Saturday, April 6, 2013

Bucs v Dodgers, Notebook

AJ Burnett takes the bump against Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw tonight. Burnett whiffed 10 Cubbies in his opening effort while Kershaw tossed a complete game, four-hit shutout and homered in his outing against the G-Men, the first pitcher to post that Opening Day exacta since Bob Lemon in 1953. The game is on Root Sports and The Fan 93.7, with the opening pitch slated for 9:10 PM.

Pirate Lineup: Starling Marte LF, Neil Walker 2B, Andrew McCutchen CF, Gaby Sanchez 1B, Russell Martin C, Pedro Alvarez 3B, Jose Tabata RF, Clint Barmes SS and AJ Burnett P.

Looks like JT isn't going to be the two hole guy, at least unless he catches fire. Pedro drops to sixth in the order against lefties, a logical move.

Dodger Lineup: Carl Crawford LF, Mark Ellis 2B, Matt Kemp CF, Adrain Gonzalez 1B, Andre Ethier RF, Lui Cruz 3B, AJ Ellis C, Justin Sellers SS and Clayton Kershaw P.

  • X-rays on RHP Jeanmar Gomez last night were negative. He has a bruise after catching a liner in the shoulder area last night. 
  • Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs has a post on the week's wildest swings, and a Garrett Jones' hack at a ball that bounces in front of the plate made an appearance. Scroll down to the vid; Sullivan has a little commentary on Jones' rep as a "guess" swinger.
  • Andrew Cutchen is doing his job at the dish, hitting .308 with four knocks and a couple of doubles so far. The only other Buc over the Mendoza line at .222 is Clint Barmes. He also has a pair of two-baggers, joining Cutch as the only Pirates with extra base knocks. Oddly enough, he's always the guy that gets pinch-hit for by Clint. Go figure.
  • Dodger lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, who goes against the Pirates tomorrow, brought one unique Korean custom to the show with him. He doesn't throw between starts, according to Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports, claiming it saves his arm. LA is OK with it; we wonder how the usually paint-by-the-numbers Bucco management would deal with that quirk.
  • Got your number stat: The Dodgers' .724 winning percentage against Pittsburgh since 2001 is the best in the NL.
  • Old Bucco reliever Daniel McCutchen got a 50 game suspension for failing a drug test, per a tweet from Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.
  • A couple of late camp cuts had big nights at the dish for Indy. Alex Presley had three hits, including a bomb, and was a single away from the cycle while Jordy Mercer banged out a pair of doubles. Indy is 0-2; Presley and Mercer have accounted for eight of the 10 Tribe hits for 2013 as their strong springs carry over. Indy faces Columbus' Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka tonight, with Kyle McPherson on the hill for the Indians.
  • Jameson Taillon climbed the mound against Erie today. His line was five frames, no runs on four hits and a walk with four K. He left after tossing 75 pitches. OF Andrew Lambo, trying to reestablish his brand, had a homer and three knocks, bringing his very early BA up to .417. The only down part - Erie ran at will against Taillon, swiping five sacks in five tries. He got the win as Altoona rolled to a 6-2 victory.

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