Game 66, 2016

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

The Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda (5-4, 2.70 ERA) goes against the D-Backs’ Archie Bradley (2-2, 5.22 ERA) in a battle of righthanders. Maeda has won two of his last three starts and made two quality starts in a row. Bradley has lost two straight but has a 3.79 ERA since his callup from Reno May 29.

Goldschmidt continues to be a terror against the Dodgers: he’s now hit 23 home runs against them in his career. That’s bad enough, but he’s only 28 and in just his sixth year in the big leagues. He may hit a lot more against them before he’s through.

In personnel news:


I have no idea why they think they have a need for a sixth outfielder, particularly a 32-year-old one with a .251 career batting average and a lifetime OPS of .722.

Lineup:

55 thoughts on “Game 66, 2016

  1. With his two home runs last night, Joc got his ytd OPS above .8 again at .809. That puts him at 67th out of 173 of the those qualified ytd and 9th ytd for center fielders,and 13th for the last 7 games, and #1 for center fielders for last 7 games.

  2. Maeda bruised, x-rays negative, Roberts expects him to make next start. Here’s some coincidence for you:

    Maeda is the third Dodgers Japanese pitcher to be driven from a game
    being hit by a line drive. In 2002, Kaz Ishii was hit by a Brian Hunter
    line drive at Dodger Stadium and suffered a skull fracture. In 2009, in
    the same Chase Field, Hiroki Kuroda was hit on the side of the head by a
    line drive and suffered neck issues that bothered him the rest of his
    career.

  3. And the Will Venable era is off to a perfect start. Dodgers clearly average more runs/game when he is on the team vs when he is not on the team.

  4. X-rays negative, but there’s a bruise. I’m guessing he misses at least one start.

  5. If you hear an update on Maeda’s condition, which probably won’t be known until tomorrow, please post it.

  6. BTW, how on earth did Bourn score from first on an infield single to the pitcher?

  7. Well, I know at some point tonight we are likely to hit a ball out of the infield.

  8. Well – I will be checking in on and off tonight. It’s move night with my wife and we are watching The Revenant. The game will be done before the movie is, I’m guessing.

  9. I swear the Dodger pitching staff leads the league in foul balls allowed.
    Of course, I have no statistical evidence – but I’m sure my emphaticness is proof enough.

  10. Venable’s no game-changer, but a LH-hitting bench player not named Carl Crawford can be useful. He might have been a better choice than Quique v. Ziegler last night.

    Venable’s also good defensively and has some wheels, but I expect he’ll only be a Dodger until Ethier returns.