Cubs @ Dodgers August 2, 2014: The Dodgers, Kind Of

Dan Haren is expected to make his next start against the Angels, says Don Mattingly, per Bill Shaikin. I include it here because it’s a slightly newsy thing coming from the manager, but really I’ve had enough of thinking about Haren for the moment, and anyway, what was Mattingly really expected to say?

	Cubs			Dodgers
	7:10pm PT			Los Angeles, CA
2B	Alcantara		2B	Gordon
LF	Coghlan		1B	Turner
1B	Rizzo		SS	Ramirez
SS	Castro		RF	Kemp
RF	Ruggiano		CF	Van Slyke
C	Castillo		3B	Uribe
3B	Valaika		LF	Crawford
CF	Lake		C	Butera
P	Wada (L)		P	Ryu (L)

Let’s also not think about Josh Beckett going tomorrow, and focus on Hyun-jin Ryu going tonight, as the Cubs get phenomenally lucky by avoiding both Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. It’s a, well, interesting lineup, though. Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig and A.J. Ellis all sit. Justin Turner is playing first base, his first appearance there as a Dodger, and giving him starts at all four infield positions this year. Most importantly, the Dodgers managed to find a way to make Andre Ethier never, ever playing even funnier: Three regulars are out, and he’s still not in. (The Cubs, of course, have lefty Tsuyoshi Wada on the mound, so there’s that, but without Puig in the lineup, Carl Crawford is forced to play. That’ll be fun.)

Gonzalez, despite last night’s sore knee, was scheduled to have the night off anyway, and he and Puig are both available to pinch-hit. Ellis, clearly banged up, might not play tomorrow either. Hooray, injuries!

* * *

As expected as soon as we heard about Paul Maholm‘s knee injury, the veteran lefty has been placed on the disabled list, and Paco Rodriguez has been recalled. Like I said, it’s bad form to be happy about an injury. That said, I’m not sure that the bullpen isn’t better today than it was yesterday.

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