Dodgers @ Mets July 23, 2015: Welcome to New York

You know, for all the talk about Zack Greinke‘s scoreless inning streak, it’s easy to forget that Clayton Kershaw had one of 41 2/3 last year — and that he’s entering tonight’s game with a 20-inning streak of his own.

Dodgers
Mets
4:10 p.m. PT
New York, N.Y.
CF
Pederson
LF
Granderson
3B
Turner
SS
Tejada
1B
Gonzalez
2B
Flores
LF
Ethier
LF
Mayberry
C
Grandal
3B
Campbell
RF
Puig
1B
Duda
2B
Hernandez
CF
Lagares
SS
Rollins
C
Recker
P
Kershaw (L)
P
Colon (R)

Now, it’s easy to say “with that Mets lineup, a shutout should be guaranteed,” but… well, I don’t really know how to end that sentence. The Mets are without the injured David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud, and Michael Cuddyer, but even still this isn’t a potent offensive team. It’s true that Curtis Granderson has been a lot better than people give him credit for; it’s also true that Lucas Duda has been in a brutal, Joc Pederson-like slump for weeks.

Anyway, I’ll be there, and you probably remember the epic troll job Juan Uribe did on me in 2012 — back before we all loved him — by hitting a homer in my presence in New York, so, so expect Kershaw to give up 7 runs by the third inning because Anthony Recker hit a grand slam, or something.

As to the Dodgers, well, still no news on this weekend’s starters, as expected. But there’s news on tomorrow’s starter, and it’s that Greinke is now unlikely to go as he’s with his wife, who is about to give birth to their first child. On one hand: hey, congrats! On the other: good lord, other than Kershaw and Mike Bolsinger, who is even in this rotation? It’s possible that Greinke could pitch later in the series, but this seemingly guarantees a Zach Lee start. Beyond that.. uh.. hmm. Ian Thomas? Eric Stults? Joe Wieland? Brett Anderson‘s still possible for Sunday, since a throwing session today seemingly went well. Or, hey, a bullpen game!

I won’t pretend that’s not all a mess, because it surely is. But then again, this is an extremely temporary situation. A week from tomorrow, the Dodgers will have at least one new starter, if not two. It won’t be Scott Kazmir, traded today to Houston. But Mike Leake or Johnny Cueto or Cole Hamels or Jeff Samardzija or David Price or someone else will be coming to Los Angeles. Things are going to change. They have to.

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About Mike Petriello

Mike writes about lots of baseball in lots of places, and right now that place is MLB.com.