Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
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Mets
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Dodgers
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6:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles, Ca.
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RF
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Granderson
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2B
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Gordon
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2B
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Murphy
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LF
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Crawford
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3B
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Wright
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1B
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Gonzalez
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1B
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Duda
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RF
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Kemp
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C
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d’Arnaud
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CF
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Ethier
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CF
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Lagares
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SS
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Arruebarrena
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LF
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den Dekker
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C
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Butera
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SS
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Flores
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3B
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Rojas
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P
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deGrom (R)
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P
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Greinke (R)
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Game threads are always easy to write when the lineup is strange, and good lord, that lineup. Yasiel Puig gets the night off after Don Mattingly noted a “lack of energy” yesterday. Andre Ethier actually gets a start in his place, just Ethier’s fifth start in the past month. Justin Turner is also getting a night off in favor of Miguel Rojas at third base. Turner is hot, but he hasn’t really ever been an everyday player, and his batting line and “hotness” are inflated by a .381 BABIP which he will not be able to sustain. The trade-off between his slightly above average hitting true talent and near-average defense at third is probably pretty even with Rojas’ elite defense and horrible hitting, or at least close enough to not matter in one game.
When Puig’s night off is combined with the absence of Hanley Ramirez (who might be returning as early as tomorrow), it results in this “punchless” lineup. Erisbel Arruebarrena is batting sixth, and given the players below him that’s probably the right place. The outfield defense isn’t great, either. However, the defense on the left side of the infield is elite and the defense on the right side of the infield is above average. It’s probably close to the best they can do when their two best hitters and a good hitter are sitting.
In the meantime, Zack Greinke will probably have to be on his game in order to support the offense. There haven’t been any updates on the condition of his elbow since his start got pushed back. It’s 2014, The Year of the Elbow. It seems like whatever can go wrong has gone wrong for a lot of pitchers, so yeah, I’m worried.
Speaking of injured pitchers, there’s also this:
Beckett played catch today from a sitting position. No further word on whether he will return from hip injury.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) August 23, 2014
If Josh Beckett is only throwing from a sitting position now, it certainly sounds like he’ll be out for the year. It’s understandable that they aren’t ruling him out for good, but who are they fooling?
With the Mets in town, it’s worth noting that Bartolo Colon is on waivers. When I looked at potential waiver trade options at the beginning of the month, Colon was fourth on the list. I speculated that the Mets did not want to trade him since they hadn’t already, but hopefully that will not stop the Dodgers from putting a claim in. Colon is certainly better than the triumvirate of Dan Haren, Roberto Hernandez, and Kevin Correia. The Giants being able to claim Colon before the Dodgers is a significant obstacle to his acquisition, but if he falls past them the Dodgers need to seize the opportunity.
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