Monthly Archives: May 2017

May 20

Game 44, 2017

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Marlins at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F, MLBN (out-of-market only)

RHP Dan Straily (1-3, 3.56 ERA) goes for the Marlins against LHP Julio Urias (0-1, 3.343 ERA) of the Dodgers. Straily took a line drive off his right forearm in his last start but hasn’t let that stop him. He hasn’t allowed more than four hits in any of his last seven starts and averages an NL-leading 5.02 hits per nine innings. Urias had a terrible experience in Denver his last time out when he gave up six runs in four innings, which ballooned his ERA from 1.06 to 3.43. This will be his first start against the Marlins.

This day in Dodgers history:

  • The Dodgers did nothing very interesting on this date in baseball history, unless you count Don Sutton being knocked out in the first inning of a game against the Pirates in 1966. He gave up hits to Alou, Clemente, Stargell, Clendenon and Pagan with a walk to Alley thrown in and was relieved by Bob Miller.

Lineup:

Turner remains on the shelf. Taylor plays 3B and Utley goes back to his long-time spot at 2B.

May 19

Game 43, 2017

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Marlins at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

The Marlins have caught on too: they’re trotting out YALHP Justin Nicolino (0-0, 1.50 ERA). He was just promoted from AAA and gave up one run in six innings against the Braves last week. On April 27, 2016 he threw 7 1/3 shutout innings against the Dodgers in his first start of the year. He’ll face the Dodgers’ Alex Wood (4-0, 2.27 ERA), the reigning NL Player of the Week. Part of Wood’s success can be attributed to a 37.4-percent strikeout rate over the last 30 days, second only to Red Sox ace Chris Sale.

This day in Dodgers history:

  • Nothing involving the Dodgers was very notable, but a future Dodger made his MLB debut on this date in:
  • 1984 Joining the club in St. Louis, Eric Davis makes his major league debut, grounding out to short as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning of the Reds’ 9-1 loss to the Redbirds. The 22 year-old rookie is forced to wear a numberless jersey when Cincinnati forgets to pack an extra road uniform. That seems emblematic of all the good he did the Dodgers when he played for them in 1992-1993

The Dodgers and JT dodged a serious bullet: his hamstring is merely strained. They’ve put him on the 10-day DL and brought up Eibner.

Lineup when available.

May 18

Game 42, 2017

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Marlins at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

Miami has lost three in a row and 8 of its last ten (the Dodgers won their last game and 6 of their last ten). The Marlins have given up 35 more runs than they’ve scored (the Dodgers have scored 55 more than they’ve allowed). On the other hand, the Marlins swept a four-game series from the Dodgers last year in Los Angeles. This series is also four games. Cue ominous music.

RHP Edinson Volquez (0-5, 4.41 ERA) tries to dig himself and his team out of their respective holes. The Dodgers counter with LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (1-5, 4.99 ERA). Volquez just came off the disabled list and went six innings against the Braves, giving up only four hits and two runs. Ryu’s last start was awful; he gave up 10 runs (only five earned), eight hits and six walks to the Rockies in Denver.

A-Gon has been activated from the 10-day DL and Scott Van Slyke has been optioned back to OKC.

If you find yourself in Chinatown and want to walk to Dodger Stadium, here’s the route. Expect a half-hour hike.

This day in Dodgers history:

  • 1929 In the doubleheader played at Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl, the teams combine to score a record fifty runs when the Dodgers outlast the Phillies, 20-16, before dropping the nightcap to the home team 8-6. In the opener, Brooklyn’s Johnny Frederick crosses the plate five times, giving him the major league mark of scoring eight runs in two consecutive games.
  • 1931 Dodgers’ outfielder Babe Herman hits for the cycle for the first of two times this season. In 1933, as a member of the Cubs, he will again hit for the cycle, making him and Bob Meusel the only major leaguers to have accomplished the feat three times since 1900.

Lineup when available.

Other than Utley in Forsyth’s spot at 2B, this could be the base starting lineup for the rest of the year if (HA!) everyone stayed healthy.

May 17

Game 41, 2017

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Dodgers at Giants, 12:45 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBCS BA, MLBN (out-of-market only)

LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-2, 2.43 ERA) goes for his 20th career win against the Giants. His opponent will be RHP Johnny Cueto (4-2, 4.15 ERA), who’s already pitched against the Dodgers twice this year, winning once and giving up three runs each time.

The Dodgers have lost three straight and the Giants have won five straight.

This day in Dodgers history:

  • 1947 At Forbes Field, Hank Greenberg asks Jackie Robinson if the Dodger infielder was hurt in a collision with him at first base earlier in the game and then tells the embattled Brooklyn rookie, “Stick in there. You’re doing fine. Keep your chin up.” Jackie will remark to the writers a few days later that his “diamond hero” is Hank Greenberg, knowing that the Pirates’ first baseman, who due to the bigotry endured as a Jew, can appreciate his difficulty of facing racial injustice every day as the first black player in the major leagues this century.
  • 1978 Pinch hitting for Davey Lopes in the Los Angeles 10-1 rout of the Pirates, Lee Lacy goes deep in the bottom of the eighth inning off Will McEnaney at Dodger Stadium. The utility player becomes the first player in major league history to homer in three consecutive at bats as a pinch hitter.

Lineup when available.

May 16

Game 40, 2017

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBCS-BA

LHP Rich Hill (1-1, 3.38 ERA) tries to avoid blister problems while making his third start of the year; after each of his first two he had to go on the 10-day DL while his fingers healed. He pitched five innings Wednesday in a rehab assignment with Rancho Cucamonga with no physical effects. The Giants counter with YALHP Ty Blach (0-2, 4.88 ERA), who has taken Madison Bumgarner’s spot in the rotation while Bumgarner recovers from his dirt bike accident. Blach has gone 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA in three games (two starts) against the Dodgers in his career. In the game he won he shut out the Dodgers over eight innings on three hits. That was in October of 2016.

To make room for Hill the Dodgers optioned Grant Dayton to Oklahoma City.

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1967 Reliever Phil Regan loses his first game in 77 appearances. The ‘Vulture’ gets pinned with his first defeat in over a year when Astros’ third baseman Bob Aspromonte hits a two-run triple in the tenth to beat the Dodgers, 5-3.
  • 2000 After a fan steals Los Angeles’ catcher Chad Kreuter’s hat and hits him in the back of the head, many Dodgers, including coaches John Shelby and Rick Dempsey, go into the stands and start fighting with the Wrigley Field faithful. When the melee ends, several fans are arrested as the game is delayed nearly ten minutes, and there is litter all over the field.

Lineup when available.

No Bellinger, no Seager. González is with Rancho Cucamonga for his first-ever rehab assignment.

May 15

Game 39, 2017

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBCS-BA, MLBN (out-of-market only)

RHP Brandon McCarthy (3-0, 3.10 ERA) takes on RHP Matt Cain (2-1, 4.54 ERA) at AT&T Park this evening. We learn now that the unspecified injury which put McCarthy on the 10-day DL was a dislocated shoulder. He threw a 4-inning 60 pitch simulated game on Wednesday and is “chomping at the bit,” says his manager Dave Roberts. Cain did well in April, posting a 2.30 ERA in five starts, but has struggled so far in May, giving up 12 runs (11 earned) in two starts spanning 8 1/3 innings for an 11.88 ERA.

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1919 After 12 scoreless innings at Ebbets Field, the Reds score 10 runs in the 13th inning to beat Al Mamaux and the Dodgers, 10-0. Cincinnati starter Hod Eller, who tossed a no-hitter in his previous start, is the beneficiary of the blowout.
  • 1956 Sal Maglie, obtained on waivers by Cleveland last season from the Giants, is shipped to the Dodgers for a hundred dollars after impressing Brooklyn in an exhibition game. The ‘Barber’ will post a 13-5 record along with a 2.89 ERA for the eventual NL Champs, finishing second to teammate Don Newcombe in the balloting for both the Cy Young and MVP awards.

The Dodgers made room for McCarthy by optioning Brett Eibner back to Oklahoma City. Poor guy. He hits the longest HR any Dodger has this year, and that’s the recognition he gets.

Lineup when available.

May 14

Game 38, 2017

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Dodgers at Rockies, 12:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOTRM, MLBN free game of the day

LHP Julio Urias (0-0, 1.06 ERA), the Dodgers’ youngster, goes to the mound to try to beat the Rockies’ RHP Antonio Senzatela (5-1, 2.86 ERA) and move the Dodgers past the Rockies into sole possession of first place in the NL West.

Urias has made three starts since his April 27 callup and hasn’t allowed more than a run in a start this year, posting a 1.06 ERA and pitching at least five innings each time out. He hasn’t gotten a decision yet. Senzatela was NL Rookie of the Month in April, he’s tied for second best in the league in wins with five (Kershaw leads with six), and his 2.86 ERA is eighth best. He’s gone at least six innings for his last six starts in a row.

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1981 With a 3-2 win over Montreal in front of the largest Dodger Stadium crowd in seven years, rookie sensation Fernando Valenzuela improves his record to 8-0. The 20 year-old southpaw, who has started the season with five shutouts and a miniscule ERA of 0.50, gets the victory when right fielder Pedro Guerrero hits a lead-off game-ending home run off Steve Ratzer in the bottom of the ninth inning at Chavez Ravine.
  • 2011 For the first time since 1914, the Dodgers are defeated after allowing just one hit, losing to the visiting Diamondbacks,1-0. Chad Billingsley, the hard-luck loser, gives up a leadoff double in the second to Stephen Drew, who scores the game’s only run when shortstop Jamey Carroll fails to cover the bag in an attempted pick-off play.

Lineup when available.

May 13

Game 37, 2017

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Dodgers at Rockies, 5:00 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOTRM

Lefty Alex Wood (3-0, 2.73 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers against lefty Tyler Anderson (2-3, 6.69 ERA). Anderson was scheduled to pitch the opening game of the series on Thursday but was pushed back because of leg soreness. Coors Field is not Wood’s favorite place to pitch: he’s 0-2 with an 11.25 ERA in four starts and he’s allowed 20 earned runs in 16 innings there. Anderson is 0-2 with a 6.30 ERA in two starts spanning 10 innings against the Dodgers this season.

What do pitching coaches do? Well:

“He’d gotten in a bad habit,” Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said of Wood’s time in Atlanta, when his velocity was about 4 mph slower than it is now. “His arm slot had really dropped. Didn’t have the angle with the fastball. We revamped his delivery more to what it was when he first got to the big leagues out of college, and he’s really been able to stay on that.”

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1947 During the pre-game infield practice, a barrage of racial slurs is directed at Jackie Robinson by the Cincinnati fans during the Dodgers’ first visit to Crosley Field this season. Brooklyn shortstop Pee Wee Reese, a Southerner from Kentucky with friends attending the game and captain of the team, engages the black infielder in conversation, and then put his arm around his teammate’s shoulder, a gesture that stuns and silences the crowd.
  • 1952 Larry Miggins hits the first of his two major league home runs, going deep off Preacher Roe in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ 14-8 loss to the Dodgers at Ebbets Field. The round-tripper hit by the Bronx-born outfielder, who had once shared his dream of playing in big leagues during a prep school assembly with a buddy with aspirations to be a baseball broadcaster, is called by an overwhelmed Vin Scully, Brooklyn’s play-by-play announcer who had wondered that day with his friend “what the odds against that would be.”

Lineup when available.

May 12

Game 36, 2017

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Dodgers at Rockies, 5:40 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOTRM, MLBN (out-of-market only)

LHP Clayton Kershaw (5-2, 2.40 ERA) searches for his sixth win of the season, his ninth in 18 career starts at Coors Field. He’s 19-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 34 career starts against the Rockies. His opponent will be RHP Tyler Chatwood (3-4, 4.74 ERA), who was 1-2 with a 3.75 ERA against the Dodgers last season.

This day in Dodger history:

  • 1956 At Ebbets Field, Carl Erskine tosses his second career no-hitter when he holds the crosstown rival Giants hitless in the Dodgers’ 3-0 victory. The right-handed ‘Oisk’ also threw a no-no against the Cubs in 1952.
  • 1958 In a 12-3 rout of their West Coast rival, Willie Mays homers twice against the Dodgers in the LA Memorial Coliseum contest. The ‘Say Hey Kid’s’ second round-tripper, a fifth inning shot off Ed Roebuck, is the first grand slam ever hit by a San Francisco Giant.
  • 2004 In one of the most remarkable at-bats in big league history, Alex Cora fouls off 14 consecutive pitches and then hits the 18th thrown to him by the Cubs’ Matt Clement over the right-field fence for a two-run home run which doubles LA’s lead to 4-0. The Dodger Stadium crowd cheered each foul ball as the total started to be displayed on the scoreboard. (Video)
  • 2009 In a 5-3 victory over LA at Citizens Bank Park, Jayson Werth steals home to complete his journey around the bases that also included the swiping of second and third base. In addition to becoming the first major leaguer to complete the stolen base cycle since Eric Young accomplished the feat in 1996 with Colorado, the Phillies’ right-fielder ties a team record established by Sherry Magee (2, 1906) and Garry Maddox (1978).
  • 2015 Giancarlo Stanton becomes the fourth player to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium, joining McGwire (1999), Mike Piazza (1997), and Willie Stargell, who accomplished the feat twice (1969, 1973). The jaw-dropping first-inning blast off Mike Bolsinger, estimated to have travelled 475 feet, proves to be the only bright spot in the Marlins’ 11-1 loss to LA at Chavez Ravine. (Video)

Lineup when available.

May 11

Game 35, 2017

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Dodgers at Rockies, 5:40 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOTRM

Fresh from the 10-day DL, LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (1-4, 4.05 ERA) goes to the mound. He’ll face YALHP Tyler Anderson (2-3, 6.69 ERA). Ryu was recovering from a hip contusion suffered while sliding; his trip to the DL had nothing to do with his arm. In his last two starts he’s gone 11 1/3 innings and given up just two runs while striking out 12. Anderson gave up one run on six hits and a walk in six innings in his last start last Saturday.

Two guys to watch: Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado is 6-for-12 with two home runs, four RBIs and two strikeouts against Ryu while the Dodgers’ Justin Turner is even more of a tormentor of Anderson — 7-for-12 (.583) with two doubles, one home run, four RBIs, one walk and no strikeouts.

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1963 Sandy Koufax takes a perfect game into the eighth inning before walking Ed Bailey on a 3-and-2 pitch, but will finish the Dodger Stadium contest with the second of four career no-hitters, blanking the Giants, 8-0. The Los Angeles southpaw beats San Francisco ace Juan Marichal, who will also author a no-hitter next month.

Lineup when available.