Game 149, 2017

Dodgers at Nationals, 5:00 PM PT, TV: ESPN

The Dodgers send LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (5-7, 3.59 ERA) to the hill to face the Nats’ RHP Stephen Strasburg (13-4, 2.64 ERA).

The Dodgers held Ryu out of his last scheduled start as they juggle six pitchers in the rotation. He pitched well in his last game, holding Arizona to one run in six innings. Strasburg is on a 34-inning scoreless streak. How has each pitcher done against the opponent?

Strasburg has a 2.82 ERA in six career starts against the Dodgers and a 0.94 WHIP, allowing two earned runs or fewer in five of the starts. Ryu has made only one start against Washington, a loss when he allowed four runs in seven innings at home earlier this season.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1912 Casey Stengel of the Dodgers makes an impressive major league debut against the Pirates. The likable Brooklyn outfielder from Kansas City collects four hits, drives in two runs, and swipes a pair of bases.
  • 1963 Dodger ace Sandy Koufax tosses a four-hitter, blanking St. Louis at Sportsman’s Park, 4-0. The southpaw’s scoreless effort establishes a National League record for shutouts thrown by lefties in a season with 11, five shy of Grover Cleveland Alexander’s major league mark set in 1916 with the Phillies.
  • 1981 Dodgers southpaw Fernando Valenzuela ties White Sox freshman Ewell Russell’s 1913 rookie record when he hurls his eighth shutout of the season, blanking Atlanta on three hits. The 20 year-old Mexican’s 2-0 victory breaks the previous National League mark shared by Irving Young (Braves, 1905), Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies, 1911), and Jerry Koosman (Mets, 1968).
  • 1996 Dodger right-hander Hideo Nomo no-hits the Rockies, 9-0, at Coor Field, becoming the only big league hurler to accomplish the feat in the thin air of Denver. Tornado Boy’s performance in Colorado is the best-attended no-no and is the only hitless game with a paid attendance of more than 50,000 fans.

  • 2010 Joe Torre, who will compile a 2326-1997 (.538) managerial record during his 30 seasons as a skipper with the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Yankees, and Dodgers, announces he will be retiring at the end of the month. Los Angeles immediately hires the team’s hitting coach Don Mattingly to replace the 70 year-old.
  • 2014 Jacob DeGrom strikes out the first eight batters he faces in the Mets’ 6-5 loss in Miami, tying the modern-day major league mark to start a game. The Amazins’ rookie right-hander now shares the record with Jim Deshaies, who struck out the first eight Dodgers he faced with the Astros in a 1986 contest.

A whole lot of interesting things happened on this date in baseball history; take a look.

Lineup:

134 thoughts on “Game 149, 2017

  1. From TBLA…

    “Ryu’s ledger on Sunday nights this season spotless, with no runs allowed in 18⅔ innings in three starts, all in the last 50 days. Ryu in his career in six starts on ESPN ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ has a 1.67 ERA, with 36 strikeouts and nine walks in 37⅔ innings.”

    • May be very important what they decide and how they handle both him and Ryu. Don’t think anyone expects to see either start in playoffs. Saw a while back that Ryu takes a long time to warm up, so you wonder about him in the pen. But both made a 4-inning or so relief appearance this year so apparently it’s possible. They won’t need 3 long men (including Strip), so…?

      Dodgers might be the only team ever deep enough that pitchers of their quality might not even make the playoff roster.

      Couple camera shots last night in their dugout, I think, of a guy in Nats uniform who looks a lot like Don Sutton. But he has no connection to them now that I found. Any ideas?

      • I don’t see either as firemen having to warm up quickly. More like knowing that starters other than Kershaw are likely to be more effective in 5-6 inning stints, to have them begin tossing in the pen with some anticipation.

  2. Was only able to follow a bit and was encouraged with the 1-0 lead, then disheartened with 3-1, only to find it could get worse.
    A bit concerned with the offense, which didn’t do much the latter half of yesterday or today — tho it WAS Strasburg (who they would face at least twice).
    Bullpen showing concern again, tho not the “A” relievers. Still, some games will need them to reach the “A” relievers.
    All in all, very pleased to get out of D.C. winning 2 of 3 — especially coming off the last three weeks!

  3. Takeaway from the series. Our starters did well, particularly those likely to start in the playoffs. We beat up on one of their starters who we wouldn’t likely face in the playoffs. We did nothing against their rebuilt pen, while our pen had a mixed performance, including bad outings from Stripling, who has been a likely candidate for the playoff roster. Maybe Maeda will audition for his spot in the next few weeks.

  4. Roberts’ insistence on continuing to play Granderson and Grandal could doom us in the playoffs.

    • Our starting bottom three (6-8) got on base 5 out of 11 plate appearances tonight. So there is that.

      • Granderson’s trial (9-for-80, .113 as a Dodger) should be over by now. Grandal has two hits in September. Barnes hits righties (and lefties) better than Grandal does. We are in danger of losing the homefield advantage against more than one club. The regular season ends two weeks from today (Sunday).

        • Until they actually clinch it, I guess we will always be in danger of, but that has to be weighed against the objective of getting the team ready for the playoffs. I might add that HFA hasn’t been shown to be all that decisive in the playoffs. The Dodgers have an issue in LF against righties and a well performing Grandy could be a great solution and worth the effort by Doc. Other solutions are there, but focusing on Grandy is currently considered the most likely option to pan out. As for Grandal, he is streaky. Many wanted to dump him in May, as I recall. Again trying to get him on track is a no brainer. Barnes is always there as an option. Sitting these players at this point would seem to be self-defeating.

          • Granderson is a rental and has failed. I don’t know what is going on with Joc but it is strange for anybody his age to just stop getting hits. Maybe his concussion has lingering effects. If there is nothing wrong with Joc I would much rather go with him in LF.

            Taylor needs three days of rest so Doc could be looking at Grandy and Joc during those three days.

          • Thinking that Dre may be the one that starts gettings more looks as an option, as he has had a much better performance than Joc since both came up in early September. But yeah, time to stick Joc back into CF to see what he can do with his new stance.

          • I worry that Ethier could get the honing at bats and then have back issues that would keep him out of the lineup.

            Kemp bounced back to have his near MVP season after his year with Rihanna. That was a wild year that ended with a breakup so this is really far fetched but Joc got engaged this year and maybe he has lost some focus this year. A married Joc might bounce back next year.

          • Same issue with El Titan, but his back thing lingers such that he apparently told Doc that he is currently available to PH only (He was supposed to be in last night’s starting lineup). So, the LF solution with Belli seems to be a no-go

          • For whatever reason, his defense, which until this year looked good and getting better, has suffered as well. So yeah, could be a more general thing or maybe letting his offensive whoas carry over into the field. Up for arb in 2018, so could be interesting.

      • Which is an interesting comment after FOX broadcasters said Grandal’s knees are bruised and look really bad. He is wearing new shin guards that come up above the knee to help protect his knees but I would think rest would also be tried. Two years ago Grandal played through a shoulder injury and couldn’t hit then either.

  5. I have gone back to feeling like 2 runs behind is a mountain.
    Of course Washington is a very good team.

  6. Coming in with a 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the 5th it was Stripling’s game to win; now it is his to lose if we don’t at least tie it up. If we go ahead, it could be his to win again.

  7. The Dodgers (96-52) need to go no worse than 4-10 in their remaining games to reach triple digits in victories for only the third time since they moved to L.A. (1958). They need to go no worse than 6-8 to reach 102 victories, tying for their most ever wins in L.A. (102-60 in 1974, and 102-63 in the heartbreaking 1962 season, including the three-game playoff loss to the Giants, which count as regular-season games.) The Dodgers need to go no worse then 10-4 to reach 106 wins, which would break the franchise mark of 105 set in in Brooklyn in 1953 (105-49). That was when the schedule was only 154 games.