Dodgers @ Tigers July 9, 2014: Doesn’t Get Much Better Than Greinke Vs Scherzer

Well, there’s some good news today: Miguel Cabrera gets the day off from the Detroit lineup. I’m pretty sure we’ve made this observation more than once over the last year or so, generally when Paul Maholm replaced Clayton Kershaw or with the various shortstops who have filled in for Hanley Ramirez, but it’s hard to think of a bigger downgrade. Cabrera is an obvious Hall of Famer in his prime, and potentially one of the five or ten best right-handed bats to ever live. Kelly has a career line of .230/.292/.339. Good times.

	Dodgers			Tigers
	10:08 a.m. PT			Detroit, Mich.
2B	Gordon		CF	Jackson
RF	Puig		2B	Kinsler
DH	Ramirez		DH	Hunter
1B	Gonzalez		RF	J. Martinez
LF	Kemp		1B	Kelly
CF	Ethier		3B	Castellanos
3B	Uribe		C	Avila
C	Ellis		SS	Suarez
SS	Rojas		LF	Davis

So there’s that, and that should make Zack Greinke happy as he goes up against Max Scherzer in what ought to be one of the more entertaining pitcher’s duels of the season, if also one of the least-viewed games of the year in Los Angeles. That’s mostly due to the obvious SNLA issue, but also because it’s a 10 a.m. Pacific start on a Wednesday. There might be more people in Comerica than actually watching in California.

This might also be the last game on the active roster for either Carlos Triunfel or Clint Robinson, since Carl Crawford is likely to be activated when the Dodgers return home to face the Padres tomorrow. We’ll need to talk about how Don Mattingly is going to work his outfielders into the lineup — and Brim will, tomorrow — but first Crawford has to get back onto the active roster, and those two seem like the likeliest to face the chopping block.

There’s also this note that sounds worse than it is, regarding Josh Beckett, from Bill Shaikin:

Mattingly said Beckett’s hip injury “will not be months and months.” Colletti said he is “hopeful” Beckett can return by end of July.

Obvious jokes about Mattingly’s atrocious track record of predicting injuries aside, do remember that the All-Star break is looming. Beckett will miss a start against the Padres, almost certainly to be taken by Red Patterson, but they do have two additional July days off after the break. They’d need a fifth starter to make at least one additional July start if Beckett can’t, but perhaps not more than that. Of course, who really thinks it’s likely that this rotation looks the same in three weeks? We already know that depth is an issue, that they asked on Jeff Samardzija, and that Ned Colletti pretty clearly desires another pitcher.

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