Anderson Counters Ryu in Game Two

The Dodgers continue their postseason push as they play the Dbacks in the second game of their three game weekend series Saturday night at Dodger Stadium. Friday night the Dodgers were only able to score twice but thanks to the solid pitching of Dan Haren, and a home run from Kemp they made it stand up for a 2-1 win.

As usual the Dodger offense was pathetically useless for most of the evening, scoring in the early innings and then doing absolutely nothing from the third inning on. Of course they also loaded the bases in the first inning but didn’t score. The Dodger hitting is truly useless. At least at home they are.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Dodgers Lineup vs. Arizona

Gordon 2B

Hanley SS

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp RF

Crawford LF

Uribe 3B

Pederson CF

Ellis C

Ryu P

Chase Anderson-8-6 vs. Hyun-jin Ryu-14-6

Thank goodness the Dodgers have such a great pitching staff. It’s hard to watch them waste good pitching performances because of putrid offense. Once again the mental block that has plagued the Dodger offense since opening day, is still hanging around the club’s neck.

Tonight the Dbacks will try to play spoiler again as they send right hander Chase Anderson to the mound. If you remember, Anderson was the youngster on the mound during the game Clayton Kershaw game in which he allowed seven earned runs and the Dodgers lost 18-7. But the Dodgers did score five runs off of Anderson. That’s like an offensive explosion for these punch and Judy hitters.

Anderson then faced the Dodgers again on June 13, and lost. The Dodgers scored two earned runs on four hits over five innings against the right hander. Anderson whiffed four in that game. Anderson is 1-1 with a 6.10 ERA in two starts against the Dodgers. At Dodger Stadium he is 0-1 in his only start at Los Angeles.

Anderson is a 26-year old Wichita Falls native that was drafted by the Dbacks on the ninth round of the 2009 draft. Overall Anderson is 8-6 with a 3.75 ERA in 18 starts. He’s whiffed 89 and walked 35 in 98.1 innings of work. That gives him a 2.5-1 strikeout to walk ratio.

The Dodgers are batting .306 (11 for 36) with three home runs, and an OPS of 1.016. Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, and Carl Crawford have all hit home runs against him.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers will counter with left hander Hyun-jin Ryu. The Korean lefty has been pretty dominant against Arizona this year. He’s faced the Snakes twice on March 23, and April 11 and has not allowed an earned run or any sort of run at all. That’s 12 shutout innings this year people.

In his career, Ryu is 3-2 with a 3.35 ERA in seven starts against Arizona. Overall this year he is 14-6 with a 3.18 ERA in 24 starts. He’s whiffed 129 and walked 27 in 144.1 innings pitched. Ryu has limited the Dbacks to a .255 (24 for 94) average against with two home runs. Aaron Hill is 5 for 13 (.385) with a home run against Ryu.

The Giants are still playing the Tigers in Detroit. Can you help us out here Tigers? The Dodgers may have to win again to hold onto their two game lead. After tonight only 20 games remain in the 2014 season.

Game Time – 6:10 PM

Go Blue!