Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — After successfully hosting the All-Star game, Dodger Stadium will get back into the business of hosting your future NL West champs tonight in a match up against the rival Giants, the first of a four-game weekend series. And now that the Mid-Summer classic is out of the way, the Dodgers have announced the rotation with which they will begin the push for the pennant.
On Thursday night, it will be the toughest match-up for the Dodgers, at least on paper. Emergency starter Mitch White will take the ball against All-Star lefty Carlos Rodon. Rodon’s been pitching great all year, so it will take a great performance from White to stay close in this one. This game will start at the usual 7:10 pm, but will be on ESPN exclusively.
Friday night will be the first start of the second half for our own All-Star Tyler Anderson. Anderson was in uniform and available on Tuesday, but never got the call from manager Brian Snitker. He should be well-rested as he takes the hill against righty Logan Webb, who was so tough against the Dodgers in 2021. Friday night’s contest will be back on SportsNet LA, also at 7:10.
Saturday will be a Fox broadcast, so it will begin at 4:15 pm. Toeing the rubber in this one will be Julio Urias, facing off against his former teammate (and 2020 champ) Alex Wood. Urias will be coming off one of his best starts of the year, when he held the Angels in check over seven innings of work. Hopefully, the time off and the All-Star snub will put a little fire under El Culichi for the second half.
Clayton Kershaw will return to regular season action in the final game of the series. After a successful start in the All-Star game, it only makes sense that Kersh takes a couple of days to recover, although his pitch count was a very manageable 17 pitches. He should be fully rested by Sunday when he takes the mound against Alex Cobb, who is putting together a pretty decent year for Gabe Kapler‘s club. That game will be back to SNLA, at the usual Sunday start time of 1:10 pm.
There are a ton of games left in the division for all of these teams, so a good start to the second half would go a long way to crushing the Giants’ dreams of getting back into the thick of the race. Let’s do this!
