to get those runs off Jacob deGrom, who’s got a 3.66 ERA in three regular season starts against them, which shows he can be reached. In Game One, though, he was nearly unhittable, striking out 13 in seven shutout innings.

Turner is probable to start while Grandal is 50-50.

Lineup when available.

Defense, defense! That’s the goal of this lineup, as Mr. Weisman sees it.

Oct 14

ALDS Games Five (really!), 2015

ALDS Early game: Texas at Toronto 1:00PM PT, TV: FS1

This is a rematch of the starters from the 14-inning Game Two of the series: Cole Hamels for the Rangers and Marcus Stroman for the Blue Jays. Hamels gave up four runs (two earned) on six hits, striking out six and walking none in seven innings. Stroman also went seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits, striking out five and walking two.

ALDS Late game: Houston at Kansas City, 5:00PM PT, TV: FS1

The Astros start Game One pitcher Collin McHugh. In that game he went six innings, gave up two runs on four hits, walked one and struck out one. The Jays send out Game Two starter Johnny Cueto, who had a rough start in that game but wound up going six innings, giving up seven hits and four runs while walking three and striking out five, retiring 12 of the last 14 batters he faced.

Oct 13

ALDS Games Five, NLDS Games Four, 2015

NLDS Early game: St. Louis at Chicago, 1:30PM PT, TV: TBS

Down two games to one, the Cardinals ask Game One starter John Lackey to keep them alive on three days rest. He was brilliant in Game One, going 7 1/3 innings, giving up two hits and no runs, walking one and striking out five. He’ll face Jason Hammel, who’ll be making his postseason debut. Hammel went 11 innings against the Cardinals during the regular season and gave up seven runs. He made four starts in September and averaged 4 1/3 innings in each one.

NLDS Late game: Dodgers at Mets, 5:00PM PT, TV: TBS

The Dodgers’ season rests once again on the shoulders of Clayton Kershaw, who will pitch on three days rest after throwing 112 pitches in a Game One loss on October 9. This will be the third postseason in a row in which he’s started a game on short rest. His opponent will be lefty Steven Matz, making his first start of the postseason. The rookie was 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA in 6 regular-season starts.

Oct 12

ALDS Games Four, NLDS Games Three, 2015

Early AL game: Royals at Astros, 10:00AM PT, TV: FS1

The Astros have a 2-1 lead and send rookie Lance McCullers out to try to win the series. The Royals send first-game (but only two innings thanks to rain) starter Yordano Ventura out to keep the Astros from doing that.

Late AL Game: Blue Jays at Rangers, 1:00PM PT, TV: FS1

The Rangers lead the series 2-1 and hope to win at home. They’ll send out Derek Holland, who’s been in 13 post-season games in his career. He and the Rangers will face R.A. Dickey and his knuckleball. This will be Dickey’s first postseason start.

Early NL Game: Cardinals at Cubs 3:00PM PT, TV: TBS

The series is tied 1-1. The Cubs like their chances in this game, and who wouldn’t? They send All Second-Half pitcher Jake Arrieta to the mound to face the Cardinals, who counter with Michael Wacha.

Late NL Game: Dodgers at Mets, 5:30PM PT, TV: TBS

First, I think this game is going to start on TNT rather than TBS unless the Cubs-Cards game is a blowout; I don’t believe the first game will come in under 2 1/2 hours as it would have to for there to be a seamless switch at 5:30PM PT.

Second, Utley. The latest word is that his appeal is “unlikely to be heard today.”

Utley’s representatives and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association asked for time to prepare their case, which would make Utley eligible to play until a hearing takes place.

Now, the game itself. The Dodgers send Brett Anderson to the hill in his second postseason appearance (2012 for the As), while the Mets send Matt Harvey and his “will he or won’t he throw more than 180 innings this year?” controversy (he wound up throwing 189 1/3 in the regular season) to the mound. Anderson was the best ground-ball pitcher in the big leagues this year, inducing them at a 66.3% rate. Harvey was 8-3 with a 2.23 ERA at home, far better than he was on the road.

This will be the first postseason game ever played at Citi Field; all previous Mets’ appearances were at Shea Stadium.

Lineup when available.

What? No Utley?

Also:

Oct 11

ALDS Games Three, 2015

Early game: Royals at Astros, 1:00PM PT, TV: MLBN

The Royals send Edinson Volquez (13-9, 3.55 ERA) out to face the Astros’ Dallas Keuchel (20-8, 2.48 ERA). Keuchel is the American League’s only 20-game winner and went six scoreless innings in the Wild Card game against the Yankees. Volquez has been a serviceable pitcher his entire 11-year career, winning 13 for the second year in a row. MLB has some more game notes.

Late game: Blue Jays at Rangers, 5:00PM PT, TV: FS1

The Blue Jays are down 0-2 in this series and have to win today. To that end they send Marco Estrada (who?) out to save their season. He was 13-8 with a 3.13 ERA on the year. The Rangers counter with lefty Martin Perez (3-6, 4.46 ERA). He would seem to be an odd choice, since right-handed batters hit .304 against him this season and the Jays have a lot of them. He finished strongly, though, giving up only one earned run over 13 innings in his last two starts. Game notes.

Oct 10

NLDS Games Two, 2015

First game: Cubs at Cardinals, 2:30PM PT, TV: TBS

Down 1-0, the Cubs hope to bounce back with right-hander Kyle Hendricks (8-7, 3.95 ERA) going against the Cardinals’ lefty Jaime Garcia (10-6, 2.43 ERA). They would really like to see their Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Kris Bryant break out of his 3-for-30 slump in his last eight games. He’s never seen Garcia, but then only Starlin Castro of the Cubs has: the last time Garcia pitched against Chicago was in 2012. The Cardinals have seen quite a bit of the Cubs’ Hendricks, and some of them have done quite well against him.

Second game: Mets at Dodgers, 6:00PM PT, TV: TBS

The Dodgers send Zack Greinke (19-3, 1.66 ERA) to stop the Mets and their rookie righthander Noah Syndergaard (9-7, 3.24 ERA). The Dodgers’ hitting is not firing on all cylinders, and some of that can be laid at the feet of the Mets’ de Grom last night. They have to get untracked today or they go to New York down two games to none with the prospect of having to win three straight to advance to the NLCS.

Don’t despair, Dodgers fans! From Roger Angell’s World Series column in 1965:

The Twins, having devoured Drysdale and Koufax on successive afternoons, now disposed of Perranoski.

[snip]

I came away with the curious impression that the Twins, after two straight victories, were only slightly behind in the World Series.

And we all remember how that Series turned out, don’t we?

Oct 09

NLDS Opening Games, 2015

First game: Cubs at Cardinals, 3:30PM PT, TV: TBS

The Cubs and Cardinals have been rivals for decades, but this is the first time they’ll face one another in the postseason. As if that weren’t enough, the opposing pitchers once played together for the Red Sox.

John Lester (11-12, 3.34 ERA) starts for the Cubs, while John Lackey (13-10, 2.77 ERA) starts for the Cardinals. Lackey leads all active pitchers in two playoff categories: today will make his 19th playoff start and he’s already thrown 117 postseason innings. Lester has a 6-4 record with a 2.57 ERA in the postseason himself.

Further game notes here.

Second game: Mets at Dodgers, 6:30PM PT, TV: TBS

LHP Clayton Kershaw (16-7, 2.13 ERA) starts for the Dodgers. RHP Jacob deGrom (14-8, 2.54 ERA) starts for the Mets. Kershaw’s only blemish in his brilliant career is his 1-5 record and 5.12 ERA in the postseason. This will be deGrom’s first playoff appearance. He faced the Dodgers once this season and gave up two hits over 7 2/3 innings.

The Mets added Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson in mid-season and got David Wright back as well. “It’s a completely different lineup, not just Cespedes,” Kershaw said. “…a completely different team. Obviously, a lot better than what we faced in July.”

Dodgers’ playoff roster:

Lineup when available.