Dodgers Try For Ten In Rematch With Padres
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 4:01 PM PDT
in Dodgers Game Previews
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PrintThe Dodgers go for their 10th win in a row tonight, in the start of another two game series, this one with the first place Padres. As the Dodgers attempt a perfect 10, it is worth noting that Bo Belinsky, Derek Lowe, and Derek Thompson have played home games at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are 10-4 in these early season "squeeze week" back-to-back two-game series since the beginning of 2007.
Tonight is a pitching rematch from Friday night in San Diego, with Ramon Ortiz facing Jon Garland. Carlos Monasterios hasn't pitched in a week, so expect him to be the first reliever up in the bullpen. Garland has made four career starts at Dodger Stadium, all of which came last season. Garland allowed six total runs in 27 innings at Chavez Ravine, and the Dodgers won all four games. May that streak continue tonight.
The Dodgers are 12-3 against the NL West this season, and have won 11 of their last 15 games against the Padres at Dodger Stadium. A Dodger win tonight coupled with a Giants' loss in Arizona would mean a share of first place for the Dodgers for the first time this season.
Double Triple
Since the beginning of the 2000 season, there have been almost twice as many triples hit in Dodger road games (396) than in Dodger home games (212). I can't remember Dodger Stadium ever being a friendly park for triples, which makes Blake DeWitt's Monday all the more rare. DeWitt had two triples, the 19th such game for the Dodgers since they moved to Los Angeles. However, only five of those games have been at Dodger Stadium. In fact, there have only been 11 games ever at Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962, in which a player hit two triples:
| Two Triple Games at Dodger Stadium | |||
| Player | Date | Team | Opp |
| Blake DeWitt | Monday | LAD | HOU |
| Rafael Furcal | 6/13/07 | LAD | NYM |
| Jason Repko | 9/26/05 | LAD | PIT |
| Mark Grace | 5/18/92 | CHC | LAD |
| Craig Reynolds |
9/19/85 | HOU | LAD |
| Steve Sax | 6/29/84 | LAD | CHC |
| Bill Russell | 8/5/70 | LAD | ATL |
| Ken McMullen | 7/7/65 | WAS | CAL |
| Pete Ward | 4/11/63 | CHW | LAA |
| Jim Fregosi | 9/23/62 | LAA | CLE |
| Bob Tillman | 8/15/62 | BOS | LAA |
The Angels played their home games in Dodger Stadium from 1962 to 1965, after a year at the Coliseum, back when they had legitimate reason to call themselves the Los Angeles Angels.
Notes
- Tonight is the 20th straight start at catcher for Russell Martin, the 16th such streak (or 17th, if you count Mike Scioscia's strike-assisted 1981 streak) in LA Dodger history. Only Jason Kendall, who started 21 straight games for the Royals from April 20 to May 12, has a longer streak of consecutive catcher starts than Martin this season.
- Jack Moore of Fangraphs takes a stab at evaluating Andre Ethier and his replacements in right field
- Chad Moriyama of Memories of Kevin Malone has notes on Dodger prospects at Inland Empire and Great Lakes
- James Van Der Beek is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch tonight
- Manny Ramirez has 15 hits in 30 career at-bats with four doubles, three home runs, and 10 walks, and is hitting .500/.625/.933 in his career against Garland
- Detroit's rainout in Chicago Monday night affected their rotation such that their ace Justin Verlander pitches tonight in Oakland, meaning the Dodgers will miss him during this weekend's series at Dodger Stadium. Now they don't have to worry about Verlander's 102 mph fastball in the ninth inning
Lineups
| Padres | Dodgers | |||
| RF | Venable |
C |
Martin | |
| 2B | Eckstein |
RF | Johnson | |
| 1B | Gonzalez |
LF | Manny | |
| 3B | Headley |
CF | Kemp |
|
| LF | Stairs | 1B | Loney | |
| C | Torrealba |
3B | Blake |
|
| CF |
Gwynn | 2B | DeWitt | |
| SS | Cabrera |
SS | Carroll | |
| P | Garland | P | Ortiz |
|
Xeifrank's simulation of today's game is here.
Game Time: 7:10pm
TV: Prime Ticket
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Comments
BTW
This is way premature but I just want it to be known, I want Laker fans to be able to say to Paul Pierce after Game 2 of the Finals, see you next season.
Hopefully they will be able to relay the message to the helicopter medivac-ing him to the hospital after he stubs a toe
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 4:05 PM PDT up reply actions
I'm really rooting for Boston to finish off Orlando
I’d like to see LA destroy them
/DonNelson
Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man
THATS the guy!
I couldn’t remember his name but I did remember that we had an older Korean Saitoesque reliever that was nails last year at AAA. No chance he comes up to bolster the pen (which is already pretty damn good again)
he has already made appearances in AAA
although he had only thrown a couple of innings. It’s a little strange for a 39 year old to be “promoted” this late
by Brandon Lennox on May 19, 2010 5:29 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh man . . .
if the boys in blue sweep the Padres again then they’ll be in first place!!!
Provided the Giants don’t pee in our beer and also win out over the next two days.
Pitcher vs. Pitcher rematches
Last season, the Dodgers had four rematch games (in which both teams’ starters pitched against one another in consecutive starts):
Apr 19 (W) & Apr 25 (W) vs Colorado: James McDonald vs. Ubaldo Jimenez
Aug 1 (L) & Aug 6 (W) vs Atlanta: Randy Wolf vs. Derek Lowe
Aug 2 (W) & Aug 7 (L) vs Atlanta: Chad Billingsley vs Jair Jurrjens
Sep 12 (W) & Sep 18 (L) vs San Francisco: Vicente Padilla vs. Jonathan Sanchez
Haeger......
Do we want this guy to come off the DL? I wanted to like him….I swear.
by Tommy Told Me To Bleed Blue on May 19, 2010 4:58 PM PDT reply actions
Awww I like Haeger too.
His first start was so promising!
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
apparently USS Mariner is having a heated debate
I think this is what happens when you think you are getting one thing (a GM who gets it) and then he turns out to be not too different than the rest
so better to have a GM who does weird things
but to understand the weird reasoning he has behind them?
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
No Madz
i just think that no GM is going to ignore public relations and the types of things that some hope they would put aside for the sake of the team. But again, putting together a 25 man roster may not be as easy as just putting the best 25 guys on the team.
I defer to Xeifrank on analysis of the sixth-ranked organization in baseball.
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 5:08 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I did read somewhere
so that makes what I write valid.
That the Mariner GM was not at all pleased at the plaudits being given his team, he thought they were a little to generous in their predictions of success this year.
But seriously, it’s a combination of a few things imo. They were way over-hyped. They were a .500 team at best. A few players like Figgins (and the whole rest of the infield) are playing poorly and will surely improve. Bradley got hurt and they missed his bat at DH. The bullpen is not as good as people thought. And the season is still early – none of the teams in their division are very good either. I hate to kick teams and their fans when they are down and I tend to quietly root for a few other teams that are sabermetrically inclined (Tom Tango works for them as a consultant), but the cockiness of their blogs (both LL and USSM) have given me a stealth since of happiness in their crappy play thus far.
Good summary
I just wanted to point out that your comment didn’t contain a subject line :)
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 5:27 PM PDT up reply actions
Not just the Mariners, IMO
Most of the saberist guys are like that. :D
Dave/MGL/Etc, not exactly the most understanding dudes. Sorta feed the stereotype a bit.
by Chad Moriyama on May 19, 2010 5:31 PM PDT up reply actions
Ok, I'm sure this has been beaten into the ground previously
but what’s the consensus about getting Cliff Lee near the trade deadline? Waaaaay too expensive?
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
And also probably not needed...
Just to be clear, I’ve never been on the “WE NEED AN ACE NOW” train, I’m just curious to see what you infintely more knowledgeable people think and how much furor I should expect in the next few months when we haven’t made any moves for any “established” aces (which we won’t because we have ELY!!!).
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
Lee is the type of pitcher
the Dodgers would get IMO because he won’t cost as much in terms of money. Lee is making $9 million, so you are talking about adding about $3.15 million if acquired on July 31 (compared to ~$23.2m left on Oswalt’s contract at the same point).
He would of course cost a lot in terms of prospects but it’s the type of deal I don’t think the Dodgers would have a problem making.
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 6:04 PM PDT up reply actions
Make it happen Mr. Colletti
Clear out AAA – McDonald, Elbert, Lindblom, Hu, DeJesus, Hoffman and throw in the PCL TCT John Lindsey to boot.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
If Colletti Tries to Make A Trade For A Starting Pitcher...
…my low opinion of him will just sink lower. No Lee, no Oswalt. And I am surprised at Phil thinking any Lee deal could be done for prospects whose stocks are doing nothing but falling.
by CanuckDodger on May 19, 2010 6:32 PM PDT up reply actions
Is there really a problem?
Quite good trades so far and signings made sense. Dunno.
The problem is that Mariners fans think they’re going somewhere THIS YEAR, and so they think Sweeney and Griffey should be off the team, but for PR purposes, it doesn’t quite work that way. Hell, even Ichiro might not be happy about Griffey leaving.
Not letting Griffey go is a bit different situation than say…not letting Garret go.
by Chad Moriyama on May 19, 2010 5:28 PM PDT up reply actions
What raised expectations was when they dealt for Cliff Lee
Otherwise, I think just adding Figgins, etc. would leave their fan base as optimistic. Lee, however, especially in the last year of his contract, made them believe that the AL West was surely theirs.
2nd year of contract, 3 dollars in my league
fuck yeah :o
by Chad Moriyama on May 19, 2010 5:46 PM PDT up reply actions
In other news
The Dodgers are tied for the last in MLB with the fewest HRs from their starting left fielder.
Russell Martin...
…the new Scott Proctor.
by Little Blue Bicycle on May 19, 2010 5:47 PM PDT reply actions
I thought that was Troncoso
Rudimentary creatures of flesh and blood, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.
Russell Martin
is the new Troncoso?
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
Great News that Jonathon
Moxon is throwing out the first pitch tonight. I hope that drunk woman in Varsity Blues is out there screaming “You can do it, Johnny!”
DeWitt made have been unique with those two triples but man they were gifts from the Gods
He can only live with the burst to his slug% for so long before he actually has to hit the ball hard somewhere.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Reed Johnson
has 12 starts this season, before tonight.
10 of the previous 12 have come against LHP starters. The only two starts against RHP (before tonight) were in Florida, against Anibal Sanchez and Chris Volstad.
2 for 9, triple in starts against RH starter
11 for 40, 3 doubles, triple, walk against LH starter
On the season, Johnson has one walk in 66 PA and no HBP.
He has been one of the most HBP heavy hitters in MLB over the last few years.
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 6:29 PM PDT up reply actions
Johnson did have a stretch of 98 PA with only one walk in 2008 (he had 2 HBP during that span, too).
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 6:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Sure do enjoy seeing
a box score with the Rays leading the Yankee’s and AJ Burnett getting pounded.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
My brother flipped to that, out of respect for me
or something, since he doesn’t know or care about baseball. He then asked me if AJ Burnett was CC and how fast CC can throw. When I told him it wasn’t CC, he didn’t believe me, and demanded to see a picture.
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
When Carl Crawford plays in the World Series at Dodger Stadium this year, he will enjoy the surroundings immensely, especially with fellow Houston native James Loney
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 6:38 PM PDT up reply actions
From ESPN Deportes reporter Jaime Motta:
Lakers-Suns have played 5 qtrs in WCF and Lakers have 4 30+ pt qtrs. Ugly if your’re Suns fan
by Eric Stephen on May 19, 2010 6:42 PM PDT up reply actions
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