Kershaw Makes 200th Career Start Versus Halos in Freeway Series Game Two

Will the Dodgers give up again tonight in game two of the freeway series against the Angels? I don’t know, but they do have Clayton Kershaw on the mound. So it stands to reason that they should win tonight. Well, should. But that involves the offense actually showing up and putting forth effort.

Because even if Kershaw pitches a shutout, if the offense gives up and doesn’t score at all, than it won’t matter. And any more losing will negate the six game winning streak they just had. The Dodgers have given up first inning runs in four consecutive games. That’s nearly the entire rotation. If they don’t stop doing this then they will continue to lose. As if things couldn’t get any worse right now. Oh wait….

Then we get hit with this jewel . That leaves J.P. Howell as the lone left hander in the Dodger bullpen. Lovely.

Dodgers Lineup vs. Angels

Gordon 2B

Puig CF

Gonzalez 1B

Hanley SS

Kemp RF

Van Slyke LF

Uribe 3B

Ellis C

Kershaw P

Hector Santiago-3-7 vs. Clayton Kershaw-13-2

Tonight the Angels will throw out Newark native Hector Santiago. The Dodgers have seen the 26-year old left hander before when he was with the White Sox. This season he is 3-7 with a 3.76 ERA in 19 games. He’s whiffed 71 and walked 30, which comes out to nearly a 2-1 strikeout to walk ratio. The current Dodgers have only seen him for seven at-bats total.

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Yes I agree, you are a nerd Hector-Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

As for Kershaw, he’s on his way to another Cy Young award. I think we all know this by now. After his last start in which he beat the Braves, he now leads the league with five complete games. He is 13-2 with a 1.71 ERA and 150 whiffs in 17 starts. He’s only walked 15 batters all season and his WHIP is an MLB best 0.824.

Kershaw is 2-2 with a 3.74 ERA against the Angels in five starts. This is actually Kershaw’s 200 career start. Can you believe that? Where has the time gone?

Anyways only eight of the current Angels have ever faced Kershaw before, but the numbers don’t look good. The Halos are batting .313 (31 for 99) with an OPS of .804 and one home run against Kershaw. Albert Pujols is hitting .450 (9 for 20) with three triples. David Freese is 6 for 20, and Howie Kendrick is 5 for 12 (.417). Chris Iannetta has hit the only home run.

Oh and you’ve probably heard that the Dodgers put some players on waivers today. The Dodgers placed Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Josh Beckett, and even Hanley Ramirez on waivers. All cleared waivers except for Hanley, who was not surprisingly claimed. Oh relax Hanley isn’t going anywhere. First of all the Dodgers pulled him back. If a player is claimed off of waivers the other team can pull the player back. Another thing is almost all teams put a lot of players on waivers in August. It doesn’t always mean they will be traded or moved. Most of the time teams just want to see what they could get for those players, or who would claim them. It’s more procedural than anything.

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Will the Dodgers make a move soon? I don’t know. Some people are already speculating that they will. I don’t think the Dodgers will make any moves at all. Remember the Dodgers refuse to DFA or release anyone so it’s hard to believe that they’ll actually move or trade anyone that is on a major league contract. They didn’t make any moves on the July 31st deadline. It’s actually harder to make moves during August, because players have to clear waivers first. It’s an additional step. And another reason why teams scramble to make moves before the July 31st deadline.

The club clearly needs bullpen help. I think the Dodgers are confident with the roster that they have going forward. Maybe they couldn’t make any worthwhile traded anyways. Possibly. I guess we’ll see what happens. But if the Dodgers do make a move, I don’t think it would happen until next week at the earliest. Again we shall see.

The Dodgers better get up for this game, because stinky bum Dan Haren pitches tomorrow, and we all know he’ll get lit up like a Christmas tree.

Game time – 7:10 PM

Go Blue!