Things we learned from tonight's game (8/6/11)

I love that Steve Lyons continues to ask him questions.  Hard hitting  coverage from Psycho, here.

Overview:  Captain EO gains a nickname and fans seven in his MLB debut, but Dee Gordon leaves with a shoulder injury.  Dodgers win, 5-3.

Pros:  Nathan Eovaldi starts his major league career off in pretty good fashion, going five innings with seven strikeouts.  He also went one for two at the plate, hitting a single and later scoring a run to help his own cause.  Captain EO (hat tip to twitter's own Chad Moriyama and Robert Huitron for that gem) threw 77 pitches and still looked fresh, but was pulled for a pinch hitter in the top of the sixth.  Andre Ethier got his average back over .300 with a two hit game, and he, Rivera, Miles and Barajas (3 for 4?!?) chipped in RBIs.  On the pitching side, Blake Hawksworth threw two perfect innings and Scott Elbert danced around some shaky defense in the ninth to record his second save of the season.

Cons: DEE GORDON GOT HURT.  Thankfully, it doesn't sound like it's a serious injury, as Gordon wasn't wearing a sling and was back in the dugout laughing with the team after a few innings.  But the Dodgers need to see Gordon play every day for the rest of the season, and a lingering shoulder injury would be disastrous for long term planning's sake.  If Ned doesn't trust Gordon by the end of the season, there's a high chance he could do something stupid (Tejada and O. Cab are free agents) or really stupid (Jimmy Rollins for six years and 100 million?) in the offseason.  Also, Matt Guerrier continues to not be very good- starting to get a little more concerned about that three year deal.  

What we learned:  That Nathan Eovaldi will be the starting pitcher five days from now, and five days after that.  It's one start, so Eovaldi mania should be tempered, but it was certainly an encouraging start.  We're looking forward to seeing more.  A quick word of caution to him, though- don't expect five runs of support every time, Nate.

Does the Nate Eovaldi era start tomorrow?

Peek-a-boo, bitches.

Tonight, the Dodgers open a three game series in Arizona, wrapping up a quick six-game road trip before preparing to take on the Phillies at home starting Monday.  Chad Billingsley is on the mound tonight opposite Josh Collmenter, and Sunday Clayton Kershaw (swoon) takes on Ian Kennedy.  But as of right now, the Dodgers site currently shows this as the matchup for Saturday:

TBA, huh?  Heard his curve is filthy.

What does this mean?  Well, the Dodgers.com writers seem to think that it means we're calling up Nate Eovaldi tonight.  So does Anthony Jackson, who originally tweeted about this on August 2nd.  Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness went so far as to put up a great piece looking at Eovaldi in-depth.  As he shows, Eovaldi wasn't highly regarded prior to this season- he profiled as a middle reliever and didn't crack the Dodgers' top 20 preseason prospects, which is probably why Ned hasn't traded him yet.  This season, however, Eovaldi has put together a great year in AA, and now looks to be a legit mid-rotation candidate on a big league squad.  

Is it a bad idea to call him up now?  Possibly.  While his season in AA has been very good, he doesn't exactly have a proven track record in the minors, and he's still only 21 years old.  Rushing him onto the big league roster before he's ready could set his development back significantly (see: Jackson, Edwin), and if we're just looking to fill a few starts, Dana Eveland and John Ely are both fully capable of giving us replacement player level starts through the end of the year.

Honestly, though, we're excited for the chance of an Eovaldi call-up.  If it turns out things do go horribly awry, we can still plug holes with that Elyveland two headed monster, and there's little doubt Eovaldi has more upside than either of those two.  And to be harshly blunt, we didn't expect anything from Nate Eovaldi.  He was an 11th round draft pick that cost a 250,000 signing bonus to get.  Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but he also isn't one of the highly protected big money draft picks we have still getting comfortable in the minors.  This isn't like rushing Zach Lee to LA.  If he succeeds, it's a bonus.  

Plus, we might as well find out what we have right now- his success or failure will affect how the Dodgers proceed in free agency this offseason.  A few average to above-average starts from him down the stretch may save us from the one year, 8 million dollar Justin Duscherer contract you know Ned has tucked away in his top drawer.

You thought things were going to get better?

Ow.  Ow.  Ow.

2012 just got a lot scarier.  Rubby De La Rosa, one of the most exciting (read: only) pleasant surprises of the year, has a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and is done for the season, if not longer.  If he does have to undergo Tommy John surgery, which is expected at this point, we won't see him back in the rotation until September of next year at the earliest, but it's more likely 2013 would be the target at this point.  There's a small chance that he won't have to undergo the procedure, but we don't recommend holding your breath.  John Ely has been called up to take his place for the foreseeable future while a course of action is determined.

This is a huge blow, on a lot of different levels.  Rubby was outperforming pretty much everyone's expectations of him this season-  he was averaging a strikeout per inning in the majors, and opponents were hitting just .244 against him.  Sure, his control wasn't perfect, but for a 23 year old that throws 100mph, you can't expect pinpoint control.  Of course, those shiny 100mph fastballs have their price, and it looks like the bill just came due.

What does this all mean?  Well, if Tommy John surgery is necessary, the team's rotation- one of the only areas where it seemed fairly well-off going into next year- becomes a big question mark.  Assuming he's gone, next year's rotation now reads as Kershaw/Billingsley/Lilly/Ely/?. It certainly helps the odds of Hiroki Kuroda returning to the team, if he decides to stay in the US.  And with a strong spring training, you could easily see the team rolling the dice on Zach Lee or Nate Eovaldi sneaking on in place of Ely.  With all the holes in the lineup next year, and all the uncertainty with the team's payroll and financial obligations (not to mention the weak FA pitching market), crossing our fingers for the next batch of prospects to mature may be the best bet we have to replace RDLR's quality innings next season.

That said, with a healthy RDLR back and ready to go, 2013's rotation is STACKED.  Kershaw/Bills/RDLR/Z. Lee/Lilly is pretty filthy, and hopefully by that point one of our other pitchers will have developed enough to push Lilly out entirely.  Proven Veteran Leaders- always looking on the bright side of things.