Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Kuroda gets the nod on Opening Day

What was suggested a couple of weeks ago has become official, as Hiroki Kuroda will be the starting pitcher for the Dodgers on Opening Day in San Diego. Joe Torre gave us the good word today.

Following Kuroda will be Randy Wolf, Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw, and "the mystery person" (Torre's words) in the 5th spot. That's not surprising to me because I thought he Torre would split the righties and lefties up.

Kuroda had one big factor working in his favor, and that was his stellar play in the postseason. He went 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA (2 runs in 12 1/3 IP) while K'ing 7. He won the clinching game against the Cubs and gave the Dodgers the only win against the Phillies. That in addition to only allowing 1 run in 12 innings this Spring Training, he's earned the job.

So now Opening Day will be Kuroda vs. Jake Peavy, the Dodger Killer. Maybe some guy named Manny will get the Dodgers over the hump for once against this guy.

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