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Get yours April 30 when the Dodgers play the Padres.
– Jon Weisman
Month: April 2016 (Page 3 of 6)
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By Jon Weisman
Dodgers 5, Braves 3 in 10 innings. Choose your headliner:
- Yasmani Grandal, who reached base four times (to raise his 2016 on-base percentage to .571) and carried home the Dodgers’ first run in the fifth inning after the Dodgers fell behind, 3-0.
- Adrian Gonzalez, with a game-tying home run in the sixth inning.
- Justin Turner, with a go-ahead RBI double in the 10th inning.
- How about Chase Utley, who went 2 for 5, including the leadoff hit, stolen base and first run in the 10th, and a relentlessly effective night on defense?
- Or maybe that Dodger bullpen, with 6 1/3 shutout innings.
Heck, we’ll just go with all of the above.
By the time it was over, it seemed like an eternity since a Dodger starting pitcher was forced to leave before the fifth inning for the second night in a row. All three runs (two earned) scored off Ross Stripling with two outs and two strikes on the batter, extending him so much that Dave Roberts lifted him after 3 2/3 innings and 76 pitches.
But after being held to one run over their first 13 innings in Georgia, the Dodgers were able to come back and even the series with Atlanta, with Clayton Kershaw going in Thursday’s 9:10 a.m. Pacific start.
Dodger relievers have allowed one earned run in their past 24 1/3 innings.
Dodgers at Braves, 4:10 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Ross Stripling, P
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Ross Stripling, P
By Jon Weisman
I don’t really have a timely hook for the trivia question I’m posting here, other than the fact that tonight’s starter, Ross Stripling, could conceivably become the next answer — and that Thursday’s starter, Clayton Kershaw, really should someday.
But I was just curious: Who was the last Dodger pitcher to get a complete game and a save in the same season?
Corey Seager and the Dodgers were roasted on a split in Atlanta. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
The offense scored a season-low one run. The defense made three errors in one game after making four in their previous 13. And Alex Wood’s search for consistency continued, as he followed a quality start with the alternative for the fifth time since September. It all amounted to a get-it-out-of-your-system, 8-1 loss at Atlanta for the Dodgers in their first East Coast game of 2016.
Three Dodger errors led to four unearned runs, an amount the Dodgers reached in a game exactly once in each of the past three seasons. Adam Liberatore and Yimi Garcia extended the bullpen’s scoreless streak to 16 innings before Louis Coleman, who was the last Dodger reliever to allow a run seven days ago, was charged with two (one earned) in the seventh inning tonight.
Wood ended up throwing 88 pitches in four innings, allowing six runs (three earned) and 12 baserunners while striking out one.
Alex Wood has seven quality starts in 14 total starts with the Dodgers since being acquired in July. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
Dodgers at Braves, 4:10 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Alex Wood, P
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Alex Wood, P
By Jon Weisman
When Thomas Wolfe’s “You Can’t Go Home Again” was published in 1940, it flew in the face of Major League Baseball’s reserve clause, which forced players into homecomings year after year.
Then again, Wolfe had died two years earlier, so by that point, he really couldn’t go home again.
Anyway, the return of University of Georgia alum and former Braves lefty Alex Wood to Atlanta tonight is front of mind for the 24-year-old pitcher, as these stories Mike DiGiovanna of the Times and Ken Gurnick of MLB.com indicate.
“I’ve had it circled on my calendar for a while,” Wood said, according to Gurnick. “I’m excited about it, have a lot of family coming in for it, my friends. That’s where I lived. It’ll be fun, for sure.”
Dustin Nosler of Dodgers Digest takes the opportunity to reconcile the apparent contradiction between Wood’s increased velocity and decreased strikeout rate in 2016.
“Wood is making up for the lack of strikeouts by getting a lot of ground balls,” Nosler wrote. “He’s seventh in the majors with a 63.2 percent ground ball rate. He’s also getting some of the softest contact of any starter (35 percent).”
By Jon Weisman
Despite a MLB-high 10 players on the disabled list, the Dodgers still opened the season 8-5 — first in the National League West, third in the NL. They did it entirely within their division, with more than half the games against their likely top challenger, San Francisco (the Dodgers went 3-4). They lost four leads, and won 62 percent of their games anyway.
This week’s road trip takes the Dodgers to Atlanta, where hopes will be high for a sweep (however rare those are on the road against any team), and then to Colorado, which frequently can feel like a Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Joe Thatcher (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
Over the past two weeks, the Dodgers have bolstered their pitching depth in the minor leagues with several acquisitions.
Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
Sometimes on Twitter, I will post complimentary information about the Dodger bullpen, like this …
No good deed goes noticed: Dodger bullpen has 14 straight scoreless innings, holding opponents to 3-for-43 hitting w/14 strikeouts.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) April 18, 2016
Or maybe it will be about an individual reliever, such as this tidbit about Chris Hatcher …
Since August 1 (including playoffs), @handlebars41 has a 1.69 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 12.8 K/9.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) April 18, 2016
This is not me saying that the Dodger bullpen is perfect, that it will never allow another run for the rest of our lives and that we should look for a picture of a smiling Hatcher on a box of Bullpen O’s in the cereal section of our local supermarket.
It’s simply that during the period shown, the bullpen is doing a great job, and that’s worth pointing out — given the feeding frenzy that takes place when one or more relievers doesn’t succeed.
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This clip includes the fantastic experience of Vin Scully reading a grocery list, and it’s like a melody (as if you expected otherwise). His pronunciation of “bologna” will surprise no one who grew up on his Farmer John commercials.
– Jon Weisman
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Joc Pederson hit a huge two-run homer, but I already wrote the piece on why this was only a matter of time. So let’s talk about Kenta Maeda …
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By Jon Weisman
Some night, Kenta Maeda will come back to Earth. Earth has this relentless habit of knocking its residents down. I don’t know why Earth is hostile like this. Maybe it feels unappreciated.
Or maybe Earth is just testing us. Because tonight, just when terra firma was ready to terra new one in Maeda, Maeda shook loose and soared again.
Maeda walked two of the first four batters he faced and went 3-0 in the count to the fifth, but recovered to complete seven superb innings in the National League West-leading Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over San Francisco.
Coming back (not unexpectedly) from Saturday’s disappointment, Joc Pederson hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to put Maeda and the Dodgers ahead, and Yasiel Puig added an insurance run in the seventh with a single, stolen base and mad dash home on Yasmani Grandal’s RBI hit.
Grandal, by the way, went 4 for 5 with three walks and two doubles this weekend in his first back-to-back starts of 2016. Pederson now has a .514 slugging percentage and .830 OPS this season.
Maeda’s career-opening scoreless streak ended in his 15th MLB inning with a third-inning Joe Panik home run, leaving him just shy of Dave Stewart’s Los Angeles Dodger record of 18 1/3. But after using 24 pitches in his first inning, Maeda needed only 74 more to reach a season-high seven innings.
He faced the minimum nine batters over his final three innings, capping his outing by starting a 1-6-4 double play when Giants starter Jeff Samadzija remained in the game to bunt.
In 19 innings as a Dodger, Maeda has a 0.47 ERA with 15 strikeouts against 18 baserunners. With runners in scoring position, opponents are 0 for 14 against Maeda.
Giants at Dodgers, 5:05 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Kenta Maeda, P
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Howie Kendrick, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Kenta Maeda, P
By Jon Weisman
Corey Seager connected for a huge hit in the eighth inning Saturday, a two-run home run off Javier Lopez that was the first the San Francisco southpaw had allowed to a left-handed batter in nearly two years.
It was huge because it put the Dodgers within one run (in a game that they ultimately lost by 90 feet, leaving the tying run on third in a 4-3 defeat). It was also huge personally for Seager, who had gone 47 plate appearances this season without hitting a homer.
Seager now has a .292 on-base percentage, .422 slugging percentage and .714 OPS, which might be lower than some expected but is more than fine for a 21-year-old shortstop with a world of potential.
No one, to my knowledge, has called for Seager to be sent to the minors to regroup. The same can’t be said for Joc Pederson, who has been taking grief for much of the season — even though Pederson’s averages (.306 OBP, .424 slugging, .730 OPS) are higher, as are his exit velocities compared to Seager’s, according to Brooks Baseball.
Giants at Dodgers, 6:10 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasmani Grandal, C
Kiké Hernandez, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Trayce Thompson, RF
Scott Kazmir, P
Chase Utley, 2B
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Yasmani Grandal, C
Kiké Hernandez, LF
Joc Pederson, CF
Trayce Thompson, RF
Scott Kazmir, P
By Jon Weisman
Some pregame notes follow, but mainly they’re just to fill out the post beneath Jon SooHoo’s great shot of Dodger Stadium from Friday (click the pic to enlarge). Make sure you’re regularly checking out his blog.
Carl Crawford is scheduled to begin a rehabilitation assignment with Oklahoma City, flying east Monday, Dave Roberts told reporters today.
Crawford was placed on the 15-day disabled list one week ago.
Yasmani Grandal, who came off the disabled list Tuesday, could start back-to-back games for the first time in 2016 this weekend. Yasiel Puig has his first scheduled game off today but is expected to be back in the lineup Sunday.
Hyun-Jin Ryu has a groin strain that forced him to postpone today’s scheduled bullpen session for at least a couple of days.
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By Jon Weisman
Last year, it was Kiké Hernandez, folk hero.
This year, it might be Kiké Hernandez, hero.
As if going 8 for 20 with a .955 OPS weren’t enough to start the season, Hernandez made himself the centerpiece of Chavez Ravine (aside from Jackie Robinson, of course) with two homers, a double and a huge catch in the first four innings of the Dodgers’ 7-3 victory over San Francisco, a win that put Los Angeles alone in first place in the National League West.
Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers
Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Kershaw CCXLV: Kershawter Call Saul
Kiké Hernandez, LF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Justin Turner, 3B
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Trayce Thompson, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Charlie Culberson, SS
Clayton Kershaw, P
Kershaw CCXLV: Kershawter Call Saul
Kiké Hernandez, LF
Yasiel Puig, RF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Justin Turner, 3B
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Trayce Thompson, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Charlie Culberson, SS
Clayton Kershaw, P
By Jon Weisman
Chris Hatcher’s paternity leave lasted all of 24 hours, as he is back today with the Dodgers, who have optioned Austin Barnes to Oklahoma City.
The move gives the Dodgers an eight-man bullpen, and more specifically allows them to keep Adam Liberatore as a second left-hander for the time being.
Barnes is 2 for 15 with two walks and six strikeouts in the young season, starting three games at catcher as well as Thursday’s at second base.
Los Angeles will go with a four-man bench, which tonight features switch-hitter Yasmani Grandal and left-handed hitters Joc Pederson, Corey Seager and Chase Utley.
Howie Kendrick is the only player in tonight’s lineup who did not start against Madison Bumgarner when he and Clayton Kershaw faced off six days ago.
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Clayton Kershaw is not only amazing as a pitcher, he shot this video for April 25’s Clayton Kershaw Bobblehead Night in one take.
Kershaw and his dopplebobbleganger make quite the acting combo (#truedetectiveseason3). Enjoy …
— Jon Weisman
