Apr 23

Game 15, 2015

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

The Dodgers try to salvage one game of the three-game series behind the pitching of Mike Bolsinger, who’s fresh off being named the PCL Pitcher of the Week. In two starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City this year, the right-hander struck out 17 batters while allowing three hits and three walks over 11 innings. He also has a 0.00 ERA.

Ryan Vogelsong will go for the Giants. He’s been a starter for the previous four years he’s been with the team, but this year he’s made three appearances and two have been in relief. He’s 0-1 with a 10.45 ERA over 10.1 innings, giving up 20 hits and 9 walks while striking out 10.

Lineup when available.

Apr 22

Game 14, 2015

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

This game pits last year’s regular season MVP Kershaw against last year’s World Series MVP Bumgarner. How about that? Apparently this is the first time in MLB history that’s ever happened.

This marks the fourth time in their careers that Bumgarner and Kershaw have faced off and the first since Sept. 13, 2013. The Giants are 2-1 in those contests, but Kershaw has better numbers (2.08 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings) compared to Bumgarner, who has a 3.32 ERA and 19 punchouts in 19 innings.

Not only that, but they hit against each other. Kershaw’s 3 for 5 against Bumgarner, while Bumgarner is only 1 for 7 with 4 Ks, but that’s partly because Kershaw bears down against him: “He’s country strong, as they say.”

Neither guy has started off his season as well as he pitched last year, but that can’t last.

In other news, the Dodgers optioned LHP Adam Liberatore to OKC and recalled OF Chris Heisey from there.

Lineup when available.

Apr 21

Game 13, 2015

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Brett Anderson has started two games for the Dodgers so far this season, going six innings in one game and five innings in the other. He got a no-decision in the first game and picked up a win in the second. He’s got an ERA of 3.27. He’s only made three starts against the Giants in his career, and he’s 0-2 with a 5.25 ERA.

Anderson will face two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, who hasn’t looked like the same pitcher he was in 2008 and 2009 when he won those awards in quite a while. He’s started two games this year. In his first outing he looked like a throwback to those years, though; he went 7 scoreless innings, walked 3, struck out 5 and gave up 4 hits. Unfortunately he didn’t get a decision. His second outing was similar: he went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs while walking only 1 and striking out 4. In that one he got a loss. Lincecum is 9-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 24 career starts against the Dodgers.

Lineup:

Puig is in the lineup, which means his hamstring is better. It also means that Mattingly knows he’s 8 for 14 against Lincecum in his short time in the big leagues.

Apr 19

Game 12, 2015

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

Brandon McCarthy trots out for the Dodgers hoping for a more reasonable start than his last one. In that game he struck out ten, walked none but gave up four home runs in seven innings of work, with no decision for his trouble. His opponent will be Eddie Butler, who has five starts in the big leagues. Three were last year, two of those were against the Dodgers, and they didn’t go well. He was 0-1 with a 9.90 ERA. This season he’s 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings, which looks good but hides the 10 walks and 6 strikeouts so far in those two starts.

Lineup when available.

Uribe is probably just taking a day game off after a night game. Puig’s hamstring is beginning to worry me, and I imagine it’s worrying his employer more.

Apr 18

Game 11, 2015

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

Fun facts: Zack Greinke is 19-1 against the NL West since joining the Dodgers. He starts today against the Rockies’ Jordan Lyles. Lyles hopes Puig’s hamstring is still tight: he’s 3-5 career against Lyles with a home run and three RBI.

Another fun fact: A-Gon has been on base at least twice in each of the Dodgers’ first ten games. That ties him with Jackie Robinson for the second-longest streak of its kind in franchise history. Zack Wheat has the record at 13 games way back in 1923.

Lyles is 1-0 in his two starts this season, going 12 innings while giving up 4 walks and striking out 5. He’s got an ERA of 2.25. Greinke is also 1-0 in his two starts, going 13 innings while walking one and striking out 11. His ERA is a microscopic 0.69.

Here’s André’s throw from right field last night which got Rosario at the plate:

Lineup when available.

Puig’s back in right field. Ethier shifts to left.

Apr 17

Game Ten, 2015

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

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has given up nine hits in 12 1/3 innings and a .320 batting average in two starts this season. Kershaw is 13-5 with a 3.17 ERA in 26 starts against the Rockies.

This would seem to be the place for a song:

The Rockies send Kyle Kendrick out to face Kershaw. Kendrick has had two wildly different outings this year. In the first he went seven innings, scattered seven hits, walked none, struck out six and gave up no runs to get the win. In his second start he went six innings, walked five, gave up eight hits and eight runs to take the loss.

In personnel news, the Dodgers optioned RHP Carlos Frias to Oklahoma City. They also claimed RHP Daniel Corcino from Cincinnati and designated LHP Ryan Dennick for assignment.

Lineup when available.

Apr 16

More comments this year than ever before

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Don’t look now, but each of the first nine game threads of 2015 has more than 100 comments. Last year we didn’t break 100 comments until Game 91. We didn’t do it again till Game 112, not again till Game 140, not again till Game 147, lastly in the regular season in Game 157, and only once in the playoffs in the Ryu game, NLDS Game 3.

I’m glad to see it. It’s a lot more fun to write up a blog post if you can be confident there will be a whole bunch of responses to it.

Thanks, ladies and germs.

Apr 15

Game Nine, 2015

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Mariners at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN2

On Jackie Robinson Day, the Mariners start Taijuan Walker, who last week had a first start of the season he’d rather forget: he gave up 9 hits and 9 runs in 3 1/3 innings in a 12-0 loss to the A’s on Friday. He’s 3-4 with a 4.15 ERA in 12 appearances (nine starts) over the past three years for the Ms.

The Dodgers counter with Brett Anderson, who gave up five hits and three runs but got no decision in a game the Dodgers lost to the Diamondbacks 4-3. Lifetime against Seattle Anderson is 7-4 with a 1.81 ERA in 15 games, all but one a start.

Lineup:


I’m not sure who that Van Skyle guy is playing left field. Puig is out, presumably to rest his hamstring again. Tomorrow’s an off-day, so he’ll have had three days to let it recover before the Rockies arrive.

In other personnel news, the Dodgers claimed left-handed pitcher Ryan Dennick from the Reds and designated left-handed pitcher David Huff for assignment.

Apr 14

Game Eight, 2015

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

David Huff is a 30-year-old veteran with a lifetime 25-28 record and a career ERA of 5.02 in the major leagues. He’s been called up from Oklahoma City and is filling the fifth starter role for the Dodgers this evening. I imagine his 2-0 record with a 1.32 ERA over 13 1/3 innings during spring training had a lot to do with his call-up for this start. Darwin Barney was sent down to OKC to make room for Huff.

He’ll be opposed by RHP Hisashi Iwakuma, whose first start didn’t go well. He’s 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA. He’s a good pitcher, though, as witnessed by his 38-21 record with an ERA of 3.11 in his four years in Seattle. That’s after eleven years in the Japanese league where he compiled a 107-69 record and had an ERA of 3.25.

Lineup:

Puig gets the night off. I wonder if this is just to keep Andre fresh.

Apr 13

Game Seven, 2015

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

The Mariners trot out James Paxton to face the Dodgers’ Brandon McCarthy.

The left-handed Paxton (0-1) started 2014 with the Mariners in April and then went down to Tacoma in AAA. He came back up to Seattle in August and stuck. He had a 6-4 record with a 3.04 ERA and a WHIP of 1.20 over the final two months of last year. He’s made one start this year, pitching six innings of four-hit ball, giving up two runs and losing.

McCarthy (1-0) hopes to go longer than the five innings he got in his first start. He gave up nine hits, four earned runs, struck out nine and won the game. In his career he’s 2-6 with a 3.88 ERA against Seattle, not that that means much.

Lineup when available.

In other news, the Dodgers released RHP Ryan Webb today.