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By Jon Weisman
The Dodgers wished upon their non-star, and Mike Bolsinger came through.
Beginning with his nine-pitch first inning, the undersung Bolsinger was at the top of his game for seven innings and 98 pitches, allowing only three hits and an unearned run in the Dodgers’ 3-1 daytime victory at Atlanta.
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By Jon Weisman
Brett Anderson has avoided the disabled list for now and has an outside shot at taking his next turn in the Dodger starting rotation Sunday after leaving Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to Atlanta in the third inning with irritation in the left Achilles’ tendon area.
Dodger manager Don Mattingly told reporters before today’s early game against Atlanta that Anderson is getting tests, but that he showed up to work today in better condition than Dodger vice president of medical services Stan Conte expected he would be. So an expected move to the disabled list for Anderson is on hold.
Anderson initially felt discomfort in the first inning during a grounder by Atlanta’s Andrelton Simmons, then decided enough was enough after attempting to field a Jonny Gomes swinging bunt, according to Carlos Collazo of MLB.com:
“(It) just kind of kept getting tired and more sore,” Anderson told Collazo. “I wasn’t able to push off the rubber like I normally was, and it was affecting my command. … Even with all the other (injuries), I’ve never taken myself out, but it was one of those things where I felt like if it got worse then it would make it worse in the long run.”
However, a bullpen that has thrown 11 1/3 innings in the past 40 hours does need some backup, so the Dodgers have optioned Adam Liberatore to Triple-A Oklahoma City and called up Ian Thomas.
Liberatore took a 1.29 ERA and .363 opponents’ OPS into June. Since then, however, those numbers have gone to 7.50 and .917. In July, nine of 19 batters have reached base against Liberatore, with no strikeouts.
This is Thomas’ fourth callup by the Dodgers this season, moving him within one of Daniel Coulombe’s team-leading five. In his most recent appearance, Thomas pitched two shutout innings July 7 against the Phillies, walking one and striking out two.
With Oklahoma City, Thomas had lowered his ERA to 3.16 on June 17, then allowed 10 runs in eight innings across two games (June 27-July 2). In his last two Triple-A appearances, he has pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings.
After Mike Bolsinger pitches today, Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke will take the Dodgers’ Thursday-Friday starts against the Mets. The Dodgers haven’t announced who will take Saturday’s start in place of Brandon Beachy, and a potential replacement if Anderson can’t go Sunday is also undecided.
Eric Stults, Zach Lee and Joe Wieland are the listed Friday-Saturday-Sunday starting pitchers for Oklahoma City. Trevor Cahill is today’s Triple-A starter.
Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles wrote about the Dodger front office’s pursuit of pitching.
“I don’t know that we could ratchet up our search for starting pitching any more than we already are,” general manager Farhan Zaidi told Saxon.
On the bright side for the Dodgers, Yasmani Grandal is back in the lineup for the first time since taking a hard foul ball off the jaw Sunday, and Carl Crawford (who pinch-ran Tuesday) is making his first start since April 27. Yasiel Puig and Justin Turner have scheduled days off.
Turner, who hit his first homer of July on Tuesday and is 12 for 22 since July 12, but the Dodgers believe that he needs rest every few days to avoid wearing down.
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By Jon Weisman
After nearly two months on the disabled list, Carl Crawford returns to active duty today for the Dodgers.
Los Angeles will have an extra position player for the next few games, having optioned right-hander Brandon Beachy to Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Dodgers likely to make at least one more move to bring back a starting pitcher for Saturday in New York, with Zach Lee (who pitched six shutout innings for Oklahoma City on Monday before allowing two runs in the seventh) among the possibilities.
Crawford had a .260 on-base percentage and .408 slugging percentage in 50 plate appearances before his sight oblique strain April 27. Last year, from August 10 through the end of the 2014 regular season, Crawford had a .463 OBP and .606 slugging in his final 135 plate appearances.
He is expected to fill the role of a fourth outfielder at the outset.
To re-open a vacancy on the 40-man roster for Crawford, the Dodgers designated right-handed pitcher Preston Guilmet for assignment. Guilmet, who was claimed by the Dodgers on July 10, allowed one run in three innings of relief for Oklahoma City.
Clayton and Cali Ann Kershaw (John Grieshop/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Here’s an anecdote that’s an antidote to any Tuesday morning Dodger blues. It’s from Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford — yes, that’s right — at the Brandon and Brandon blog (via MLB.com/blogs):
… Besides being an honor, the All-Star Game was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had. When you play against guys, you form an impression of what they’re like. Then you get to spend a little time together and you sometimes see another side. For instance, Adrian Gonzalez. I could never get a read on him because he never really talks to you at first base, unlike some other first basemen. But I talked to him a bit in Cincinnati and he seemed like a really good guy. He was loose and having a great time in the dugout.
So was Kershaw. When the first-base umpire called a foul ball against us, Kershaw yelled in a high-pitched voice, “C’mon, Jerry! That was fair!’’ Then he turned to Dee Gordon next to him and in his own voice said — real loud — “Yeah, Dee! You tell him!’’ He was really funny, which is not what I think of him when I’m standing in the batter’s box. …
— Jon Weisman
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By Jon Weisman
It’s not much of a secret — something that anyone might assume with any amount of time spent thinking about it — but covering a live event, you start crafting your thoughts in advance, in anticipation of what seems probable, or even possible.
Even if you’re never going to use them.
So there’s Brandon Beachy on the mound in the bottom fourth inning for the Dodgers. After allowing a two-run homer (the first of the year by Nick Markakis) in the first inning, and despite some control problems, he’s on a bit of a roll. He’s retired his last (let me count) one, two, three, four, five, six, seven hitters, he’s got a 1-2 count on No. 7 hitter Eury Perez, and he’s one strike away from “Beachy has settled down to retire eight Braves in a row.”
Austin Barnes and A.J. Ellis in the Dodger video room before Barnes’ MLB debut May 24. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
You might have seen Yasmani Grandal get clocked in the jaw by a foul ball Sunday, but he wasn’t the only Dodger catcher to come down wounded.
A.J. Ellis has right knee inflammation that has landed him on the 15-day disabled list.
It’s never a good time to lose a catcher, let alone two at once. And the injury to Ellis comes at a particularly unfortunate time, considering that the 34-year-old has had a .429 on-base percentage and .511 slugging percentage in 57 plate appearances since May 26.
Ellis has also thrown out six of 12 would-be basestealers in that time, with zero errors and one passed ball.
He was on the disabled list for 38 days last year because of surgery on his left knee in April, followed by a May trip to the disabled list after he sprained his ankle during the celebration of Josh Beckett’s no-hitter.
Dodger manager Don Mattingly told reporters today that Ellis could be ready to go before the week is out, but the Dodgers didn’t have the luxury of going with only one catcher while waiting. Ellis’ knee started getting tight on the plane ride to Atlanta and stiffened further in the middle of the night, according to Mattingly.
Grandal, of course, is six days removed from playing in the All-Star Game. He has a .399 OBP and .518 slugging percentage this season — .425/.594 since May 1. But he did not end up on the disabled list after all, and though he isn’t starting tonight, he is available, Mattingly said.
When Brandon Beachy makes his second MLB start of the season tonight, he’ll actually be throwing to the catcher who caught his last two minor-league rehab starts of 2015: Austin Barnes.
The 25-year-old Barnes, who went 1 for 5 with a walk while making his MLB debut with the Dodgers while Grandal was on the seven-day concussion disabled list, has a .385 OBP and .484 slugging percentage with Triple-A Oklahoma City, with 22 extra-base hits and 28 walks compared with 26 strikeouts.
Barnes was singled out for praise by another Dodger rejoining the team from Oklahoma City: Carl Crawford.
“I like him,” Crawford told Jacob Unruh of the Oklahoman. “He looked like a real good player. I think we’ll see him playing real good in the big leagues someday. They’ve got a lot of guys that can play, but he’s the guy that stood out the most to me.”
The expectation is that the Dodgers will activate Crawford from the 60-day disabled list Tuesday.
By Jon Weisman
The newest National League Player of the Week Award only covers the three days of regular-season play after the All-Star Break (July 17-19), and it was hard to be more dominant during those 72 hours than Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw were.
Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw have faced 168 batters in July. Wilmer Flores of the Mets has the only RBI.
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) July 19, 2015
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
000 000 000 000 000 000 00^ 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 00 – 0
“Oxygen! We need oxygen here!”
The indomitable Zack Greinke put another eight zeroes on his opponents’ scoreboard today in the Dodgers’ 5-0 victory at Washington, extending his streak of consecutive innings without allowing a run to 43 2/3.
Passing the 41-inning streak that Clayton Kershaw had last year, Greinke’s scoreless inning streak is now the third-longest in Los Angeles Dodger history, behind Orel Hershiser’s MLB-record 59 and Don Drysdale’s 58. It’s also the longest streak in the Majors since Hershiser. Bob Gibson (47 innings in 1968) is the only pitcher since 1961 with a longer streak than Greinke’s, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Greinke and Kershaw have combined to pitch 47 innings in July and have allowed one run. That’s a 0.19 ERA.
What else? How much time you got?
Opponents are batting .129 (19 for 147) with a .158 on-base percentage and .150 slugging percentage during Greinke’s 43 2/3-inning scoreless streak, which is detailed right here.
Greinke needed virtually every bit of his excellence today, because the Dodgers couldn’t drive in a run against Max Scherzer for six innings today. However, thanks to Andre Ethier’s leadoff double in the fourth, the first sacrifice of Yasmani Grandal’s professional career and then, of all things, a Scherzer wild pitch, the Dodgers scratched across what they needed to put Greinke ahead.
By Jon Weisman
Hopefully, Zack Greinke’s Florida roots will come in handy today, because this is gonna be a steamy one.
Greinke has thrown 35 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings and retired 36 of his past 37 batters, but those numbers will be challenged not only by Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals, but also by the triple digit heat index in Washington D.C. during today’s game.
Facing fellow All-Star righty Max Scherzer in today’s primo pitching matchup, Greinke would need six scoreless innings to move pass Clayton Kershaw for third place on the Los Angeles Dodgers all-time streak list, behind (as if I need to tell you) Orel Hershiser and Don Drysdale.
Here are some other pregame notes:
Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
In a glorious performance that was the humidity-soaked version of last year’s crisp and cool no-hitter, Clayton Kershaw phenomenalized the Washington Nationals this afternoon, striking out 14 batters without a walk in eight shutout innings of a 4-2 Dodger victory.
Making his 228th start in his seventh Major League season, Kershaw marched with the mercenary drumbeat of two strikeouts every inning for the first seven innings, and was a serious threat to the franchise record of 18 strikeouts in a game (held by Sandy Koufax and Ramon Martinez) until a perfect eighth inning that featured three groundouts.
With a pitch count (101) approximating the heat index, Kershaw then called it a day, backed by a lead that was the product of an Adrian Gonzalez double and 12 singles. Kershaw’s 14 strikeouts, one shy of the career-high 15 he had in the no-hitter, included three of leading National League Most Valuable Player candidate Bryce Harper each time they squared off. (Harper later hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Kenley Jansen, who otherwise struck out the side himself.)
Each Dodger outfielder had exactly one putout behind Kershaw today (14 strikeouts, seven groundouts, three flyouts). According to Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A., Kershaw is the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 13 strikeouts in consecutive games since Chan Ho Park from Sept. 24-29 2000, and the first with back-to-back starts of double-digit strikeouts and no walks since Dazzy Vance, Sept. 11-16, 1930.
It remains astonishing but true: Since May 26, with a 1.36 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings, Kershaw is outperforming his 2014 NL Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award numbers.
Here are Kershaw’s totals for July: three starts, 24 innings, 16 hits, two walks, 34 strikeouts, 0.42 ERA.
On July 3, the MLB leader in fielding-independent pitching and strikeouts walked New York Met outfielders Curtis Granderson and John Mayberry Jr. in the top of the first inning. Since then, he has struck out 34 batters without walking anyone.
His strikeout rate for the season is the highest since a couple of guys named Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez were at the top of their game.
best K% ever, starters, 100+ innings
1. 1999 Pedro
2. 2001 RJ
3. 2001 Pedro
4. 2000 Pedro
5. 2000 RJ
6. 1997 RJ
7. 1995 RJ
8. 2015 Kershaw— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) July 18, 2015
Paired with Zack Greinke’s 35 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings, Kershaw now has 20 consecutive scoreless innings of his own, putting him just about halfway to his 2014 streak of 41 consecutive shutout frames. (Greinke faces Washington ace Max Scherzer on Sunday.)
I’ve given up on the idea that the “What’s wrong with Kershaw?” questions will ever stop, because they will come every time he doesn’t do this. It’s maddening.
By Jon Weisman
Following their 5-3 loss in the completion of Friday’s suspended game, the Dodgers recalled former first-round draft choice Zach Lee as the special dispensation 26th man for today’s regularly scheduled game. It is Lee’s first official moment as a Major Leaguer.
Adrian Gonzalez hit home runs on different days of the calendar in the same game for the Dodgers, and Joc Pederson nearly had a game-winning three-run shot in the ninth inning, but it was all for naught.
By Jon Weisman
In every issue of Dodger Insider magazine, we run a boxscore of the month, and the one for August happens to tie in with what’s happening in Washington right now.
Dodgers 2, Cubs 1
August 17-18, 1982It began innocuously enough one afternoon in Chicago. Ex-Dodger Bill Buckner drove in a run for the Cubs with a groundout in the bottom of the first. Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia tied the game in the top of the second with an RBI single. But no more runs would cross the plate that day, all the way into the top of the 18th, when darkness at the lightless Wrigley Field forced the game to be suspended until after the next sunrise.
When the teams reunited, the Dodgers’ scheduled starting pitcher for Tuesday, Jerry Reuss, took the mound in relief. By the time it was over, after the Dodgers pushed across a run in the top of the 21st inning on Dusty Baker’s sacrifice fly, pitchers Fernando Valenzuela and Bob Welch had both played outfield. Reuss got the win – and then another when he pitched five innings that afternoon in a 7-4 Dodger victory that was over in 2:21.
I bring this up because I can’t help imagining Clayton Kershaw repeating the Reuss ruse of getting all his innings out of the way at first by starting the day in relief.
"I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have." – – Abraham Lincoln, ballplayer pic.twitter.com/R08w40n57T
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) July 18, 2015
By Jon Weisman
It wasn’t too long ago that you would never have found a Major League team playing baseball in the nation’s capital at any time of day. So I guess we shouldn’t complain.
But on a night that began the night with bright sobriety, before a bar crawl to the darkly ridiculous, the Dodgers and Nationals found themselves going to bed five innings into a suspended game, with the Nationals leading, 3-2.
The third power outage in the stadium lights, coming shortly before 10:45 p.m. at Nationals Park, proved one too many — although it left the Dodgers disconcertingly on the short end of a game they had led during the first two delays.
By Jon Weisman
Rookie League Ogden manager John Shoemaker, nearing the completion of his fourth decade with the Dodgers, has been named “Captain” of player development.
“Shoe is the epitome of what we, as the Dodgers, search for in our staff members,” director of player development Gabe Kapler said. “He deserves this honor based on his continual demonstration of superior teammate behavior over the course of his 39 years with our organization. He brings infectious positivity and professionalism on a daily basis. I can say with certainty that this appointment will be disputed by no soul who regularly comes into contact with Shoe.”
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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