Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Coming into the season, the NL West was expected to primarily be a race between the Dodgers and Giants. It’s still quite early, of course, but both of the favored teams have gotten off to slow starts. While the Dodgers (currently 9-10) have not looked very good, the Giants have somehow looked worse — and that was true even before they lost Madison Bumgarner for six to eight weeks. Through 19 games, the Giants are 6-13, last in the division and the worst in the National League.
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Dodgers
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Giants
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7:15 p.m.
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San Francisco
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LF
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Toles
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RF
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Pence | |
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SS
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Seager
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1B
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Belt | |
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3B
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Turner
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LF
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Núñez | |
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C
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Grandal |
C
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Posey | |
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1B
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González |
SS
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Crawford | |
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RF
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Puig |
3B
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Arroyo | |
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2B
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Utley | 2B | Panik | |
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CF
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Hernández |
CF
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Stubbs | |
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P
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Ryu (L)
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P
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Cain (R)
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Today’s starting matchup features two pitchers who have somewhat struggled thus far. In three 2017 starts, Hyun-Jin Ryu has posted a 5.87 ERA, a 6.94 FIP, and a 1.500 WHIP; the Dodgers have lost all three games. Most alarmingly, Ryu’s allowed six home runs in just 15.1 innings pitched. Brim wrote about Ryu’s fastball problem following his last game, and it’s worth a read if you want to know what to be watching for tonight (you might also want to check out Chad’s post from earlier today on Kenta Maeda‘s fastball problem).
Matt Cain‘s ERA of 3.31 doesn’t look so bad, but his peripheral stats are less promising. In three starts, he has a 5.29 FIP and a 1.408 WHIP. In Cain’s most recent effort, he pitched seven innings of one-run ball against the Royals. In his prior two starts, though, he did not make it past the fifth inning.
The Giants lineup features two guys who were just called up today from Triple-A, Christian Arroyo and Drew Stubbs. Arroyo is the Giants’ 2013 first-round draft pick and their second-highest ranked prospect, per MLB.com (number one amongst position players). This will be his major league debut. Arroyo has primarily played at shortstop in the minors, but since that role is occupied by Brandon Crawford, he will instead start at third base.
With four games in San Francisco, it is highly likely that Sergio Romo will appear at some point, making it his first time pitching at AT&T Park in a Dodger uniform. Drama! (Shameless plug for my three-part series on Giants who became Dodgers: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3)
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After exiting yesterday’s game early with groin tightness, Joc Pederson is headed to the disabled list (and Brett Eibner is back):
Today, the #Dodgers placed Joc Pederson on the 10-day DL with a right groin strain and recalled Brett Eibner from Triple-A @okc_dodgers.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 24, 2017
Looking ahead, Julio Urías is now set to start Thursday instead of Maeda, per J.P. Hoornstra:
Source: Julio Urias starts for the Dodgers on Thursday.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) April 24, 2017
Maeda will instead be starting on Friday:
Kenta Maeda has been pushed back to Fri.
Dave Roberts won't say Julio Urias is starting Thursday. But Julio Urias is starting Thursday.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) April 25, 2017
