Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The first two games of this series have been just what you’d expect from the National League’s two best teams: Low-scoring, well-played and playoff-like. Today will be more of the same.
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Nationals
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Dodgers
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12:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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SS
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Turner
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CF
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Taylor | |
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LF
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Raburn
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SS
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Seager | |
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RF
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Harper
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1B
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Gonzalez | |
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1B
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Zimmerman |
C
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Grandal | |
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2B
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Murphy |
LF
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Bellinger | |
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3B
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Rendon |
3B
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Forsythe | |
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CF
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Taylor | 2B | Utley | |
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C
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Lobaton |
RF
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Puig | |
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P
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Strasburg (R) |
P
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Kershaw (L) |
Stephen Strasburg and Clayton Kershaw are set to duel under the sun this afternoon. Normally, this would be a feature game on one of the big networks, but it’s 12:10 p.m. start, so that isn’t happening. But this game is, unlike last year. The two pitchers were set to face off in 2016 before Strasburg was scratched on the day with upper-back strain. So, the first matchup of these two aces has waited until today.
Strasburg is having another fantastic season. He owns a 2.91 ERA, 2.64 FIP, a 27.1 K% and just a .206 batting average against. He’s also allowing the lowest percentage of line drives (19.2) since his 2013 campaign (17.5). The 1-2 punch of him and Max Scherzer is something to behold.
The Dodgers counter with Kershaw, who is coming off one of his best starts of the season last time out in Milwaukee (7 IP, 1 R, 14 K). He got 21 whiffs in his 103 pitches. It broke down as such:
- Fastball: 4
- Slider: 9
- Curveball: 8
He’s getting in a groove and could be ready to go on one of those Cy Young-clinching runs he’s famous for. He’s still getting bitten by the home run ball (15.7 HR/FB%, 1.19 HR/9), so that’s something to monitor. This is sure to be a fantastic pitchers’ duel on a Wednesday afternoon.
Adrian Gonzalez is back in the No. 3 spot. One thing’s for certain: The Dodgers have missed Justin Turner in that slot since he went down with the hamstring injury. Chris Taylor leads off with Chase Utley getting moved down to the No. 7 spot. Looks about as good as it can look right now.
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#Dodgers weekend rotation:
Fri — Rich Hill
Sat — Alex Wood
Sun — Hyun-Jin Ryu
Kenta Maeda goes to bullpen "for time being"— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 7, 2017
Maeda will piggyback either Friday or Saturday out of bullpen. Hill is Friday starter. Wood starts Saturday. #Dodgers
— David Vassegh (@THEREAL_DV) June 7, 2017
This makes sense. Kenta Maeda and his fastball-slider-cutter trio could play well out of the bullpen. For the love of God, though, please stop throwing the curveball.
Justin Turner said he felt no issues with his hamstring during his sim game. His activation depends on how he feels in the morning.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) June 7, 2017
Please, please, please be OK, JT.
Pederson still doesn't have full range of motion in neck from collision with Puig and the wall.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 7, 2017
Oof, that doesn’t sound good for Joc.
Not Puig's fault, if you ask me. https://t.co/VCAgUbBQmS
— Mike Oz (@mikeoz) June 7, 2017
This is just odd. There’s no history between Yasiel Puig and the Nats — and especially Koda Glover. So, what was Glover so mad about?
Koda: "Tempers flared a little bit. It is what it is. I don't have any hard feelings towards him. He was staring at me and I didn't like it"
— Dan Kolko (@masnKolko) June 7, 2017
Oh, right. He was staring at you. The all-fucking-mighty Koda Glover. Looks like we’ve got another Madison Bumgarner on our hands.
Max Scherzer now inches away from displacing Kershaw as baseball's #1 starting pitcher. Kershaw's been there forever.
— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) June 7, 2017
Slow your roll, Billy.
