Top 1st: keep the bullpen on its toes

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Crowd boos as Jason Schmidt’s name announced in starting lineup. That $47-million price tag still gives L.A. fans sticker shock.

First batter, Willy Taveras, smokes an 87-mph fastball over the left-center field wall. Previously in the at-bat, Schmidt had thrown changeups of between 80-83 mph.

Taveras hits a triple. The ball may or may not have cleared the fence and the play is under review.

The ball was ruled to be still in play. Taveras stands on third. Jerry Hairston Jr. swings and misses at an 85-mph fastball and launches his bat into the Dodgers’ dugout.

Hairston has pulled two straight pitches foul.

Breaking ball attempt breaks into the dirt three feet short of the plate.

Hairston pulls the next pitch down the left-field line, scoring Tavares.

First high looping curve ball meanders across at 71 mph.

Loooooonnnnnng single off the right-field wall by Joey Votto, Hairston advances to third. Twenty-three pitches in the first inning, no outs. Outlook not so good. Something’s brewing in the bullpen. No joke.

And Schmidt’s finally got his first ou-- No! The ball drops between a confused Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, either of whom could have caught the ball easily. Votto scores. Phillips, who hit the fly ball/single, helps the cause by getting thrown out trying to get a double. One away.

Laynce Nix flies out to center. Two down.

Edwin Encarnacion walks.

Chris Dickerson pops out to third. Thirty-five pitches in the first inning, not what you would call convenient. Three runs on four hits. There’s plenty of rust built up in that elbow apparently. Now it gets interesting, because theoretically this could be attributed to two years of absence from a big league mound. So does he put it together and work through this, or do the wheels really come off?

-- Bill Brink