May 22

Game 41, 2015

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Padres at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

The last time the Padres’ Andrew Cashner faced the Dodgers, Adrian Gonzalez whacked three home runs while he was pitching. Cashner’s been better since, although his record doesn’t show it. He’s 1-7 this season but he’s got a 3.24 ERA. He is 1-4 with a 2.22 ERA lifetime against the Dodgers and 0-2 this year.

He’ll face Zack Greinke, who lost his first game of the season last week against the Rockies even though he only gave up one run in six innings. This will be his third start against the Padres this season, and he’s given up one run in 13 innings so far. In nine career starts against San Diego, Greinke is 5-0 with a 1.58 ERA.

Bill Shaikin of the LA Times asks “What happened to the Padres?” as he looks at their 20-22 record this season and compares it to the high expectations the team had going into 2015. And what can we expect of this series? Shaikin says if you’re cynical you’ll say the pitchers will win. “The Padres have not scored in 14 innings. The Dodgers have not scored in 31 innings.”

Lineup when available.

May 21

Game 40, 2015

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Dodgers at Giants, 12:45PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN, CSN-BA

This is a marquee matchup on paper. The Dodgers send out their ace Clayton Kershaw, who is a three-time Cy Young winner, MVP and four-time ERA title winner. The Giants send out last year’s NCLS and World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner, who was the best pitcher in baseball for the last three weeks of last year. When they’ve faced one another Kershaw’s had the statistical edge but the Giants have gotten the win in three of four games (thanks to foultip in the comments to Game 39).

Kershaw’s off to a rocky start (for him) this season, with a 2-2 record and a 4.24 ERA. Bumgarner is 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA so far in 2015. In his career Kershaw is 8-2 with a 0.97 ERA at AT&T Park.

Ryu had surgery this morning. They found and fixed a partial labral tear in his left shoulder. He should be back next spring.

Lineup when available.

May 20

Game 39, 2015

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBC Bay Area

Brett Anderson goes to the mound for the Dodgers. He’s 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA, and his last two starts have been his best for his new team. He’ll face Tim Lincecum, who’s 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA, in somewhat of a rebound from his poor showings of the last three seasons. He’s 10-8 with a 3.45 ERA in his career against the Dodgers, which is pretty good compared to Anderson’s 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA against the Giants.

Fun fact: The Dodgers and Giants entered Tuesday night’s series opener 69-69 in games played at AT&T Park.

Non-funny fact: LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu will undergo left shoulder surgery tomorrow. The arthroscopic surgery will be performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in LA.

Further info on Ryu: this is exploratory surgery to try to determine the cause of the inflammation he’s had all spring.

Lineup:

May 19

Game 38, 2015

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN, CSN-BA

Carlos Frias brings his 3-0 record and his 2.89 ERA to the hill at AT&T Park to face veteran Tim Hudson, who’s 1-3 with a 4.57 ERA this season. Frias has faced the Giants twice, both times in relief, and is 1-0 with a 4.15 ERA against them. Hudson is 6-6 with a 4.03 ERA against the Dodgers in his long career.

In other news, the Dodgers finalized the contracts for 30-year-old IF Hector Olivera and 25-year-old RHP Pablo Fernandez. Olivera hopes to be in baseball condition within a month and playing in LA soon after that, while Fernandez says he wants to get into shape and he’ll go wherever the team sends him. Neither of these guys have played since the 2013-2014 season in Cuba.

Club President of Baseball Operations spoke to the press today, primarily about the two players mentioned above. Other topics included Frias, Bolsinger, Urias and Ryu.

Lineup:

May 17

Game 37, 2015

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

Mike Bolsinger brings his 1-0 record and his 1.59 ERA to the hill for the Dodgers. His win came in his last turn when he went 5 2/3 innings against the Marlins, giving up one run and five hits. His opponent will be Kyle Kendrick, whose record doesn’t look very good (1-4, 7.65 ERA) but whose last outing was an improvement. He went seven innings and gave up two runs on seven hits while walking none and striking out five.

Jon posted a scary story with a happy ending about Pedro Guerrero, slugger extraordinaire for the 1981 World Series winning team.

Lineup:


In light of the above, presumably this is Alex Guerrero playing left field, not Pedro.

May 16

Game 36, 2015

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

Note the early game time. Since the two teams play again tomorrow, this isn’t the day before a travel day. I thus have no idea why it’s starting an hour earlier than usual. The Old-Timers Game is scheduled for 4:00PM.

It’ll be Zack Greinke (5-0, 1.52 ERA) for the Dodgers against Jorge De La Rosa of the Rockies.(0-2, 9.56 ERA). De La Rosa went only four innings against the Dodgers last Sunday, giving up five hits, five earned runs, six walks, and striking out four. With all of that, he didn’t take the loss in the Mother’s Day game the Dodgers eventually won.

Lineup:


Hmm. That’s a different outfield.

May 15

Game 35, 2015

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

Clayton Kershaw goes for victory number 100 for the fifth time. His last time out he was roughed up (or nibbled to death) by the Rockies for five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He didn’t figure in the decision as the Dodgers recovered to win 9-5 at Coors Field. His opponent will be Eddie Butler, who pitched and lost the rain-shortened game last week, also at Coors.

The Dodgers could activate Kenley Jansen as early as today. Whether he’s immediately thrown into the closer role is up in the air.

Sports Illustrated has a nice story about the Dodgers’ defense and how it’s improved, particularly with Joc Pederson in center field.

Lineup when available.

May 14

Game 34, 2015

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

The Dodgers send lefty Brett Anderson out to face the Rockies’ righty Chad Bettis. Anderson was a Rockie last year and beat them in a rain-shortened game last Friday in Denver. Bettis has been up and down from AAA to the Rockies over the past three years, making 37 appearances and eight starts in 2013-2014 and earning a 1-6 record with a 6.88 ERA.

Lineup:

The Dodgers put RHP Pedro Baez on the 15-day DL with a pectoral strain and called LHP Daniel Coulombe up to replace him.

Jon has a great evening planned at Dodger Stadium, so cross your fingers that the rain stops in time for the game.

Here’s a good interview with Matt Kemp at Sports Illustrated.

May 13

Game 33, 2015

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Marlins at Dodgers, 4:50PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Note the 4:50PM start time: “The unusual start time of 4:50 p.m. PT (7:50 p.m. ET) was selected to comply with MLB travel rules, so the Marlins would have a day off Thursday without traveling.”

Carlos Frias goes to the mound for the Dodgers. He’s 3-0 with a 2.13 ERA and will be making his third start of the season. The Marlins will counter with Jarred Cosart, who’s 1-3 with a 3.67 ERA and has had some bad results recently, giving up seven runs in his last nine innings.

Lineup:


Rollins gets a day off, the rotating third base position lands on Turner, and apparently Scott Van Slyke is plumb wore out from his heroics of the last two days.

May 12

Game 32, 2015

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

Old friend Dan Haren goes for the Fish against Dodger farmhand Mike Bolsinger. Haren has become the most dependable starter the Marlins have, going 4-1 this season and winning his last three outings. His ERA is a sparkling 2.68.

Bolsinger is up from Oklahoma City for his second start with the big club. He did well in his first one back on April 23, going 5 2/3 innings while giving up 1 run and striking out 5 while walking 2. That was the second game in a row that the Giants beat the Dodgers on a walkoff hit. It was the game that Kendrick saved in the eighth inning with a horizontal dive to catch a ball headed for center field.

Lineup:


Poor Scott Van Slyke. Throw a guy out at the plate, hit a walkoff home run two innings later, and get dropped to the 8th spot in the batting order the next day.