Aug 16

Blog note

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I know the comments are loading slowly. I suspect the reason is that there are now 489 posts and 26,243 comments in the SQL database for the blog. I’m not sure how to solve that unless there’s a way to archive previous years. I’m going to look for something like that.

Aug 16

Game 118, 2015

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Reds at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Two righthanders face off in the series finale. The Dodgers send Zack Greinke out in search of his 13th win to go along with his league-leading 1.59 ERA, and the Reds send out yet another rookie pitcher, their third in a row this weekend. This one is named Anthony DeSclafani. He’s 7-7 with a 3.75 ERA and has made 23 starts for the Reds this season. In his last four games he’s gone at least six innings and won two of them.

Greinke might want to pitch carefully to Joey Votto. The Reds’ first baseman is 10-24 with three HRs and four walks in his career against him.

Lineup when available.

Late breaking news, non-baseball variety: 8 lbs, 9 oz, 19.5″. Those are the vital stats on Kaden Isaiah Jansen, born at 9:58AM PT today.

Aug 15

Game 117, 2015

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Reds at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

I don’t know why the early start time, but there it is. Tune in an hour ahead of the usual, folks.

The Dodgers will face a lefty for the second day in a row as the Reds send out David Holmberg, who’s 1-1 with a 3.06 ERA this season (3-3, 4.38 in his short career). Brett Anderson will be his opponent. He is coming off one of his worst outings all year: he gave up ten hits, seven runs and three walks to the Nats on Monday. For the season, though, Anderson is 6-7 with a 3.43 ERA. He hasn’t gotten much run support recently: the Dodgers have scored all of 16 runs in his last six starts.

Lineup when available.

Aug 14

Game 116, 2015

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Reds at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

The Reds trot out rookie (and lefty) John Lamb to make his MLB debut. He was 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA for the Reds’ AAA Louisville Bats this season after going 9-1 for the Royals’ AAA Omaha Storm Chasers. The Dodgers counter with Alex Wood, who is 0-1 in two starts for the Dodgers after his acquisition from the Braves in July.

Lineup when available.

Aug 13

Game 115, 2015

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Reds at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

Cincinnati has had a disappointing season as shown by their trades of Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake, but they can still be dangerous. They send rookie righthander Keyvius Sampson (1-1, 3.00 ERA) to the mound for his third big league start. He’ll face the Dodgers’ Mat Latos (4-8, 4.67 ERA), who’s making his third start for the Dodgers since arriving in trade from the Marlins. Latos has had one good outing against the Angels and one bad outing against the Pirates.

Lineup when available.

Aug 12

Game 114, 2015

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Nationals at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MASN

Clayton Kershaw (9-6, 2.51 ERA) against Jordan Zimmermann (8-7, 3.44 ERA). Two staff aces going against one another.


Need I say more?

Oh, okay. Carl Crawford is hitting .455 against Zimmermann in their career meetings. Ryan Zimmerman has hit .438 against Kershaw in their career meetings.

Lineup when available.

Okay, I understand Crawford’s playing because he hits Zimmermann, but no Rollins?

Aug 11

Game 113, 2015

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Nationals at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MASN

“Zack, Save Us!” Well, maybe that’s overwrought. Nonetheless, the Dodgers are hoping that Zack Greinke, who’s 11-2 with a Major League-leading 1.71 ERA, can stop their four-game losing streak. If nothing else, they’re hoping he can get to the seventh or eighth inning so they don’t have to go to their beleaguered bullpen before then.

Greinke’s mound opponent will be rookie righthander Joe Ross, who’s 3-3 with a 2.80 ERA, 47 strikeouts and only four walks in 45 big league innings.

It’s Lakers Night at the ballpark, which is probably not as big a deal after the last two seasons the basketball team has had as it would be if we were still in the 1980s.

Lineup:

Aug 10

Game 112, 2015

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Nationals at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MASN

Brett Anderson (6-6, 3.06 ERA) tries to right the ship for the Dodgers after their three-game sweep at the hands of the Pirates. He’ll face Gio Gonzales (8-4, 3.75 ERA), who’s won his last four decisions but hasn’t made it past the fifth inning in any of his last three starts.

Dodger fans get a chance to see Bryce Harper, who’s having an MVP-caliber year so far with 29 HRs and 69 RBI to go along with a slash line of .335/.463/.656.

Lineup when available.

Aug 09

Game 111, 2015

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Dodgers at Pirates, 5:00PM PT, TV: ESPN

Alex Wood (7-7, 3.65 ERA) makes his second start for the Dodgers. He went six innings in his first game, then balked (video) with two men on. He walked the next guy to load the bases and was relieved by Peralta, who then gave up a grand slam to Maikel Franco. Wood was saddled with the loss.

He’ll face Charlie Morton (7-4, 4.19 ERA), who was 6-1 through June, lost three in a row in July, and won his last outing in August. This will be his second career start against the Dodgers; the first was five years ago.

Lineup when available.

Aug 08

Game 110, 2015

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Dodgers at Pirates, 1:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS1

Mat Latos (4-7, 4.29 ERA) makes his second start for the Dodgers since coming over from the Marlins, while Francisco Liriano (7-6, 2.92 ERA) is searching for his fourth straight win. Latos is 5-1 with a 3.13 ERA in his career against the Pirates; Liriano hasn’t lost to the Dodgers in three career starts, posting a 1.37 ERA. He’s making it very hard to hit him this year: opponents’ batting average is an anemic .201, sixth lowest in the league. Latos has improved since his inflamed knee was drained and he came back from the disabled list: his ERA since then is 1.73.

Lineup: