Game 102, 2017

Twins at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSNO

RHP Ervin Santana (11-7, 3.26 ERA) goes for the Twins and RHP Brock Stewart (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes a spot start for the Dodgers.

Santana has hit a rough patch in his last five outings, going 2-3 with a 4.25 ERA while walking 11 batters. He only got through 3 1/3 innings last Friday against the Tigers and gave up five runs. Stewart, 25, has been used out of the bullpen this season, appearing in six games and throwing 13 innings. He’s filling in for Kershaw and McCarthy, who are both on the DL. He made five starts for the Dodgers in 2016, going 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA in 28 innings. He’s on a 50-60 pitch limit.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1900 In Brooklyn, a sheriff seizes the St. Louis share of gate receipts to reimburse Gus Weyhing, recently released by the Cardinals after posting a 3-4 record in eight starts with the team, who claims to have been cheated out of ten days of pay. Next week, the right-hander, known as Cannonball by his teammates, will sign with the Superbas as a free agent.
  • 1948 Former Dodger skipper Leo Durocher, who left the team ten days ago, makes his first appearance at Ebbets Field since taking over the Giants. The return of ‘the Lip’ is less-than-triumphant when his new team drops a 13-4 decision to Brooklyn.
  • 1951 In a 9-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Jim Russell becomes the first player in major league history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a game in two different games. The Dodger outfielder’s accomplishment will be surpassed in 1956 when Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle goes deep both right and left-handed in the same game for a third time.
  • 1960 The Phillies end their scoreless streak of thirty-eight consecutive innings when Johnny Callison plates Tony Gonzalez with a sixth-inning single in the team’s 4-3 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Philadelphia’s drought began when the team failed to score in the last six frames of a 3-0 win against the Giants, and continued when they were shutout in three straight games ( 2-0, 2-0, and 9-0) by the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
  • 1991 Mark Gardner no-hits the Dodgers for nine innings, but Los Angeles wins the game in the bottom of the tenth on two singles off the Expos’ starter and Darryl Strawberry’s RBI single off reliever Jeff Fassero. It’s the first time the Dodgers had been held hitless at home for nine innings since Johnny Vander Meer’s second straight no-hitter in 1938.

Lineup:

130 thoughts on “Game 102, 2017

  1. Dodgers didn’t play, but I stayed up late last night,following the “game” in D.C.
    Luckily that was a “Woo-hoo!”

  2. I am in the Sonny Gray camp, given that he is both a short term and long term addition, with a club friendly contract until 2020. Willing to give up Verdugo, Calhoun and a lesser ranked pitcher, if that is what it takes.

    • I think Verdugo’s a keeper, and would go with Darvish. All of them have risks, though.

      • I agree, that’s why other teams want him including the Rangers. Darvish seems like a greater risk, if we have to give up Verdugo in any event, given that the potential benefits are limited.to 3-4 games.

    • Heads-up running!
      Reminds me of how the Dodgers were burned with the shift in the playoffs . . . vs. Mets? Of course, this was much more amusing!

    • Nice!
      Last year, they were trying to unload him . . . and I agreed, based on his attitude and apparent affect on the team.
      Now I’m glad he’s still in Blue!

      • Puig is having a fine year. I think slotting him into the No. 8 position in the batting order has diminished the pressure on him. It also gives the Dodgers the best No. 8 hitter in baseball. Someone remarked here recently how poor our batting order used to be after the No. 6 spot. Not so this year.

        • For me, batting him 8th suggested to him that the next slot would be off the team, so he might better start listening to Turner Ward.

          • Joe Torre punished Matt Kemp by batting him eighth, but Puig’s been a resounding success in that spot – a little surprising, given that – theoretically – they could pitch around him to get to a weak-hitting pitcher.

    • I like that the front office isn’t complacent — just don’t mess with success (i.e. trade key players).

      • True, I have a vague memory of Bellinger mentioned as a trade chip a year or two ago (I may be wrong). I’m sure pleased he stayed

    • Darvish has the biggest upside and, as a rental, shouldn’t cost too much. Verlander’s declining and expensive, while Grey is young and controllable but injury-prone.

    • I’ll take any record, just so long as 11 of the wins are in the postseason!

  3. With Klayton out, MVP race seems to be between Turner and Bellinger of the Dodgers, and Harper.

    • Go, Blue! — But I’m sure all three of those Dodgers want a ring, first and foremost.

  4. It was nice to wake up to another Dodger win. It is funny, my wife use to ask me every morning if the Dodgers won, recently she has stopped asking. I guess she just assumes they have.

    • I woke up last night and checked my phone. It’s not just the ability to get the hits to come from behind, it’s also the ability to hold the other team from increasing their lead.

  5. This might be the best Dodgers team of my lifetime, and I became a fan in 1956.

      • I’ll cut Taylor some slack for being a novice out there. He’s also made some good plays, and has a strong accurate arm.

          • His glove work and speed make up a lot for his lack of experience. His routes are suspect, but he seems aware of it and takes quick short steps to be able to adjust and corral the ball.

  6. Maybe we should go for some singles or doubles. That must be at least six warning track outs!

  7. Darvish obviously doesn’t want to go anywhere, he has given up 10 earned runs, 2 Hr in 3 and a bit innings

  8. Well, I wasn’t really expecting us to win this one, with Santana versus Stewart.

  9. All three runs earned against Stewart. Apparently Grandal’s throw was not ruled an error on the sacrifice bunt play. An accurate throw would have been in time so why not an error?

  10. I really hope Stewart has a positive start tonight to demonstrate the quality of the depth the Dodgers have built up.

    • It would be great if he showed that, particularly sweet if he could last five innings, leave with a lead, and record his first win of the season.

  11. Those who hit HR from each side of the plate in the same game include Maury Wills, He hit only 20 home runs in 7588 AB in a 14-year career. Wills did it on the real Memorial Day, May 30, 1962, in the first game of a DH against the fledgling Mets at the Polo Grounds. Batting left, the first was inside-the-park to right in the 5th vs. Bob Moorhead. Batting right, the second was over the short left-field wall in the 9th vs. lefty Vinegar Bend Mizell The DH was the first time the Dodgers played in NY since leaving Brooiklyn after 1957 and drew 55.704 fans. The Dodgers won both games, 13-6, and 6-5. I raptly listened to both games. Wills hit six homers that year, his high water mark, and was the NL MVP, stealing 104 bases.

    • I remember that vividly also, though I only read about it. I do remember Maury as a member of the 1955 Seattle Rainiers, when I had a Hygrade Hot Dogs baseball card of his – it was the backing for half a dozen cellophane-wrapped wieners. Unfortunately, I lost it a long time ago.

      I’d like to see Grandal join the switchers’ club, but it’s not easy to do that in the same game.

      • Those cards that were part of food packages were neat. I still have a Carl Furillo card from Bell Brand Potato Chips. My favorite were the cards that were the back of the big cold cereal boxes. You had to cut them out very carefully. I still have a few of those. Mom never threw out my baseball cards.