Sep 14

Game 149, 2014

Dodgers at Giants, 1:05PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-BA

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Francis Scott Key’s most famous composition, there will be special events honoring the National Anthem before today’s games. In Baltimore (site of Ft. McHenry, class, had you forgotten?) there will be a special program, and in other ballparks the video montage PBS has been using to promote its production Star-Spangled Banner: The Bicentennial of our National Anthem will be shown.

One hopes the Dodgers didn’t wear out their bats in yesterday’s 17-run explosion.

Clayton Kershaw goes after win number 19 this afternoon at AT&T Park. There’s not much left to say about what he’s done this season, except that his hitting has fallen off. He’s hitting just .161 this year with 19 strikeouts in 56 at-bats after hitting .182 last year, .207 in 2012 and .225 in 2011. His ERA has, unbelievably, also dropped from last year. In 33 games and 236 innings last season Kershaw’s ERA was 1.83. This season over 24 games and 177 innings it’s 1.67.

His opponent will be Yusmeiro Petit, a 30-year-old right-hander who first came to the big leagues in 2006 with the Marlins. He’s bounced between the minors and majors with two more teams since then, going 19-24 overall. Earlier this season he set a major league record by retiring 46 consecutive batters before allowing one to reach base. In his last outing he threw 84 pitches in a complete game win over the D-Backs.

Lineup: