Garland Set To Face Old Teammates

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 5:00 PM PDT in Game Previews Comment 36 comments

Photo courtesy of Jon SooHoo / LA Dodgers

Hometown boy Jon Garland makes his Dodger debut tonight, starting against his most recent teammates. I wonder how often signs and signals need to be changed when someone gets traded, especially when he goes directly to the current opponent.

Since the beginning of June, Garland has pitched well, much better than his 4-7 record. He has pitched at least six innings in 16 of his last 17 starts, averaging 6.53 innings per start while putting up a 3.56 ERA and 4.16 FIP during that span.

Garland was originally scheduled to start tonight for Arizona, that is before he was traded to the Dodgers Monday night. Starting in his place for the Diamondbacks is Billy Buckner. Buckner hasn't pitched in the majors since June 26. He was sent to the minors after four bad starts, allowing 26 runs in 18.1 innings, but his last good major league start was at Dodger Stadium on June 1, when Buckner beat the Dodgers with six shutout innings. With Triple A Reno, Buckner was was 7-1 over 11 starts after his demotion, with a 3.15 ERA and 8.44 strikeouts per nine innings.

Buckner told the Arizona Republic a reason for his success in Triple A was the development of a cut fastball. The last time a player got called up to make a start against the Dodgers after raving about a new pitch learned in the minors was Matt Maloney of the Reds, who was battered around on Saturday afternoon.

New Dodger pinch hitter extraordinaire Jim Thome has a balky back, which is why he really can't play first base. However, he's not the only one this series suffering from back issues. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tells the tale of Arizona catcher Chris Snyder, who went on the disabled list over the weekend with a lower back inflammation, and the concerns over a player signed through 2011 after suffering a down year. If Russell Martin himself doesn't provide enough of a cautionary tale of the risks of signing young catchers to a long-term deal, Chris Snyder just might be Exhibit B.

Here are tonight's lineups:

Diamondbacks		Dodgers
2B	Roberts	SS	Furcal
SS	Drew	CF	Kemp
RF	Upton	RF	Ethier
C	Montero	LF	Manny
3B	Reynolds	3B	Blake
1B	Allen	1B	Loney
LF	Parra	2B	Belliard
CF	Young	C	Martin
P	Buckner	P	Garland

**********

Check out Xeifrank's simulation of today's game here.

Don't forget to RSVP for True Blue LA Day at Dodger Stadium, on the next-to-last day of the regular season, October 3 against the Rockies.

Get your guesses in for our today's "One, Two, Three Strikes, You're Out," here.

Game Time: 7:10pm

TV: Prime Ticket

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Comments

Can anyone give me the name of this old cheeseball techno song they play at dodger games?

by Jerry Mumphrey on Sep 3, 2009 5:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=6258571

by Jerry Mumphrey on Sep 3, 2009 5:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

test

by Jerry Mumphrey on Sep 3, 2009 5:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

When I look into Garland eyes, I see a scared kid.

A scared kid not knowing what will happen in the off season. If the big bad Dodgers pick up the mutual option, or even if he will pick up the mutual option. Because you know. Its a mutual option. You got to have an understanding of why its mutual. Is there a mutual trust, or mutual distrust? Can they mutually agree to disagree? These things are very important for Garland to know. He needs to mutually understand about his options, and that’s why he needs to shop at Washington Mutual.*

Which is now Chase banking, creators of some of the worst commercials on TV today.

by Tripon on Sep 3, 2009 5:15 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

?

by matthewmafa on Sep 3, 2009 5:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

It’s referring back to a comment made earlier today…

Well played, Tripon

2009-10 LA Kings Hockey: Where Smyt Happens!!

by DodgerBlueBalls on Sep 3, 2009 5:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just a clarification…

FIP is a pitcher’s ERA without the advantage/disadvantage of defense?

So if a pitcher has horrible defense behind him, his FIP will be lower than his ERA (assuming that defense has caused runs to be scored), and vice versa?

You wanna know how great baseball is? The greatest basketball player ever left his sport to play baseball.

by Jesse Sparks on Sep 3, 2009 5:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Essentially, that is correct. Here is the explanation from Hardball Times:

Fielding Independent Pitching, a measure of all those things for which a pitcher is specifically responsible. The formula is (HR*13+(BB+HBP-IBB)3-K2)/IP, plus a league-specific factor (usually around 3.2) to round out the number to an equivalent ERA number. FIP helps you understand how well a pitcher pitched, regardless of how well his fielders fielded. FIP was invented by Tangotiger.

x-FIP is probably a better indicator of future performance, as it normalizes the HR rate based on flyball rate, but its very hard to calculate on the fly (harder to get flyball rates over weird splits), whereas FIP doesn’t involve as much maneuvering.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:01 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There are a few asterisks missing there…3-K2 should be * 3 – K * 2

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the explanations. Interesting stuff.

After spending the majority of this season reading all the great comments/articles on TBLA, I was finally able to employ some of my learned knowledge to a friend who, after the Thome/Garland trade a couple of days ago, said, “Why would Colletti trade for Garland, he’s got the 5th most losses in the league?!” :)

You wanna know how great baseball is? The greatest basketball player ever left his sport to play baseball.

by Jesse Sparks on Sep 3, 2009 6:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

No problem.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Garrett Gould!!!!!!!

hes pitching today for Ogden!!!!!!!!!!

yesssssssssss im so excited!

by matthewmafa on Sep 3, 2009 6:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

nice ill be sure to follow it

do you know how much he’ll throw?

1 inning . . .2 innings?

by SeanMillerSavior on Sep 3, 2009 6:10 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i have no idea

but if i were to put money on it.. it would be just 1 inning

by matthewmafa on Sep 3, 2009 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That is correct. Gould is pitching right now in the first (first two batters out), and the ump said the next pitcher is warming up in the bullpen for essentially a “start” and will come in in the 2nd inning.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

nice 1-2-3 inning

i missed the 1st batter but he got the 2nd and 3rd batter to flyout…

by matthewmafa on Sep 3, 2009 6:18 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

1st guy grounded out. I missed it too.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:18 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

boo let him go 2

by SeanMillerSavior on Sep 3, 2009 6:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

You can listen in two ways:

Ogden feed: http://asx.aicmail.net/mlb/raptors.asx

Orem feed: http://secure.stretchinternet.com/demo/games.php?user=orem&o=cal_stamp&sd=today

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

1-2-3 inning

groundout, followed by two flyouts.

Welcome to professional baseball, kid!

I heard one MPH mentioned at 91. Announcer also mentioned a couple of hard curves in the dirt, but they were with two strikes so he was trying to go fishing.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:18 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

do you have a scouting report on gould?

by SeanMillerSavior on Sep 3, 2009 6:21 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There’s some stuff in the comments on our draft recap thread here:

http://www.truebluela.com/2009/6/10/904584/dodgers-draft-day-one-recap

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hiroki Kuroda will start Sunday, per Joe Torre on the pregame show.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:10 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

great news...

do you know if its a 6 man rotation? is padilla out or kershaw or billingsley gettting a rest?

by matthewmafa on Sep 3, 2009 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Torre said it would depend on matchups from here to the rest of the season.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I like the idea of a 6 man rotation from hear on out

by SeanMillerSavior on Sep 3, 2009 6:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lidge is once again making the 9th inning interesting.

Runners on 1st & 2nd, 2 outs.

You wanna know how great baseball is? The greatest basketball player ever left his sport to play baseball.

by Jesse Sparks on Sep 3, 2009 6:12 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The Countdown Begins!

Magic Number — 20

by Nofatmike on Sep 3, 2009 6:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Currently the number to clinch the NL West

is 24. To clinch a playoff spot in 23.

The Cardinals have the lowest Magic Number of 19.

Taking a look at all the divisions:
Yankees – 23
Tigers – 25
Angels – 27
AL W/C Boston – 35
Phillies – 23
Cardinals – 19
Dodgers – 24
NL W/C Colorado – 38

by bhsportsguy on Sep 3, 2009 6:38 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

To clinch a playoff spot it is only 20, based on the remaining schedules.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also, the 20 is only to tie for a playoff spot.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:45 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is this the Jon Weisman math thing again.

I thought you debunked that. That math got me confused.

by bhsportsguy on Sep 3, 2009 6:45 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Why does RIOT say differently?

by Nofatmike on Sep 3, 2009 6:42 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

has to do with the fact that Rox and SF play 3 times, meaning one will lose two.

And that Dodgers have 9 of 28 games against those two teams, so each win past 19 is worth 2 in the magic number sense because it would be against one of Col/SF

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:44 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Each win past 19?

Let’s get to 19 first my friend. :)

by bhsportsguy on Sep 3, 2009 6:47 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

In terms of magic numbers I mean.

Rockies are 74-60. If they lose 2 of 3 to SF, they will be 75-62, as would the Giants. Most they could win is 100. Dodgers have 79 wins, so they need 21 to tie.

To get 21, they need at least 1 win against SF or Col, since they only have 19 other games left. That 1 win is also a loss for SF/Col, which means their max wins would be 99, not 100. Meaning the magic number to tie for a playoff spot is 20.

by Eric Stephen on Sep 3, 2009 6:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs