Apparently Kuroda strained his oblique, but tried to convince Joe Torre he was okay after a bullpen session on Friday. Torre chose to DL him and bring up Eric Stults in his place.
I was actually certain Kuroda was going to dominate in Arizona. He's pitched decent (1-2, 4.50 ERA) against them in the past, and pitched very well against the Diamondbacks down the stretch in August (12 1/3 IP, 3 ER).
He figured it out by throwing hard sliders to Chris Young and Mark Reynolds, who will chase off the plate all day. If Young and Reynolds get any more hits off Dodgers pitching this year, it's the pitchers fault for not throwing breaking stuff off the plate.
It's kind of like facing Alfonso Soriano. Don't throw him a fastball...ever. I wouldn't throw him a 3-0 fastball.
If I'm a member of the Dodgers bullpen, I am jumping ship right now. I'm out of here because I know I'm going to get used so much this season that my career might be over.
Dodger starters have logged 24 1/3 of the 42 innings pitched this year. That's just 58 percent of the team's innings and that's bad. It's no wonder Ramon Troncoso and Guillermo Mota can't get anyone out.
James McDonald's 2 1/3 innings outing on Friday only increased the early season cloud of uncertainty on a team that entered 2009 with immense hopes, but serious question marks.
The question marks have been front and center the last two games, and those are whether there is starting pitching that can go deep into games and a bullpen that can shut it down for long periods of time.
The offense has been pretty pathetic as well, but to tell you the truth, more times than not, I'll take four runs in Arizona.
We have to hook our wagon to the Eric Stults train on Saturday. Basically I am praying to the Baseball God's and hoping he can get lucky and the Dodger offense can come alive.
"I am praying to the Baseball God's and hoping he can get lucky and the Dodger offense can come alive."
Offer up that sacrifice, because the BGods answered your prayer.
What should I offer as a sacrifice? Because you aren't kidding, I got exactly what I asked for.
Do you think we should pursue Peavy midway through the season? If so, who should we trade for him?
I think they should pursue Peavy for sure, but at the right price. I talk a lot more about it in the most recent story about pitching. Check it out and thanks for reading!