Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Okay, I’m confused.
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Dodgers
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Rockies
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12:10 p.m.
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Denver, Colo.
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CF
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Pederson
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CF
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Blackmon
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RF
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Heisey
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2B
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LeMahieu
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1B
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Gonzalez
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RF
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Gonzalez
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2B
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Kendrick
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3B
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Arenado
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3B
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Turner
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1B
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Paulsen
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LF
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Guerrero
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C
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McKenry
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SS
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Hernandez
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SS
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Descalso
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C
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Barnes
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LF
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Barnes
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P
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Nicasio (R)
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P
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De La Rosa (L)
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Starting the first game of today’s split doubleheader in Colorado isn’t David Huff, as became perfectly clear when he entered in relief of Clayton Kershaw last night. It’s not Zach Lee, as we knew when Don Mattingly said it wouldn’t be someone who had never started a game before. (Which makes sense, because… Coors Field.) But it’s also not Joe Wieland, who seemed perfectly positioned to make the spot start.
Instead, it’s… Juan Nicasio. I suppose if the Dodgers have anyone who knows what it’s like to start in Coors Field, it’s Nicasio, who made 69 starts as a member of the Rockies between 2011-2014. Of course, they were mostly poor starts, which is why Colorado DFA’d him and the Dodgers were able to get him for the low-cost price of itdoesntmatterbecauseyoudontremember. (Noel Cuevas.)
Just as we’d hoped when he was acquired, Nicasio has become a very good reliever, seeing a velocity boost and striking out 28 in 21 innings. It’s not that a bullpen game is bad, necessarily, it’s just an odd move to start a doubleheader. It probably won’t matter much, but I’m not certain that Wieland wouldn’t have just been an easier choice, particularly when Don Mattingly expects only 2-3 innings.
Due to the doubleheader, the Dodgers get a 26th player, and so they’ve added reliever Ian Thomas, acquired in the Juan Uribe deal. He made his Oklahoma City debut on Thursday and allowed six earned runs in 2.1 innings, so there’s that. He’ll wear No. 58. Chad Billingsley is sad.
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But wait, there’s more! Yet another injury: Scott Van Slyke, who’s been struggling lately, lands on the disabled list with a sore back. Chris Heisey is back, again, to replace him, but this time it’s different. This will get him to five years of service time, which allows him to refuse his next option, if he wants. That’s not to say he will, because then he wouldn’t get paid, just that he can.
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Austin Barnes gets a start. Happy, everyone? And who wants to bet he’s getting sent down afterwards so some other reliever can magically appear for Game 2? Has anyone seen Daniel Coulombe lately? Something unexpected with Josh Ravin? Or, we all know that a decision has to be made on David Aardsma and his opt-out in the next day or two…
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