Kenta Maeda – Page 2 – Dodger Thoughts

Corey Seager reacts to being safe at second on the game-winning play in the eighth inning Sunday.

Dodgers at Rockies, 5:40 p.m.
Chase Utley, 2B
Howie Kendrick, LF
Corey Seager, SS
Adrián González, 1B
Yasmani Grandal, C
Josh Reddick, RF
Joc Pederson, CF
Rob Segedin, 3B
Kenta Maeda, P

By Jon Weisman

A few quick notes before the Dodgers begin their second Colorado-or-bust, three-game road trip.

The Dodgers will play three games in 48 hours (weather permitting) between tonight and Wednesday afternoon, then fly home.

San Francisco is off tonight, so there will be a half-game added or subtracted from the Dodgers’ two-game lead in the National League West this evening. The Dodgers will gain back the off day on the Giants on Thursday.

After two games at home Tuesday and Wednesday vs. Arizona, San Francisco travels to Wrigley Field to play four games with the Cubs.

Meanwhile …

Carlos Ruiz to start tonight, Brock Stewart recalled

By Jon Weisman

On August 26, 2016

In Pregame, Transactions

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Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m.
Howie Kendrick, LF
Corey Seager, SS
Justin Turner, 3B
Adrián González, 1B
Kiké Hernandez, CF
Carlos Ruiz, C
Josh Reddick, RF
Chase Utley, 2B
Bud Norris, P

By Jon Weisman

As expected, Carlos Ruiz is in the starting lineup for his Dodger debut tonight, with Shawn Zarraga being optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Zarraga, as you can see in the video above, did enjoy the thrill of being an official Major Leaguer, however briefly. He arrived Thursday via private jet, as Michael Clair notes at MLB.com’s Cut4.

As the newest big leaguer told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick, “It was a 12-seater and it was just me and the pilot, but I got to sit next to him and that was cool.”

In addition, the Dodgers have recalled Brock Stewart from Triple-A. Stewart, who was optioned August 15 to make room for the activation of Casey Fien, threw five innings of shutout ball August 19 for Oklahoma City.

So, how are the Dodgers making room for Stewart on the roster this weekend? They have optioned Kenta Maeda — yes, that’s right — to the Rookie-level AZL Dodgers, whose season concludes on Sunday. That means he can be recalled immediately after that day, without a 10-day waiting period.

As Dave Roberts said today, the plan is that Julio Urías will start for the Dodgers on Saturday and Maeda will take the mound Monday in Colorado, leaving Sunday as TBD.

Dodgers got a way with the Giants, 9-5

By Jon Weisman

On August 23, 2016

In Health/injuries, Postgame

By Jon Weisman

Early in tonight’s Dodgers-Giants showdown, Dodger Stadium organist Dieter Ruehle played Billy Joel’s “Pressure.”

Funnily enough, the Dodgers played as if they felt no pressure at all.

Clayton Kershaw eyeing Saturday bullpen session

By Jon Weisman

On August 18, 2016

In Health/injuries, Pitching

By Jon Weisman

Some quick Dodger pitching updates for before the game:

Clayton Kershaw is expected to meet the Dodgers in Cincinnati, where he will throw off flat ground Friday with a tentative bullpen session scheduled for Saturday.
Bud Norris remains scheduled to be activated from the disabled list Friday, with Brett Anderson starting Saturday.
Lefty reliever Adam Liberatore is expected to be activated from the disabled list Friday as well, meaning the Dodgers would have to make two roster moves in the next 24 hours.
Kenta Maeda, whose next turn in the rotation would be Sunday, might get extra rest, with the Dodgers turning to an in-house spot starter in that case.
Rich Hill is pitching a simulated game at Camelback Ranch tonight.
Hyun-Jin Ryu is rehabbing but has not picked up a baseball. He is not expected to return for the Dodgers in 2016.

Kershaw, Kazmir, Maeda discuss youth pitching

By Jon Weisman

On August 11, 2016

In Pitching, Publications

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Pitching workloads are a big deal in the Major Leagues. They’re an even bigger deal in youth baseball, though there’s still no consensus among parents, coaches or anyone else about what’s right and what’s wrong.

In a recent issue of Dodger Insider magazine, writer Chris Gigley asked Dodger starters Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda for their thoughts. One of Kershaw’s big points was the value of diverse activities.

“I played football and basketball up until my freshman year in high school,” said Kershaw, whom the Dodgers drafted in 2006 out of Highland Park High School just outside Dallas. “I definitely think it’s important to play other sports when you’re young.”

Read the entire story by clicking here.

Beginning this year, the Dodgers merged their previously separate Playbill and Dodger Insider magazines into one publication (at least 80 pages per issue) with a new edition available each homestand plus one in October, 13 issues total. It is distributed at auto gates (one per vehicle) and via Fan Services for those who use alternate transportation. Dodger Insider magazine includes news, features, analysis, photos, games, stadium information and more. Fans who still wish to subscribe can do so at dodgers.com/magazine.

Yasmani Grandal triples up Rockies

By Jon Weisman

On August 4, 2016

In Postgame

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Taking the road less traveled, Yasmani Grandal enjoyed a diversion from his homer heroics of late.

Kenta Maeda strikes out 13 in seven innings

By Jon Weisman

On July 10, 2016

In Midgame, Postgame

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Kenta Maeda took a hammer to the Dodgers’ streak of 18 straight games without a starting pitcher reaching the seventh inning, striking out a career-high 13 in seven innings before leaving with a 3-1 lead.

Maeda fanned two batters in each of the first three innings, one in the fourth and then six batters in a row from the fifth into the seventh. His previous big-league high of nine strikeouts came June 8 against Colorado.

No Dodger starter had retired a batter in the seventh inning since Clayton Kershaw on June 20. None had even reached the sixth inning since Scott Kazmir on July 2.

Kershaw has the Dodgers’ season high in strikeouts with 14. Those also came on a Sunday afternoon against the Padres, on May 1.

Hanger stakes Orioles to rare win at Dodger Stadium

By Jon Weisman

On July 5, 2016

In Postgame

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By Jon Weisman

Kenta Maeda never really had it tonight.

A superb first-inning catch by Trayce Thompson and a second-inning 9-6 forceout by Yasiel Puig bought Maeda some time, but the outcome hung in the balance about as long as the aching 75-mph curveball that he threw to Manny Machado with two on and none out in the top of the fifth.

Machado — who had been the victim of Thompson’s theft — slammed that tetherball off its rope, sending it to the back of the Left Field Pavilion, 453 feet away, breaking a 1-1 tie in what would be a 4-1 Orioles victory, ending the Dodgers’ winning streaks of five overall and 10 at home.

It was Baltimore’s first victory at Dodger Stadium in 49 years and nine months, since the infamous Game 2 of the 1966 World Series. (Mark Langill will have more on that game Wednesday morning.) Los Angeles had won all four of its regular-season home games against Baltimore.

In case you missed it: That post-Puig, post-sweep glow

By Jon Weisman

On June 23, 2016

In Dodger Stadium, History, In case you missed it, Off the field

By Jon Weisman

Still feels like there’s a buzz in the air over how very #Puignotlate the ending was to Wednesday’s game. Let’s provide some epilogues to that, as well as catching up on some other recent Dodger ephemera.

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Puig’s dash around the bases was 15.2 seconds, which is tied for the fastest home-to-home run in baseball this year, as seen in the video above.
What was going through Puig’s mind? “I was ready for the hit, and nobody thought that the ball would go through,” Puig said through an interpreter, according to Doug Padilla of ESPN.com. “So when I did see the ball go through, I had to talk to my hamstring so I can figure out how far I could go on the bases. … I didn’t see [the stop sign]. I was listening to my hamstring and I was trying to figure out how far it could go. If it exploded there, that’s what was going to happen, but I was able to make it home.”
The big finish called to mind 1988’s Kirk Gibson scoring from second base on a wild pitch, as Phil Gurnee writes at his new blog, Dodgers, Yesterday and Today.

Hernández delivers a Father’s Day he’ll never forget

By Jon Weisman

On June 19, 2016

In Postgame

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

Kiké Hernández’s father, you might have heard by now, is battling cancer. For Hernandez to hit a home run, on Father’s Day, is pretty much all the story anyone would need on this day.

The fact that Hernández’s home run, the first of his career as a pinch-hitter, stopped a shutout and tied the game for the Dodgers in the bottom off the eighth inning, well, that’s just a gift for the rest of us.

“I don’t think I have any words to describe it,” Hernández told AM 570’s David Vassegh after the game. “I still have a little bit of goose bumps from it, and it was a little bit hard not to cry running the bases. I woke up this morning, and I was thinking about the same thing: I probably won’t start, but if I get a pinch-hit at-bat, it’s kind of like a movie. … I’m sure my dad loves every bit of it.”

Hernández’s homer set the stage for another pinch-hit RBI, Yasmani Grandal’s bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth, to give the Dodgers a 2-1 victory over Milwaukee.

Urías starts tonight, but for how much longer?

By Jon Weisman

On June 17, 2016

In Health/injuries, Pitching

By Jon Weisman

Tonight’s starting pitcher, Julio Urías, has thrown 58 professional innings this season. Dave Roberts said Thursday that the plan was to give Urias two more starts, then evaluate.

Most interpreted this as Roberts saying that Urías would be shut down in the manner of Ross Stripling, who hasn’t pitched in a game since May. To be clear, though, that wasn’t stated explicitly by Roberts, who simply said, “we’ll go from there.”

Last year, Urías threw 80 1/3, and the year before, a career-high 87 2/3. Even in the unlikely event of two complete games, Urías would still be at 76 innings on the year. Two six-inning outings would put Urías at 70. Presumably, Urías can go incrementally above the 80-plus inning range that he has previously reached.

So the question would be whether it makes sense to use all those innings now, while the Dodgers wait for the return of Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alex Wood from the disabled list (and longer down the road, Brett Anderson). Or do they have Urías take the break, and the ramp him up again in the second half of the season, when the rotation might be more crowded — not that there couldn’t be other setbacks.

Line drive knocks Kenta Maeda from game

By Jon Weisman

On June 14, 2016

In Health/injuries, Midgame

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By Jon Weisman

On a night the Dodger bats broke out with four home runs to take a 7-4 lead into the eighth inning at Arizona, the celebratory swings were muted by a potentially serious injury to Kenta Maeda.

The good news: X-rays on Maeda’s leg were negative, and the initial diagnosis was a right lower-leg contusion.

Julio Urias to start Sunday in San Francisco

By Jon Weisman

On June 9, 2016

In Postgame

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By Jon Weisman

Preferring the idea of having Julio Urias face San Francisco’s lineup over Arizona’s, the Dodgers have flipped him with Mike Bolsinger so that the teenage lefty pitches Sunday against the Giants, while Bolsinger will go Monday against the Diamondbacks.

Dave Roberts announced the switch Wednesday after the Dodgers’ 1-0 loss to Colorado, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Urias will be pitching on four days’ rest.

Julio Urias to start Thursday vs. Cubs, wearing No. 7

By Jon Weisman

On June 1, 2016

In Pregame

Dodgers at Cubs, 5:05 p.m.
Kiké Hernandez, 2B
Justin Turner, 3B
Corey Seager, SS
Howie Kendrick, 1B
Trayce Thompson, RF
Joc Pederson, CF
A.J. Ellis, C
Carl Crawford, LF
Mike Bolsinger, P

By Jon Weisman

Julio Urias will start Thursday’s 11:20 a.m. at Chicago for the Dodgers, with Kenta Maeda opening the Dodgers’ next homestand Friday against the Braves, followed Saturday by Clayton Kershaw.

Urias will be on five days’ rest when he takes the mound for his second career MLB outing. In doing so, he gives Maeda an extra day to recover from the line drive that went off his hand Saturday at New York.

Kershaw will be pitching on five days’ rest himself. With that amount of rest this year, Kershaw has a 1.63 ERA and a 0.80 WHIP with two walks and 43 strikeouts, averaging 7.7 innings per start.

Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Urias will switch from No. 78 to No. 7, making him the first true Dodger pitcher to wear a single-digit uniform number since Bobo Newsom in 1943.

(Technically, there have been other single-digit pitchers since then. Skip Schumaker, I was reminded by Dodger public relations manager Jon Chapper, pitched for the Dodgers while wearing No. 3, and team historian Mark Langill mentioned Mickey Hatcher, who wore No. 9 when he took the mound for the Dodgers in 1989.)

Urias is following in the footsteps of Kershaw, who switched from No. 54 to No. 22 after his first MLB start.

The Dodgers won. They won.

By Jon Weisman

On May 22, 2016

In Postgame

Yasiel Puig points back to the dugout after hitting a tiebreaking two-run single in the 17th inning. (Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

By Jon Weisman

The Dodgers won.

They won, 9-5, over San Diego, in 17 innings, despite the albatross of a bad week and a rough season hanging over them. They won, despite the specter of a third consecutive walkoff loss howling all around them.

Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Tag: Kenta Maeda (Page 2 of 4)

In case you missed it: Giants take day off in race

Carlos Ruiz to start tonight, Brock Stewart recalled

Dodgers got a way with the Giants, 9-5

Clayton Kershaw eyeing Saturday bullpen session

Kershaw, Kazmir, Maeda discuss youth pitching

Yasmani Grandal triples up Rockies

Kenta Maeda strikes out 13 in seven innings

Hanger stakes Orioles to rare win at Dodger Stadium

In case you missed it: That post-Puig, post-sweep glow

Hernández delivers a Father’s Day he’ll never forget

Urías starts tonight, but for how much longer?

Line drive knocks Kenta Maeda from game

Julio Urias to start Sunday in San Francisco

Julio Urias to start Thursday vs. Cubs, wearing No. 7

The Dodgers won. They won.

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