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Down Under: Dodgers – Diamondbacks, Again
Your Game 2 starter Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Dee Gordon 2b
Yasiel Puig RF
Andre Ethier CF
Mike Baxter LF
Juan Uribe 3b
The trip to Australia is almost finished. After a 3-1 result *earlier today*, the boys in blue are back for more. The Los Angeles Dodgers have a pretty favorable pitching matchup tonight with 2013 rookie of the year candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu on the bump versus a very solid starter in his own right in Trevor Cahill.
Anyways, DEE GORDON LEADING OFF! !! This would be funnier if it didn’t really happen. But there you go, one of the worst hitters the Dodgers have already hitting 1st in the lineup 2 games into the season. Notice how I say one of the worst, because there still is Mike Baxter, New York Mets DFA fodder, having hit .189 last season. Now of course, this speaks more to the injuries, and a perfect storm of situations in order for Baxter to be getting any plate appearances this early on isn’t great, and maybe we see the effect not having any bench on the Dodgers.
However, there’s still a lot of good, and excitement here, how will Puig respond from his atrocious 0-5, 3 K night? How will Hanley Ramirez feel after looking gimpy last game. Is Adrian Gonzalez totally through with his back problems? He sure did In last night’s win.
And hey, second baseman only bat second unless they can’t hit and have ridiculous speed, right? Oh and anther interesting omission is Scott Van Slyke, essentially the only source of offense last game. I’m sure this has to do with his handedness, and splits, although it’s a bit annoying to completely bench him after last night’s monster game.
Getting out of Sydney with a 2-0 record would be really sweet, opening up a 1 game lead on every team in the division before any team has thrown a meaningful pitch would be very important, it’ll be interesting to see how well the Dodgers fare tonight versus a strong Arizona lineup, and just the same, whether Hyun-Jin Ryu can get off to a strong start in his quest to replicate his excellent rookie season.