Dodgers Rays Game Two Preview

The Dodgers look to make it four in a row with a Wednesday afternoon win.

Chris Archer was very good in his Dodger audition last night. I might be biased because I love everything about him (mainly his hair), but Archer is a very good pitcher on an incredibly team-friendly contract. I’m a huge prospect hugger so it’ll be tough to see some of the higher-caliber prospects getting moved, but there’s a handful of players that are worth a haul, and Archer is one of them.

On the Dodger side of things, Bud Norris was very good. Not the most efficient outing, but 6.1 scoreless is more than anyone could have expected, even against a poor offensive team. The bullpen was shaky, but a win is a win is a win.

Brandon McCarthy gets the start today and has been great in his four starts back from a year and a half DL stint. He’s still building back up: after three sub-80 pitch outings, McCarthy finally cracked 80 in his last outing, but was starting to lose velo and control towards the end. The Dodgers haven’t had much length out of starters since Kershaw’s injury, but with one of the better bullpens in the NL, they can probably get by with six inning starts.

Another potential future Dodger gets an audition today as Matt Moore goes for the Rays. The lefty made 12 starts last year following Tommy John and seemingly hasn’t found his groove yet. In 20 starts this season, Moore owns a 4.31 ERA/4.56 FIP in 123.1 innings. Moore doesn’t have super drastic splits, but 17 of the 20 homers he’s allowed have been to right handed batters (he also has 405 PAs against righties, 117 against lefties). Like Archer, Moore’s ERA is much higher on the road (5.63 on the road, 3.46 at the Trop). Moore has gone at least seven in five of his last eight outings, so while he gives up his share of runs, he’s usually pretty efficient and can eat innings. One of his worst outings came against the Dodgers at Tropicana, when he allowed seven runs and eight hits in 4.1 innings.

Joc Pederson gets the start against a lefty! Sound the alarms. Stay indoors. Stay safe. Pederson has only started two games against lefty starters this season, one of which came in that game against Moore. He homered and walked against Moore. Joc is probably only in the lineup due to injuries to three right-handed outfielders, but it’s a start for him to prove he shouldn’t be a platoon player, especially with his defense in center.

Chase Utley and Andrew Toles are both out of the lineup after being in there for the last three days. Utley doesn’t start most of the time against lefties and Toles shouldn’t be pencilled in as an everyday starter even if Yasiel Puig is still out.

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First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 PM PST and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.