Game 96, 2019

Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 PM PDT, TV: ESPN, NBCSP, SPNLA

The Dodgers send LHP Clayton Kershaw (7-2, 3.09 ERA) to the mound in Philadelphia to face RHP Zach Eflin (7-8, 3.78 ERA) of the Phillies. This will be Kershaw’s first start since he went seven innings against the Padres ten days ago, giving up two runs and striking out nine. He didn’t figure in the decision, though, as Yimi Garcia gave up a solo 8th-inning HR to Hunter Renfroe and the Dodgers lost 3-2. Kershaw is 2-3 with a 4.01 ERA in his career at Citizens Bank Park. Eflin was doing well until his last three starts, when he went 1-1 with a 9.64 ERA while giving up 15 earned runs in 14 innings. In his three-year career he’s faced the Dodgers four times and is 0-2 with a 9.18 ERA.

ESPN doesn’t offer an “embed” option for its videos, but here’s a link to a clip of the Dodgers’ 12th-inning heroics on Sunday.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1960 Home plate umpire Frank Dascoli stops play for 24 minutes when Willie McCovey hits a pitch into shallow left field that no one can see because of the dense fog. The Giants first baseman’s second inning “invisible triple” doesn’t deter the Dodgers when they go on to win the Candlestick Park contest, 5-3.
  • 2003 At the All-Star Game played in Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field, Angels outfielder Garret Anderson goes 3-for-4, including a two-run homer and a double, helping the American League to beat the NL, 7-6. Pinch-hitting in the eighth inning, Rangers third baseman Hank Blalock hits a go-ahead two-run homer off the usually untouchable reliever of the Dodgers, Eric Gagne.
  • 2004 Eric Gagne surpasses Jeff Shaw for the most career saves in franchise history, collecting his 130th save in a Dodger uniform. The 28 year-old right-handed closer pitches a perfect ninth, striking out the side, in the team’s 5-2 victory over Arizona at Bank One Ballpark.
  • 2017 Cody Bellinger becomes the first Dodger rookie to hit for the cycle when he collects a seventh-inning triple in the team’s 7-1 victory over the Marlins in Miami. The 22-year old freshman goes 4-for-5, driving in three runs en route to his historic accomplishment.

Also: in 1939 National League president Ford Frick orders two-foot screens affixed inside all foul poles after Billy Jurges of the Giants and umpire George Magerkurth spit at each other after a foul ball call down the left field line is disputed at the Polo Grounds. The American League will soon follow the Senior Circuit lead and will also install foul ball screens.

And: in 1994 after being confiscated in the first inning of the Indians-White Sox contest at Comiskey Park, Albert Belle’s bat, suspected of being corked, is placed in umpire Dave Phillips’ locker for further examination. The attempt to take and replace the suspected bat by a bungling burglar, who gains access to the umpire’s room by squirming through the stadium’s overhead crawl space, a thievery Jason Grimsley will confess to five-years later, is immediately uncovered with the discovery of pieces of broken ceiling tile on the floor, and a new name on the “clean” bat which now reads Paul Sorrento.

Lineup when available.


129 thoughts on “Game 96, 2019

  1. After last night’s results, Dodgers now lead the Snakes by 15, the Rox by 16, the Pads by 16-1/2, and the surging Gnats (who beat Rox twice yesterday) by just 17 (is anybody worried?) They continue to lead the Barves by 4-1/2 for NL’s best record, and the Yanquis (who lost to the Devil Rays in dramatic fashion) by two (all in the win column; the teams have the same number of losses).

    Meanwhile, Bellinger leads the NL in HRs, runs scored, OBP, slugging, OPS, and hits.

  2. The Athletic ranks teams weekly. The Dodgers remain #1, but this remains true:

    Now all they need is to solve the same relief pitching problem that’s dogged this team since the Taft administration, and the Dodgers could really have something special.

    The Taft administration? Jansen, Perranoski, Gagne, Broxton, Shaw and others beg to differ!

  3. I will note that Beaty picked up his fourth walk tonight, not that anything Quinn threw him was near the plate.

  4. Old friend Travis D’Arnaud has three dingers and five RBI, for the Devil Rays, the last of which has given them a one-run lead over the Yanquis in the ninth.

    • Also, it was out of the lead off slot, which is weird. Good on ya, Travis. I’m not disappointed that the Dodgers dropped him, because I never though picking him up made any sense, but he is having a career year for the Rays.

        • Mike Trout went #25 in the 2009 draft. Some of the guys ahead of him panned out. The Nats’s Stephen Strasburg went #1, but A.J. Pollack was #17 and Shelby Miller was #19. Zack Wheeler of the Mets was #8.

          The Dodgers didn’t have a pick until the supplemental first round. They’d lost their first round pick when they signed Orlando Hudson as a free agent. In the supplemental they took Aaron Miller of Baylor. He didn’t work as a pitcher so they tried to make him an outfielder, but he retired without ever making it to the bigs.

  5. Too bad Dodgers release Rosscup today. We found a game that he could have pitched in to his heart’s content.

      • Is it possible to chat with the other umps and then toss him if necessary, or does it have to be made by the home plate ump alone?

        • I think it’s the home plate ump’s decision. Base umpires are certainly not going to overrule him, but I suspect he’ll get a call from the league office.

  6. I believe, talking about the Rays near perfect game the other day, when a pitcher is pitching an interesting game, maybe the shift should not be deployed.

  7. Gabe Kapler might be embarrassed in front of the front office that almost hired him as Manager.

  8. Now the commentators are giving Franco even more grief for not running out that ground ball

  9. Rosscup DFA’d and the newly acquired pitcher, I cannot remember his name, was called up.

  10. Kersh seems to always struggle in the first inning these days. Then he settles down. Hopefully.

    • True, but it looked like a good swing and for a moment I worried that he got all of it.

          • I agree, but it’s not likely to happen until they send Barnes down (he does have an option left) or trade Martin.

          • Beaty has better contact skills, but both are LHH. Not having CT3 could hurt against zurdos.

          • Beaty doesn’t walk and doesn’t hit for power. Rios already has more walks than Beaty. Beaty’s walk percentage is less than half of Juan Pierre’s.Beaty’s numbers are actually a good match for Manny Mota or Vac Davalillo in their PH days with the Dodgers, but they both walked more (although not very much). That’s a nice comp, but a luxury in these days of 13 man pitching staffs.

        • ESPN is always a blackout, because I refuse to pay the extortionists at Comcast.

          • I subscribe to MLBTV, When the Dodgers play the Gnats, that’s also blacked out.

          • I’m again having to listen to the constant yak yak yak from ESPN. I might switch to MLB.com but for now I am being lazy and not clicking all the keys to get it on my computer.

  11. In a story at The Athletic about the As acquiring Homer Bailey from the Royals (I didn’t know he was still pitching in the big leagues!) we find this tidbit:

    Bailey is in the last season of the $105-million deal he signed with the Reds before the 2014 season, but that is being covered almost entirely by the Dodgers, who acquired then released Bailey in December as part of a deal with lots of money moving around. The A’s will only owe him about $250,000.

    Great. I hope we don’t face him in the World Series. That would be … annoying.

    • I don’t think we have to worry too much about Homer pitching in the series. The reason the Dodgers picked up his contract was because the Reds took Matt Kemp’s contract, so you can look at it as the Dodgers continuing to pay the Bison, if you like.

    • Not as annoying as Bobby Bonilla (is he still getting paid?) until 2035 I have just found out

      • Yep, and will be until 2035.

        The Mets needed to free up some cash, and figured that it would be cheaper providing Bonilla 25 payments at 8% interest than paying the last year of his original five-year, $29 million contract.

        The problem was, Wilpon and the Mets had a ton of money invested with Bernie Madoff and when his Ponzi scheme was revealed they lost it all.

        • Not all as I recall, and there was a lawsuit trying to get some of the ill-gotten gains back from them. Not sure what happened with that, but since then Madoff has been their primary excuse for penny pinching. That said, the Bonilla deal was signed years before any of the Madoff stuff occurred.

          Sandy Koufax did get burned by Madoff, thanks in part to Fred Wilpon.