I haven’t missed a game thread yet. Despite the best efforts of the day job, today won’t be that day, but we are going to have to keep this brief. Yes, that is Luis Cruz in the lineup for the first time since May 5, which was nearly two weeks ago. Can we hope and pray that it will be the last time? Mark Ellis is scheduled to play four innings for Chattanooga tonight (weather permitting), and I cannot imagine that Cruz still exists for any other reason than that Ellis, Jerry Hairston, & Hanley Ramirez are all injured. Hairston reportedly is now battling a knee injury in addition to his other concerns, but Ellis could be back as soon as later this road trip, so… absolutely expect Cruz to go 4-4 with two dingers tonight, just to screw with us. No question. Dodgers Braves LF Crawford SS Simmons 2B Punto RF Heyward CF Kemp CF J.Upton 1B Gonzalez 1B Freeman C A.Ellis 2B Johnson RF Van Slyke C McCann 3B Cruz 2B Uggla SS Gordon CF B.Upton P Ryu P Maholm Fri 5/10Sat 5/11Sun 5/12Mon 5/13Tues 5/14Wed 5/15Thurs 5/16 RR. Belisario2315- RJ.Guerra1848- RM. Guerrier13166- LJ.P. Howell154413- RK. Jansen25422- RB. League1419- LP. Rodriguez12516-

Wow, Dodger series where u don't face pitchers named Kershaw, Greinke, Beckett or Billingsly! Need to take advantage of that. At Ted tmrw!— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) May 17, 2013Larry's just now getting around to seeing Ted? Hyn-Jin Ryu (4-2, 3.40) vs. Paul Maholm (4-4, 3.94) Tough talk from the comfort of your animal print retirement sofa, Larry. Allow me to introduce you to one Hyun-Jin Ryu. You may not know this, but he's the most reliable Dodger pitcher not named Kershaw at this moment (at least until we're sure Greinke's 100%). I don't expect you to do much stat-licking while you're doing whatever it is you're doing in retirement, Larry, but Ryu's in the top 20 in K/9, the top 25 in FIP, and the top 50 in ERA. Plus, he can do cool levitation shit like this: Oh, and Larry? It's cute that you think Beckett is still a threat. Ryu pic: insidesocal.com

Luis Cruz makes his first start since May 5 for the Dodgers, while the Braves' Jason Heyward in his career has hit .111/.188/.139 (8-for-72) in 20 games against the Dodgers.

The Dodgers open a weekend series against the Braves in Atlanta on Friday night at Turner Field.

Jaime Jarrin June 29, 2013 Time: TBA Frank & Son Collectible Show 19649 E. San Jose Ave. City of Industry, CA 91748 Further details will be posted at Halloffamesports.com soon. For other upcoming signings, scroll down and on the left side of this blog, you will see "Upcoming Appearances". Click the name for more details.

Southpaw starter Hyun-jin Ryu gets the call in the opener for the Dodgers on Friday night in Atlanta, the latest left-handed starting pitcher for Los Angeles this season.

Zach Greinke’s return to the rotation on Wednesday coming off the heels of Clayton Kershaw’s 132-pitch masterpiece provided me with the thinking that, “this could work out!” This team has holes, we know that, but Hyun-Jin Ryu has shown to be a reliable thus far and with elite starters in Kershaw and Greinke the playoffs may hinge on the ability of the Dodgers fourth and fifth starters (Ted Lilly, Josh Beckett, Matt Magill, Chris Capuano, Jonathan Sanchez?!) to be mediocre. Given what we have seen so far, mediocre is hopeful. The Lilly-Beckett-Magill-Capuano-Stephen Fife-Chad Billingsley six-pack have combined for 19 starts in 2013. The team is a dreadful 4-15 (21% win percentage) in those games. And, while the offense has obviously struggled, the results would hardly be different if they weren’t. The back-end of the rotation (anyone other than Kershaw/Ryu/Greinke) have collectively pitched 92 2/3 IP (4.87 innings per start), 5.73 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 11.1 H/9. Meanwhile, Kershaw-Ryu-Greinke have been every bit as good as their fellow starters have been bad. The Dodgers have won 13 of the 20 games (65% win percentage) they have started, with a combined 131 IP (6.55 innings per start), 2.20 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 6.7 H/9. To put that into perspective, in Clayton Kershaw’s Cy Young award winning 2011 season he posted numbers of 7.1 innings per start, 2.28 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 9.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 6.7 H/9. Pretty good. They have held their opponents to two or less runs in 75% of their starts. And only twice have they given up more than three runs, both Ryu starts (4/20 @ Baltimore & 5/5 @ San Francisco). What does that mean for the rest of the season? Let’s have some fun with numbers and make a few assumptions. 1) The Kershaw-Ryu-Greinke trio make the rest of their starts 2) The team regresses a bit in starts by the front line winning 62% of those games. 3) To get that last playoff spot a team needs to win 87 games. Going back over the last five seasons, the second NL wild card would have qualified with 87 wins four times and 88 wins once. With 123 games remaining and Kershaw-Ryu-Greinke scheduled to start 60% of those, that means 74 starts from the front line of the rotation and 46 more wins. That leaves the fourth and fifth starters with 49 more starts, the team would need to go 24-25 in those games to reach 87 wins. If winning the NL West is the goal, and we assume that it will take 91 wins for that to happen, the team will need to go 28-21 in those remaining starts. Zach Greinke’s return to the rotation on Wednesday coming off the heels of Clayton Kershaw’s 132-pitch masterpiece provided me with the thinking that, “this could work out!” This team has holes, we know that, but Hyun-Jin Ryu has shown to be a reliable thus far and with elite starters in Kershaw and Greinke the playoffs may hinge on the ability of the Dodgers fourth and fifth starters (Ted Lilly, Josh Beckett, Matt Magill, Chris Capuano, Jonathan Sanchez?!) to be mediocre. Given what we have seen so far, mediocre is hopeful. The Lilly-Beckett-Magill-Capuano-Stephen Fife-Chad Billingsley six-pack have combined for 19 starts in 2013. The team is a dreadful 4-15 (21% win percentage) in those games. And, while the offense has obviously struggled, the results would hardly be different if they weren’t. The back-end of the rotation (anyone other than Kershaw/Ryu/Greinke) have collectively pitched 92 2/3 IP (4.87 innings per start), 5.73 ERA, 1.66 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 11.1 H/9. Meanwhile, Kershaw-Ryu-Greinke have been every bit as good as their fellow starters have been bad. The Dodgers have won 13 of the 20 games (65% win percentage) they have started, with a combined 131 IP (6.55 innings per start), 2.20 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 6.7 H/9. To put that into perspective, in Clayton Kershaw’s Cy Young award winning 2011 season he pos

Luis Cruz - News around the web! Dodgers' medical staff feeling the strain. {Dylan Hernandez/L.A. Times} Mark Ellis’s return could bring an end to Cruuuuuz-mania. {Think Blue L.A.} Paco Rodriguez has made quick rise through minors to shine in bullpen. {Daily News} Dodgers on the road to face the Braves. {Dodgers.com} What's it like to catch Clayton Kershaw? Let's ask A.J. Ellis. {Mark Saxon/ESPN L.A.} Clayton Kershaw Fathead. {Dodgers.com}

Blake Smith crushed a 3-run homer in the top of the 10th which was followed up by a Chris Jacobs 2-run jack

Wow, I was evidently branded as a heretic by some of the old-timers on this board who questioned my sanity for saying that Clayton Kershaw would become the greatest Dodgers pitcher of all time and questioning whether Ryu was a #3. Let’s address the Kershaw-Koufax comparison.  Let me start by asking you if you all [...]