What’s on tap: Previewing Friday Night’s Action

It’s not until tomorrow night, but I really can’t believe baseball hasn’t stepped in and stopped Clayton Kershaw from pitching against the Braves tomorrow. Kids watch this game. They don’t need to see carnage like that, Rob Manfred. Do something, will ya?

As for tonight, R.A. Dickey vs. David Price is a great matchup for people who haven’t watched baseball in, like, four years and still want to know the names of the pitchers. Same with Johnny Cueto and Adam Wainwright in St. Louis. Yu Darvish gets his second start of the year and will try to go beyond five innings this time out, even if the last outing was a good five innings.

On the less famous end of the spectrum we have the Rockies, who just got clobbered by the Reds of all teams, trotting out Chris Rusin to face the Padres, whose owner may decide to simply disband them and open up a taco stand given how things have been going for them lately. Drew Pomeranz: the fate of your franchise depends on you. No pressure.

Have a nice weekend, y’all.

Los Angeles Angels (Jered Weaver) @ Pittsburgh Pirates (Francisco Liriano), 7:05 PM EDT, PNC Park

Milwaukee Brewers (Jimmy Nelson) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Vince Velazquez), 7:05 PM EDT, Citizens Bank Park

New York Yankees (Nate Eovaldi) @ Baltimore Orioles (Chris Tillman), 7:05 PM EDT, Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Chicago White Sox (Carlos Rodon) @ Detroit Tigers (Jordan Zimmermann), 7:10 PM EDT, Comerica Park

Kansas City Royals (Edinson Volquez) @ Cleveland Indians (Danny Salazar), 7:10 PM EDT, Progressive Field

New York Mets (Noah Syndergaard) @ Miami Marlins (Tom Koehler), 7:10 PM EDT, Marlins Park

Toronto Blue Jays (R.A. Dickey) @ Boston Red Sox (David Price), 7:10 PM EDT, Fenway Park

Washington Nationals (Gio Gonzalez) @ Cincinnati Reds (Brandon Finnegan), 7:10 PM EDT, Great American Ball Park

Seattle Mariners (Taijuan Walker) @ Texas Rangers (Yu Darvish), 8:05 PM EDT, Globe Life Park in Arlington

Oakland Athletics (Jesse Hahn) @ Houston Astros (Doug Fister), 8:10 PM EDT, Minute Maid Park

Tampa Bay Rays (Jake Odorizzi) @ Minnesota Twins (Ricky Nolasco), 8:10 PM EDT, Target Field

San Francisco Giants (Johnny Cueto) @ St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright), 8:15 PM EDT, Busch Stadium

Atlanta Braves (Julio Teheran) @ Los Angeles Dodgers (Kenta Maeda), 10:10 PM EDT, Dodger Stadium

Colorado Rockies (Chris Rusin) @ San Diego Padres (Drew Pomeranz), 10:40 PM EDT, Petco Park

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“We haven’t had many games like this,” Dodgers manager Dave Robert said after last night’s loss to the Yankees. That’s for sure.

There were no wild walkoff hits. There were no home runs by Dodger batters. There were two, including a grand slam, from Didi Gregorius, however, and he and New York batters pounded Hyun-Jin Ryu, perhaps the stingiest pitcher in baseball this year, for seven runs on nine hits in four and a third as the Yankees beat the Dodgers 10-2 in Dodger Stadium.

Aaron Judge, who has been slumping something terrible, opened up the scoring with a solo home run in the third. Two batters later Gary Sánchez matched him with a blast of his own. An A.J. Pollock RBI single in the bottom half of the inning made it a 2-1 game but after that the Yankees stepped on the gas with a five-run fifth highlighted by a Didi Gregorius grand slam. Gleber Torres would homer in the sixth, Judge would single home a run in the eighth and Gregorius would strike again in the ninth with a solo homer for his second blast of the night. That one gave the Yankees 57 bombs in the month of August, which sets a team record. There’s still a week left in August too.

As for the Dodgers, Ryu was uncharacteristically rusty, though it probably should be noted that this was his second poor outing in a row. struggled through his second straight sub-par outing. The last time out he lost to Atlanta. allowing all four Braves’ runs in 5 2/3 innings as the Dodgers fell 4-3. His ERA came in to this game at a still-MLB-best 1.64, but those seven runs in fewer than five — his shortest outing in nearly two months — puffed it up to an even 2.00.

The Yankees scored just nine runs in their three losses in Oakland. Last night they beat that by one. And they brought themselves to within one game of the Dodgers for the best record in all of baseball, which would determine home field in the World Series should these two powerhouses meet.

For now, though, Roberts is limiting the implications of all of this to Friday night, saying “fortunately, it only counts for one loss.” Yep. But man, it was an ugly one.

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