Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Baseball at 9 a.m. reminds me of Little League. But this morning, Clayton Kershaw takes on the Braves as the Dodgers are trying to win the series.
They came from behind on Wednesday night to even the series. Adrian Gonzalez hit his second home run of the season (and just the Dodgers’ ninth) and the team scored two in the 10th to go on to victory.
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Dodgers
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Braves
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9:10 a.m. PT
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Atlanta
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2B
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Utley
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SS
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Aybar
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SS
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Seager
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2B
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Castro
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1B
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Gonzalez
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1B
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Freeman
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CF
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Pederson
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3B
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Garcia
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RF
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Thompson
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C
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Flowers
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LF
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Hernandez
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RF
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Francoeur
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C
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Ellis
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LF
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Stubbs
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3B
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Culberson
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CF
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Smith
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P
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Kershaw (L)
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P
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Wisler (R)
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Kershaw is coming off a good-not-great outing last time out, and it’ll be interesting to see how he handles an early morning game. I’m guessing he’ll be just fine.
Corey Seager‘s series has been interesting. While it isn’t showing up in the box score, he’s having solid at-bats. He had home run distance on a couple of fly balls that ended up being foul, but he’s just 2-for-20 in his last five games. It’s a mini-slump, but nothing he can’t figure out. He has struggled on the defensive side for seemingly the first time of his career, and he has errors in back-to-back games. Perhaps a day off at some point will do him some good, but that won’t happen today.
After the first three hitters, the lineup looks significantly different for this morning game. Birthday boy Joc Pederson is getting his first-ever start as a cleanup hitter, while Trayce Thompson is giving Yasiel Puig a day off. Charlie Culberson is in for Justin Turner, who like Seager, has also struggled a bit of late (and for most of the season, really).
In roster and injury news, Pedro Baez took a ball off the back of his head yesterday and was unavailable to pitch last night. But apparently, he’s feeling better today.
Good news on Pedro Baez. He said he feels fine and can pitch today. Tests last night and this morning ruled out a concussion.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) April 21, 2016
Yay? Seriously, it’s good to see he’s OK.
Louis Coleman is dealing with a family issue & may not be with team in CO. Luis Avilan is on his way here.
— AlaNNa Rizzo (@alannarizzo) April 21, 2016
Hope everything works out OK for Louis Coleman. Here’s hoping Luis Avilan figured out his issues while with Oklahoma City (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K).
Scott Van Slyke‘s back injury is a bit more severe than previously believed. He was, originally, thought to come back for the weekend series with the Rockies, but now he’s probably a few weeks away (at least). That’s good news for all the guys filling the left field void at present. The Dodgers will probably continue to see Howie Kendrick out there while Van Slyke is out. That is, at least if Chase Utley is still hitting well. But it’d also be nice if Kendrick started to hit a bit better.
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