Dodgers @ Reds August 27, 2015: Baseball With Your Coffee

Some things are just all too predictable. Yasmani Grandal is back in the lineup, and so is Andre Ethier, and so is Joc Pederson. (So much for getting Carl Crawford one start per series, I guess, though two lefties messed with that, and Alex Guerrero is presumably off on a fishing trip.)

So, we proceed endlessly with the “did Pederson get benched or is this just a platoon thing,” which won’t really be answered until this weekend against the Cubs, when the Dodgers face righties Jason Hammel and Jake Arrieta around lefty Jon Lester. (Side note: damn, that’s a pretty impressive trio, Cubs.)

What is mildly surprising, I guess, is that both Chase Utley and Justin Turner are in the lineup. Neither player is considered especially durable these days, and they’ll have started all three games of this series. Obviously Monday was a day off so there was that, but the team has a long flight home tonight before welcoming the Cubs tomorrow and the Giants on Monday — they don’t have another day off until Sept. 10 — and presumably one or both will need a watch one from the sidelines. You’d have thought a getaway day road game against a lesser opponent would have been the place to spot Guerrero or Enrique Hernandez in the infield, but, apparently not. Should be interesting to see how that shakes out.

In other news, old friend Skip Schumaker is hitting leadoff for the Reds, as he did 15 times for the Dodgers in 2013. In parts of two seasons for Cincinnati, he’s hitting .227/.289/.301. On the other hand, Jimmy Rollins continues to hit atop the lineup for the Dodgers, and while we did recently note that he’s been hitting better lately, that’s been more about improved power than anything. Since the All-Star Game, Rollins’ slugging percentage is .437, which is good for a shortstop. His OBP is .297, which is both not great for a leadoff man and part of a season-long trend.