Brewers @ Dodgers July 11, 2015: OMG BRANDON BEACHY OMG

I’m torn, and you should be too. On the one hand: Brandon Beachy! Cool!  For the first time since Aug. 20, 2013, he’ll be on a big league mound, and he’ll be doing it for the Dodgers. It wasn’t all that long ago that he was a very successful starter, with 275 strikeouts in 267.2 innings. As the Dodgers continue to not really have a fifth starter, here’s someone who’s potentially very interesting.

	Brewers			Dodgers
	7:10 p.m.			Los Angeles
LF	Parra		CF	Pederson
C	Lucroy		2B	Kendrick
RF	Braun		3B	Turner
1B	Lind		1B	Gonzalez
CF	Gomez		C	Grandal
3B	Ramirez		RF	Puig
SS	Segura		LF	Ethier
2B	Gennett		SS	Rollins
P	Jungmann (R)		P	Beachy (R)

On the other hand: Man, those expectations. Beachy had Tommy John surgery on June 21, 2012, then another on March 20, 2014. He’s less than a month into his return, as far as pitching live games goes. To expect him to suddenly step in and be a regular rotation member for the rest of the season, both in terms of health and productivity, well, it’s totally not fair. He might need more time to get his game back. His arm might not stand up to the stress. It made sense then and now to take a low-risk gamble on him, but that’s all it is. You should be holding your breath. I think I’ll be.

He’s also facing a Milwaukee lineup that’s a lot better than it looks. They’re just 22nd in non-pitcher wRC+, but of course that was with Jonathan Lucroy, Scooter Gennett, and Carlos Gomez missing chunks of time. Over the last 30 days, that’s third. Don’t underestimate them, probably. They can really cause some damage.

As for the Dodgers, well, the usual, right? If there’s a usual lineup, this is pretty close to being it. It’s hard to argue with either the players selected or the order they’re in. It’ll be interesting when Carl Crawford returns next week, but for now, this is what it is. It’s fine.

Did anything else happen? Man, I hope not. This post was written and scheduled hours ago. Fingers crossed!

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