Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The first three games of this 4-game series against the Pirates haven’t exactly gone as planned. The Dodgers have dropped three in a row, including a Clayton Kershaw start last night.
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Dodgers
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Pirates
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9:35 a.m. PT
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Pittsburgh
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LF
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Hernandez |
SS
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Mercer | |
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3B
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Turner |
1B
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Freese | |
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CF
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Thompson
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CF
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McCutchen | |
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RF
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Puig
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3B
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Kang | |
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2B
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Kendrick |
LF
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Marte | |
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1B
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Van Slyke |
2B
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Harrison | |
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C
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Ellis | RF | Rodriguez | |
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SS
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Taylor |
C
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Kratz | |
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P
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Kazmir (L)
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P
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Liriano (L)
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This morning, Dave Roberts is employing a Jim Tracy “Sunday Special” lineup in hopes of avoiding a sweep on a Monday morning/afternoon. Oy.
Enrique Hernandez, for some reason, is hitting leadoff against Francisco Liriano. Last season, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Hell, before April 15, this wouldn’t have been an issue. But Hernandez is hitting just .203/.299/.458 (thanks in large part to four home runs) against lefties this season. This coming after a season in which he hit .423/.471/.744 against them. His approach is garbage right now, but in spite of that, he’s hitting leadoff. It just doesn’t make sense.
Corey Seager is getting a day off. That’s fine, I guess. But it’s just tough to see the team’s best position player not in the lineup, even against a guy who is as tough on lefties as Liriano is. Oh, and Seager ranks eighth in baseball in fWAR (3.5), and is tops in the National League. Chris Taylor draws the start instead. If Hernandez doesn’t figure things out, perhaps a trip to Oklahoma City is in order, as Taylor is plenty capable of handling shortstop at the Major League level.
Joc Pederson is out against a left-handed starter. In other news, the sun rose today. Yasiel Puig is hitting cleanup for the first time in almost a year and Howie Kendrick is still hitting higher than sixth or seventh, even in this lineup.
I’ve been less than impressed with Roberts and his on-field managerial decisions this season. Thankfully, it can’t get much worse than last night when he had Kershaw intentionally walk Sean Rodriguez. That is a thing that actually happened.
Here’s hoping for a decent performance of out Scott Kazmir today. It’d be great not to get swept, especially with a flight to Milwaukee looming after the game.
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