Rich Hill spoke to Alanna Rizzo about his recurring blister problem.
Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A
I think the other National League teams have concluded that the Dodgers are vulnerable to left-handed pitching, and until proven otherwise they’re going to keep starting them. Thus today the Diamondbacks send LHP Robbie Ray (1-0, 2.19 ERA) out for the finale of this four-game series. He’ll be opposed by RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-0, 1.50 ERA) for the Dodgers.
Ray has a 2.96 ERA in his career against the home team. Among current team members only Kiké Hernandez and Yasiel Puig have had great success against him.
McCarthy has been a very pleasant surprise for the Dodgers since coming off last year’s surgery. He held the Padres to two runs over six innings in his first start and last time out he blanked the Cubs for six innings. Only one of the current D-Backs has even 10 at-bats against him in his career. He pitched for the D-backs in 2013-2014 and went 8-21 with a 4.75 ERA in 40 starts.
Lineup when available.
Tonight's Dodger lineup vs. D-backs:
Forsythe 2B
Seager SS
Turner 3B
Puig RF
Grandal C
Hernández CF
Segedin 1B
Van Slyke LF
McCarthy P pic.twitter.com/Hbfpawhgcp— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 18, 2017
NPUT
Saw the recap of that Turner double followed by 3 popups. That was bad enough after the game was over; it must have been really annoying watching it live.
Seriously annoying.
Regarding the “can’t hit lefties” situation — if the Dodgers couldn’t mandate their hitters work on it during the off-season, you would think they would work on it themselves, so as to earn their millions by being able to even hit a pitcher who throws with both arms — simultaneously.
Bob not happy either.
Does it show? 🙂
Misery loves company.
Not enough southpaw relatives to throw to them. My dad was a righty, but still couldn’t hit them, or lefties for that matter, despite backyard reps.
Well, the platoon did its job and generated two runs. The regulars, not so much.
I can’t quite figure this 2017 Dodger team out yet.
Their opponents can.
As my son would say “charcoaled” (instead of burn).
Difficult at this point. April is the month that least correlates with a team’s overall season.
Absolutely. I’m curious not concerned.
Early returns suggest to me that the West could be a bear with the rise of the Rox and the Snakes. Hold on to our hats!
Whimper, whimper, whimper.
Definitely no bang.
Rodney grandstanding after the final strikeout.
Miserable.
Yup. Ugh says it all.
Very annoying game.
Save us Rodney!
Big run for the Diamondbacks.
Ugh.
As Joe Davis is noting, this will be very disappointing if we split this series.
I really saw us taking at least 3 games against AZ.
As Package would have said, Mama not happy after that inning.
Come on, Dodgers! Miserable at-bats.
No eyes here, so didn’t see the at bats. Results certainly not good.
Three first (or second) pitch weak-swinging pop-ups.
Well, the fellow was k-ing people, so guessing that he has been around the plate, so perhaps that is why they were being aggressive. Again, no eyes here.
Good point. But not to advance JT to third with no outs stung.
Always nice to advance a runner, but shouldn’t be the objective of the 4-6 hitters with a guy on second.
Yikes. A 5 pitch inning??!
Opposite of productive after JT’s great start.
Good start JT!
Lotta good it did us.
Somewhat of an Easter synergy: A Hatcher and a Lamb.
After piling up the runs and the hits in the first two games of this series, our bats have certainly gone silent. Still, we have the 8th and 9th innings to make amends.
Same description goes for the whole season — great start, inconsistent since at the plate.
Now that’s the Hatcher I remember.
In fairness, Hatcher should not be put in the position of facing Lamb in the late innings.
Yes, you are probably right. And Hatcher had been good to that point.
Hatcher blinked first.
I thought the D’Backs pen was supposed to be the team’s soft under belly.
Yes!
I had my concerns about Hatcher v. Goldschmidt.
And yet…
Hatcher, please don’t be Hatcher.
He has been the good Hatcher so far this year.
Still suffering from PTHS.
Pitt Hopkins Syndrome?
Please Trade Hatcher Soon?
Post Traumatic Hatcher Syndrome. Obviously.
I still think it is Please Throw High(er) Strikes.
Love my Link posters.
I just watched Rizzo’s interview of Hill. He is thoughtful, well-spoken and gracious. Rizzo is a good interviewer.
An improvement: Entering tonight’s game the Dodgers were 10th in the NL in batting average against lefties at .225. In 2016 they were last in the majors in the same category at .214.
Turning into a k-fest.
Phew. That Goldschmidt strikeout came just in time.
3 K’s but 1 HR seems like a good trade off for the Dodgers.
“Stay fair!” sounds as if Hershiser’s channeling Hawk Harrelson.
Ha! Not a nice thing to say.
It’s Vin nostalgia…
I sorta like Hawk, in limited doses. In 1969, I was in the LF bleachers in Seattle’s Sicks’ Stadium, he held a running conversation with us – very simpático.
Mac ‘n cheese!
What does Mac ‘n cheese mean in that context?
MacCarthy and his fastball. (Around 94 mph).
Got it. I thought there was some esoteric meaning.
Puig’s belly slide was about 5 feet short.
But nice try In attempting to evade the tag. 🙂
Would have been good to score more than one run there that inning. Need to capitalize on walks and errors when they are gifted to you.
Nice to get a run generated by the bottom of the lineup.
Very true. I suppose I was rooting for the top of the lineup to keep it going.
So was I, but nice to have a bird in the hand, given recent troubles.
Are you saying it was a cheep run? 😉
Yeah, but as you say too bad the top of the lineup laid an egg.
Ha!
Logan dropping the knee down and hitting it like a cricket player.
Let’s go Logan.
Ray not quite Kershaw-esque when it comes to walks.
Nice to see Segedin up and getting a chance. Also – good for AGon to sit and get a rest.
Turner’s glove work tha past couple of seasons has been something else.
So, are Hill’s fingers tougher than Kleenex?
Well, maybe as tough as a paper towel…
Has a catcher ever thrown out three would-be base stealers in the same inning?
Link will surely recall Len Sakata.
Yes I do. Tippy Martinez for the win!
I recall watching that game on TV – Baltimore vs Toronto.
Oops, sorry for the sore subject.
No worries. While I guess I did cheer a bit for Toronto back in those days, I recall being more amazed then anything at that inning. I think it amused my 13 year old baseball sensibilities.
Good question. In theory, it could be more than three.
Huh?
You could have a CS on which the runner was called out, but the infielder dropped the ball, and it would still be a CS. In a similar vein, my slow-pitch team once hit three sac flies in an inning.
Very good knowledge.
David Pinto on Al Leiter talking about blisters.
Confirming. https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/854112806093733888
Tenemos alineación… https://twitter.com/THEREAL_DV/status/854105557074145285
Sedegin up! Hill went to DL?
Yes, Hill to the DL. Could he be a candidate for a skin graft?
He thought of Superglue in that discussion with Ms. Rizzo.