Rookie Eddie Butler Makes MLB Debut Against Dodgers In Series Opener

Dodger Baseball is very depressing right now. Trust us guys, it’s just as hard for us to watch the boys in  blue right now as it is for you. It’s even harder for us to get motivated to write about them. The Dodgers are coming off another losing home stand and are now 8.5 games out of first place. A loss tonight would put them at the .500 mark. So basically the club is right back where they were at this time last year when they were about 9.5 games back. Manager Don Mattingly said it best last night when he said the club just isn’t very good right now. Mattingly may be a pip, but he’s right.

The Dodgers made a move this afternoon. This kind of comes out of left field but ok. The club has called up infielder Miguel Rojas and optioned Erisbel Arruebarrena. To clear room they’ve transferred Chris Withrow to the 60-day DL.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Dodgers Lineup @ Colorado-6-6-14

Gordon 2B

Hanley SS

Puig RF

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp LF

Ethier CF

Turner 3B

Butera C

Ryu P

Hyun-jin Ryu-6-2 vs. Eddie Butler-0-0

I’ve already said my peace on all this and you all know how I feel. But we’ll have more articles on this as the losses mount. Trying to buy a championship with over age 30 veterans that aren’t good anymore, and can’t stay healthy isn’t going to work. The only way to successfully build a championship club is with scouting and player development. It may take a few years, but that’s the way it works. Just ask the Giants, they’ve figured it out. The majority of the Giant’s roster are comprised of home-grown players. The Dodgers could do the same if they wanted to. It would just take a couple of rebuilding years. Regardless, this club clearly isn’t going anywhere this year. So hopefully we’ll see some of the aging veterans moved for some young players once we get near the trade deadline. The Dodgers need younger healthier players. That’s all there is to it.

Oh and a good starting rotation isn’t enough to win games with. It’s a necessity, but you also need other areas of the game to be solid as well. Like defense, relief pitching, and situational hitting. All of those areas the Dodgers have failed at in 2014.

Tonight the Dodgers look to get better, as they start a seven game road trip. The first leg has them playing a three game weekend series at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies.

Of course Coors Field has been like a house of horrors for the Dodgers. So let’s pray nobody runs into walls or gets hurt. Man I hate Coors Field. Nothing worse than the five-hour games played there in inclement weather conditions.

Tonight the Dodgers will give the ball to Hyun-jin Ryu. The left hander is 6-2 this year with a 3.09 ERA. At times he’s been dominant. He’s got 51 whiffs and 12 walks in 58.1 innings pitched. Ryu hasn’t pitched well against Colorado. He’s just 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three starts. Although he has whiffed 19 and walked just three. Ryu has never pitched at Coors Field, however has the best road record in the majors. Ryu is 4-0 on the road with a 0.56 ERA. The Dodgers in general are much better on the road this year (18-11), than at home (13-19).

Colorado is hitting .361 (13 for 36) with a home run and eight runs driven in against Ryu.

Colorado has really fell in the toilet as well. They’ve lost seven in a row, nine of their last ten, and have fallen behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Yikes. The Rockies are 28-31 and 10.5 games behind the Giants. They’ve been playing so bad that they even had to have a team meeting. They’ll try to get back on track as they give the ball to rookie right hander Eddie Butler.

The 23-year old will be making his major league debut, as the Rockies just called him up from Double-A. He’ll be starting in place of the slumping Franklin Morales. He was orginally a 35 round pick by the Rangers in 2009, but chose to stay in school. The Rockies drafted him in the first round of the 2012 draft out of Radford university.

Colorado Rockies pitcher Eddie Butler poses during photo day at Salt River Fields.-Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Butler was 4-4 with a 2.49 ERA in 11 starts for Double-A Tulsa before being called up to the big show.

That’s about it for now.  I would expect to see Andre Ethier back in center field. I doubt the Dodgers would want Scott Van Slyke patrolling that huge Colorado outfield. But then again, I don’t really want to see Kemp out there either. The Coors Field walls hate him.

Anyways, we’ll be back after the game with our daily recap. We may be in trouble if the Rockies are due for a win. How about scoring more than one run? That may help.

Game time- 5:40 PM

Go Blue!