April 2 pregame: Lather, rinse, repeat

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By Jon Weisman

For all their early season injuries, the Dodgers have the exact same starting eight position players, batting in the same order, for the third straight game.

That hasn’t happened since September 3-5, 2012, when Don Mattingly offered the following octet:

Mark Ellis, 2B
Shane Victorino, LF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, CF
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Luis Cruz, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C

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Tyson Ross, the starting pitcher for the Padres tonight, struck out 10 of 20 Dodgers the last time he faced them, on September 1. The first time he faced them, on April 17, he got his first Major League hit but hurt his shoulder on the swing and didn’t pitch again for 15 days. The 6-foot-5 Ross, who turns 27 this month, had a 3.17 ERA and 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings last year (2.93 and 9.6 after the All-Star Break), and at Petco Park, his ERA was 2.03.

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My favorite stats after four games:

• Team OPS leaders: Dee Gordon .962, Juan Uribe .941
• Team starting pitching: 23 2/3 innings, 1.14 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 9.1 K/9
• A.J. Ellis: on pace for 162 walks.
• Chone Figgins: on pace for 81 walks, zero at-bats
• No Dodger starter has hit into a double play.

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Update: Jose Dominguez has been recalled from his assignment to Albuquerque, as the Dodgers officially placed Brian Wilson on the disabled list.

Scheduled Dodger starting pitchers for the three-game series against the Giants are Hyun-Jin Ryu on Friday, Paul Maholm on Saturday and Zack Greinke on Sunday.

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From the Dodger press notes: “The Dodgers have limited the Padres to three or fewer runs in each of their last 10 games, winning eight of those contests dating to June 22, 2013.  Los Angeles has posted a 1.13 ERA (11 ER/88.0 IP) in that span. The last time the Dodgers held any opponent to three or fewer runs in 10 consecutive games was April 8-Sept. 9, 2003 against the Diamondbacks (source: Stats, LLC). If the Dodgers hold San Diego to three or fewer runs tonight, it would be their longest such streak against a single opponent since a 12-game run against the Cubs Aug. 26, 1991-Aug. 21, 1992.”

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More news: “The Dodgers will welcome back former Dodger outfielder Raul Mondesi as part of Dominican Heritage at Viva Los Dodgers this Sunday. Mondesi, current mayor of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, will be holding a clothing drive to benefit his hometown of San Cristobal. He will accept donations of gently-worn clothing and will sign autographs for fans. Fans that bring a donation will be placed in a priority line for autographs. … Mondesi will also throw the ceremonial first pitch prior to Sunday’s game.”