Tag Archives: Matt Kemp

May 21

Game 44, 2016

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Dodgers at Padres, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD, MLBN (out-of-market only)

Starting for the Dodgers today is lefty Alex Wood (1-3, 4.17 ERA), who has been pretty successful recently: in his last four starts he’s gone 24 1/3 innings, striking out 30 and posting a 2.59 ERA. The Padres send out righthander Cesar Vargas, who’s 0-2 with a 3.55 ERA and may be pitching to stay in the big leagues, as Andrew Cashner will come off the DL this week and the Padres will have to make room for him.

Adrian Gonzalez is expected to return to the Dodgers’ starting lineup tonight after several days off with back tightness. Matt Kemp has made trouble for Wood in the past, going 5-for-9 with a home run and double against him.

Lineup when available.

May 20

Game 43, 2016

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Dodgers at Padres, 7:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

Scott Kazmir (3-3, 4.89 ERA) hopes to continue the pitching which got him within an out of a complete game win last time out. He’ll face Christian Friedrich (0-1, 1.50 ERA), who made his Padres debut last week, going six innings and throwing 116 pitches while walking six. He’s a callup from AAA El Paso to replace Andrew Cashner and his balky hamstring.

Dodger manager Dave Roberts says Adrian Gonzalez won’t start but will be able to pinch-hit tonight and get back in the starting lineup tomorrow.

Danger, Will Robinson! Matt Kemp is hitting .317/.371/.463 in 89 plate appearances against the Dodgers.

Lineup:

Pederson sits tonight, presumably because Friedrich is left-handed.

Apr 29

Game 24, 2016

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

The Dodgers look to Alex Wood (1-2, 6.00 ERA) to halt their unexpected 4-game losing streak. Wood has struggled so far this season, but he’s been better at home than on the road. The Dodgers hope that continues tonight. The Padres send out Cesar Vargas, a right-handed rookie who made his major league debut last weekend. He went five innings and gave up just one run but didn’t get the decision.

In this series there are a couple of guys playing against teams which traded them who have been successful doing so: Matt Kemp is hitting .310/.364/.408 in 19 games against Los Angeles. Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez has had similar success against his old club, batting .316/.360/.540 in 69 games.

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.

Dec 10

Winter meetings, Day Three

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Update: Kemp is gone to the Padres for catcher Yasmani Grandal and a pair of pitching prospects. Fedex also goes to the Padres, along with about $30M to defray part of the cost of Kemp’s contract.

Wow! In very short order today the Dodgers

  • Got 36-year-old shortstop Jimmy Rollins from the Phillies to fill the gap left behind when Hanley Ramirez went the free agent route
  • Traded Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to the Marlins in exchange for pitcher Andrew Heaney, backup catcher Austin Barnes, minor leaguers Enrique Hernandez and Chris Hatcher
  • Flipped Heaney to the Angels for second-baseman Howie Kendrick
  • May be close to signing free-agent pitcher Brandon McCarthy
  • and have discussed adding pitcher Cole Hamels and second-baseman Chase Utley to the Jimmy Rollins deal with the Phillies

And there’s still tomorrow to find deals which send Ethier, Crawford or Kemp to somebody for a starting pitcher or prospects!

Now that they’ve gotten Kendrick, I can’t see why they’d want Utley except as more bait to trade off, as they did with Heaney (hey, kid, I’d have liked to see you pitch!). Do the Phillies need an outfielder?

Update: changed the post title to day 3, which is accurate. I lost a day somewhere.

Dec 07

Winter meetings begin Monday

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Grantland’s got speculations!

Question 1. Will the Dodgers move Kemp? Grantland and the Magic 8 ball say “Can’t predict now.”

Questions 2 through 5. Who cares? The only guess about the Dodgers here is whether they’ll try hard to get one of the available starters: Lester, Hamels, Scherzer or Shields.

As Paul Harvey used to say, “Stand by…for news!”

Sep 16

Game 151, 2014

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Dodgers at Rockies, 5:40PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Dan Haren goes for the Dodgers. He’s 3-0 with a 0.69 ERA in his last four starts and 13-10 with a 3.99 ERA for the season. After that mid-season slump he’s seemingly reduced the number of sinkers he’s thrown by 12 percent, says one statistical outfit, and that may have helped the turnaround. He’ll face Tyler Matzek, a rookie whose 5-10 and 4.23 ERA look bad, but may be misleading. In his last four starts he’s given up just four earned runs, including a three-hit shutout against the Padres. He’s 3-1 over those games. The loss was a four-hit 6 1/3 inning performance in which he gave up two runs but got no run support.

In other news, Ryu’s shoulder MRI on Monday showed no damage. He got a cortisone shot and will meet the team in Chicago. He’ll miss his next scheduled start but he’ll throw a little in Chicago and see how the shoulder feels.

Nobody on the Dodgers’ side is explaining what the cause of the mild flareup of tempers between Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig was during last night’s game. The press and we bloggers have therefore been free to speculate, as Steve Dilbeck of the Times notes and sneers at.

Via Twitter: “The Dodgers select the contract of LHP Daniel Coulombe from Double-A. RHP Stephen Fife was recalled from Triple-A and placed on 60-day DL.”

Lineup:

Sep 08

Game 144, 2014

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

Clayton Kershaw is steaming toward another Cy Young Award with a 17-3 record and a 1.70 ERA. His opponent will be Odrisamer Despaigne, who’s 3-5 with a 3.06 ERA in his first 13 MLB starts. He pitched in LA on July 10 and gave up two runs in seven innings, losing to Kershaw 2-1.

If you thought Matt Kemp was finally getting back to full health and form, you’re right. In fact, this season’s OPS of .831 is only slightly below his career OPS of .842. For the second half of this season he’s got a slash line of .307/.376/.584 with 11 home runs. (That’s Batting Avg/On-Base Pctg/Slugging Pctg, for those of us who never remember).

Lineup:

Jul 20

Game 100, 2014

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

The Dodgers hope Kershaw (11-2, 1.78 ERA) can stop the bleeding while they get some runs from their anemic offense. The team has scored 11 runs in its last seven games, contributing mightily to a 3-4 record over that stretch. The Cardinals pitch Carlos Martinez, who is making his seventh start of the season after moving from an eighth-inning setup role. He’s 2-4 on the year with a 4.43 ERA in 63 innings.

Hmm. Kemp has been flailing badly at the plate. Putting him in the cleanup spot is an interesting move.

The Marlins beat the Giants earlier today, so the Dodgers can move back into a tie for first place with a win this evening.

Jul 02

Game 87, 2014

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Indians at Dodgers, 12:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Hyun-Jin Ryu will pitch the final game of the four-game series for the Dodgers. The lefty is 9-4 with a 3.12 ERA, including seven quality starts in his last eight outings. The Tribe sends out Trevor Bauer, who’s 2-4 with a 4.39 ERA. That’s a little misleading; he’s got five quality starts in eight tries this season. Bauer is a Southern California product; he went to Hart High School in Santa Clarita and was the first round pick (and third overall) by the D-Backs in 2011 after attending UCLA. The Indians acquired him as part of the three-team deal in which they sent Shin Soo-Choo to the Reds in 2012.

As bad a game as Kemp had last night, I’m a little surprised he’s not sitting today rather than Puig.