Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers go for their fourth straight win and their 26th win at home this year when they begin the four-game set against New York. The Dodgers have won nine of their last ten games, and they only lost one game on their recent road trip.
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Mets
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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CF
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Conforto |
2B
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Utley | |
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3B
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Rivera |
SS
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Seager | |
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LF
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Cespedes |
3B
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Turner | |
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RF
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Bruce |
1B
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Bellinger | |
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1B
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Flores |
LF
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Taylor | |
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C
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d’Arnaud |
CF
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Pederson | |
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SS
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Reyes | C | Grandal | |
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2B
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Cecchini |
RF
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Hernandez | |
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P
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Wheeler (R) |
P
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Kershaw (L) |
I’ll have to root against a Wheeler tonight when Kershaw (9-2, 2.23 ERA, 3.21 FIP) goes for his tenth win on the season. He’s 8-1 with a 1.49 ERA in 13 career starts against the Mets in the regular season. Kersh continues to lead the NL in ERA (2.23), but his HR/9 (1.21) and HR/FB% (15.9) are high for Kershaw standards.
Zack Wheeler (3-4, 4.48 ERA, 4.36 FIP), of no relation to me, will face the Dodgers for the first time in his career on Monday night. He’s looking for his first win since May 20. Wheeler’s been mostly reliable for the Mets since returning from Tommy John surgery, but the right-hander is coming off of a disastrous outing against the Cubs in New York his last start. The Mets’ woes were exasperated in the 14-3 loss. He allowed eight runs on six hits including two home runs with three strikeouts and three walks on 62 pitches in 1 2/3 innings, the worst start of his career.
Chase Utley and Yasmani Grandal have both homered against Wheeler before they were Dodgers. After a game-saving catch on Father’s Day, Enrique Hernandez gets the start in right field. Yasiel Puig gets some rest. Mets’ darling, Utley, leads off and starts at second base.
Sergio Romo is activated from the 10-day DL, and Josh Fields was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
#Dodgers activate Sergio Romo from DL and send Josh Fields to @okc_dodgers to “reset” after string of rough outings.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 19, 2017
Adrian Gonzalez had another epidural. He will not likely be back before the All-Star Break.
Roberts said it is still “my hope, our hope” that Gonzalez can return before the All-Star break in 3 weeks
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 19, 2017
Also, Kenta Maeda will go back to the bullpen.
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The Mets are tied for second place in the NL East with Atlanta, 12 games back of the first-place Nationals. Plagued with injuries, the Mets have an ever-growing list of disabled players including Noah Syndergaard, Jeurys Familia, Matt Harvey, Tommy Milone, Josh Smoker, Asdrubal Cabrera, David Wright and Juan Lagares just to name a few. Things are pretty bleak right now for the Metropolitans, but we all know they won’t forgo a chance to rough up their recent playoff rival during this series.
The Mets will have to deal with the Dodgers’ dominant bullpen, anchored by Kenley Jansen. Jansen has been historically good this season. Today, Brim wrote about his record-breaking pitching and how he hasn’t even sniffed a 3-0 count this season. The Dodgers’ bullpen leads the NL in ERA (3.11), WHIP (1.11) and strikeouts (276).
