Dodgers at Orioles, 4:15 PM PDT, TV: MASN, SPNLA
The Dodgers send LHP Rich Hill (4-1, 2.55 ERA) to the mound for the first of four expected starts before the playoffs begin. He hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since June 19 when he strained a flexor tendon, and he’s not expected to go more than a couple of innings. His opponent will be RHP Dylan Bundy (6-13, 5.06 ERA), who’s had an odd schedule: before 18 of his 27 starts he’s had an extra day of rest and has had one before today’s start, which has seemed to be beneficial. When he’s had that extra day he’s cut his ERA a full run from what it had been entering the game.
The Dodgers held a lead in yesterday’s game, believe it or not:
Today in Dodgers’ history:
- 1930 The last major league bounced home run is hit by Dodger catcher Al Lopez at Ebbets Field as the NL joins the American League, which had enacted the rule change in 1929. The player who hits the ball over the wall on a bounce will now be awarded a ground-rule double.
- 1932 In the bottom of the ninth, Johnny Frederick hits his major league record-setting sixth pinch-homer of the season, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Cubs. The Brooklyn outfielder’s major league mark will not be broken for 68 years until another Dodger, Dave Hansen, strokes seven round-trippers coming off the bench in 2000.
- 1953 The Dodgers clinch a pennant at the earliest date ever in baseball history with a 5-2 victory over the Braves at County Stadium. Carl Erskine gets the win when Brooklyn, who clinches consecutive titles for the first time in franchise history, goes up 13 games up on Milwaukee with 12 left to play.
- 1962 One game behind the front running Dodgers, the Giants lose Willie Mays, their All-Star center fielder, when he is hospitalized for nervous exhaustion. The ‘City by the Bay’ will drop six games in a row, but will recover along with ‘Say Hey Kid’ in time to beat Los Angeles in a playoff to win the National league pennant.
- 1963
“I look up into the stands, and it looks like Ebbets Field. The Mets are wonderful, but you can’t take the Dodger out of Brooklyn” – DUKE SNIDER, – addressing the Mets fans on his special night at the Polo Grounds.
In a pregame ceremony with his former Dodgers teammates, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Ralph Branca in attendance, Duke Snider is honored by the Mets with a special ‘night’ at the Polo Grounds, which coincidentally marks the last time the Giants, now located in San Francisco, will ever play in their once long-time home in Harlem. The ‘Silver Fox’, obtained by the last-place expansion team in April, has recently requested to be traded to a contender.
- 1995 During a WGN pre-game radio broadcast at Wrigley Field, Cubs announcer Harry Caray remarks to the team’s skipper Jim Riggleman, “Well, my eyes are slanty enough, how ’bout yours?”, referring to Hideo Nomo, the Japanese rookie hurler scheduled to start for the Dodgers. The veteran announcer, known for not backing off for his on-the-air off-handed comments, does issue an apology, calling the incident “unfortunate.”
- 2000 On the same date the mark was established 68 years ago, Dave Hansen breaks Johnny Frederick’s 1932 record for pinch-hit home runs in a single season with his seventh round-tripper coming off the bench. The Dodger pinch-hitter’s historic homer, a seventh-inning three-run blast off Diamondback right-hander Curt Schilling, isn’t enough to prevent the team’s 5-4 loss to Arizona at Bank One Ballpark.
Lineup:
Today’s Dodger lineup at Orioles:
Pederson RF
Beaty 3B
Pollock DH
Bellinger 1B
Seager SS
Taylor LF
Lux 2B
Hernández CF
Martin C
(Hill P)#Dodgers | @Biofreeze pic.twitter.com/nw8T4twReO— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 12, 2019
NPUT
https://twitter.com/jorgecastillo/status/1172550371035758592?s=20
Friday Fishfry – Mostly positive new yesterday. The worst of it was that Yanquis swept Tigres and are now two games ahead of Dodgers for best in baseball, but Minute Maids lost again and are now tied with LA. NYY have 105.6 projected wins, Houston 104.4, LA 103.3.
In the NL, however, Dodgers are now four games ahead of losing Barves (projected at 98.6, which sounds sorta normal). Magic number is Ron Cey (see below), but Dodgers must face Thor and deGrom the next two days.
Fillies now lead Barves 6-4 after six. Yanquis beat Tigres twice, but Atléticos are leading Minute Maids 3-1 in the fourth.
Fillies have extended their lead over to Barves to 5-2 in the third. Julio Teheran has his gopher ball working.
Atlanta won’t go away quietly, will they?
No, they’re pretty good and getting better.
Ooops, my bad. The game is on Fox. Why, I wonder?
Worse, Fox here is Braves and somebody.
Sadly, the MLBTV feed is Fox, with A.J. Pierzynski. I’ll have to listen to the radio feed, which at least is Neverett rather than Steiner. Unfortunately, it’s ahead of the TV feed.
Dodgers’ lead over the Barves is now four, and the NL magic number is my Tacoma high school acquaintance… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a70c07e40d36fc577b2ce937040301c5bf806e90d70302013fb6dcb56d5720a0.png
The bullpen was brilliant tonight.
Lots of lux.
Fillies have broken it open v. the Barves.
9-5 Philadelphia!
Some how only winning two out three in Baltimore is disappointing. The Orioles did not give in at all.
It’s a disgrace. Baltimore is a jumped up AAA team.
Often, in baseball, the worst teams beat the best. The Tigres, with baseball’s worst record, came from six runs down to beat the Yanquis on Tuesday.
Yes, they do, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. The Yanks beat the Orioles 17 out of 19 times this year (the two losses were in the first week of the season), and hit 61 homers against them.
As we ponder what will happen with the Dodgers and various levels of Home Field Advantage this season, I did some number crunching (ie basic addition) to see how all the teams stacked up only 2 weeks away from the conclusion of this decade.
There are some tight races as teams jockey for position:
1. NYY – 914 wins
2. LAD – 907 wins
3. St.L – 889 wins (1 WS won)
4. WSN – 866 wins
5. BOS – 864 wins (2 WS won)
6. TBR – 851 wins
7. CLE – 848 wins
8. TEX – 838 wins
9. ATL – 837 wins
10. LAA – 817 wins
11. SFG – 814 wins (3 WS won)
12. MIL – 813 wins
13. CHC – 811 wins (1 WS won)
14. PIT – 787 wins
15. TOR – 784 wins
16. NYM – 783 wins
17. PHI – 781 wins
18. ARI – 779 wins
19. DET – 778 wins
20. HOU – 777 wins (1 WS won)
21. CIN – 767 wins
22. KCR – 754 wins (1 WS won)
23. MIN – 753 wins
24. SEA – 750 wins
25. BAL – 748 wins
26. COL – 743 wins
26. OAK – 743 wins
28. SDP – 737 wins
29. CHW – 735 wins
30. MIA – 701 wins
Poor Mike Trout.
You think he carries that team a little bit?
If they had decent pitching, ever…
Angels rank 10 in wins. Pretty good.
Fillies have extended their lead over the Barves to 7-5 in the eighth.
You misspelled Phillies and Braves
Nope, you misspelled them.
I know you are but what am I?
“I’m rubber and you’re glue… things bounce off me and stick to you!”
Dodgers win.
Fox interviewing somebody from Canadia.
Woo-HOO!!!!
Two.
There’s one.
Gulp.
Up to our closer.
Another pitching change. With 2 outs and nobody on. Sigh.
One swing from Joc adds another run to the lead. Not a bad move, though a tedious one for Dodger fans.
Ok Dodgers. Let’s finish the game strong on both offence and defence.
You misspelled both “offense” and “defense.”
Dude. You are weird. You love typing things in Spanish but can’t handle proper English?
Canadian is not proper English.
How do you feel about UK English?
When Lux makes solid contact, he has nothing to show for it.
Baltimore are hang tough. They are still in this game despite only having two hits.
Saw video of the two run strikeout. It would have only been one run if Bundy had covered home instead of standing between the mound and first base. It was like he just thought only one person would try to score.
Definite negligence on Bundy’s part.
Wow. That was a great catch.
Nice job, Petey.
Boy there are almost as many Dodgers fans in the stadium as O’s fans at this point.
Ball one was a strike but still, another lead off walk?
Can’t hit, but we can steal!
Sounds like Dodgers of back in the (my) day.
Unconventional offensive outburst.
You are en fuego.
A two run strikeout? We will take it!
I will take it!
Well that was unexpected.
Where was that pitch, Taylor? In the next county?
Another bloop hit rbi!
Okay. Time to score some runs, please.
I can’t believe how much they are struggling to score runs last night and tonight. Really thought this would be a place Bellinger would go deep at least once.
Missing JT’s bat over the last two nights and Muncy longer term.
And I continue to bang the drum slowly for Verdugo being missed too.
Dumb baserunning by Ruiz.
And Gonsolin was doing so well.
Dang.
Are you getting wet, Hendley?
Just a sprinkle, but got a little stronger and most thought it was a prelude to a cloudburst.
Martin scorches one past Mancini.
Tee-hee.
To quote an earlier game – “where has all the offense gone, long time passing? Where has all the offense gone, long time ago…”
The absence of Turner and Munch is notable.
The night before last they scored 7, no?
That’s so day before yesterday…
They have not scored less than 4 runs in 7 of the past nine games.
Looking at the Orioles’ pitcher’s ERA and then the out put from our offense and shaking my head. These guys are not Palmer and McNally for heavens sake.
Meh. 22 hits so far in the series.
Radio guys say first report is that Rich had a “knee issue.”
That makes sense to me.
Hope he’s OK, but don’t they have to say he is being taken out because of an injury so that reliever gets as many tosses as he wants?
Good point. Hope you are right.
In any event, not the arm thing he was recovering from, so that’s good.
I do not know what they were thinking, when they decided to let him pitch without any rehab games.
Minor league season being essentially over probably had something to do with it.
True. I did not think about that.
Runs. Not pop-ups!
Not that kind of Joc pop?
Okay. Let’s get about eleven runs please.
Nicely done, Matt!
Yimi gets the DP!
Beaty, you mean!
Doc not happy.
Pitchers not throwing strikes is the worst kind of basball
Come on, guys. Start throwing strikes!
No we’ll see if Yimi can keep the ball in the park.
Or the batters from getting on base.
Harder to hit a home run when the ball not near the plate
Ha!
I am officially no longer an east coaster. Watching the game in a hotel in La Grande, OR. Will be looking for a home in WA or OR starting Saturday.
A running game surfaces
Missing Turner’s professional at bats.
Seager has a different approach.
Hill looks so upset.
Intense fellow who doesn’t hide it.
It wasn’t so much his control and more his body language that said Hill wasn’t ready.
Rich Hill experiment is failing so far.
Rich Hill experiment is failing so far.
Well that kinda sucks.
Especially for Hill.
Exactly. He might be done as a Dodger.
Do you think he is still hurt?
Knee, the radio guys say.
Didn’t look injured from here. He will get another day.
I think so as well.
If not building up as a possible starter, surely out of the pen.
Curious what you guys think it was then? Nerves? Something else?
Maybe needed more build-up?
I would get that if it was the third inning but it was the first few pitches he started to look uncomfortable.
Doesn’t have command yet and was frustrated. No good reason the leave him out there. Hasn’t pitched in the Bigs in two months.
Do something Bob
Yikes. Hill not looking good here.
That was one hell of a curve
Keep that up and we have a rotation ace
Tiring already?
He is sweating for sure. And hitting batters willy nilly. Doc and trainer out.
Incredible to see live. Got seats about ten rows behind the plate.
We’ll see how long he lasts.
Yes, yes we will.
Hill on the hill. Watching him warm in the pen.
Grunt seems that be in form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRGWXh1r7I4
With an expletive on that last pitch
Hope not for pain