Hasn’t this series been quite lovely? No surprises, no blown leads, no ohfers, just a really bad club and two relaxing wins. Last night Ross Stripling tamed the Snakes with his arm and bat. He tossed 5 quality innings and drove in a run with an RBI single as well to give the Dodgers a 5-2 win on Tuesday night. Now the Dodgers (78-60) look to sweep the horrendous Dbacks and improve to 19 games above .500. The Dodgers are looking to grab their fifth straight win. Then the Dodgers will take a rest on Thursday before departing for Miami. For the series finale the boys in blue will give the ball to young Brock Stewart, while the Dbacks will counter with Robbie Ray.
Dodgers Lineup vs. Arizona-TBA
Robbie Ray-7-12 vs. Brock Stewart-0-2
Game Time – 7:10 PM – TV-SNLA
Ray, the 24-year old left hander from Brentwood Tennessee has posted a 7-12 record with a 4.46 ERA in 27 starts this season for the Dbacks. He sure has missed a lot of bats this year though. Across 149.1 innings pitched Ray has whiffed 183 and walked 56. That means Ray is striking out 11.0 per nine, and that’s nearly two batters more than his career average of 9.5.
While the increased strikeout rate has certainly helped Ray, he’s pitched well this year against the Dodgers. This is his third time facing the boys in blue and he has one win and one no-decision. He tossed seven shutout innings against the Dodgers back on July 17. In 6 career starts against the Dodgers he is 3-2 with a 1.95 ERA. He is 1-1 with a 1.89 ERA in 3 career starts at Dodger Stadium.
Ray vs. Dodgers
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP |
| Howie Kendrick | 16 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | .214 | .250 | .429 | .679 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yasiel Puig | 12 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .400 | .500 | .400 | .900 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Corey Seager | 11 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .222 | .364 | .333 | .697 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Enrique Hernandez | 9 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .429 | .556 | .857 | 1.413 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Turner | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .143 | .250 | .286 | .536 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yasmani Grandal | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Austin Barnes | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .000 | .667 | .000 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kenta Maeda | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ross Stripling | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 78 | 67 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 17 | .209 | .308 | .328 | .636 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
The Dodgers will counter with Brock Stewart. The rookie pitched the game of his life in his last start. In that start he tossed 5 shutout innings against the Cubs in a 1-0 Dodger victory. That was awesome, but this is just Stewart’s fourth MLB start. He is 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched. This will be his first time facing the Dbacks and a divisional opponent at home.
I have a working theory about the Dback’s terrible season. I think they have the reverse Midas tough. Everything they touch turns to crap. Look at Zack Greinke for example. Last season when he was a Dodger he was excellent. Possibly having a historically great season. But once he signed that evil contract with the Snakes and donned that ugly uniform he instantly turned to dung. I can’t prove this, but it makes sense. I think the important thing to remember is how much the Dbacks suck. Don’t forget about the broom depot’s special running tonight on all of your Dodger sweep merchandise needs.
Enjoy the game guys!
Go Blue!
True, a very comfortable series so far.
Can’t wait to see with which manner we win the game today.
Meanwhile, Jharrel Cotton went 6.1, 2 hits, 1ER, 2bb, 3k, and threw 102 pitches. Great job by him!
Ray pitched the game I went to. giants best him. That was the pre-schneid giants. He’s capable of 7. Also capable of 4.
Saw the numbers on Cotton. My first instinct is to compare his numbers after 1 day to Hill’s after 6 weeks. I think I’ll pass on that. Congrats to Cotton, our #13, on his successful debut.
It was nice of the Angels to sit Pujols, Trout, and Escobar. Good for him though. He got a nice ovation from the A’s crowd. I wondered why the Dodgers felt they need to have below par pitchers like Fein and Fields on the team ahead of Cotton. Fields may have come after the trade though. Montas was the one that I hated to give up.
Alvarez, Shefield, and Buehler the starting pitchers for the Loons in their playoff matchup. I really think they should keep Ethier hitting in the minors as long as there is a team playing in Rancho or OKC. Right now he would just be in the way.
MJ
http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles/dodger-report/archive/_/month/november-2015
MJ,
Here’s the article by Saxon:
http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles/dodger-report/post/_/id/17815/dave-roberts-swipes-dodgers-skipper-job-from-favorite-gabe-kapler
Of course, Saxon quit or was fired, depending upon whom you believe, but here’s what Kasten said:
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/158079926/stan-kasten-happy-with-dave-roberts-hiring/
Of course, the owners were involved, but it was Friedman’s choice.
I guess you can choose who the believe, but I am sure Friedman made the call. Friedman is no more a puppet than Roberts.
— Signed “Disturbed Person”
I always knew you were disturbed.
I don’t make up stuff, so that upset me.
Mark
I have never said that Friedman was a lap boy.
Scott,
Be careful where you tread (see what I did there), last time you posted a “sweep” image it didn’t work.
“Sweeparoni!!! the San Francisco Treat” was followed by a 4 zip loss to the gints and AJ traded.
Thanks Badger and Tim!
“But then the Dodgers’ owners got involved, sources indicate, and the Kapler parade slowed down. It slowed down long enough for Roberts to come in”
That sounds like the proof for which Bluster asked.
Seems to me we’ve seen MJ call Mr. Ruude’s bodacious bluster a few times and each time has been right.
You are so full of $hit Badger. You twist things to suit you and stay oblivious to what you don’t want to hear. You can only hold your delusional conquest in your tiny brain. You would get your clock cleaned if you ever had to provide anything substantive. Of course, self-agrandizing mediocrity has its share of followers. Lemmings are ready and able. I just ain’t one.
No, you’re not a lemming. We’ve already established you are a snuffleupagus.
Your insults mean nothing to me. Like I said Mark, I know who you are.
Meanwhile, as I ignore the 2 kids by the swingset arguing, here’s some important news. In Game 1 of the OKC playoffs series, our co-ace Scott Kazmir started. Here’s how his 1st inning went:
walk
hit by pitch
flyout
3 run homerun
groundout
walk
hit by pitch
left the game due to injury, after 2/3 of an inning thrown. Guess JDL will be starting this weekend after all!
Bobby
I believe that makes you happy.
As well as everyone else, I would love to see JDL pitch again.
That was funny. Their arguments get dumber and dumber. At least when they argued about the Punto trade they had something to argue about. When they agree they still find a reason to insult each other and argue.
MJ, what’s your opinion of tonight’s lineup:
Kendrick, LF
Hernandez, CF
Seager, SS
Turner, 3B
Puig, RF
Ruiz, C
Segedin, 1B
Culberson, 2B
Stewart, P
The same as yours, and I don’t like Howie leading off, because he hit in a lot of runs last year, batting second.
That is a comedic lineup, but the way we’re going now, we’ll put up 6-7 runs and win it!
But Bum and Bobby,
I don’t want to see this line up in the post season.
If John Lester or Madison Bumgarner saw that this lineup was going against them in a playoff game, they would tear a stomach muscle laughing so hard
Hmmm, perhaps i’s not a bad idea then…
Bum
And I hope Culberson doesn’t get in Corey’s way tonight.
You know I prefer mostly the regular line up, but I do hope they still win.
Its a good way to keep pinch hitters sharp and give veterans rest. I am just glad I didn’t spend money at the game. Its like going to see a Broadway play and find out three of the stars are replaced by their backups.
Bum
And I like what you said about how they are using Puig.
OMG, I haven’t even looked in here for weeks, and the same old same old is going on. Too funny. The Catcher is still full of himself (shit) and Badger has had more than enough of The Catcher’s bluster.
Carry on.
What happened to Kazmir?
Kazmir walked two guys tand gave up a HR in OKC. Sounds familiar. Then he left with the trainer. The good news is he won’t be rejoining the rotation anytime soon. The bad news is that he will still be a Dodger next year.
Not if we can help it.
MJ, I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. I enjoy different points of view. I was upset with Scott. In his articles about the tonight’s game he would bad mouth a dodger player before the game was played. Scott is doing much better now. Example: I do not like Kasmir. I hope he does not pitch another inning for the Dodgers. However, if Kasmir was starting tonight, I would root for him to have a good game for the Dodgers and the Dodgers would win. Other posters were doing the same as Scott. I hope Scott does not throw me off for saying this. I just think these players are all trying to do their best. I can live with bad mouthing after the the game is played. Baseball is a tough game to play.
Its always nice to enter a season with a core of players that have proven themselves. While I recognized that anything could happen with this team because of so many unprovens and high health risk players I managed to stay in the moment and let the season play out with cautious optimism.
I never whined over not signing Greinke, didn’t flinch when Kershaw injured his back, and never looked at the dark side. It feels good to not have caved to doubt.
We fans look like we have dodged a “wait til next year” team and now we have a good chance to actually get into the WS.
Kershaw, Hill, and Maeda are a good playoff rotation and the bullpen has many many players to choose from for the playoff run. And, next year, there are less unprovens plus help from quite a few talented unprovens waiting in the wings.
Scott is not going to throw you off. He might throw me off, but not you.
I’m not throwing anyone off. Good times are ahead everyone!
I dahoal
I have always liked you and I have agreed with some that you have said.
Let’s just forget it everything.
Like you said, the Dodgers are doing well and let’s all enjoy it.
I really like everyone here, and that is the truth.
🙂
Loved that Joe Nathan call to the pen!
Those poor Giants?
And the Giants lose! It’s gotten so bad they had Nathan on the mound at the end.
That was a great loss to watch !
Magic number 21
100% Verifiable Timeline:
October 22, 2015 – Mattingly leaves Dodgers
November 8, 2015 – It is reported that Kapler may not be favorite
November 10, 2015 – Dodgers have 3 finalists – Roberts, Martinez and Kapler – Roberts really Wowed them.
November 16, 2015 – ESPN’s Jim Bowden recently confirmed that the Dodgers trimmed the list to Kapler, Roberts, Erstad, and Black.
November 18, 2015 – Search down to two candidates – Roberts and Kapler
November 23, 2015 – Roberts is hired
November 24, 2015 – Stan Kasten says this: “At the very end with the last two guys, the owners met them as well, but it’s fair to say we made a collective decision,” said Kasten. “If there was one person whose decision mattered the most, I’d say it was Andrew. It really was a collective process, but most of it by Andrew along with Farhan and Josh.”
The above is from numerous reports around the Web, Newspapers, CBS Sports and ESPN. Mark Saxon tried to make it seem in his piece that the Owners got involved at the end, and of course they did, but Roberts WOWED FAZ BEFORE November 10th. Friedman and Company trimmed the list to Kapler and Roberts by November 18th… at which time ownership met with both candidates.
We will never know exactly what went on in those interviews, but again Kasten said this: “If there was one person whose decision mattered the most, I’d say it was Andrew. It really was a collective process, but most of it by Andrew along with Farhan and Josh.”
So you can choose to believe Saxon or you can put together all the evidence and see what really happened.
Of course, if you just want to justify your unnatural, irrational, delusional hated of FAZ and obfuscate the fact that you felt the Dodgers would not do well this year (want me to go back and copy your posts – I’d be glad to show what a moron you are?) and sang the praises of Arizona, then you will pile only because you are only interested in justifying your position and taking attention away from your incompetence. That’s weak, but I have come to expect it from Badger and Company!
Of course, Mount Baldy might just have been trying to wipe his fingerprints in case the Roberts hiring went south. But as I recall, Kapler sure looked like the favorite until somebody decided to interview more candidates.
Snider
That is all I read, and I believe it was in the LA Times too, but I don’t care either way, because I think Roberts is going to be a better manager then Maddon in time.
Because Roberts played at the big league level, and Maddon didn’t.
Roberts is a lot like Maddon, because Roberts is a people person like Maddon is.
You might be interested in knowing that 22 of the 34 players on the active roster are players acquired by Friedman, so the majority of the roster bears his stamp after just one and a half years… and he was loathe to trade Pederson, Seager, Urias, Stewart and De Leon who were acquired by Ned.
You should also know that Friedman has hired two managers: Maddon and Roberts. Not too shabby.
I am going to bang this drum until you realize how silly some of the stuff you say is.
Nineteen over and 5 up! Let’s have a good road trip now. We owe the Marlins and I despise the Skankees.
Magic Number down to 19. The trash is now 5 games behind us. We’re still 3 behind Washington for home field in round 1.
Neither of us play tomorrow, so thank god the NFL starts!
Bobby
And Strasberg went down, so who knows might win the home field advantage.
I haven’t looked at the Nationals schedule, but I haven’t heard they have an easy schedule, the rest of the way either.
We have are big road trip coming up, and that five game lead, gives the Dodgers a very good cushion, before heading out.