Tag Archives: Clayton Kershaw

May 09

Game 30, 2015

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Dodgers at Rockies, 5:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

Clayton Kershaw makes his fourth try to win career number 100 this evening, weather permitting. He’s won six straight against the Rockies and has a 1.62 ERA over those games. He’s 14-5 with a 3.11 ERA in his career against the Rockies and is 7-3 at Coors Field, posting a 4.58 ERA. His opponent will be Jorge De La Rosa, who has 45 lifetime wins at Coors, more than any other pitcher in the history of the stadium. De La Rosa started the year on the DL, however, and he’s 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA after coming off it.

In outfielder news, Yasiel Puig tweaked his hamstring in a rehab game with Rancho Cucamonga Friday night.

Lineup when available.

The weather is not looking good, unless you’re a skier/snowboarder.

Continued rain today will increase the possibility of flash flooding throughout the urban corridor and plains. Residents should be on alert for flooding in their vicinity after heavy rains pass over. The far eastern plains could see severe weather with increased heating. Chances for large hail and tornadoes increase by this afternoon. For the mountains, the snow level will be around 9000ft lowering to 7000ft by this evening. Areas above 9000ft could see 2 to 6 inches by this afternoon with another 4 to 10 inches overnight. Mountain roads will be slushy and snow packed by this evening.

Okay, lineup for today’s game:

The weather is forecast to be in the low 40s with a small chance of rain.

No explanation given for Ethier’s absence in right field, nor for Uribe’s absence at third base. It could just be that the Rockies’ pitcher De La Rosa is a lefty.

May 04

Game 25, 2015

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Dodgers at Brewers, 4:20PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN (Free game)

This will be game one of the Brewers’ Craig Counsell era; they fired Ron Roenicke over the weekend.

Clayton Kershaw tries again to win career #100, this time against Kyle Lohse. Kershaw is 1-2 with a 3.73 ERA in five starts in 2015, while Lohse is 1-4 with a 7.28 ERA, also in five starts. The Brewers’ Ryan Braun and Gerardo Parra have both had pretty good success against Kershaw, while Adrian Gonzalez has been a thorn in Lohse’s side.

Lineup:

Apr 28

Game 20, 2015

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

Like yesterday’s, this game is a rematch of the starters in last week’s series. Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner squared off last Wednesday. Neither one got the decision in a game ultimately won by the Giants. Each gave up two runs; Kershaw gave up three hits, Bumgarner gave up six. Kershaw walked one and struck out nine, Bumgarner walked two and struck out six. Each pitcher has faced the other team a lot in his respective career: Kershaw is 14-5 against the Giants with a 1.48 ERA and four shutouts. Bumgarner is 11-5 against the Dodgers with a 2.56 ERA.

Lineup when available.

The reason Alex is in left field is that Carl Crawford was placed on the 15-day DL and IF/OF Kiké Hernandez was brought up from Oklahoma City. There’s been no Twitter explanation for Joc’s absence from the starting lineup.

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 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 12

Game Six, 2015

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

Zack Greinke went six innings and gave up two hits and one run in his first time out this season, getting a no-decision for his trouble. He’ll try to get a win tomorrow, one the Dodgers could use. They didn’t expect Clayton Kershaw to be 0-1 with a 5.84 ERA after two starts. His opponent will be Josh Collmenter, who had a rough outing in his first start of the year, going only 4 2/3 innings against the Giants and giving up 10 hits and four runs while taking the loss.

The Dodgers’ infield lineup is going to be interesting for this game. Justin Turner’s finger was spiked but required no stitches; he’s day-to-day. Juan Uribe’s hamstring tightened on him and he’s also day-to-day. I imagine Alex Guerrero will start at third base.

Lineup:

Apr 11

Game Five, 2015

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 5:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Clayton Kershaw goes for his first win of the season against rookie Archie Bradley. Bradley is regarded by MLB.com as the D-Backs top prospect. In spring training he was 3-2 with a 1.61 ERA, 14 Ks and a 2.00 WHIP over 22 innings.

It seems like a mismatch, but as Joe Garagiola once said, “baseball is a funny game.”

Lineup when available.

And now it is:

Puig is off to a slow start at 2 for 17, so that may explain why he’s sitting this evening.

Apr 05

Opening Day 2015

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Padres at Dodgers, 1:10pm PT, Dodger Stadium

Here it is at last, the first day of the new season, with the changes the new management made over the winter soon to be on display.

Will Jimmy Rollins play better defense than Hanley Ramirez? Will Howie Kendrick hit better than Dee Gordon? Will Kershaw win a fourth Cy Young Award? Can he lead the National League in ERA for the fifth consecutive year? Will Hyun-Jin Ryu recover from his shoulder woes and win more than fourteen games? Can Kenley Jansen come back from his foot woes and regain his form as an elite closer? Will the Dodgers miss Matt Kemp’s bat more than they’ll be helped by Puig’s play in right field? Can Uribe play up to his standard of the past two years while remaining healthy enough to play 125 games or so? Can Justin Turner keep up his torrid hitting from last year while coming off the bench and playing all over the infield? Will Joc Pederson keep up the hitting he did in spring training? What’s going to happen with André Ethier?

Questions, we have questions. Today we start getting answers.

Lineup:

Mar 09

Kershaw Day

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Not only does he get the start today against the Rockies, but Baseball Prospectus published several stories about the new daddy in their March 9 blog post. Look in the “Today at Baseball Prospectus” section on the front page.

Update: Headline: Time Warner Cable ‘Actively Pursuing’ Talks to Finally Lift Dodger Blackout

Nonsense. The article says TWC is trying to sign the other distributors up without lowering its $4.90 per subscriber fee. So what concession has TWC made to them? Looks like none to me.

Oct 07

NLDS Day Four, 2014

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Dodgers at Cardinals, 2:00PM PT, TV: Fox Sports 1

This is it for the Dodgers. They must win today. If not, they’ll go home, lick their wounds and hunt for reliable middle relief in the offseason. Recognizing that, they’re sending Clayton Kershaw, the best pitcher in either league, out to do battle with Shelby Miller (10-9, 3.74 ERA), who’ll be making his first appearance of the postseason. Kershaw has to get past his uncharacteristic failure in Game One. Assuming he does, he still has to rely on the Dodgers’ offense, which has been anything but scintillating. In Game Three they were a dreadful 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position. They desperately need Gonzales (.167 for the series), Gordon (.154), Uribe (.077) and Puig (.250) to get untracked, and they need them today.

Nationals at Giants, 6:00PM PT, TV: Fox Sports 1

The Nationals must also win today or take the winter off early. In hopes of doing so they hand the ball to Gio Gonzales, who got on a roll in September, going 4-1 with a 2.36 ERA and righting what had been a forgettable season. His opponent will be Ryan Vogelsong, who did just the opposite in the last month, going 0-4 with a 5.53 ERA.

The Nationals too have a hitting problem. Third-baseman Anthony Rendon is 7-for-15 (.467) this postseason. The rest of the Nats’ starting position players have combined to go 13-for-96 (.135).