Dodgers Cardinals Game Three Preview

The Dodgers look to take the finale in STL and finish off their first roadtrip of the second half.

Yesterday’s game was pretty awesome. The offense actually got key hits, Kenta Maeda was great, the bullpen was great, and the Dodgers won pretty easily. Too often this season, they’ve struggled against pitchers they should light up, so to see them score six runs on 12 hits against Mike Leake was a good sign.

More importantly, the Dodger bullpen was saved after a 16-inning game on Friday. The Dodgers used eight relievers on Friday and used two relievers yesterday, but didn’t use any one pitcher in both of those games. Luis Avilan pitched yesterday after not pitching Friday, and Ross Stripling was recalled before yesterdays game and tossed the last two innings. They should be well-rested today, especially with an off day tomorrow.

The Dodgers can take the series and finish off their nine-game road trip with a 5-4 record with a win tonight in the finale. Scott Kazmir gets the start, and while his results have varied lately, the Dodgers have won his last five outings and eight of his last 10 starts.

Kazmir’s coming off a great outing in Washington, when he got through seven innings for the first time since May. That start in May came at Dodger Stadium against these Cardinals, and Kazmir finished an out away from a complete game. Kazmir stayed in the game with the Dodgers winning 5-1, and allowed a single and a homer with two outs in the ninth to force him from the game at 120 pitches. Kenley Jansen got arguably his easiest save of the season, throwing three strikes to end the game.

Tyler Lyons was supposed to start today for the Cardinals, but he threw 4.2 innings in Friday night’s game. Mike Mayers, who will undoubtably be the subject of Austin Powers/Halloween jokes today, will make his major league debut. The 24-year-old righty has a 2.62 ERA in 18 minor league starts and has gone at least five innings in every start he’s made this season.

Yasiel Puig remains out of the lineup for the third straight day. He appeared in Friday’s game as a pinch hitter, which hurts the Dodgers if they choose to retroactively DL him. It’s fun seeing what Andrew Toles can do and his speed is welcome, so the Dodgers don’t necessarily desperately need Puig back right now.

The lineup is the same as it was last night, so expect another seven runs. Don’t hold me to that.

Next: A Look at the Seager Brothers

First pitch is scheduled for 5:08 PM PST and will be shown on ESPN (no blackouts).