Game 145: Rain can’t dampen Dodgers’ 2-0 victory over New York Yankees.

Andre Ethier

Andre Ethier hits into a double-play groundout to end the fourth inning in the Dodgers’ 2-0 win over the New York Yankees. (Getty Images)

Clayton Kershaw began to look like himself again Wednesday, throwing five scoreless innings against the New York Yankees in a 2-0 Dodgers win. The box score is here.

The Dodgers will meet the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in April 2017.

Game 144: Another lefty, another bummer in the Bronx for Dodgers.

Ross Stripling Carlos Ruiz

Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling, right, allowed home runs on consecutive pitches in the seventh inning of a 3-0 loss to the New York Yankees. (Getty Images)

The Yankees broke open a scoreless game with three home runs, and the Dodgers couldn’t solve southpaw C.C. Sabathia in a 3-0 loss. The box score is here.

Vin Scully will not call any postseason games on the radio.

The Dodgers say Julio Urias made his last start of the season today.

Game 143: Dodgers paint Yankee Stadium blue.

Justin Turner

Justin Turner is cheered by Dodger fans sitting in left field at Yankee Stadium while he rounds the bases after hitting his 27th home run of the season. (Getty Images)

The Dodgers owned Yankee Stadium — in the stands and on the field — and their six runs in the first three innings Monday held up in an 8-2 interleague victory. The box score is here.

Rookies have made an unusually large contribution to the Dodgers’ success this season.

The Dodgers’ starting rotation is starting to rotate on a normal-ish basis.

Ross Stripling

Ross Stripling is one of six different pitchers who will start for the Dodgers in a six-game stretch this week. (Associated Press photo)

Ross Stripling and Brock Stewart are scheduled to start the next two games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. That will complete a streak of four straight rookie pitchers (Kenta Maeda today, Jose De Leon yesterday) who will have started a game with the Dodgers nursing a small lead in the National League West standings.

What’s more, the Dodgers are scheduled to use a different starting pitcher in all six games they will play this week.

However, things are about to get normal. (Normal-ish, at least.) After an off-day Thursday, the Dodgers travel to Miami to kick off a 10-game road trip. Here are the probable matchups for that series:

Friday: Clayton KershawJose Fernandez
Saturday: Rich HillTom Koehler
Sunday: Maeda – Jake Esch

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Daily Distractions: Is Clayton Kershaw in the midst of the best season ever by a Dodgers pitcher?

Clayton Kershaw

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw didn’t allow a run in eight innings against the New York Yankees on Wednesday. (John McCoy/Staff photographer)

Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis gets the bigger picture of his existence as a Major League Baseball player. He doesn’t strike me as an over-the-top baseball historian like Curt Schilling, or a numbers guy like Brandon McCarthy, but he does catch Clayton Kershaw every fifth day. So he gets it.

“We’re spoiled, that’s all I can say, having him on our team and on our pitching staff,” Ellis said after the Dodgers’ 3-0 loss to the Yankees yesterday. “We’re teammates with somebody who’s really, really special.”

Some perspective on Kershaw: His 1.87 earned-run average is the lowest in baseball, and he has a chance to post the first sub-2.00 ERA by a Dodgers pitcher since Sandy Koufax in 1966. If the season ended today, Kershaw would qualify for the ERA title (he’s pitched 168 innings) and would own the third-lowest ERA in a single season in Dodgers history. In terms of ERA+, which accounts for how many runs are being scored around the league in a given year, Kershaw is in the midst of the best season by a pitcher in Dodgers history, a hair better than Koufax’s 1966 season.

But Ellis doesn’t need the numbers. He sees it all the time. “The fact that (Kershaw) can come out and reproduce what he does,” Ellis said, “is what makes him the best in the league.”

Onto the bullet points for a Colorado statehood day:
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