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Padres at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Kershaw CCIII: Kershawsablanca
Dee Gordon, 2B
Yasiel Puig, CF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Matt Kemp, RF
Carl Crawford, LF
Justin Turner, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Miguel Rojas, SS
Clayton Kershaw, P

By Jon Weisman

Some random facts to take your mind off the Dodgers’ injury woes:

  • Clayton Kershaw is by almost any definition a clutch pitcher. Did you know he’s also a career .304 hitter in 46 at-bats from the seventh inning on, including his Opening Day 2013 home run.
  • J.P. Howell crossed the 100-inning threshold as a Dodger this month, and with that as a minimum, became the Dodgers’ all-time leader in ERA at 1.75. Kershaw is 16th, but third if you up the minimum to 1,000 innings. Here’s the top 20:
    ERA
  • Since June 1, the Dodgers have more victories (41) than home runs (36). The last time the Dodgers did that over a full season was 1976.
  • Left-handed batters are hitless against Kershaw’s slider this year, notes Daniel Brim of Dodgers Digest.
  • Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. has a good piece putting the Dodgers’ late-inning performance at the plate in perspective. It’s similar to what I’ve written about the Dodgers’ struggles with the bases loaded coming while they lead the National League in on-base percentage with runners in scoring position — the latter situations coming far, far more often. A smaller negative shouldn’t outweigh a larger positive.
  • Dazzy Vance was “the ultimate outlier,” writes Tony Blengino at Fangraphs.