Dodgers Braves Game One Preview

The Dodgers return to action for their first visit to the East Coast in 2016.

Monday off days are the worst, but yesterday did give Dodger fans everywhere something to cherish.

#PuigNotLate is legit a top-5 thing to ever happen to me.

Onto the actual game. The Dodgers took two of three from the Giants and the bullpen looked damn good in the process. It’s still too early in the season to judge anything, but it seems like this won’t be an awful season for the Dodgers and there’s a lot to be excited about.

People care way too much about beating good teams and for some reason people weigh wins against the Giants and Cubs and Cardinals and Mets more than they do wins against the Rockies and Braves and Phillies. While we don’t know the mental aspect and if there is any evidence that a team has to show they can beat good teams, every win counts as one win and the regular season goal is to have more wins than anyone else in the division. Doesn’t matter if the wins are Giantwins or Brewerwins, just rack up wins.

Today, the Dodgers get a pretty decent shot to start a winning streak as they head to Atlanta. Atlanta is in the middle of a mega-rebuild and they’re doing a great job of it, as they acquired a King’s Ransom from Arizona for Shelby Miller and got what was left of the Angels’ farm system for Andrelton Simmons. They’re absolutely loaded for the future, but that leaves them in a rough place in the present day. As Terry wrote in his column yesterday, the Dodgers may be “rebuilding/reloading/restocking”, but this FO has found a way to load up the farm system without having to deal with the painful years of finishing in last place.

The Braves send Williams Perez to the hill. I’m pretty sure that’s one person. Perez started 20 games for the Braves last season and posted a 4.78 ERA/4.87 FIP in 116 2/3 innings. He has yet to make it past five innings this season, but did so in 18 of his 23 appearances last season (three of which came in relief). He had a hot start last season, as he allowed two earned runs in his first three starts combined, one of which came against the Dodgers. He went six innings in his May 25th start at Dodger Stadium, only allowing a single run on a bases-loaded walk in the second inning. The Dodgers tied it in the seventh off future Dodger Luis Avilan, and hit three homers off Nick Masset in the eighth to take the victory.

Avilan is one of two pieces of that trade deadline deal still in the Dodger organization. The other, Alex Wood, gets the start today against his former team. After an inauspicious first start in San Francisco, Wood shut the Diamondbacks down in his second start, allowing a run and five hits in seven innings. Today marks Wood’s first time pitching against the Braves, which makes sense since 55 of his 69 career starts came as a Brave.

Howie Kendrick, left fielder, is something that will never not be weird to me. Other than that, the lineup looks pretty normal and this will likely be the everyday lineup against righties until people start returning from injuries (unless Clayton Kershaw is pitching). If Chase Utley can keep up his hot hitting and the rest of the Dodgers can play the way they’ve shown, this has to be one of the deeper lineups in the league.

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First pitch is scheduled for 4:10 PM PST and will be shown on Sportsnet LA.