Early returns haven't been good for Dodgers

LOS ANGELES -- The opening chapter of the Dodgers four-game weekend series went to the Reds, with three of the four pitchers acquired in the three-team, 13-player trade on the mound on Thursday night.

Mat Latos started, and had his second bad start in three tries with the Dodgers. In the bullpen, Luis Avilan got bit with three runs in the sixth inning and Jim Johnson was headed for another bad night with singles to his first two batters but he escaped with a scoreless frame.

Alex Wood, the fourth pitcher, starts Friday.

The results so far have not been good, obviously. They will almost certainly get better, though I do wonder how much of that is wishful thinking at this point.

But the numbers have been so spectacularly bad that I just wanted to chronicle the combined numbers for the quartet to date, just for posterity sake more than anything:

35⅓ innings, 48 hits, 35 runs, 34 earned runs, 15 walks, 33 strikeouts, 8.66 ERA, 1.783 WHIP, 4.49 FIP.

Opposing batters are hitting .322/.391/.497 with five home runs and nine doubles in 169 plate appearances (the batting average on balls in play is .381 if you are searching for a silver lining).

Up next

The Dodgers will send Wood to the mound on Friday night for his first Dodger Stadium start since joining the team. The Reds will turn to John Lamb, a 25-year-old left-hander acquired in the Johnny Cueto trade, to make his major league debut in the second game of the series.