Josh Beckett is 0-5, and the Dodgers are 1-7 in games that he starts. Maybe it’s a good time for the DL. (Associated Press photo)
Josh Beckett really didn’t want to talk about his injuries after yesterday’s game.
We know that he tweaked his groin covering first base on an Adam LaRoche ground ball in the third inning. We know that he’s dealing with other injuries. We don’t know what part of his body they’re affecting, how serious they are, or when he started feeling them — we just know that Beckett isn’t right.
But we knew that already.
“I’m in one of those ruts where if they hit the ball soft it’s a hit, if they hit the ball hard, it’s a hit,” Beckett said after the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss to the Washington Nationals.
Will he need to go on the disabled list?
“I’m healthy enough to pitch,” he said.
That might not stop the Dodgers from putting Beckett on the DL as a “precaution.” Sometimes that’s baseball code for, “even though you can pitch, we’d rather you not,” and being 0-5 with a 5.19 earned-run average constitutes just cause.
More injury-related bullet points:
• You don’t ever wish injury upon anyone, but sometimes it allows you to write sentences like this: “A series of errors helped Washington score six runs before the Dodgers got on the scoreboard and Bryce Harper crashed into it.”
• From the Washington Post: “Harper can do just about anything he wants on a baseball diamond, but at 20 he lacks the instinct to protect himself.”
• Another tidbit dug up by the Post: Since the start of the 2012 season, the only pitchers with an ERA better than [Jordan Zimmermann’s] 2.65 are Clayton Kershaw (2.35) and Justin Verlander (2.52).
• Shiver me timbers, it’s a third commentary on Don Mattingly’s job security in two days!
• This bar graph, updated in real time, allows you to see how much money the Dodgers have invested in their disabled list today. (If you want to see one reason why the Giants are thriving these days, scroll down to the bottom of the list. Doesn’t explain the Yankees at the top.)
• Yesterday, Mattingly compared Harper to Yasiel Puig. Today, ESPN.com compares him to Pete Reiser.
• James Loney, the American League leader in batting average, says of his new team, “I just think the whole environment is better here. You have the right type of leaders here. You got the right type of guys.”
• Here’s “Sookie Sookie” by Grant Green.
