Game 143, 2019

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Wait. This is the 143rd game of the season? There are only 20 games left as of tonight? Leapin’ lizards!

Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: NBC Bay Area, SPNLA

RHP Jeff Samardzija (9-11, 3.61 ERA) takes the hill for the Giants; he’ll face LHP Clayton Kershaw (13-4, 2.96 ERA) on his home turf. Samardzija has had four winless starts in a row, games in which he has averaged less than six innings per start. Kershaw had a rough outing in Arizona last week, but the Giants are some of his favorite victims: he’s 23-11 lifetime against them and 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA this season.

Here’s Joc’s second HR of the game Wednesday:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1924 In a game that features a total of only six hits, the Brooklyn Robins beat Boston, 1-0, behind the strong two-hit performance of right-hander Bill Doak. The Braves Field victory is the team’s 15th consecutive win, establishing the longest winning streak in franchise history.
  • 1953 With Giants manager Leo Durocher yelling “stick it in his ear”, Ruben Gomez hits Carl Furillo, the National League’s leading hitter, on the wrist with a pitch. After taking first base, the Dodgers right fielder bolts into the opposing dugout to choke ‘Leo the Lip’, but in the melee, the knuckle on his little finger is fractured, putting an end to his season.
  • 1981 Fernando Valenzuela ties the National League’s rookie record for shutouts, blanking St. Louis, 5-0, for his seventh whitewash of the season. The Dodger lefty shares the mark with Irv Young (1905 Beaneaters), Grover Alexander (1911 Phillies), and Jerry Koosman (1968 Mets).
  • 1985 In a matchup of aces that lives up to its advanced billing, Dwight Gooden and Fernando Valenzuela hook up in one of the best pitchers’ duels in recent memory. New York beats Los Angeles at Chavez Ravine, 2-0, thanks to Darryl Strawberry’s two-run double on a day that the 20 year-old Mets right-hander strikes out 10 batters, throwing nine shutout innings, while the Dodgers southpaw pitches 11 innings without allowing a run.
  • 1996 Brett Butler returns to the Dodger lineup four months after having surgery for throat cancer. The 39 year-old center fielder scores the decisive run in the team’s 3-2 victory over the Bucs.

Also on this date in big league history, in 1995 Cal Ripken breaks Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game record, playing in his 2,131st straight game. When the game becomes official in the middle of the fifth inning, the new ‘Iron Man’ takes a victory lap around Camden Yards during the 22-minute standing ovation from the sellout crowd, including President Bill Clinton.

Lineup:

144 thoughts on “Game 143, 2019”

  2. Saturday Sorrows – From a Dodgers standpoint almost everything went wrong yesterday. On the positive side, Yanquis lost, but Minute Maids won and both are half a game ahead of LA now. FanGraphs projections give Houston 105.1 wins, NYY 104.1, Dodgers 103.7.

    In the NL, Nats (gnot the Gnats) fell to Barves again, and Atlanta (98.9 projected wins) is just 3-1/2 behind Dodgers. Phoenix held off Cincy, so the magic number is still the Duke. Gnats gained a game and are still 23 behind, but they could pull into a first-place tie by March 26th.

  10. Addendum to the item above about 1953: Furillo missed the rest of the regular season but played in all six games in the World Series, won by the Yankees, 4-2. He led the NL in batting at .344, a career high. In the nine games before his finger was broken he had gone 22-for-38, including 4-for-4 the day before against the Giants. Furillo hit .333 in the World Series. This may have been the best Dodger team ever, in Brooklyn or L.A. It went 105-49 for a winning percentage of .682, tied with the 1899 Brooklyn Superbas for the highest percentage. Five regulars — Furillo, Snider, Robinson, Campanella and Hodges all hit over .300. The team batted .285 and scored 955 runs, a record that still stands. It hit 208 homers, most ever by a Brooklyn club. But the Dodgers drew only 1,163,419 fans, only the ninth highest in Brooklyn. Five years later they were in L.A.

  11. Snakes lead Redlegs in a close one, 6-5 in the sixth at Cincy. Barves beating the suddenly punchless Nats (gnot the Gnats) 2-0 in the seventh.

  12. The Dodgers (including Vin) honored Bochy before the game.

    “Hold your breath,” Scully said. “He has the most wins by a visiting manager at Dodger Stadium. Bruce Bochy was always teased throughout his career about the fact that he had a size eight hat. I think that’s true. But with all of his victories, all of his great moments, he could never, ever be accused of having a big head. Big heart, yes. And the fact that he has won the most games here at Dodger Stadium is another reason for all of us to wish him a wonderful retirement.”

    Then they presented him with a Dodgers jersey autographed by Sandy Koufax.

  23. Taylor has now fanned 84 times in 311 ABs this year, or 30.2 percent of his ABs. Last year, when he led the NL in Ks, he struck out 178 times in 536 ABs, a percentage 33.2. In his career, he has now fanned 499 times in 1652 ABs, a percentage of 30.2.

  30. WBBsAs and RBI: Have you noticed that the three of us have been it for about two hours now? C’mon, everybody else, join in!

  41. Ryu and Kershaw have each pitched quite poorly lately, and Buehler’s last start was also very bad.

      • Gerald Young is the other. He played in the majors 1987-1994 and hit three career homers. So Dubon is now one away from tying the Honduran record for MLB home runs.

        • I saw that. He played long enough to get a pension, at least. Also grew up in California (Orange country). He was from the Afro-Caribbean rimland, where baseball in more popular. He did steal 155 bases.

      • I saw that, though he grew up in California. Who’s the other one?

        There are some Guatemalans who’ve played minor league ball, but I don’t think any has every reached the majors.

  57. Giants are 0-for-7 with RISP and have left six on. Seven of their first 15 batters have reached base.

  65. Kershaw continues to walk the tightrope. He is now at 48 pitches through two innings, so that CG shutout should come in at 216 pitches, down from 236.

  76. I found a workaround to see local Gnatcasts but, for audio, I’m stuck with Steiner – the Spanish-language feed isn’t working.

  77. Rotation shuffled.

    For the current series against the Giants, Julio Urías will start on Sunday instead of Walker Buehler, who will be pushed back two days and start Tuesday in Baltimore. Hyun-Jin Ryu, whose spot would have been Wednesday, is being skipped one turn. On Thursday, Rich Hill will return after nearly three months on the injured list.

    Despite the juggling and recent inconsistency, manager Dave Roberts said Ryu, Buehler and Clayton Kershaw remain the core of the rotation, not necessarily in that order.