Dodgers @ Mets May 29, 2016: Kershaw vs Bartolo

	Dodgers			Mets
	5:05 p.m. PT			New York
2B	Utley		RF	Granderson
SS	Seager		SS	Cabrera
3B	Turner		LF	Cespedes
1B	Gonzalez		2B	Walker
RF	Puig		CF	Lagares
CF	Pederson		3B	Flores
LF	Kendrick		C	Plawecki
C	Ellis		1B	Campbell
P	Kershaw (L)		P	Colon (R)

The rubber game of this exciting Mets vs Dodgers series features the 2015 walk rate leader against the 2016 walk rate leader (Bartolo Colon vs Clayton Kershaw). Kershaw’s 1.8% walk rate leads baseball by over a full percent. Kershaw would have to walk four straight batters at the start of the game to fall behind Josh Tomlin for second place and six straight to fall into third behind Noah Syndergaard. So far in May, Kershaw has allowed three runs in 42 innings (0.64 ERA). He’s struck out 55 batters, walked two, and has three complete game shutouts. The Dodgers are hoping for similar longevity tonight after the bullpen was forced to work four innings following Kenta Maeda‘s early departure.

Hyun-jin Ryu won’t be back for awhile. It’s not surprising, but he has been shut down due to soreness after his latest rehab start. Ryu was slowly building his velocity back over the three starts he had thrown so far, though it was still well below where he was at the end of the 2014 season. I wouldn’t recommend reading the replies to any national writer’s tweets about Ryu – turns out there’s a lot of idiots out there. Apparently being injured like this is a choice (???).

Trayce Thompson is out of the lineup today after he left yesterday’s contest with a back problem. Howie Kendrick is back in left, though his markings in the outfield may not be. No word on the lasers (what a strange controversy). Alex Guerrero‘s decision time is also coming soon; his rehab assignment is officially over. He didn’t hit at all in his extended minor league stay and he’s fully redundant with several roster pieces so it’s hard to imagine the Dodgers finding a way to squeeze him on the roster unless Thompson needs to go to the DL.

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