Game 156, 2019

Rockies at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT Sportsnet-RM, SPNLA

RHP Antonio Senzatela (10-10, 6.83 ERA) takes the mound for the Rockies and LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5, 2.35 ERA) does so for the Dodgers. Senzatela has had some hard luck this season but hasn’t helped himself much; he’s given up 147 hits in 114 innings, striking out 66 but walking 52. Ryu hasn’t picked up a win since August 11, but the Dodgers hope his last start put him back on track after three straight losses.

I heard some speculation on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball a week ago that Kiké Hernandez had the best arm of any Dodgers’ outfielder. I thought that was nonsense considering Bellinger and Verdugo play out there, but I gotta admit the throw he made on Saturday was brilliant:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1925 Robins starter Burleigh Grimes accounts for seven outs in just three plate appearances in the team’s 3-2 loss to Chicago, a 12-inning game played at Cubs Park. The Brooklyn right-hander follows grounding into two double plays by hitting into a 6-4-3-2 triple play.
  • 1926 At Ebbets Field, the aging 18-year veteran outfielder Zack Wheat hits his last homer as a Dodger, but severely pulls a muscle nearing second. The future Hall of Famer needs to rest nearly five minutes before completing his trip to home plate, making it the longest home run trot in major league history.li>strong>1947 On an off day, the Dodgers clinched the National League pennant when Chicago takes the nightcap of the twin bill against St. Louis. Although it is past midnight when the good news about their beloved team reaches the borough, Brooklynites begin to gather on Flatbush Avenue for an impromptu celebration.
  • 1954 Karl Spooner, in his major league debut, blanks the Giants at Ebbets Field 3-0. The 23 year-old Dodger southpaw fans 15 batters, including six straight, recording the most strikeouts in a first appearance by a rookie.
  • 1957 Duke Snider, with his second round-tripper in the Dodgers’ 7-3 victory over Philadelphia, hits his 40th home run, tying Ralph Kiner’s National League record of five consecutive seasons with forty or more homers. The Duke of Flatbush’s seventh-inning homer off future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts will prove to be the last one ever hit at Ebbets Field.
  • 1976 Right-hander Don Sutton goes the distance to become a twenty-game winner for the first and last time when the Dodgers beat the Giants at Candlestick Park, 3-1. The future Hall of Famer will compile a 324-256 (.559) record during his 23-year career in the bigs.
  • 1986 Dodger hurler Fernando Valenzuela (20-10) two-hits Houston en route to a 9-2 victory at the Astrodome. The 25 year-old southpaw becomes the first Mexican to win 20 games in the major leagues.

Lineup when available.

95 thoughts on “Game 156, 2019

  1. Tuesday Tedium – The worst thing about handegg season may be that it impinges on Monday baseball. Little of note yesterday, except that Redbirds – in a late-season surge – are closer to wrapping up their division. The winning Nats and the idle Beerguys seem pretty much set for the mild card, with only the venue left to be settled, so Dodgers will draw one of them in the NLDS. Nothing significant in the AL.

  2. Monday Musings – Things went well in NL, not so well in AL. Both Minute Maids (106.3 projected wins) and Yanquis (105) won their games, so Dodgers (103.7) continue to trail Houston by two and NYY by 1-1/2. Time is getting short to pass either or both of them, but Yanquis have tougher schedule on the road with Devil Rays and Texas. Houston plays in Seattle and Anaheim.

    Meanwhile, Barves (98.7) play in KC and Queens, and it’s hard to imagine that the Dodgers won’t clinch best in NL sooner rather than later.

    With no games of significance scheduled today – at least from a Dodgers viewpoint – magic number over Atlanta will remain the legendary Rick Auerbach until at least tomorrow.

  3. Quique made a fine throw, but from relatively shallow CF. Martin’s scoop and tag was even better.

    With today’s surgical options, Karl Spooner might have been another Koufax.

        • Spooner was the starting pitcher in the only game I saw at Ebbets Field, on July 3, 1955. (First game of a DH). The Pirates roughed him up for four runs (3 earned) in 2 2/3 innings. He walked six, struck out three and allowed two hits. The Dodgers lost, 7-5. Ed Roebuck was the losing pitcher. Carl Furillo homered for the Dodgers, rookie Gene Freese, who later played for the Hollywood Stars of the PCL, homered for the Bucs.

          • And Stan Williams and Larry Burright and whoever positioned second baseman Burright too far from the bag so the Harvey Kuenn ground ball to Maury Wills at short with one on and none out in the top of the 9th resulted only a force and not what could have been a rally-killing DP. Oh, the pain that caused me then.

          • You didn’t stick around for game two? I recall Gene Freese’s PCL days, but don’t think I ever saw him in person. He did play briefly for Tacoma, but I was living in Seattle then.

          • No, my dad and I stayed around for only for the first game. The family was readying to move to Los Angeles in nine days, a long cross-country drive, and my parents had a million-and-one things to do to prepare. Dad, who was born in Brooklyn in 1916, was a lifelong Dodgers fan — he died in 1993 — and fulfilled his promise to take me to one game before we left. Mom filled up our Scotch Kooler (that’s how it was spelled) with lemonade for the game. We drove a 1950 Hudson Hornet to Los Angeles.

          • In 1947, my parents drove some kinda Ford from Comstock, Minnesota, toward California, but ran out of money in Tacoma – where we stayed. Only three years old then, I have very vague memories of crossing the Rockies.

  4. Interesting that the Rockies reliever, Sam Howard, made four attempts to pick off Joc Pederson, who has one stolen base this season.

  5. Corey now has two hits in six straight games and is 15 for his last 32, raising his average from .259 to .273 in that span.

  6. Joe and Orel have talked about Ryu’s power in pre-game BP before, and apparently coach Bob Geren has been saying he’d hit one sometime this season.

  7. I see where Turner was removed for a pinch-runner this inning. Anybody know why? Precautionary only, I hope.

  8. Cubbies’ collapse continues, as they blow another ninth-inning lead for a four-game sweep by the Redbirds.

  9. The lack of production from our catchers, Smith and Martin, is yet something else that I am worried about as we prepare to head into the post-season.

  10. Dodged a bullet with Vazquez and apparently with Kimbrel as well. The latter is at 0-4 ERA 6.35. Two of those losses came against the Cards on Thursday and Saturday. With 5 losses in a row, Cubbies now 3 GB of the Brew Crew for the WC.

    • Hard to think of any reliever with a worse outing than Kimbrel had yesterday. Maddon letting Darvish pitch the ninth, and he gave up a leadoff triple in a 2-1 game. Cubbies still led 2-1, but Fowler followed with a sac fly and Goldschmidt with an RBI double.

    • Vaelntine might have had a brilliant career, but a terrible ankle injury in 1973, after the Dodgers traded him to the Angels following the 1972 season, ruined that chance. From the Society for American Baseball Research:

      “He got off to a good start in the American League in 1973, hitting
      .302/.323/.397 for the Angels when the season started. But Valentine’s
      season ended on May 17 when he suffered a season-ending injury.
      Valentine attempted to make a leaping catch to rob the Athletics’ Dick Green
      of a home run and his spikes got caught in the outfield’s chain link
      fence. He suffered a multiple compound fracture in his right leg just
      above the ankle. Valentine missed the rest of the 1973 season. His injury never healed
      properly and his ankle was permanently bent in the wrong direction,
      costing him a great deal of speed and athleticism. He returned in 1974
      and made 414 plate appearances in the utility role, the second most of
      his career. He batted .261/.308/.329 with three home runs and 39 RBIs.”