Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
To be honest, I haven’t really been paying much attention to the Dodgers for the past week and a half. Between work and the holiday, the Dodgers moved from one of the things I think about most to the back of my mind. Now that things are a bit more settled, I’m back to paying attention, and… wow, this lineup. Was I only “gone” for a week and a half, or did I miss a season or two?
|
Dodgers
|
Angels
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7:05 p.m.
|
Anaheim
|
|||
|
LF
|
Ruggiano
|
RF
|
Calhoun
|
|
|
2B
|
Utley
|
CF
|
Trout
|
|
|
3B
|
Turner
|
DH
|
Pujols
|
|
|
1B
|
Gonzalez
|
1B
|
Cron
|
|
|
RF
|
Van Slyke
|
SS
|
Aybar
|
|
|
SS
|
Seager
|
3B
|
Freese
|
|
|
C
|
Ellis
|
LF
|
Victorino
|
|
| DH |
Guerrero
|
C
|
Ianetta
|
|
| CF |
Heisey
|
2B
|
Featherston
|
|
|
P
|
Kershaw (L)
|
P
|
Heaney (L)
|
Justin Ruggiano? Not only on the Dodgers, but leading off. The Dodgers re-acquired Chris Heisey? Alex Guerrero still exists? Yasmani Grandal is dead*? Corey Seager is starting in place of Jimmy Rollins? This teaches one to not pay attention. Tonight’s lineup almost resembles a post-clinch affair, and to be honest, it’s close to being one anyways.
*not dead, but news wasn’t great either. Alanna Rizzo reports that Grandal has “a lot” of inflammation in his shoulder, though he’ll attempt to play through the condition. This obviously has not been going well so far, and it would be nice to give Austin Barnes a closer look in some low-leverage games.
However, the lineup almost makes sense due to lefty starter Andrew Heaney and the myriad injuries sustained by the Dodger offense. Even though Grandal is hurt, he probably would not start against a southpaw anyways. Ruggiano and Van Slyke both kill left-handed pitching. And, I guess Alex Guerrero has to play at some point? More puzzling is Heisey starting over Joc Pederson. Giving Pederson platoon days off in favor of Enrique Hernandez made perfect sense. Heisey, on the other hand, is a much worse hitter. It’s too early to say if this will continue going forward, but if it does I won’t like it.
Oh, and Clayton Kershaw pitches tonight. He had an extra day of rest due to Mike Bolsinger‘s start last week, but it remains to be seen how many pitches he’ll throw after last week’s 132 pitch outing against the Giants. Kershaw has thrown 132 pitches in a start one other time in his career, against the Nationals on May 14, 2013. His next start (also on five days rest) went just fine, as he threw a 107 pitch complete game, allowing just one run to the Brewers. The rest of that season went okay, too.
