Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The moment you’ve been waiting for since … well, Monday … has arrived: Yu Darvish (4.01 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 3.06 DRA) is making his Dodgers (76-32) debut. He’ll be squaring off against New York staff ace, Jacob deGrom (3.29 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 2.91 DRA), one of the sole bright spots on a struggling Mets (49-57) team.
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Dodgers
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Mets
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4:10 PM PT
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New York
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LF
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Taylor |
CF
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Conforto | |
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SS
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Seager |
3B
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Cabrera | |
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3B
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Turner |
1B
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Bruce | |
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1B
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Bellinger |
LF
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Céspedes | |
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CF
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Pederson |
RF
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Granderson | |
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C
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Grandal |
2B
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Walker | |
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2B
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Utley | SS | Rosario | |
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RF
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Puig |
C
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d’Arnaud | |
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P
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Darvish (R) |
P
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deGrom (R) |
Let’s go ahead and get the negative out of the way: Darvish has not pitched in a game since July 26, and his final start before being traded was the worst of his entire career, as he allowed 10 earned runs in just 3.2 innings pitched against Miami. But disaster starts happen, and besides that, Darvish has had a mostly solid season. In his start prior to that, he struck out a season-high 12 batters in eight innings of three-run ball. Fifteen of his 22 starts this year have qualified as quality. His strikeout rate of 26.2% would be the lowest mark of his career, but it’s still well above league average (while his walk rate is just better than league average).
If you want some more in-depth analysis of Darvish, our own Dustin Nosler has you covered. Prior to the trade, Dustin examined Darvish’s value as a trade target. Dustin also wrote earlier today about Yu Darvish’s impressive pitch arsenal, complete with lots of fun GIFs. To put it briefly, though: Darvish is an accomplished pitcher with filthy stuff, and while this season has been his weakest so far, he’s still a very good pitcher whose presence makes the Dodger rotation much better.
Looking at the Mets’ side of things, deGrom has been nothing but very good since his Rookie of the Year debut season in 2014. He’s a formidable opponent (as you’ll likely remember from the 2015 NLDS), and he’s been on an especially impressive run of late. In his past nine starts, deGrom has a 1.73 ERA in 67.2 IP, with opposing hitters batting just .185/.228/.311 against him. This will be his first time facing the Dodgers since May of last year (a seven-inning, two run effort in L.A., and a seven-inning, one-run effort in New York).
As for tonight’s Dodger lineup, I’m not saying I think Chase Utley is in tonight’s lineup (over Logan Forsythe) because he’s hit .294/.373/.555 at Citi Field in his career, but I’m not not saying that, either.
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It seems some guy named Sandy Koufax is in house for Darvish’s first start as a Dodger:
Sandy Koufax making a Dodgers clubhouse visit at Citi Field.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) August 4, 2017
That’s pretty cool.
A roster update:
Dodgers claim RHP Dylan Floro from Cubs and option him to AAA. To create room on 40-man roster, Franklin Gutierrez transferred to 60-day DL.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 4, 2017
Waiver wire fever: catch it.
