Game 141, 2016

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Dodgers at Marlins, 4:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

Lefty Rich Hill (11-3, 1.94 ERA) makes his third start for the Dodgers. In his first two he’s thrown 12 scoreless innings. He’ll face RHP Tom Koehler (9-10, 3.87 ERA), who hasn’t won since August 9 but whose last outing was six shutout innings against Cleveland on September 4.

Personnel move:

“Manager Dave Roberts said Ethier will get an occasional start, but with the club’s outfield depth, Ethier will mostly be used coming off the bench as a late-innings pinch-hitter.”

Lineup:

Hmm. Utley gets the day off and Kendrick is back at 2B for the first time in a while. His LF slot will be taken by Puig.

222 thoughts on “Game 141, 2016”

      • We can probably agree with the Wikipedia entry that says Jeffrey Loria has “been called one of the most dishonest owners by numerous publications such as ESPN and named one of the worst owners in sports by Rolling Stone magazine.”

  13. Jon, of course, has a well-reasoned take on this. In particular, “Technically, this wasn’t the first time Hill left a start this year without allowing a baserunner. On July 17, he took the mound for Oakland — and then had to leave when his blister problem became untenable during warmups. And it’s that reality that Roberts was dealing with.”

  15. Hate to think that anything is in the bag, but a scenario occurred to me where the Dodgers could be in a position of knocking the giants out of the playoffs, perhaps on the last day of the season. How would Roberts play that game? Come to think of it, who among the players would be designated to manage said game? Utley?

  16. Those giants are probably looking in the rearview mirror these days. Cards play the Brewers and Mets play the Braves.

  17. Zach on the mound for the Snakes today against Matt Moore. A five game lead with 20 left would be awful nice

  18. McCullough’s LA Times game story.

    Roberts conferred with Honeycutt and the training staff. He did the
    math. Hill had not thrown 90 pitches in a game since July 7, the day the
    blister first appeared. He had pitched in two major league games since
    then. He was scratched from an outing on Aug. 31 because of worries
    about his finger. If the blister tore, he might miss a month.

  19. True Blue is passing along tweets that indicate Hill was developing a hotspot on his finger (Did Doc leave him in too long?)

  23. Everyone focusing on the 89 pitches, but at that rate he would have been at 114 to end the game. He was lost 2 1/2 weeks to the A’s before the trade and 3 1/2 weeks to the Dodgers after the trade. Blisters not a minor issue at all.

  26. So what does Roberts say to Hill? Does he tell him next time you have a perfect game going through 7 and you have less than 90 pitches, I’ll let you pitch longer?

  35. Clearly the big story tonight is beating Mattingly and company for the first time this year.

    • Somehow I don’t think Howie makes that if he was out there (does he even make it halfway)

      • It would be funny bizzaro baseball if a manager in Roberts’ position started putting in the defensive B team so that there was a greater chance the perfect game didn’t continue. Like switching Puig for Howie, Hernandez for Joc, etc.

  41. Maybe Roberts is looking for an edge in a tight Manager of the Year race and thinks this will do it. 😉

  45. Hot take: If Roberts was around as manager, Koufax wouldn’t have a perfect game either. Too big a risk on straining his arm in the midst of a pennant race.

  49. Many years ago, I saw ex-Gnat Dick Lemay throw a seven-inning perfecto in Tacoma. At that time, the second game of Sunday doubleheaders in the PCL were scheduled for seven only.

    • For all the reasons for taking him out, those are the same reasons that make Hill want to get the prize. It has been a frustrating season for him.

  53. Well, okay. Now that I hear Nomar’s arguments for pulling him, I understand. But how disappointing, after Puig’s catch, etc. We’d better win this game.

    • He’s thrown 89 pitches, he’s not gone longer than six innings in over a month, and he’s had blisters badly enough to put him on the DL. Those are all reasonably compelling reasons to take him out, I think.

    • Right call for me. He would have to take him out at some point due to pitch count. easier to do it now rather than after a perfect 8th.

      • Assuming he had pitched a perfect 8th. And truthfully, I’m guessing Hill would far rather be pulled after giving up a base runner and having the perfect game end, than not being given a chance at all.

        Or perhaps, he gets through the 8th in 9 pitches and the 9th in 8 pitches and pitch count doesn’t really come into play. And he pitches a perfect game.

        • There are certainly different scenarios about leaving him in but they all mean more pitches, which is what Roberts was trying to avoid. Dave, the guy was out for 5 1/2 weeks with blisters

  68. Joc might be the player of the game.
    Or he might not be even close to being player of the game.

  70. 89 is his most pitches as a Dodger, though he regularly went over 100 as an A’s. (then we have the blister issue to consider)

  74. If friends don’t let friends drive drunk, why do friends let friends have stupid haircuts? Joc, ya got friends?

  75. Sometimes it feels like rule 8 here and the Dodgers hitting multiple home runs in an inning are in some tension.
    How can we not make the same point over and over again! 🙂

  91. With two strikes against him this season, Grandal is now 28-for-201 with 101 strikeouts, but also 13 homers.

  95. Here’s the lineup in fun version (curtesy of DodgerNation’s Twitter feed):

    HowieDoin 2B
    Mr. StealYoGirl SS
    RedDream 3B
    Boom 1B
    Yazmanian C
    WallCrawler RF
    WildHorse LF
    YungJoc CF
    KingOfTheHill P