Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
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Angels
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Dodgers
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1:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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2B
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Giavotella
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SS
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Rollins
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RF
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Calhoun
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2B
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Kendrick
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CF
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Trout
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1B
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Gonzalez
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1B
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Pujols
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RF
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Ethier
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LF
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Murphy
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C
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Grandal
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SS
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Aybar
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LF
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Crawford
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3B
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Gillaspie
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3B
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Callaspo
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Iannetta
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CF
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Pederson
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P
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Rasmus (R)
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P
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Latos (R)
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Today is the debut of new Dodger Mat Latos. Latos, acquired in the huge trade earlier this week, has a lot to prove. He’s not the super-ace that most people wanted, but there’s a lot to indicate that he’s more of a league-average pitcher than his ERA would indicate. If that’s true, he’ll be a fine addition to this rotation. It’s worth keeping an eye on his velocity in particular. Before spending three weeks on the disabled list with knee issues, his fastball averaged 91.94 mph. Since returning, that average has jumped to 92.62 mph. The velocity has been slowly drifting down in the past few starts, so it’ll be important to see if he reverses that trend.
Today’s Angels’ starter is Cory Rasmus. If that name sounds familiar, there are two reasons. One: he’s Colby Rasmus‘ younger brother. Two: he pitched a scoreless inning of relief against the Dodgers two nights ago. Rasmus is sliding into C.J. Wilson‘s vacant rotation spot, as Wilson is now out for the year due to bone spurs in his pitching arm. Rasmus has three “starts” in the minors this year, but the longest he’s gone is 2-1/3 innings. He also made some spot starts for the Angels last year after Garrett Richards went down, but the longest he made it in those games was four innings. Really, for the Angels, this is a bullpen game. For those insisting that the Dodgers are the only team who does those, there you go.
Joc Pederson is back in today’s lineup, batting eighth. Moving him down in the lineup is fine, but replacing a struggling batter with Jimmy Rollins is, well, questionable. Even before Rollins’ offense cratered this year I wasn’t a fan of him batting leadoff, and his recent hot streak hasn’t convinced me that his troubles are behind him. Yasiel Puig gets the day off.
Jim Johnson and Luis Avilan still haven’t pitched for the Dodgers, but Kenley Jansen has thrown 50 pitches in the last two days and is (hopefully) not available today. Latos probably won’t go as deep into the game as Zack Greinke or Clayton Kershaw did, so there’s a good chance one or both of the new relievers will debut today.
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