Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers will close out their season series (which they lead 10-8) with the Giants today looking to complete the series win. They’ll send Clayton Kershaw to the mound. He’ll be opposed by Chris Stratton, who has throw six or more innings in four of his last six starts.
|
Giants
|
Dodgers
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1:10 p.m.
|
Los Angeles
|
|||
|
CF
|
Hernandez |
CF
|
Taylor | |
|
2B
|
Tomlinson |
SS
|
Seager | |
|
1B
|
Posey |
1B
|
Bellinger | |
|
RF
|
Pence |
RF
|
Granderson | |
|
C
|
Hundley |
3B
|
Forsythe | |
|
SS
|
Crawford |
2B
|
Utley | |
|
3B
|
Sandoval | C | Grandal | |
|
LF
|
Williamson |
LF
|
Pederson | |
|
P
|
Stratton (R) |
P
|
Kershaw (L) |
This will be Kershaw’s penultimate start of the season. In his last outing, he gave up the first grand slam of is career when he hung a slider to Aaron Altherr. Other than that, he looked pretty good. These last two starts will be a tune up for his Oct. 6 start in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
Kershaw still has a chance to claim the NL Cy Young Award, but after his last outing, things got increasingly tougher. Max Scherzer and Zack Greinke have also sputtered in recent outings, so Kershaw would probably have to throw two shutouts with 10-plus strikeouts in each for that to happen (and it still might not be enough). If it were any other pitcher, I’d give him no chance, but we all know how great Kershaw has been in his career.
Yasiel Puig did a dumb thing last night, and it resulted in an twisted ankle. Not exactly great timing as we’re 12 days out from the first game of the postseason. He said he’s OK, so that’s good. Still, it’s not surprising seeing him get the day off today. Oh, and Dave Roberts had something to say about that today.
Roberts indicated that Puig's benching was related to more than one incident. The irritation has built up, apparently.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 24, 2017
Dave Roberts on the not having Puig in the lineup today:
"It's important the guys I put in the lineup that I can trust them."— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) September 24, 2017
Tough love, I guess. Hopefully this is a bit of a reset for Puig.
Justin Turner remains out after taking a pitch off his hand. The rest of the lineup looks just fine. Hopefully it can score against Stratton.
——
Seems like only yesterday.
It's been 52 Sundays since Vin Scully made his official Dodger Stadium broadcasting farewell … https://t.co/qCIDSaxBXY
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) September 24, 2017
Dodgers rotation for the Padres:
Darvish
Wood
Hill— JT (@ThatDamnJosh_) September 24, 2017
Not surprising.
Dave Roberts said he would have an issue if a player knelt during National Anthem. He referenced his father, who was a 30-year Marine vet.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 24, 2017
Roberts said he respected each player's individual right to make a statement, but hoped the individual was "educated" on the reasons for it.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 24, 2017
I’m pretty sure these athletes aren’t kneeling just to kneel. It’s important and I’m glad to see it happening more frequently and in more numbers. Roberts, as he said about the players, is entitled to his opinion on the matter. It isn’t about disrespecting the military, soldiers, or anything like that. It’s easy to see how it can be construed that way, but that isn’t the purpose of this silent, peaceful protest.
Nameplate above the locker has "Nomo" taped over Brandon McCarthy's name, a nod to a new hesitation at the top of his windup like Hideo's.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) September 24, 2017
Brandon McCarthy debuted a new hesitation in his delivery last night, and his teammates had fun with it.
