Two games in: so far, so good for the Dodgers in San Francisco. The Dodgers have to face the best pitcher in baseball today in Tim Lincecum, but I haven't seen this team back down from a challenge yet.
Its an early start today, so go ahead and take a long lunch to take in at least a few innings of the game.
Since giving up a home run to Ryan Braun nine days ago, Jeff Weaver has retired 13 straight batters. Only 32 more consecutive outs away from Mark Buehrle's MLB record, Weaver gets the start today for the Dodgers. This is the sixth start for Weaver. He pitched exactly five innings in his first four starts, but only lasted 3.1 innings in his last start. Weaver pitched three innings on Sunday, throwing 25 pitches, so its unlikely he will be asked to pitch deep into this game.
Luckily, in addition to knuckleballer Charlie Haeger backing Weaver up, the Dodgers have a well-rested bullpen all ready to pitch with an off day coming on Thursday:
- Jonathan Broxton: threw 11 pitches Monday night
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George Sherrill: threw 10 pitches Monday night
- Hong-Chih Kuo: threw 6 pitches Monday night
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Ronald Belisario: threw 3 pitches Monday night
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Ramon Troncoso: threw 17 pitches Sunday
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Guillermo Mota: threw 12 pitches Sunday
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James McDonald: threw 7 pitches last night
Matt Kemp doesn't have a walk in his last 59 plate appearances, but with 40 walks on the season he's still in line to meet my 50-walk challenge. He also has 19 RBI in his last 13 games.
Half of Andre Ethier's last 78 hits are for extra bases (20 doubles, 2 triples, 17 home runs).
With Orlando Hudson likely out one more game, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that the rest of the regulars are scheduled to play, except for Russell Martin, who is likely to sit in favor of Brad Ausmus today.
Get your guesses in for "Just A Bit Outside" here.
Game Time: 12:45pm
TV: Prime Ticket