Dodgers @ D’backs Sept. 17, 2016: Brock Stewart’s final start of the season?

Brock Stewart draws what could be final start of the season against the Diamondbacks tonight. He’s starting in place of Bud Norris, who is not a good pitcher.

Dodgers
D’backs
5:10 PM PST
Arizona
2B
Utley
2B
Segura
SS
Seager
SS
Owings
3B
Turner
1B
Goldschmidt
1B
Gonzalez
3B
Lamb
RF
Reddick
C
Castillo
CF
Pederson
RF
Tomas
LF
Toles LF Drury
C
Ruiz
CF
Haniger
P
Stewart (R)
P
Miller (R)

Norris, in 42 innings of work, has a 6.43 ERA and 4.88 FIP since being acquired from Atlanta. His strikeout rate is solid (22.1 percent), but he just doesn’t miss enough barrels to be an effective starter. He might have better luck out of the bullpen, but the odds of him making the postseason roster — at least in this writer’s eyes — are slim.

Stewart faced the D’backs 10 days ago at Dodger Stadium and had himself a solid outing: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R/ER, 2 BB, 1 K. Prior to that, he started against the Cubs on Aug. 28 and had the best outing of his career: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K. Chase Field is a launching pad and Stewart has been bitten by the home run ball in his first 22 MLB innings (five home runs allowed), but he’s riding a couple solid outings and he has the stuff to be effective against a potent Arizona lineup.

That’s a lot of starts by rookies. But this might be his last start because he’s already at 143 innings on the season. His previous career-best is 101 innings, which he reached last season. He is just 24 and a quality pitching prospect, so I wouldn’t expect too many more starts out of him — especially with another starter waiting to be activated.

That pitcher is Brett Anderson, apparently.

Yes, he of the disastrous two starts last month. He started on Friday night for OKC in a playoff game and fared well: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HR. It seems the blister has healed well enough to handle Triple-A hitters, but the big question is will Anderson be at all effective for the Dodgers the rest of this season? That remains to be seen.

More news…

Oh. That’s not good. Kenley Jansen says he’s fine and Dave Roberts says he’s available tonight, but this is still a bit disconcerting. Here’s hoping the Dodgers won’t have to rely on him too much down the stretch (spoiler alert: they will).

Also not great news. Yasmani Grandal has struggled in his last 10 games (.121/.121/.242, 0 BB, 12 K), so perhaps this is the reason why. It could also be a case of arbitrary endpoints. No way to know.

Sorry, Ned, nothing is as gritty as having Mark Ellis, Nick Punto, Skip Schumaker and Michael Young on the same playoff roster.

Finally, this is fun.

Which stems from this…

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About Dustin Nosler

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Dustin Nosler began writing about the Dodgers in July 2009 at his blog, Feelin' Kinda Blue. He co-hosted a weekly podcast with Jared Massey called Dugout Blues. He was a contributor/editor at The Hardball Times and True Blue LA. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with his bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in digital media. While at CSUS, he worked for the student-run newspaper The State Hornet for three years, culminating with a 1-year term as editor-in-chief. He resides in Stockton, Calif.