Dodgers Rockies Game Four Preview

The Dodgers look to clinch the division today, but I really can’t bring myself to care about that right now.

Everything is in the Dodgers’ control right now. Their win last night shrunk the magic number to one, but a Giants’ win kept LA from clinching their fourth consecutive NL West title.

Today should be a happy clinch day and it should be a nice wholesome day of football and baseball, but it won’t be.

I feel like I’ve made this clear, but Jose Fernandez was probably my favorite player that wasn’t employed by the Dodgers. This news is absolutely sickening, as the sky was the limit for the kid. It’s rare that I can call someone a kid, but he’s about two years younger than me, which makes this news more difficult to stomach.

Somehow, there are still baseball games to be played today. Under normal circumstances, today would be an exciting day for Dodger fans. Maybe it’s because I’m writing this part before 8:00 AM, but it’s hard to be enthusiastic after the news about Fernandez.

Dodgers Starter

Brandon McCarthy makes his return to the mound tonight. Rich Hill usually follows Kershaw starts, but Hill was scratched as a precaution for his blisters. He’ll make another start before the season ends, but having him healthy for October is more important than having him start today.

So instead, it’s McCarthy. McCarthy returned from Tommy John with four extremely good starts. He hit a wall, and in his final four starts he failed to get to the fifth inning. In each of his last three starts, McCarthy issued five walks. The Dodgers placed McCarthy on the DL with a hip issue (and probably the yips), so today will be his first start in about six weeks.

Kershaw had started 19 games this season before last night and hadn’t faced the Rockies. McCarthy has started eight games this season, and has seen the Rockies twice. In McCarthy’s first start off the DL, he tossed five scoreless innings and struck out eight Rockies at Dodger Stadium. At Coors, McCarthy was pulled after allowing two earned runs (one unearned) in three innings and needing 85 pitches to get nine outs.

Rockies Starter

Tyler Anderson is a left-handed pitcher that will start against the Dodgers today. The Dodgers fared well the last time they saw a lefty (Matt Moore), so maybe they were just playing the long con.

Anderson has been great in his rookie year. The 26-year-old has a 3.58 ERA/3.57 FIP in 18 starts, but is another one of those weird reverse split Rockie pitchers. His ERA at Coors is 3.00, and his ERA on the road is 5.10. He’s started twice as many games at Coors than he has at other ballparks, so it might be a small sample.

Like I said, Anderson is a lefty. In related news, he’s dominated the Dodgers both times he’s faced them. Both starts came in August at Coors, and Anderson allowed two runs in 13.1 combined innings. The Dodgers had six hits off Anderson each time, which is somewhat miraculous given their struggles against lefties. The Rockies outscored the Dodgers 19-2 in those two games.

Dodgers Lineup

The main reason I wanted the Dodgers to clinch last night was to see what their post-clinch lineup against a lefty would look like. Instead, this is mainly normal. Yasiel Puig gets the start in right, Carlos Ruiz behind the plate, Enrique Hernandez in center and Charlie Culberson at second.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PST and will be shown on SNLA and KTLA. The Giants and Padres don’t square off until 1:40, so the Dodgers should probably just take care of business themselves.