Game 151, 2017

Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-P

RHP Yu Darvish (9-12, 4.08 ERA) goes for the Dodgers and Aaron Nola (11-10, 3.60 ERA) pitches for the Phillies. Darvish has been inconsistent with the Dodgers, but in his last start he threw seven shutout innings and beat the Giants. Nola had a good start his last time out too, giving up one run on four hits over seven innings and getting a win against the Marlins.

The NFL Lions’ QB Matt Stafford and the Dodgers’ Kershaw have been friends since high school. Last night during Monday Night Football Stafford used Kershaw’s name as a signal for a play from scrimmage.

Today in Dodgers’ history: The site I usually get this from is down this morning. Instead, here’s a piece of history from 1988: On this day Orel Hershiser shut out the Astros 1-0 on four hits (the Dodgers only got three, but one was a home run by John Shelby in the seventh inning). This was his fourth consecutive shutout, and his streak hit 40 consecutive scoreless innings.

Oh look: it’s back up now.

  • 1935 The Cubs win their 16th consecutive game as they beat Carl Hubbell, completing a four-game sweep of the Giants. The mark is the most since the 1924 Dodgers won 15 straight games.
  • 1964 With two outs in the bottom of the 16th inning, Willie Davis, after singling, swiping second, and advancing to third on a wild pitch, steals home, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia. The fleet outfielder’s theft of the plate is in the latest frame in a National League game the feat has ever been accomplished and ties Hal Trosky’s major league record set in 1944.
  • 1973 Astros’ infielder Dave Campbell hits a first-inning two-run double against San Diego right-hander Clay Kirby to snap an 0-for-45 drought, tying a major league record set in 1909 by Bill Bergen, a catcher who played with Brooklyn. ‘Soup’, who will become a respected national baseball broadcaster, endured the futility while playing for three teams, combining a 17 at-bat hitless streak with the Padres and another 21 at-bat hitless streak for the Cardinals before hitting the two-bagger in his eighth at-bat with Houston.
  • 2000 A Dodger fan, in addition to other court-ordered restrictions, has been banned from attending home games in Los Angeles for 18 months. The irate patron threw coffee in the face of a Mets fan who was cheering a grand slam hit by New York’s catcher Todd Pratt.
  • 2014 LA’s Clayton Kershaw becomes the first 20-game winner of the season when the team routs Chicago at a windy Wrigley Field, 14-5. The 26 year-old southpaw, who has compiled a 20-3 (.870) record along with an ERA of 1.80. is the first Dodger hurler to reach the 20-win plateau twice since Claude Osteen accomplished the feat in 1969 and 1972.

Lineup:

166 thoughts on “Game 151, 2017

  1. I know the hitters aren’t doing well right now, and the bullpen is definitely not either. But none of our starters can seem to give more than 5 good innings. Might that have a lot to do with the bullpen issues? They have to put in 4 innings every day.
    If I were managing, I’d have Jansen pitch the last inning as if we were ahead every other day. Last time out, clearly he was rusty. He needs to stay sharp or we got nothing.
    Right now, I’d trot out our playoff lineup for a few days and stop the spring training tryouts. Who is kidding who? Everyone knows who is on the playoff roster, stop screwing around….Taylor, Seager, Turner, Bellinger, Puig, Grandal, Forsythe, Granderson…and Barnes, Utley, Ethier, Hernandez…then Kershaw, Darvish, Wood, Hill, Ryu, Maeda, Jansen, Morrow, Watson, Stripling, Avilan, and of course Baez. 25th man is up in the air, but who cares. If it comes to that player, we are in trouble big time. Maybe make it AGon, if we win the title, its his parting gift.
    I would put Joc instead of Granderson, I would leave off Baez, but management seems to love those two guys for some unknown reason.

    • During the road trip the starters that matter Kershaw, Darvish, Hill and Wood have all performed fairly well. Darvish flubbed the play at first or might have put in a good 6 innings, following on a good 7 inning performance. Klayton walked the bad hitter and hung a slider, or else he would have had a pair of good 6 innings outings. Hill likely would have had six as well, but was lifted by Doc for a PH, when he saw an opportunity to score runs. Poor performance in the pen was almost entirely from fellows likely not to make the playoff roster. Not sure why you think Baez will be on the roster or Stripling. After sitting for two games, Granderson has responded with 4 starts at OPS .983. Last night he hit the ball well three times, one of hit the wall for an RBI double.

  2. Pedro talking to Alanna. I can’t find any Roberts video talking after tonight’s loss. Here’s a quote from the MLB recap, though:

    “If we were in a different situation in the standings, I think I might have acted differently.” — Roberts, on leaving Baez in to make 36 pitches and allow four runs

    • Which games did you get for the playoffs, RBI?
      I got home #1 for NLCS. Hopefully they won’t be playing like September come October, otherwise I’ll be looking up the refund policy.

      • Because I am buying for four groups, I got tix for all possible games. BUT – I can only go to the first NLDS game, on Friday the 6th, and only if it’s at home! Then I will see about the NLCS games, but I plan on going to the first one then as well! So let’s meet and greet. Scooplew? How about you?

        • I will try to get a couple of tix for the second NLDS game, Saturday, October 7, or do you have one or more that I could purchase from you? I have to assume that we will win the West with the first two games being at Dodger Stadium on October 6 and 7.

          • There must be an emoji for envy, but I don’t know what it is. Here in DC, hoping for a NLCS. Last year’s NLDS was a thrill to attend!

  3. Nine days ago, when things were going badly, I e-mailed a friend of mine who works in the Dodgers front office — he’s not F or Z — and asked him what this mood was like there. He responded: “It’s a L-O-N-G season …”

  4. Tomorrow night I will be at Game 5 (of a best of 5 series) between Winnipeg and Wichita in the American Association Championship Series.

    • Have a great time, and don’t check your smartphone to see how the Dodgers are doing. Are you taking your son, or would it be past his bedtime?

  5. Many years ago, when I was getting disspirited and cranky about how the Dodgers were playing, Jon Weisman, the founder of this site, basically told me to chill out. I will do that now.

    • And with a well-intentioned and personable manager who appears clueless to deal with the situation. This team is in crisis mode. Roberts has never experienced that for any length of time, and it is showing.

          • They ain’t in good shape results-wise lately, but I expect them to win the division, whittle the roster down and prepare lineup and rotation for the playoffs. My biggest concern is Seager health-wise as the elbow is likely effecting his hitting as well.

          • They will win the division. I think they should, in effect, whittle down the roster with a week to go and from that point on play only those who will be among the post-season 25 (with the exception of games that are out of reach either way). I share your concerns about Seager, I think that something is not right. To a lesser degree, I am concerned about Kershaw.

          • The walk and the fat pitch were not good, but didn’t see anything about Klayton that concerned me. Did well otherwise. Seager is important in the dynamic first 4 and they really need his bat.

          • I imagine during the upcoming homestand we will get a good idea of the playoff roster, lineup, rotation and pen. Then on to Coors where everyone will get to play.

      • To me they don’t seem to have that flair they had all year up to the losing streaks. It looks like it’s more work than fun for them now. Maybe they’re just pressing because of that awful 20-game stretch.

        • Maybe it’s better that they have been brought back down to earth. Baseball, playoff baseball in particular, ain’t easy.

    • Neither Baez or Stewart will be in the playoff pen, and perhaps not Stripling either. The Dodgers have the luxury of really bolstering the pen by adding Maeda and Ryu.

      • I was watching Stewart vs Washington in our 7-0 game and I thought he looked pretty good (much better than Baez did that day as well)

  6. Five losses, one win, 11 losses, four wins and (unless things turn around unexpectedly), three losses = 5-19.

  7. Is Roberts at this game? Is he watching it? Baez threw 36 pitches, the most he has thrown this year and tied for the most he has ever thrown in four seasons with the Dodgers. A triple, a hit batter, two walks and a bases-clearing double.

  8. Wow. Put my son to bed and missed 20 comments in regards to Baez. Not a good inning of work.

    • Roberts: “Well, Pedro is getting close to where he needs to be and where we need him to be. He’s not missing by much. He just needs to work out a few things, nothing major. I have full confidence in him. And I will continue to use him in high-pressure situations regardless of what happened tonight.”

  9. Seek immediate medical help for any Pedro Baez relief appearance lasting more than four hours, or even one that just seems that long–which is most of them ;).

  10. I was not fully comfortable with a 2-0 lead last night behind Kershaw; I am much less comfortable with a 2-0 lead tonight with Darvish. It has become difficult for us to score runs in more than two innings.

  11. Dodgers by the numbers:
    July, 20-3, average runs per game: 4.7….275/.353/.488/.840
    August, 17-10, average runs per game: 4.5.. .234/.325/.408/.733
    September, 5-13, average runs per game: 3.0… .210/.293/.367/.660

  12. Clinch division title preference?
    A. On the road vs Philadelphia
    B. At home vs San Fran
    C. Doesn’t matter one little bit

      • Until recently seemed a shoe in get get at least $20 million in the upcoming FA market. He will need to reestablish himself in Sept/Oct. Let’s hope!

  13. Darvish’s last outing was somewhat encouraging, but tonight he faces a much better lineup than that of the Gnats.