Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
This weekend has been pretty awful for the Dodgers. They were no-hit and Scott Kazmir outdueled Zack Greinke (the latter not nearly as bad as the former). But the Astros are also a good baseball team, so losing isn’t all that surprising. The same can’t be said about today, though.
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Dodgers
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Astros
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11:10 a.m.
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Houston
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SS
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Rollins
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2B
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Altuve
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2B
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Utley
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CF
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Gomez
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3B
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Turner
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SS
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Correa
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1B
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Gonzalez
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3B
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Lowrie
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LF
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Ethier
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DH |
Gattis
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RF
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Puig
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LF
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Gonzalez
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DH
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Crawford
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1B
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Carter
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Ellis
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RF
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Marisnick
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CF
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Hernandez
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C
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Castro
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Clayton Kershaw gets the call as he tries to put an end to the Dodgers’ 4-game losing streak — their second this month after having none in 2014. It should be a banner day for Kershaw, as he leads National League in strikeouts with 212. The Astros end up striking out a lot — 23.8 percent, good for second-highest in baseball behind the Cubs. But they also hit a lot of home runs (168, most in baseball) and Kershaw has a career-worst 11.8 percent home run-to-fly ball rate. But, in his last nine games (arbitrary endpoints!), he has allowed just one home run in 69 (nice) innings.
After getting off to a slow start, Kershaw is showing the stuff that makes him the best pitcher on the planet. He leads MLB in pitching fWAR (5.7), FIP (2.19), xFIP (2.14), FIP- (58), xFIP- (56), SIERA (2.27) and is second in a lot of other categories (K%, K%-BB%, K/9) … you get the point.
The Dodgers need a win today, and there’s no better pitcher on the mound to try to get it for them. Now, if that sluggish offense could give him some run support, that’d be just fine. They have just seven hits and one run in the first two games of the series. The lineup isn’t as strong as it normally is against a right-hander because Yasmani Grandal is out in favor of A.J. Ellis and Joc Pederson gets to watch in favor of Enrique Hernandez and/or Carl Crawford.
Oh no, not this again.
Don Mattingly on playing Kiké Hernandez over Joc Pederson in center: "We feel he gives us a better chance to win." http://t.co/efBsJuouMo
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) August 23, 2015
It’s the same line used when Andre Ethier started ahead of Yasiel Puig in Game 4 of the NLDS last year. I know Pederson is struggling (by some accounts), but he should absolutely be in the starting lineup against all right-handed pitchers. A day off here and there against a left-hander isn’t the end of the world (also because Hernandez crushes lefties). Like everything with this team, baseball, life, there’s probably more than what’s on the surface.
As for Ellis, well, he’s healthy. He hasn’t started since Tuesday in Oakland, and he put on quite a show. He went 1-for-1 with a 3-run home run and four (!) walks. It was the best game of his career by win probability added by a wide margin.
| Date | WPA |
| Aug. 18, 2015 | .716 |
| July 10, 2013 | .429 |
| Sept. 9, 2013 | .380 |
| July 7, 2013 | .367 |
| Aug. 8, 2013 | .339 |
It was quite a performance. And if you’re wondering, his game in Game 1 of the 2014 National League Division Series checked in at a measly .186. So much for “showing up in the playoffs” and all that narrative garbage. A healthy Ellis is a good Ellis to have.
If you want to find any good in the last couple of games, the Dodgers’ bullpen has logged just three innings from three different relievers — and they’ve been a perfect 9-for-9 in retiring hitters. They shouldn’t need to do a whole lot today.
