Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
|
Padres
|
Dodgers
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1:10pm PT
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
|||
|
RF
|
Denorfia
|
2B
|
Gordon
|
|
|
3B
|
Headley
|
LF
|
Crawford
|
|
|
LF
|
Quentin
|
RF
|
Puig
|
|
|
1B
|
Grandal
|
1B
|
Gonzalez
|
|
|
C
|
Rivera
|
CF
|
Ethier
|
|
|
CF
|
Maybin
|
3B
|
Uribe
|
|
|
2B
|
Conrad
|
C
|
Ellis
|
|
|
SS
|
Amarista
|
SS
|
Rojas
|
|
|
P
|
Ross (R)
|
P
|
Ryu (L)
|
Over the last few days, “Dodgers Digest” has become “Dodgers Outfield Digest,” and for good reason. The team is being pretty weird about who it is playing and when. Yesterday three different players were in center field. Today, it’s Andre Ethier‘s turn, at least at first. Matt Kemp is starting the game on the bench, as Carl Crawford gets the start against the right-handed Tyson Ross. I outlined why this isn’t a very big deal earlier this week, and an extra day off here and there for Kemp isn’t the end of the world. Still, one has to wonder what the outfield looks like after the all-star break.
The final starter for the Dodgers before the break is Hyun-jin Ryu, who was lit up by the Tigers earlier this week. Of course, that wasn’t his only bad game of the year. In his third start of the season, the Giants tagged him for eight runs in two innings of work. How did Ryu do in his next start? He threw seven innings of two-hit shutout ball against the Diamondbacks. His velocity was fine last time out, so there isn’t much to worry about injury-wise yet. Still, the extra rest from the all-star break probably isn’t the worst thing in the world for him. His next start is scheduled for July 21st, eight days from now. If nothing else, he’ll be fresh for the second half. Ryu got an even longer period of rest last year (12 days) and was excellent down the stretch.
Meanwhile, Ross is quietly having a pretty good season for the Padres. It’s imperative to adjust Padre pitching numbers for park, but even after doing so he has a better-than-average ERA, FIP, and xFIP. He’s slowly becoming a ground ball specialist as well; he has increased his ground ball rate every year since 2011. This year it is 58.1%, third-highest in the majors among qualified starters. He has significantly reduced his usage of his four seam fastball in favor of his sinker and slider and it appears to be paying off.
The Futures Game is happening concurrently with the major league game today, starting at 2PM pacific time. One has to wonder why MLB doesn’t just make it the Sunday Night game before the All Star Break. Corey Seager, who was just promoted to AA, is batting third for the US team. Julio Urias is pitching fifth for the World team. If you’re interested in watching two games at once, the live stream for the futures game can be found here.
[table id=5 /]