Game Thread 9/23/12

Gratuitous Giants video, only because a) it’s a helluva play and b) Kung-Fu Panda is actually blowing a bubble when he takes off after this foul ball!

When ESPN scheduled this game for its final Sunday Night Baseball game of the season, I’m sure it thought it would have a bearing on at least one if not two division titles. As the season went along, I imagine they felt pretty good about it until the All-Star break, when the Dodgers’ injuries were starting to mount up. After the past month of Dodger futility, by now the guys in charge of baseball programming in Bristol are all saying “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

Lineups aren’t out yet, but Ken Gurnick reports at Dodgers.com that Kershaw has been cleared to pitch tonight.

If it were me managing, I’d say “Clayton, you’ve had a very good year, but the likelihood of us going into the playoffs isn’t going to be increased if you pitch anymore this season. Unless we start to hit, there’s no reason to risk you hurting yourself permanently. Sit down and rest that hip.”

Lineup:

Ellis, M, 2B
Ethier, A, RF
Kemp, M, CF
Gonzalez, A, 1B
Ramirez, H, SS
Cruz, L, 3B
Herrera, E, LF
Ellis, A, C
Kershaw, C, P

Gameday

55 thoughts on “Game Thread 9/23/12

  1. Pingback: Last off-day of the year | Elysian Fields

  2. At this point, I’ll take any hope.
    For anyone that ever thought the mental aspect of the game was overrated, they only need to look at Dee Gordon.

  3. If not sure where to post non-game stuff, here or DT afterlife post, choose both, I guess–

    If anyone who can research things quickly is around, what’s the last time a Dodger hit 2 HR in a game, as did AGon last night?

    Obviously it needed to be better, but 3-3 on the road against maybe the two best teams in MLB isn’t too shabby, especially with the offense still spotty.

    U-rbi-less with a hit? If we’re talking miracles, can we have one involving a storybook team finish instead of one involving a white elephant?

  4. Congrats on the site link. Not overloaded with graphics as some are, and civil discourse we are used to. With 3 each vs Brewers and Cards, Zinzinnatti could go along way in determining our fate. Need to win em all to have any realistic shot tho.

  5. posted this at DT:

    Thanks to the great work of recently extended Ned Colletti the team has the following obligations among others:

    Mark Ellis ! year 6.25 or 2 years for the bargain of 11
    Juan Uribe 1 year 8
    Tony Gwynn 1 year 1.15 (hard to believe)
    Jerry Hairston 1 year 3.75
    Nick Punto 1 year 1.5
    Chris Capuano 1 year 7 or 2 years 12
    Aaron Harang 1 year 9 or 2 years 14
    Ted Lilly 1 year 12
    Josh Beckett 2 years 31.5 (not Colletti’s fault imo)
    Matt Guerrier 1 year 4 75
    Also Rivera, Treanor, and Coffey have 2013 buy-outs or else they get 4, 0.95, and 2.5 respectively. Buyouts are 0.5, 0.15, 0.3, again, respectively.

    all figures in millions of dollars.

  6. There’s still a pulse — and, hopefully, a tease of Things To Come (at least next year) in the 7th inning!

    • I looked at the trailer for “42” and was impressed. The actor playing Robinson was running like Jackie.

  7. Uribe’s appearance, with a hit!, was his first plate appearance since August 26. I wonder if anyone has ever spent so many games on the bench without being injured.

  8. The last time a Dodger starting pitcher won a game was on September 1, by Beckett. This will be the 19th consecutive game in which that hasn’t happened.

  9. Despite missing all those games, Dee, with that error, now has the second most errors of any shortstop in the National League, at 18. Ouch.

    • Well, just about the only place he can go is up!

      BTW, Scooplew, thanks for recommending “Double Play” — I loved it, especially the tie-in to Jackie Robinson . . . and it was my first Parker novel! (But not the last.) I also read “I Never Had It Made” and was pumped to see the trailer for “42,” especially the iconic shot of Pee Wee with his arm on Jackie’s shoulder.

  10. Belli was Steinered . . . Charlie gave stat about him not giving up a run since ____ and I cringed. Of course, I cringed with Dee’s “defense.”

  11. Nice to see Donnie trying to make things happen. There is definitely long-ball potential with this lineup, but it obviously can go MIA . . . so it’s nice to see that small-ball is an option.

  12. Hanley’s bat and Dee’s speed . . . nice combo!

    Nice rally — an inning too late for Clayton’s record, but better late than never!

  13. I felt lucky more than anything going into the ASG with the Dodgers. Figured that maybe with another bat or two we had a chance if the giants stumbled. Seems like an awful long time ago.

  14. 28 years ago Matt Kemp’s mom was celebrating his birth while I was celebrating my 1/4 century mark…Happy Birthday Matty

  15. Yes, I hope that 10 years from now we’re all not saying, “Kershaw was never the same pitcher after they let him pitch with plantar fasciitis and a hip injury.”