September 8th, 2016 at 8:04 am 
by Ron Cervenka No true baseball fan ever likes to see a baseball player suffer an injury, not even one suffered by a member of a rival team. But as we learned long ago as fans of the greatest game in the world, the game waits for no one and one player’s misfortune is another’s opportunity.
Such was the case on Wednesday evening when Dodgers left-hander Scott Kazmir suffered an apparent setback in his recovery from neck inflammation during a rehab start with the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City Dodgers; and not just any rehab start. It happened to be during Game 1 of the Pacific Coast League’s American Conference Finals at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and the injury appears to be a new one.
It became very obvious very quickly that the 32-year-old Houston, Texas native wasn’t right when he couldn’t make it out of the top of the first inning, having hit two Nashville Sounds (Athletics) batters, walking two others and giving up a three-run home run that put the OKC Dodgers into a hole from which they never recovered.
Not only did Kazmir suffer a setback in his recovery, he also put the OKC Dodgers at a disadvantage in the PCL American Conference Finals. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
Ironically, news of Kazmir’s setback came only hours after Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Kazmir would probably rejoin the team in New York and make a start against the Yankees.
But that game plan quickly changed as news of Kazmir’s injury spread across the Twittersphere.
Although the OKC Dodgers eventually fell to the Nashville Sounds by a final score of 10-7 and has them down 0-1 in the best-of-five American Conference Finals, it’s what Roberts told reporters after his team beat the Dbacks by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday that could significantly alter the Dodgers starting rotation going forward as the team embarks on a lengthy 10-game road trip that takes them through Miami for three against the Marlins, onto New York for three against the Yankees and concludes in Arizona with four more against the Dbacks.
Here again, no one is happy about the (apparently new) injury to Scott Kazmir and we all wish him a speedy recovery, but you would be hard-pressed to find even one Dodger fan who is not absolutely elated that 24-year-old hard-throwing right-hander Jose De Leon will (probably) be called upon to replace Kazmir in the starting rotation – at least initially.
De Leon was brilliant in his major league debut last Sunday afternoon, allowing just four runs on six hits while striking out nine and walking none. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Taking it one step further, depending on how the rehabilitation assignments of right-handers Bud Norris and Brandon McCarthy, and left-hander Brett Anderson go, De Leon might just find himself in the Dodgers postseason starting rotation as well.
Wouldn’t that be something.
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At this point of the season, given his injuries, Kazmir cannot be trusted to be an effective pitcher down the stretch. The Dodgers would be doing themselves a huge favor by getting De Leon in as many games as they can before the playoffs begin.
And, while we’re talking about starting pitching, how about a little love for the absolutely solid pitching performance by Brock Stewart last night! The future is indeed looking bright…
It has got to the point that injuries are just the norm. I’ve never seen anything like it. Doesn’t even seem to affect the team. They just plug the hole and move on.
And to your point, Evan, the absence of even Zack Greinke, an “injury” of subtraction to the starting rotation, has been filled outstandingly well with the acquisition of Kenta Maeda.
I never thought I’d say this, but we really haven’t missed Greinke in the starting rotation, even with Kershaw’s lengthy stint on the DL. The rotation, and the lineup, has been “plug and play” all season long.
Great depth, and Roberts should be lauded for his use of the tools F&Z have given him this year. Definite candidate for MOY, IMO.
And how could we forget Grant Dayton’s HUGE seventh inning strikeout of Rickie Weeks Jr, with the bases-loaded and two out in relief of Jesse Chavez? That was a game changer and kept Stewart in the win column.
All 4 rookies made a big impression this week. Add a healthy Kersh and Hill and we’re set for the stretch run and postseason.
De Leon: After his error he just went right back to work like it never happened. It made me think of last year, when Zack made a throw to first off the leadoff batter that was probably tracked by ATC at LAX. The calm, cool veteran was down 5-0 before recording an out.
Kenta: How many saw this as a mismatch? Kenta vs. Zack. It was, but not what was expected. I am beginning to think that Kenta may always be a 5-6 inning pitcher. More on that later.
Stripling: He’s on a roll now in which he just seems to get better each time out. Maybe that BP time helped his confidence.
Stewart: Last time out he dominated. This time he battled. Successful in both.
Hill and De Leon both look to me like 7+ pitchers. We all know that Kersh will quickly get beyond that point very soon, barring a setback. That’ll make it easy for the BP to deal with coming in early occasionally. My only concern there is if they remember how to pitch when they’re not tired.
Things seem to be coming together at just the right time.
This is a team that gained 13 games in the standings without Kersh. Imagine what they will do with Kersh.