Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
I feel like game threads aren’t usually news dumps, yet here we are. What’s happened today:
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Angels
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Dodgers
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7:10pm PT
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Los Angeles, CA
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LF
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Calhoun
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2B
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Gordon
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CF
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Trout
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CF
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Puig
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1B
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Pujols
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1B
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Gonzalez
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RF
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Hamilton
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SS
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Ramirez
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SS
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Aybar
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RF
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Kemp
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2B
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Kendrick
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LF
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Ethier
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3B
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Freese
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3B
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Uribe
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C
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Conger
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C
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Ellis
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P
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Richards (R)
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P
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Greinke (R)
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— Carlos Frias, recalled earlier when Chris Perez went on the disabled list, will wear #77, the first Dodger to do so since Joe Medwick back in 1941. (!) Frias does have experience pitching long relief in winter ball, and is expected to do the same with the Dodgers… probably. Don Mattingly indicated that Josh Beckett and Dan Haren would still start, and that Frias would step in only if “something happens” to Beckett or Haren, and maybe that’s true. I’m not sure I’m convinced.
— Perez, probably making this all up as he goes, first told Mattingly about his ankle pain after yesterday’s game, but also said he’s had pain in the ankle for months. Maybe that’s just a convenient excuse for his ineptitude; I don’t know. I almost hope that it is, because you know how I feel about players trying to “tough it out,” which never, ever works out.
— Remember Chone Figgins? He’s been on a rehab stint in Albuquerque basically forever, and that ends tomorrow. At that point, the Dodgers will need to add him to the roster or DFA him, and it sounds like the latter is more likely. That’s fine, really; Miguel Rojas is more valuable because he’s a better fielder who can play shortstop, and the Dodgers probably want to add Darwin Barney at some point soon anyway. Figgins will absolutely clear waivers and just go to Albuquerque, likely to return in September. And if someone claims him? That’s fine too.
— Matt Kemp won the NL Player of the Week award; Clayton Kershaw won his second consecutive NL Player of the Month award. With Andrew McCutchen likely out for a few weeks, seemingly due to the cowardice of the Diamondbacks, and Troy Tulowitzki both injured and playing on an atrocious Rockies team, suddenly the two frontrunners for NL MVP may be… Kershaw and Yasiel Puig. That’s fun.
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Phew! After all of that, there’s actually a game tonight, and it’s a really fun one. The Angels are only a game behind Oakland for the best record in baseball; make no mistake, this is a really, really good team, and that’s in no small part due to tonight’s starter, Garrett Richards, blossoming into a full-fledged ace. Of course, Mike Trout is still the best player in baseball, and Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols have had nice comebacks from last year’s disasters. They’ve also totally rebuilt their bullpen by adding Huston Street, Jason Grilli, and Joe Thatcher, and if you want to say this is a “World Series preview,” well, maybe it is. It should be fun either way.
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