Dodgers Finish Home Stand With Crucial Rubber Game

The Dodgers conclude their nine game home stand tonight with a very important rubber game against the Padres. This is a very crucial game for the Dodgers before they travel to San Francisco for the penultimate series against the Giants that could determine the NL West.

The Dodgers must win this game to keep their 2.5 game lead intact. So there can be no screwing around tonight. They have to get a good start from Dan Haren. The offense must score runs tonight. They can’t make any bumbling errors, and the bullpen has to hold whatever lead they get in the late innings. No messing around here. I mean it Dodgers.

Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Dodgers Lineup vs. San Diego

Puig CF

Turner 2B

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp RF

Hanley SS

Crawford LF

Uribe 3B

Ellis C

Haren P

Ian Kennedy-10-12 vs. Dan Haren-12-10

The Padres will give the ball to Ian Kennedy. The right hander has faced the Dodgers five times this season, and is 0-2 with three no-decisions. He pitched well against the Dodgers on August 30, holding the boys in blue to one earned run n four hits over seven innings.

Kennedy is 10-12 with a 3.75 ERA and 184 whiffs in 29 starts this season. Against the Dodgers he is 5-6 with a 4.05 ERA in 16 starts. At Dodger Stadium he is 2-3 with a 3.75 ERA in eight starts.

Kennedy has held the Dodgers to a .237 (70 for 295) batting average against with seven home runs. Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier have all hit two home runs against him.

Name	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
Adrian Gonzalez	41	35	8	3	0	2	5	4	7	.229	.293	.486	.778	0	2	1	0	0
Andre Ethier	37	34	11	2	0	2	5	3	7	.324	.378	.559	.937	0	0	0	0	0
Matt Kemp	34	30	8	3	0	2	6	3	13	.267	.324	.567	.890	0	1	0	0	1
Carl Crawford	30	26	9	1	0	0	3	2	3	.346	.367	.385	.751	0	2	0	0	0
Hanley Ramirez	24	21	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	.143	.250	.143	.393	0	0	0	1	0
A.J. Ellis	22	19	3	0	0	0	1	2	5	.158	.227	.158	.385	0	1	0	0	1
Dee Gordon	22	21	4	1	1	0	1	1	6	.190	.227	.333	.561	0	0	0	0	0
Yasiel Puig	21	18	3	0	0	1	4	2	7	.167	.286	.333	.619	0	0	0	1	0
Juan Uribe	19	16	3	1	0	0	0	3	3	.188	.316	.250	.566	0	0	0	0	0
Darwin Barney	15	14	3	0	0	0	0	1	3	.214	.267	.214	.481	0	0	0	0	0
Kevin Correia	11	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	.091	.091	.091	.182	0	0	0	0	0
Zack Greinke	11	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.111	.200	.111	.311	1	0	0	1	0
Clayton Kershaw	10	9	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	.000	.100	.000	.100	0	0	0	0	0
Roger Bernadina	9	9	3	0	0	0	0	0	4	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0	0	0
Justin Turner	8	8	4	3	0	0	2	0	2	.500	.500	.875	1.375	0	0	0	0	0
Erisbel Arruebarrena	3	2	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	.500	.667	.500	1.167	0	0	0	0	0
Drew Butera	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.333	.000	.333	0	0	0	0	0
Tim Federowicz	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0	0	0
Miguel Rojas	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.333	.000	.333	0	0	0	0	0
Hyun-jin Ryu	3	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	1.333	2.333	0	0	0	0	0
Dan Haren	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0	0	0
Scott Van Slyke	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Total	332	295	70	15	1	7	28	27	75	.237	.302	.366	.668	1	6	1	3	2

The Dodgers will counter with right hander Dan Haren. The veteran right hander is 4-1 with a 2.04 ERA in his last six starts. He won his last outing. He beat Arizona 2-1 with six innings of one-run ball. Haren is 6-5 with a 3.68 ERA in his career against San Diego. This year Haren is 1-1 with two no-decisions against the Padres. Overall Haren is 12-10 with a 4.17 ERA in 28 starts.

The Padres are batting .256 (32 for 125) against Haren with five home runs. Dodger killer Seth Smith is hitting .277 (13 for 47) with three home runs and nine runs driven in.

Name	PA	AB	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB
Seth Smith	52	47	13	4	3	9	4	7	.277	.333	.553	.887	0	0	0
Will Venable	17	17	2	0	1	1	0	7	.118	.118	.294	.412	0	0	0
Alexi Amarista	11	9	5	2	1	3	2	0	.556	.636	1.111	1.747	0	0	1
Jedd Gyorko	9	8	2	1	0	2	1	2	.250	.333	.375	.708	0	0	0
Cameron Maybin	9	8	1	0	0	2	0	2	.125	.111	.125	.236	0	1	0
Yasmani Grandal	8	7	1	0	0	0	1	3	.143	.250	.143	.393	0	0	0
Rene Rivera	5	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	.250	.200	.250	.450	0	1	0
Andrew Cashner	4	4	2	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0
Abraham Almonte	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0
Jake Goebbert	3	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0
Tommy Medica	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0
Adam Moore	3	3	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0
Yangervis Solarte	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Jesse Hahn	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Rymer Liriano	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0
Eric Stults	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0					2	0	0
Ian Kennedy	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Tyson Ross	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0
Total	138	125	32	7	5	19	8	25	.256	.296	.432	.728	2	2	1

As you can see, Yasiel Puig is batting lead-off as Dee Gordon gets a day off. Justin Turner will fill in at second base and bat second. The rest of the lineup is pretty normal. This is the last game of the season against San Diego. The Dodgers are 11-7 against their division rivals from the south.

I tell you what I’m glad this is the last game against the Padres. I’m sick of them. Good riddance San Diego. Have a great winter San Diego. Practice your golf swings, and enjoy the playoffs from your couches. The Giants will be at home against Arizona later tonight. In that game Josh Collmenter will battle Ryan Vogelsong.

After tonight, the Dodgers will not return home until September 22, and they’ll open a six game home stand against, you guessed it the Giants.

Game Time – 7:10 PM

Go Blue!

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