Dodgers Rockies Game One Preview

The Dodgers are beginning a three game series with the Rockies this evening after having an off day yesterday.

Yesterday was madness  in the baseball world with the trade deadline. The Dodgers front office made a few moves to help them down the stretch by adding Josh Reddick, Rich Hill and Jesse Chavez to the roster. If you missed anything from yesterday, Alex wrote two great articles on the two major trades the Dodgers made. The trade with the A’s can be found here and the trade with the Blue Jays can be found here. The Dodgers did manage to sneak in one more trade before the deadline at 4PM eastern time. Their final trade of the day was with the Houston Astros for Josh Fields, a right handed relief pitcher. For more information on that trade, you can find Alex’s article here. To many Dodger fans these trades were not the huge blockbuster trades they were hoping for, but with this front office, sometimes these trades work out for them. Getting Bud Norris a few months ago was by no means a big deal, but he has been a greater starter and helped the Dodgers rotation greatly. My point here with all of this is that these players down the stretch have the ability to help the Dodgers win ballgames, which is all that matters. Adding two new arms to the pen was a smart move since the Dodgers bullpen has been used frequently and are going to need some rest coming down the stretch.

Perhaps the biggest news that came out of yesterday and the trade was that Yasiel Puig was left in LA. Ken Rosenthal reported yesterday afternoon that the Dodgers team plane was off to Colorado and they left Puig in LA, stating that the front office made it clear to him, that he was either going to be traded or optioned in a couple of days so he would not be making the trip. The full story from Mr. Rosenthal can be found below. Originally it came out that Puig “stormed off” at the stadium when he found out about the news, but Rosenthal later corrected himself, saying his source was wrong, that Puig was not at the park and did not storm off. All everyone really knows at this point is that Puig is in LA and not Colorado.

This afternoon things became a lot more clear about the Dodgers and Puig as he was optioned down to the minors.

Tonight the Dodgers are kicking off a new series with the Colorado Rockies up at Coors Field. They are handing the ball to Brandon McCarthy for tonight’s start. McCarthy is coming into tonight’s game with a record of 2-1 and an ERA of 2.39. He has pitched 26.1 innings with the club this season coming back from Tommy John surgery and in those innings he has struck out 33 batters and walked nine. There were many questions with McCarthy coming back after being hurt and on the bench for so long, but he seems to be doing great and making the transition very well. His first game back was July 3 and he faced the Rockies. In that game he went five innings, allowing just two hits while striking out eight batters. He would later get the W that night when the Dodgers beat the Rockies by a score of four to one. Hopefully McCarthy can have the same type of dominance on the mound against that same team this evening.

The Rockies will be sending Jon Gray to the mound. Gray is coming into tonight’s start with a record of 7-4 and an ERA of 3.94. According to Brooks Baseball, Gray primarily relies on his fourseam fastball (96 MPH) and his slider (89 MPH), but he does mix in a curve (78 MPH), sinker (97 MPH) and a change (86 MPH). His slider tends to generate more strikeouts than his fastball, which usually results in ground ball outs. The 24 year-old right handed pitcher last pitched against the Dodgers also on July 3. He went six innings, allowed six hits, three earned runs, struck out four and walked three batters in that outing. He ended up getting the loss that night at Chavez Ravine.

Tonight’s lineup features a new face for the Dodgers. Chase Utley is in his usual lead off spot and at second base this evening. Reddick is making his Dodger debut in the clean up spot. Reddick was primarily the A’s third hitter in the lineup so this is just his 14th start in the clean up spot in 740 career games. Howie Kendrick is starting in left field where he has spent majority of the season for the club and McCarthy gets the mound.

The Dodgers made a little history today, but not the good kind. By adding Rich Hill to the DL (he currently has a blister), he became the 23rd Dodger to land on the DL this season which sets a new National League record. (YAY… *insert sarcasm here*). The Rockies also announced that they have placed Trevor Story on the 15 day DL because he is suffering with a torn UCL in his left thumb. So the Dodgers will be facing a Story-less lineup.

First pitch is scheduled for 5:40 PM and will be shown on Sports Net LA.