Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Well, that was a road trip. Thanks to the All-Star break and a three-city swing through Washington, Atlanta, and New York, this is the first time the Dodgers have played in Los Angeles since July 12, more than two weeks ago.
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A’s
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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CF
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Burns
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CF
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Pederson
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SS
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Semien
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2B
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Kendrick
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3B
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Lawrie
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1B
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Gonzalez
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1B
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Butler
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C
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Grandal
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LF
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Smolinski
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RF
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Puig
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RF
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Reddick
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LF
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Ethier
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C
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Phegley
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3B
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Callaspo
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Sogard
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SS
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Rollins
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P
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Gray (R)
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P
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Anderson (L)
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The team that returns to Los Angeles… well, it’s not all that different than the one that left. A.J. Ellis is on the disabled list, Carl Crawford is back, and there’s the usual turnover in the bullpen, but this is more or less the same Dodgers team… for now. With Johnny Cueto, Ben Zobrist, Jonathan Papelbon, and Troy Tulowitzki (!!) off the market, you get the feeling that the trade we all expect could come at literally any time.
It won’t come in time to affect tonight’s game, however, and while we should be interested in seeing what Sonny Gray and the Zobrist-less A’s look like, the interesting story is that Alberto Callaspo is playing third after a team day off, not Justin Turner. Why? Well..
Mattingly says that Justin Turner had a bad reaction to an antibiotic on his leg and had to go to ER.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) July 28, 2015
Which sounds bad, but mostly, gross:
Just exchanged texts w/Justin Turner. He had an in grown hair that "blew up" and got infected. He has been at ER for 4 hours
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) July 29, 2015
So if you’re wondering if the Dodgers are going to be a man short tonight, well, yep. That leaves Scott Van Slyke, Enrique Hernandez, Carl Crawford, Alex Guerrero, and backup catcher Austin Barnes on the bench. Of course, the A’s may be as well, with call-up Max Muncy trying to make it to the ballpark to replace Zobrist.
A reminder, also, that this is only a two-game series. Clayton Kershaw faces Jesse Chavez tomorrow, and that’s it before another day off on Thursday. The trade deadline is 1:00 p.m. Pacific on Friday, six hours before the Dodgers welcome the Angels, which means that if everything happens that we think it does, there’s very little Dodger baseball left with this particular roster.
