Dodgers Try For Better Start Against Braves
by Eric Stephen on Jun 4, 2010 3:17 PM PDT
in Dodgers Game Previews
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As the Dodgers head into their second game with the Braves, they might want to pay special attention to the first inning. The Braves scored in the first inning last night, as they have during each of their past eight games, all Atlanta wins:
| Braves Last 8 Games | 5/27 | 5/28 | 5/29 | 5/30 | 5/31 | 6/1 | 6/2 | 6/3 |
| 1st inning runs | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Total runs | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 4 |
The Dodgers, meanwhile, have given up the most first-inning runs in baseball this season:
| Most 1st Inning Runs Allowed in MLB | ||
| Team | Games | Runs |
| Dodgers | 54 | 49 |
| Milwaukee | 54 | 45 |
| Detroit | 53 | 42 |
| Pittsburgh | 53 | 40 |
| Washington | 55 | 40 |
Tonight's starter, Clayton Kershaw, has not been immune to the Dodgers' first inning struggles himself. He has allowed nine first inning runs in 11 starts. Kershaw has walked 20.4% of the batters he faced in the first inning, and walked 11.8% of batters thereafter. Kershaw has been brilliant over the last month, allowing five runs in five starts, over 33 1/3 innings.
The concern from the first inning runs allowed by the Dodgers is that their offense hasn't scored much of late. They have scored just 32 runs in their last 11 games, hitting .216/.267/.304 over that span. Then again, the Dodgers are 6-5 during that stretch, but it's hard to win games scoring three runs.
Kenshin Kawakami might be 0-7, but he has pitched far better than that. He has three straight quality starts, allowing five total runs in his last 18 2/3 innings. He pitched against the Dodgers once in his career, last August 8, and it was a fantastic pitchers' duel with none other than Kershaw. Both starters pitched seven scoreless innings in a game the Braves would eventually win in 10 innings.
Lineups
Casey Blake, who missed last night's game with back spasms, is out for the second straight game. Blake is listed as day-to-day.
| Braves | Dodgers | |||
| 2B | Prado | SS | Furcal | |
| 3B | Infante | CF | Kemp | |
| RF | Heyward | RF | Ethier | |
| 1B | Glaus |
LF | Manny | |
| SS | Escobar | 1B | Loney | |
| LF | Cabrera | 2B | Belliard |
|
| C | Ross |
C | Martin | |
| CF | McClouth | 3B | Carroll | |
| P | Kawakami |
P | Kershaw |
|
Other Notes
- I am woefully late the party on this, but Vin Scully will call the game in Boston two weeks from today, on June 18, a rare trip east for Scully in recent years.
- On this date in 1964, Sandy Koufax pitched his third career no-hitter, beating the Phillies 3-0. Koufax allowed only a walk to rookie Dick Allen in the fourth inning, and struck out 12.
- On this date in 1968, Don Drysdale pitched his record sixth straight shutout, beating the Pirates 5-0, extending his scoreless streak to a record 54 straight innings.
- Tony Jackson of ESPN LA, who covered the Reds for four years, wrote a wonderful remembrance of the now-retired Ken Griffey, Jr.
- Chad Moriyama of Memories of Kevin Malone artfully tackles the weighty topic of the future of journalism
- Tommy Lasorda will be the Dodger representative on Monday at the MLB draft, which will be televised on MLB Network beginning at 3pm Monday.
- I answered some questions from Braves' blogger Scott Humphries of Tomahawk Talk
- Tonight is 70's Night at Dodger Stadium. In addition to getting this awesome poster with James Loney and Casey Blake, fans will be treated to Barry Williams (aka Greg Brady) singing the national anthem and God Bless America
Get your guess in for Xeifrank's simulation game here.
Game Time: 7:10 p.m
TV: Prime Ticket
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I used to always catch Lowe, Penny (ugh), Wolf, Kuroda, Kershaw (including the Holliday game), but never Bills…until now.
I saw Wolfe a lot.
Fine by me.
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
Weaver doubtful tonight
per Jimmy Bramlett of LAist:
Joe Torre really doesn’t want to use Jeff Weaver today. He wants to wait until the blister on his middle finger completely heals.
Translation: Weaver will pitch the 7th tonight :)
I'm not a soccer fan
but this is a pretty darn spiffy presentation of the schedule for the World Cup.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
I basically watch soccer once every 4 years
I’m stoked for the world cup.
Rudimentary creatures of flesh and blood, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.
No sense wasting the argument on a dead thread
but yes Tripon saying Doug Davis sucks was in fact the wrong fucking way to describe his career. However I do agree that when someone does an article on the players who got away, players like Doug Davis are not part of the equation.
Just because we allow hyperbole here doesn’t mean we don’t challenge it.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
you said a dirty word
Rudimentary creatures of flesh and blood, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.
Good enough for me. Maybe I’m too harsh on Davis, but no way I want him on the Dodgers in any year. that he pitched for his career.
Way too harsh Davis
04 and 05 were very solid years from him, and I would have gladly had him then
by SeanMillerSavior on Jun 4, 2010 5:43 PM PDT up reply actions
After looking at that Kershaw image
I feel bad for saying Ike Davis was goofy looking.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Prospects who have started for the Dodgers since Ned took over
is a very very very short list:
Kershaw
Billingsley
Stults
Haeger
Ely
McDonald
Monasterious
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Funny
he was on my list but for some reason I didn’t type he in. Speaking of Kuo here is some roto analysis from baseball HQ on him:
Goin’ Deeper
Hong-Chih Kuo (LHP, LAD) – When healthy, Kuo rivals any other middle reliever’s effectiveness. Thus far, Kuo has lived up to that billing with a 1.32 ERA and 0.66 WHIP. While only a fool would expect Kuo to keep up that pace, his xERA of 2.55 will help anyone. Kuo benefited from a 20% hit rate and 78% Strand thus far. Still, a 12.5 Dominance, 4.8 Command, and 178 BPV reveal a pitcher far superior than most other options.
Fu-Te Ni (LHP, DET) – Similarly, Ni Dominates hitters by striking out more than a batter each inning for a 2.12 ERA. The difference is a 6.5 Control Rate and an 88% Strand for a 4.60 xERA. While this represents a small sample size, his limited number of innings in 2009 reveal similar stats. Ni lucked his way through 2009, but it’s a fool’s bet to expect a repeat of his 20% hit rate in 2010.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
looks like “we” made Jayson Stark’s column. Hooray:
Box-score line of the week: Braves rookie Jonny Venters’ first career save Thursday was an all-timer: 1 pitch, 1 save, 1 strikeout (thanks to a hamstring injury to Takashi Saito). Loyal reader (and pitch-count czar) Aneel Trivedi reports that’s the first one-pitch, one-whiff save since July 7, 2000, when Jesus Pena of the White Sox wandered into the 12th inning of a White Sox-Cubs game, after Sean Lowe had to exit, and finished off a strikeout of Brant Brown. Good work if you can get it.
But I bet it was the first ever first career save of someone’s career that lasted only one pitch!
Jose Batista
with two more home runs giving him 18 on the year. Baseball continues to amaze me with these bizarre manifestations of SSS.
Padres score on Halladay.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I don't want the Padres to win...
but I am also enjoying the slump Philly is in…
Hmmm…
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
Mat Latos
Struck out Ryan Howard with the bases-loaded and one out, but then walked Werth to force in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
I saw you were talking about draft picks that the Dodgers weren't able to sign (Utley, Price)
What about Zack Cox? Expected to be in Top 15 this year, drafted in ’08 by the Dodgers…
Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.
Yes, but
that article also mentions stuff like
2010 draft connection: Chris Sale was the Rockies’ eighth round pick in 2007. Now he could be the first or second college arm off the board.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Well it’s kind of a given Cox will be a star, right? Nevermind, his name is just awesome…
Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.
In what way is Zach Cox's name awesome?
It’s not like his first name is “Suck” or anything.
Had they changed it to "Brox Springsteen" I might've been a little more high on it.
But it’s still excellent, no doubt!
"That's not Bruce Springsteen..." - My mom
HILARIOUS.
They say to never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious.
Somebody please tell the Dodgers they’re allowed to score runs in the first 5 innings…
Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.
Instead of a walk-off celebration
how about a walk-off bench-clearing scuffle?
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
What's even funnier is that
Every related link was to WWE… LOL
Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.
Last night was the Dodgers first one-run loss at home this season
ninth loss overall at home. The Dodgers have won 2/3 of their home games and are one-game under .500 on the road – pretty close to the classic formula.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Arismendy Ozoria, who is in extended spring training for the Dodgers, just might have one of the coolest names ever.
I was looking up something in B-R
and ran across some old minor leaguer named “Socrates Red”. Awesome.
I also approve of the radio commercials during the Dodger broadcasts that feature famous Greek mathematician ARCOmedes.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Speaking of radio ads.
I noticed that Rick Monday doesn’t do the labor union ads anymore. Wonder why
T.J. Simers is at the park tonight. I just saw him on the pregame, during the brief piece they showed from Torre in the pregame.
Like a vulture
sees a dead offense and comes to pick at the bones. Or maybe he just has a thing for the 70s.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
Simers
His recent column was titled “These Lakers-Celtics really aren’t that interesting.”
So, I suppose he’s come to the ballpark to annoy the bats into hitting again.
Saito to the DL
per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rookie Craig Kimbrel taking his spot
Per Talking Chop
the SBNation Atlanta Braves blog:
The Atlanta Braves placed reliever Takashi Saito on the disabled list today with a left hamstring injury he suffered in last night’s game, and recalled reliever Craig Kimbrel from triple-A Gwinnett.
The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.
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