Next up on the Dodgers‘ schedule is a six-game road trip, consisting of three games with the Marlins starting on Tuesday evening, followed by a three-game set with the leaders of the NL East, the Braves, beginning on Friday.
In what seems to be an interminable rebuilding phase, the Marlins once again have the worst record in the National League at 44-73. Back in mid-July, the Dodgers swept the Fish at Chavez Ravine, highlighted by a seven-inning, scoreless gem by righty Walker Buehler when he allowed just five hits and struck out 11 in the series finale.
Although Miami has a little bit of pop in their lineup offensively, there’s really not much to write home about. Former Dodger Miguel Rojas leads the team with a .289 average and a .344 OBP, but has been on the injured list for about a week with a hamstring injury, highlighting a whole slew of players on the team who are unable to go because of some type of ailment.
26-year-old third baseman Brian Anderson is the team leader with 20 long balls and 60 RBI while veteran Starlin Castro has the most hits on the squad with 122. Ageless veteran Curtis Granderson is still around roaming the outfield, but he has tallied just a .186/.275/.386 over an even 100 games this season.
On the pitching front, the Dodgers will face Jordan Yamamoto, who began his season in brilliant fashion but has since slipped, in the opener. The 23-year-old righty has a 4-3 record with a 4.17 ERA over 10 starts in his freshman campaign. He will face Los Angeles right-hander Dustin May, who is coming off a no-decision against the Cardinals last week when he threw 5-2/3 innings, scattering five hits and a walk while striking out seven opposing batters.
In the middle game on Wednesday, another right-hander, Elieser Hernandez will take the bump against Clayton Kershaw. Hernandez is a swing man and has posted a 2-4 record with a 4.95 ERA over 14 appearances this year, eight which have been starts. Kersh is 11-2 with an impressive 2.77 ERA over 20 starts. In his last outing against St. Louis last Tuesday, CK threw seven solid innings and picked up the victory, allowing just one earned run on four hits and a walk while striking out nine.
On Friday afternoon in the finale, the Dodgers will finally face a southpaw in 28-year-old Caleb Smith. The Texas native has made 19 starts this year and has put together a 7-6 record with a 3.71 and a .211 BAA. Los Angeles will counter with Buehler, who will be seeking his 11th win of the season.
In a bit of injury news surrounding the Dodgers, the team announced on Tuesday that outfielder Kyle Garlick was recalled, replacing first baseman/utility man Tyler White, who was placed on the injured list with a right trapezius muscle strain.
Tuesday’s opener is scheduled for 4:10 PM Los Angeles time.
Tuesday’s lineup:
- Pederson RF
- Muncy 2B
- Turner 3B
- Bellinger 1B
- Pollock CF
- Seager SS
- Smith C
- Beaty LF
- May P
If White has a muscle that is visible to strain, I haven’t seen it. No big loss. The guy has not contributed anything since that one single he hit in Colorado to drive in a couple of runs.
White to IL with a bruised slash line.
This could be a trap series. We should beat these guys with our JV’s.
Note to team – stay out of the water
10 to 1 in the 7th. Time to empty the bench and let Jansen pitch an inning. Think I’ll go pick some tomatoes.
To bad we couldn’t play the Marlins in the WS!
Where is everybody? Looks like they dun r-u-n-n-o-f-t
Interesting stat from yesterday’s game. 8729. The number of fans in attendance. There’s more than that in the head at any given time at Chavez. Why does MLB keep teams in Florida? Give one to Montreal and the other to Brawley.
You could hear a pin drop that’s for sure. After Beaty’s HR when they panned to the dugout you could hear the guys giving him the business because his ball barely made it out. As a matter of fact it hit the top of the wall. Turner’s shot was massive. Looked a lot farther than the 417 feet they say it traveled. Belli’s bomb was a blast too. Smith’s second one was really crushed. By the way, those who predicted that Turner would not hit 20 this year, sorry, he did it last night and has hit 11 in his last 31 games. May looked good and that DP in the 6th kept them from scoring more than 1 off of him. Best stat of the night was Martin’s 9th inning line. 1 inning, 1 hit, no walks and only 3 batters faced. Davis was kidding about Martin having the lowest ERA of any player wearing # 55. A dig at Orel who was not in the booth last night.
At OKC, Lux is hitting .434 with 11 HR’s and 32 RBI’s in 36 games. Pretty impressive. He has 66 hits in 156 at bats and 31 have been for extra bases. Gyorko is hitting .357 in 5 games down there. 1 HR and 5 RBI’s. Which is more than they have gotten out of White. McKinstry, recently promoted from AA is hitting .500 in 9 games. 16-32. Connor Joe, who is now playing the outfield and was returned to the team from the Giants after being claimed as a rule 5 player, is hitting .301. The pitchers down there are not faring well at all. Victor Gonzalez, the young lefty who has moved 3 levels this year has been in 8 games, struck out 9 and walked 3 in 6.2 innings. Watch this kid.
Good to see Seager jack one out. We need his power back. We’re only going as far as Him Belli and Turner take us. They are our post season meat and potatoes. Everyone else is gravy. And some pretty good gravy it is!
How about a little love for AJ Pollock? Got the party started and had 3 doubles. Been a while since a Dodger has done that.
Pollock looks healthy. He’s a stud when he’s not hurting. Stay vertical AJ.
Smith is surprising me. Maybe I had him pegged wrong. I figured after 100 at bats pitchers would have a book on him. He’s got 80 PA’s (71 at bats) and is still OPSn over 1.000.
Can’t wait for Lux to get his feet wet. It’s coming in a couple of weeks. He’s earned it.