Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
When the Dodgers add Erisbel Arruebarrena, Miguel Rojas and Carlos Frias to the roster tomorrow, as Pedro Moura confirms they will, the Dodgers will have 33 players on the active roster. While that trio isn’t available tonight, I’ve added them to the depth chart anyway. That many blue names in the left column is silly. Baseball is about to get ridiculous. (It will not, however, contain Carlos Triunfel, who was DFA’d to make room for Joc Pederson.)
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Nationals
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Dodgers
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5:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles, Ca.
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CF
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Span
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2B
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Gordon
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3B
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Rendon
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SS
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Ramirez
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RF
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Werth
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1B
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Gonzalez
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1B
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LaRoche
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RF
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Kemp
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SS
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Desmond
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LF
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Van Slyke
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LF
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Harper
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CF
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Puig
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C
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Ramos
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3B
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Uribe
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2B
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Cabrera
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C
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Ellis
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P
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Gonzalez (L)
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P
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Hernandez (R)
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While we can argue about how much Don Mattingly should play Pederson, Yimi Garcia, Alex Guerrero and friends, and in what situations, the point is that he can. He’ll have a 10-man bullpen — more if Paco Rodriguez makes it back — and that will enable him to do all sorts of ridiculous things. Four pitchers in an inning? Sure, why not. This isn’t about Mattingly and his choices; it’s about the rules that baseball allows for. After five months of games played under one set of rules, the final month, arguably containing the most important games, will be under different rules. It’s insane, and it’s certainly not going to make games shorter.
Then again, maybe Mattingly will just be happy to have Chris Perez back, because he’s been pretty clear that the other call-ups shouldn’t expect much time. As he indicated to Ryan Walton, “this isn’t a tryout, we’re here to win games,” and with the Giants, who beat Colorado 4-2 today in the completion of a May suspended game and are currently winning the second game, just two games back, the division is far from over. Whether or not Pederson or any other new Dodger helps the team more than someone who’s been around is an open question — don’t count on Guerrero being seen with a glove very often — but otherwise Mattingly isn’t wrong: Blowing the NL West would be a massive disappointment.
As for tonight, well, the Nationals and Dodgers are tied for the most wins in the National League with 77, so this should be an entertaining series against a team with some very realistic championship aspirations. Yasiel Puig, still in the midst of a slump, has been dropped down to sixth, but otherwise this is the same lineup you’ve come to know and… well, know, I guess. Both of these teams are throwing out arguably their worst starters tonight. That one is Gio Gonzalez and one is Roberto Hernandez probably tells you a lot about how deep the Washington rotation really is.
Tonight’s game will be on MLB Network, though it will be blacked out in Los Angeles.
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