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By Jon Weisman

Greetings. A few quick morning notes …

  • St. Louis has confirmed that Matt Holliday will join fellow National League All-Star electee Giancarlo Stanton on the sidelines for the All-Star Game, leaving two outfield spots open in the starting lineup alongside Bryce Harper that will go to two of these four: Andrew McCutchen, A.J. Pollock, Justin Upton, Joc Pederson.
     
    Here’s how the candidates rank in wins above replacement among NL outfielders: Pollock third, McCutchen fourth, Pederson fifth, Upton 11th.
     
    On Friday, Pederson singled, then later doubled in the game-winning run in the Dodgers’ 3-2 comeback victory over Milwaukee.
     
  • Though a starter for almost his entire career, Andre Ethier is moving up the Dodgers all-time pinch-hitting charts. His two-run, pinch-hit, game-tying single in the seventh inning Friday gave him 27 career pinch-hit RBI, good for 11th place and one away from a three-way tie with Rick Monday, Mitch Webster and Ken McMullen for eighth place.
     
    Ethier also has the 10th-highest on-base percentage (.394) among pinch-hitters in Dodger history (minimum 50 plate appearances). Arky Vaughan is first at .461.
     
  • In his first appearance since having elective cosmetic eye surgery, Julio Urias retired six of seven batters Friday for Rookie League Arizona, allowing an infield single while striking out three. “He hovered around 93-94 mph, topped out at 97 and saw his off-speed stuff drop into the low-80s,” wrote William Boor for MLB.com. (Hector Olivera also played in the game and went 0 for 3.)
  • Dodger Double-A catcher and MLB Futures Game participant Kyle Farmer is the subject of a nice profile by Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.
  • Workloads for MLB starting pitchers are no longer declining, according to a subscription-only piece from Bill James that was excerpted by Rob Neyer at Fox Sports’ Just a Bit Outside:

    … What is happening at this time is not relievers taking innings away from starting pitchers so much as it is relievers taking innings away from other relievers. The batters faced per game by relievers are declining, at this point, only because we switch more rapidly from one relief pitcher to another.

    Actually, the historical trend toward fewer innings for starting pitchers appears to be over. Major league starting pitchers pitched more innings (and more innings per start) in 2014 than they did in 1999—fifteen years earlier. There is no decline in innings pitched by starting pitchers occurring at this time; if anything, the numbers are increasing.

    In the year 2003, major league relievers pitched more innings than they did in 2014. However, in 2003 they pitched those 14,720 innings in 12,958 relief appearances. In 2014 the innings were down to 14,622—but the games were up to 14,461.

  • Finally, this … speaks for itself.


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