Dodgers Not Phoning in Final Regular Season Games

It was nice to see the Dodgers come back to win 7-4 over the Rockies on Friday night at Dodger Stadium to open their final regular season series. Even though they have already clinched the N.L. West, the Dodgers weren’t about to phone in their final games of the year. Momentum is very important in baseball, and the Dodgers would love to begin the NLDS in the midst of a winning streak. It also was a bit of a showcase for Don Mattingly and Ned Colletti who are in the middle of deciding their postseason roster. The bullpen and bench are two areas of the postseason roster which require some hard decisions to be made.

Dan Haren (13-11, 4.03) vs. Eddie Butler (1-1, 5.56)

Lineup: 

Gordon 2B

Puig CF

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp RF

Ramirez SS

Ethier LF

Turner 3B

Ellis C

Haren P

As far as the starting rotation, I hope that Roberto Hernandez will not be in the mix. His lack of control is undeniably his biggest fault,

Darwin Barney is competing for one of the final spots on the postseason roster. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

and lead-off walks in October can equal early deficits. With the hope that Hyun-jin Ryu will be healthy enough to pitch in the NLDS, the Dodgers are counting on Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-jin Ryu and Dan Haren to compose their postseason rotation. With Ryu’s shoulder still iffy, Dan Haren will be even more important during the NLDS than we ever imagined he would be.

Haren, who has really stepped up his game late in the season after having a lackluster middle of the year, is coming off a great start last time out against the Giants. In the hugely important game against the Wild Card wonders, Haren pitched 7 gutsy innings and only allowed 2 runs off one homerun. The Dodgers ended up losing the game, but it was not Haren’s fault. The veteran has pitched well this month, and he is 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA in 4 starts in September. Haren has had trouble against the Rockies this season. He is 0-2 with a 11.32 ERA against them in 2 starts this year (Coors Field curse). Overall in his career, Haren in 7-9 with a 5.19 ERA against the Rox in 18 starts. Haren won’t have to fend off Corey Dickerson who has hit 2 homeruns and 3 doubles against him in just 7 at-bats. Dickerson ended his season early on Friday when he flew home for the birth of his first child.

Rookie right-hander Eddie Butler will be making just his third Major League start and second career start against the Dodgers. He faced the Dodgers back on June 6th in his MLB debut. He lost to the Dodgers and succumbed to a shoulder injury which sidelined him for awhile. He was clobbered by the Dodgers for 6 runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He made his second start on September 20th versus the D-backs, and he picked up his first career victory. He did much better, and he only allowed 1 run on 5 hits through 6 innings of work. Dee Gordon had 3 hits and 3 RBIs against him back in June.

Prediction: Joc Pederson hits his first Major League homerun.

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Dan Haren, who has already secured himself a spot on the Dodgers’ postseason roster, will be on a pitch count Saturday. Don’t expect any of the regulars to play a full nine innings in these final two games. Mattingly has said that Monday will be an off day, and Tuesday the team will reconvene to start tuning up for next Friday’s NLDS opener at Dodger Stadium versus the Cardinals or possibly the Pirates. I hope to see Alex Guerrero get a start in one of the final two games, and Tim Federowicz will most likely catch one of the last two games in order to rest A.J. Ellis.

With 92 wins already under their belt, another two wins could give them a cool 94 victories on the season. Even though the 2014 Dodgers didn’t have any epic winning streaks like last season, the team still did not lose more than three games in a row at any point in the season.

With this being my final regular season pregame post, I’d like to thank all the Lasorda Lairians out there who have been reading all season and rooting for the Dodgers along with us this entire rollercoaster of a season. There is still a lot more to come of course with the NLDS beginning next week, and I hope that you will join us for all the postseason action. Will this year be the one? We have waited a long time, Dodger fans!

Go Blue!