Stripling has a tough act to follow — his
Ross Stripling will have a tough act to follow when he takes the mound for the Dodgers on Thursday night. How do you top 71⁄3 innings of no-hit ball in your first major league start?
No hits through eight? A perfect game?
“Oh man, maybe,” Stripling said with a laugh when asked whether he set the bar too high with his performance in San Francisco on Friday night. “You can think that, based on some of the stuff you hear from fans. But in my head, it’s all about going out and doing what I do. Attack hitters, throw strikes with four pitches. I’m not thinking about continuing a pace of throwing no-hitters.”
The controversy surrounding Manager Dave Roberts’ decision to pull Stripling at 100 pitches to protect the right-hander’s surgically repaired elbow — and the two-run home run Chris Hatcher gave up in a 3-2, 10-inning loss — did not detract from Stripling’s effort.
Stripling, a 26-year-old who had never pitched above double A, showed a sharp overhand curve while striking out four and walking four and said the start provided a huge confidence boost.
After all, Stripling was optioned to the minor leagues March 17, only to be recalled when Mike Bolsinger was injured.
“Mentally, it showed I can get guys out at this level,” Stripling said. “You start feeling like you belong, rather than you kind of lucked into this, which might be how some people view it.
“I was able to back up the fact that they put me here for a reason. Now, I can pitch with some confidence, some swagger, like I had in the minor leagues.”
Have glove, will travel
As far as lineup decisions go, this one did not come out of left field.
The day second baseman Howie Kendrick re-signed with the Dodgers in February, he spoke to Roberts about playing some left field, so it no surprise to see Kendrick starting there Wednesday night.
Roberts just didn’t expect Kendrick, who sat out much of spring training because of a groin injury and the first week of the season because of a calf injury, to be out there so soon.
Injuries pushed outfielders Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford and Scott Van Slyke to the disabled list, and a desire to keep the bats of Kendrick and second baseman Chase Utley in the same lineup prompted the move.
Kendrick went into the game with a .556 average (10 for 18) against Arizona starter Rubby De La Rosa.
“In a perfect world, we would have gotten him more repetitions this spring,” Roberts said, “but you can’t anticipate how a season is going to play out.”
Kendrick made 20 big league starts in left field, all for the Angels in place of the injured Vernon Wells in 2011. He had one assist and no errors.
Short hops
The tentative plan for Crawford (lower-back tightness) is for him to begin a minor league rehabilitation stint April 20 and be activated April 24 at Colorado. … Van Slyke (lower-back irritation) is not scheduled to resume baseball activities for several days.