Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
James Loney hit a grand slam in the Dodgers Alumni Game that is currently taking place. This brings back good memories, but it also makes me feel old. James Loney in an alumni game? Time comes for us all.
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Phillies
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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LF
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McCutchen |
1B
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Freese | |
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SS
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Segura |
3B
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Muncy | |
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RF
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Harper |
LF
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Taylor | |
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1B
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Hoskins |
RF
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Bellinger | |
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C
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Realmuto |
2B
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Hernández | |
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CF
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Kingery |
SS
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Seager | |
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2B
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Hernandez | CF | Verdugo | |
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3B
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Franco |
C
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Smith | |
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P
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Álvarez (L) |
P
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Kershaw (L) |
Meanwhile, Clayton Kershaw gets the start for the Dodgers today. There’s a pretty good argument to be made that Kershaw was the Dodgers’ worst starter in the month of May, where he gave up a 4.22 ERA in 32 innings with a matching FIP. The issue, as ever, has been the home run ball, but he has also been missing fewer bats as the season progresses. His velocity actually ticked up slightly in May, but he has been lacking the sharp location he showed earlier in the year. As a result he has been striking out batters at a league average clip. His lack of walks has prevented his recent results from being a complete disaster, but he’ll be looking to improve his command if he wants to return to dominance.
Kershaw will be facing the Phillies bullpen. Lefty Jose Alvarez will get the start for the Phillies, but he only figures to pitch an inning or two. This is probably an “opener” situation in front of Cole Irvin, who has started three games this season and is available tonight. Irvin throws a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, slider, and change. The fastballs top out around 90, and he only throws them about half of the time. This is the type of contact pitcher that the Dodgers should theoretically feast on, but they struggled against Jason Vargas the other day so who knows.
A lefty opener means the Dodgers’ lineup today is weird, with David Freese leading off, Chris Taylor batting third, and Corey Seager moved down to sixth. Justin Turner is out of the Dodgers’ lineup for the third game in a row, and the club has remained silent about the seriousness of his potential hamstring injury. It seems less than ideal.
