So the all-righty loser lineup laid another egg for the Dodgers on Friday afternoon. The Dodger’s 2-1 loss to Colorado rookie Kyle Freeland was a truly pathetic performance. Hyun-jin Ryu and the bullpen did all they could to keep the boys in blue in the game, but there was no way that awful lineup was ever going to put runs on the board. The Dodger’s management should be embarrassed by what they did. Not playing Corey Seager, and Adrian Gonzalez was a really stupid move. It’s the fifth game of the season nobody needs a day-off right now.
When you remove all of your best hitters and replace them with Mendoza line hitting utility guys that couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag, then it’s no surprise when you lose. For the Dodgers the solution is the problem. The regulars can hit left handers, but the bench guys can’t hit anyone. Stop putting out terrible lineups against left handers. It’s super infuriating. There are a string of left handers coming up on the last leg of this trip. So expect a stack of losses. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when Kike is batting lead-off again and Franklin Gutierrez is in the cleanup spot.
Dodgers @ Colorado
Today's Dodger lineup at Rockies:
Toles LF
Seager SS
Turner 3B
González 1B
Pederson CF
Grandal C
Puig RF
Utley 2B
Kershaw P pic.twitter.com/AJ1G1IPMmb— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 8, 2017
Clayton Kershaw-1-0 vs. Jon Gray-0-0
Game Time – 5:10 PM – TV- SNLA
In the second game of the series the Dodgers will face a right hander, and Clayton Kershaw is on the mound so they should win. We should also see the regular lineup on the field. Kershaw is coming off of his opening day victory against San Diego in which he pitched 7 innings of two-run ball.
Kershaw has always pitched extremely well against the Rockies. I’m not just talking about the no-hitter back in 2014. He’s always befuddled Colorado hitters. Overall Kershaw is 18-5 with a 3.08 ERA in 32 career starts against the Rockies. He’s limited the Colorado bats to a .218 batting average against, and has struck out 223 in just over 201 innings pitched. At Coors Field he is 8-3 with a 4.67 ERA in 17 starts and has one shutout there. Kershaw has struck out 9.1 per nine innings at Coors Field.
Kershaw vs. Colorado
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| DJ LeMahieu | 42 | 37 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 12 | .243 | .333 | .270 | .604 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 39 | 36 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 17 | .194 | .256 | .361 | .618 |
| Nolan Arenado | 35 | 33 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | .303 | .343 | .485 | .828 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 34 | 34 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11 | .206 | .206 | .324 | .529 |
| Gerardo Parra | 33 | 30 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | .333 | .394 | .500 | .894 |
| Mark Reynolds | 25 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | .174 | .240 | .174 | .414 |
| Alexi Amarista | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .100 | .100 | .100 | .200 |
| Stephen Cardullo | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1.500 |
| Jon Gray | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | .500 | .000 | .500 |
| Tony Wolters | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Cristhian Adames | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Dustin Garneau | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 226 | 210 | 49 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 14 | 64 | .233 | .288 | .343 | .630 |
The Rockies will counter with big right hander Jon Gray. Mr. Gray struggled in his opening start this season. Gray may be one of the better pitchers you have never heard of. The 25-year old finished with a 10-10 record last season and posted a 4.61 ERA in 168 frames. However he did whiff 185 and walk 59. The advanced metrics agree that he pitched better than his numbers showed. His FIP was 3.60 and he finished with 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings. He only allowed 18 home runs all year which is pretty damn good considering he pitches half of his games at Coors Field. Can the Dodgers hit his blazing fastball today? Gray is 2-3 with a 4.11 ERA in 6 career starts against the Dodgers. However he has struck out 46 in 30.2 innings pitched. Here’s how the Dodger bats have fared against him in the past. Corey Seager is 5 for 10 against Gray.
Gray vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Chase Utley | 18 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | .118 | .167 | .235 | .402 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 16 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | .286 | .375 | .500 | .875 |
| Corey Seager | 15 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | .500 | .667 | .900 | 1.567 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 13 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | .200 | .308 | .200 | .508 |
| Justin Turner | 13 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | .333 | .385 | .500 | .885 |
| Joc Pederson | 12 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .182 | .250 | .455 | .705 |
| Yasiel Puig | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .400 | .500 | .600 | 1.100 |
| Brandon McCarthy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Kenta Maeda | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Andrew Toles | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Ross Stripling | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Scott Van Slyke | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 |
| Total | 105 | 89 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 39 | .247 | .352 | .416 | .768 |
First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 PM. That’s a nice change of pace from these early afternoon games we’ve had for the last two days. I’ll actually be able to watch this one.
1. Andrew Toles (L) LF
2. Corey Seager (L) SS
3. Justin Turner (R) 3B
4. Adrian Gonzalez (L) 1B
5. Joc Pederson (L) CF
6. Yasmani Grandal (S) C
7. Yasiel Puig (R) RF
8. Chase Utley (L) 2B
9. Clayton Kershaw (L) P
Thanks Badger!
It is probably good that Roberts, is resting Logan, because he hasn’t been hitting that well.
He has the most strike outs,
on the team, and that is hard to do, with Joc and Grandal, on the team.
Yeah he’s been struggling. Only guys hitting are Seager, Turner, Gonzo and Puig.
LOL….too funny there MJ.
Being ‘accurately’ critical of Forsythe and yet get a jab in on Pederson and Grandal….lol.
Forsythe is a journeyman 2nd baseman. Sure his current average of .167 is a little bit below his career avg. of .254 but to think he is going to hit .320 the rest of way, well thats probably not happening.
Now the real stat is that Forsyth’s current OBP of .318 is real close to his career OBP avg. of .326 so to the saber metric guys he is performing well, as expected. How do you like him now?
Too Early to tell honestly
Kershaw and Greinke both 1-1 after 5, Kershaw 84 pitches, Greinke 82.
Where is everyone tonight?
No shows, as usual…
Back to back against Kershaw. Won’t see that much.
Dumb base running by Puig.
Badger
Which time?
Third out attempting to steal third down by 3. Not smart. You’re already in scoring position.
Kershaw threw that ball to Para, right down the middle of the plate, waist high.
Any major leaguer is going to hit something like that, out.
Badger
Puig didn’t run out of the plate, with his hit, that hit the wall, because he thought he hit it, out.
MJ, it would have made not one bit of difference. The ball looked like it was going out. Even if he had been running full speed, he would not have made it to 3rd. At least he hit the damn ball. The rest of the team just flailed away. As for the steal, well that was dumb but that is not what cost this team the game. You guys need to quit nit picking at the little stuff. Kershaw did not pitch that well, and the team did not hit. THAT’s why they lost. He gets on 2nd, the next 2 hitters struck out. I’d put the blame on those guys.
Right down the middle, but high. Not a good pitch. Give their hitters credit, they did what you are supposed to do and they beat our ace. Not the first time, and Kersh’s career ERA in Coors is over 4. He has never pitched well there, but the offense, or lack thereof, that has been the problem the last two games. It is too early in the year to commit Hari-Kiri just because we lose a couple of game. Just means they have to step it up, and get better. Puig had 2 hits, and he busted his ass to get there on the first one.
That sucked. Kershaw gives up 3 home runs and we score only 2 in Colorado.
giants stink early. That’s a good thing.
Always tougher to take the L after a Kershaw start.
Is it just me or is this years team looking a lot like last years team.
It IS last year’s team. Right down to Blister Boy on the DL. The only difference is Howie Forsythe is platooning with Utley. These guys won 91 last year. I think they can do it again.