Category Archives: Game Threads

For discussion of today’s game

Jun 24

Game 76, 2023

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Astros at Dodgers, 4:15 PM PDT, TV: Fox

RHP Ronel Bianco (1-0, 4.66 ERA) takes the hill for the Astros and RHP Bobby Miller (3-1, 2.83 ERA) does so for the Dodgers.

From the Dodgers’ celebration of The Infield this weekend:

Los Angeles, CA – June 23: Houston Astros vs Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Friday, June 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 At Forbes Field, Jackie Robinson steals home in the Dodgers’ 4-2 victory over the Pirates. It is the Brooklyn infielder’s first theft of the dish, something the rookie will accomplish 19 times during his ten-year career.
  • 2018 The Dodgers tie a National League record, last accomplished by the 2006 Braves, when the team socks seven solo shots, dealing the Mets a crushing 8-7 loss at Citi Field. Former New York infielder Justin Turner delivers the decisive dinger in the top of the twelfth inning to complete the series sweep and extend the team’s consecutive win streak over the Amazins to twelve straight victories.
  • 2021 At Dodger Stadium, Cubs starter Zach Davies tosses six spotless innings, with Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin, and Craig Kimbrel each adding a hitless frame for the 17th and the first combined no-hitter in franchise history. Chicago’s 4-0 victory marks the seventh major league no-no this season, equaling the record established in 1990, 1991, 2012, and 2015.

Lineups when available.

Jun 23

Game 75, 2023

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Astros at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT SportsNet-SW, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

28-year-old Astros’ rookie RHP J.P. France (2-2, 3.42 ERA) makes the eighth start of his big league career; he’ll face the Dodgers’ 23-year-old rookie RHP Emmet Sheehan (0-0, 0.00 ERA) who’s making his second major league start.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1930 The Dodgers get twelve consecutive hits in a 19-6 win over the Pirates at Forbes Field. Two of the dozen hits in the eight-run sixth inning include a pair of homers hit by Brooklyn outfielder Babe Herman.
  • 1986 The Braves strand 18 runners on base, establishing a National League record. Enough Atlanta players do score to give the team a 6-5 victory over L.A. at Dodger Stadium.

Other notable events in baseball on this date include Ernie Shore’s near-perfect game in 1917, when he relieved Babe Ruth (ejected for arguing balls and strikes and possibly punching the umpire) and retired 26 consecutive batters.

Lineups when available.

Jun 21

Game 74, 2023

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Dodgers at Angels, 6:40 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports West, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

RHP Michael Grove (0-2, 8.10 ERA) gets the ball for the visiting Dodgers and RHP Shohei Ohtana (6-2, 3.29 ERA) takes it for the Angels.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1900 Citing the Superbas’ poor attendance at Brooklyn’s Washington Park, National League president Ned Young discusses the possibility of transferring the franchise to the District of Columbia. En route to their second consecutive title, the reigning NL champions are averaging only a thousand fans on non-holiday dates.
  • 1957 In his first major league start, Von McDaniel‚ who graduated from Oklahoma’s Hollis High School last month, two-hits the Dodgers at Busch Stadium‚ 2-0. Brooklyn does not get a hit off the 18 year-old bonus baby until the sixth inning.
  • 1998 Bill Russell is released as Dodger manager and is replaced in the dugout by Glenn Hoffmann. In the front office, Tommy Lasorda assumes the general manager duties of the third-place club from Fred Claire.
  • 2016 Dean Kremer becomes the first-ever Israeli to sign a contract with a Major League baseball team when he comes to terms with the Dodgers, after being selected in the annual amateur draft earlier this month. The 20-year-old right-hander, who won Europe’s Most Valuable Pitcher award in both 2014 and 2015, has hurled for Israel’s national baseball team for the past three seasons. (Note: Kremer was traded to the Orioles in the Manny Machado deal in 2018; he’s 17-18 in four years with the Orioles).
  • 2021 Needing only 197 games, nine-year veteran Yu Darvish becomes the fastest pitcher to record 1,500 career strikeouts, easily eclipsing Randy Johnson, who needed nine more starts to reach the milestone. The Padres’ right-hander establishes the mark with the 11th and final strikeout of his six innings of work against the Dodgers.

Lineups when available.

Jun 20

Game 73, 2023

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Dodgers at Angels, 7:07 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports West, SPNLA, TBS

LHP Clayton Kershaw (8-4, 2.95 ERA) takes the mound at the Big A for the Dodgers and LHP Reid Detmers (1-5, 4.48 ERA) does so for the hometown Angels.

MLB.com speculates that the Dodgers may be in the market for starting pitching at the trade deadline.

the club’s pitching staff has uncharacteristically struggled in 2023. Los Angeles has given up 4.82 runs per game, tied for the seventh most in MLB.

[snip]

Los Angeles could look to add a starting pitcher in a trade this summer.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman indicated as much while talking to The Athletic (subscription required) on Monday.

“In Spring Training, I did not expect that in July we would aggressively be looking for pitching,” Friedman said. “With the injuries and where we are, I think that focus has shifted. There’s no question that [targeting pitching] is more likely than it was in March.”

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand looked at potential fits for some of MLB’s top trade candidates on Monday and listed the Dodgers among the possible suitors for starting pitchers Shane Bieber, Eduardo Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman and Lucas Giolito.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2008 In recognition of their significant contributions to the community, the Dodgers become the first sports franchise to be honored by the Hollywood Historic Trust and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. The team receives an Award of Excellence star, which is placed in the Walk of Fame, which includes a constellation of celebrities, real and fictional, who have had a major impact on the entertainment industry.
  • 2009 Jeff Weaver beats his kid brother Jered when the visiting Dodgers best the Halos, 6-5, at Angel Stadium. The Northridge, California natives become the eighth set of siblings in major league history to start against one another.

Lineups when available.

Jun 18

Game 72, 2023

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Giants at Dodgers 1:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCSBA, SPNLA

RHP Logan Webb (5-6, 3.15 ERA) goes for the Giants and RHP Tony Gonsolin (4-1, 1.93 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

Here’s a charming profile of Miguel Vargas and his father Lazaro, a two-time baseball Olympic Gold Medalist for Cuba.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 After accepting GM Larry MacPhail’s offer to coach first base, Babe Ruth wears a Dodger uniform for the first time as a coach and takes batting practice with the team. The ‘Bambino’ will quit at the end of the season, ending his ties with major league baseball.
  • 1940 Dodger Ducky Medwick, acquired in a trade less than a week ago, is beaned by former Cardinal teammate Bob Bowman and needs to be carried off the field on a stretcher. Brooklyn president Lee MacPhail accuses the St. Louis pitcher of deliberately hitting Medwick in the head because the two had quarreled in a hotel elevator prior to the game.
  • 1996 Brant Brown hits the first three home runs of his career on the same day. The 25 year-old rookie goes deep as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning off Chan Ho Park in a 9-6 loss to the Dodgers in the opener of a Wrigley Field twin bill, but his two additional round-trippers contribute to Chicago’s 7-4 victory in the nightcap.
  • 2014 With the only batter reaching base as a result of a throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the seventh inning, Clayton Kershaw no-hit the Rockies at Dodger Stadium, striking out a career-high 15 batters. The left-hander’s teammate Josh Beckett also threw a no-hitter 24 days ago, making it the shortest span between no-hitters by a team since the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer accomplished it in consecutive starts, four days apart, in 1938.

Lineups when available.

Jun 17

Game 71, 2023

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Giants at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: NBCSBA, SPNLA

LHP Alex Wood (1-1, 4.80 ERA) gets the ball for the Giants; RHP Bobby Miller (3-0, 0.78 ERA) gets it for the Dodgers. It’s a little hard for me to believe, but this is old friend Alex’s 11th year in the big leagues. He’s got a 72-61 W-L record with a 3.48 ERA in that time.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1915 Cubs right-hander reliever George Washington Zabel, called into the game with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, throws 18 and 1/3 innings of the Cubs’ 4-3 victory over the Robins at Chicago’s West Side Park. ‘Zip’, establishing the major league record for the longest relief stint in one game, beats Brooklyn starter Jeff Pfeffer, who tosses a 19-inning complete-game. (Pfeffer won 113 games for Brooklyn and lost only 80 in a nine-year career with the Robins.)
  • 1956 Joe Adcock’s ninth-inning home run off Brooklyn right-hander Ed Roebuck, his second round-tripper of the game, proves to be the game winner in the Braves’ 5-4 victory over the Dodgers. The blast to left field, which clears an 83-foot wall at the 350-foot mark, is believed to the only homer ever to land on the roof at Ebbets Field.
  • 1956 Fred Haney, named yesterday to replace Charlie Grimm, wins two games in his managerial debut with the Braves when the team sweeps a doubleheader against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, 5-4 and 3-1, starting a streak of 11 consecutive victories. The club’s former coach will compile a 341-231 (.596) record, guiding Milwaukee to two pennants and a world championship during his four seasons at the helm.
  • 1976 At Shea Stadium, Dave Kingman hits a walk-off homer to give the Mets a 1-0 victory over the Dodgers. Sky King’s game-ending blast comes off Charlie Hough in the 14th inning.
  • 1992 Dodger farmhand Mike Piazza, believing he was low balled in his contract negotiations, takes exception to the team giving a reported bonus of $500,000 to top draft pick Ryan Luzinski, a 220-pound catcher from Holy Cross High in Delran, New Jersey who will never play in a major league game. Next season, Piazza will be selected as the National League’s Rookie of the Year, and will hit .331 in seven seasons for LA.

One more item from the history books: on this date in 1962 Met Marv Throneberry’s apparent first inning triple becomes an out on an appeal play for missing second base in an 8-7 loss to San Francisco at the Polo Grounds. When New York manager Casey Stengel questions the call, he is told by the umpire, according to legend, “Don’t bother arguing Casey, he missed first base, too.”

Lineups when available.

Jun 16

Game 70, 2023

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Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: NBCSBA, SPNLA

RHP John Brebbia (2-0, 3.25 ERA) goes for the Giants and the Dodgers have yet to announce their starter in what’s planned to be a bullpen game.

Update: The Dodgers have brought up Emmet Sheehan from AA Tulsa. While

the right-hander has not pitched above Double-A Tulsa this season. Sheehan went 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA, striking out 88 batters over 53 1/3 innings of work. That dominance earned him a callup to Triple-A Oklahoma City over the weekend, though he hasn’t pitched at the level yet.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1933 Last year’s National League batting champ, Lefty O’Doul, and pitcher Watty Clark, a 20-game winner last season, are traded by the Dodgers to the Giants for first baseman Sam Leslie. Brooklyn’s newest infielder will bat .311 during his three seasons with the team, before returning to New York in 1936.
  • 2019 Trailing by three runs in the ninth, the Padres rally to eventually beat the Rockies at Coors Field, 14-13. The contest ends the highest-scoring four-game series in history with the teams combining for 92 runs, surpassing the record of 88 players crossing the plate, set by the Phillies and Dodgers in May 1929.
    June 13 – COL 9, SD 6
    June 14 – SD 16, COL 12
    June 15 – COL 14, SD 8
    June 16 – SD 14, COL 13

Lineups when available.

Jun 15

Game 69, 2023

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White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCSCH, SPNLA

RHP Dylan Cease (3-3, 4.38 ERA) pitches for the visiting Pale Hose and RHP Michael Grove (0-2, 8.28 ERA) gets the ball for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 In the first night game played in New York City, Johnny Vander Meer pitches his second consecutive no-hitter, beating the Dodgers at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, 6-0. Four days ago, the Reds’ southpaw held the Braves hitless in a 3-0 victory at Crosley Field.
  • 1951 The Cubs trade Andy Pafko along with Johnny Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger, and Rube Walker to the Dodgers for Bruce Edwards, Joe Hatten, Eddie Miksis, and Gene Hermanski. The deal, which prevents the coveted ‘Handy Andy’ from going to the rival Giants, is the first of many to be made by Buzzie Bavasi, Brooklyn’s new general manager.
  • 1996 In the first inning of their 6-2 victory over the Braves, the Dodgers turn their first triple play in forty-seven years. After making a running, back-to-the-plate grab of Chipper Jones’s popup to short left with runners on first and second, Juan Castro throws to second baseman Delino Deshields to double up Marquis Grissom, then the ball is relayed to first baseman Eric Karros to get Mark Lemke, who was also running on the pitch.

Lineups when available.

Jun 14

Game 68, 2023

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White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: ESPN

RHP Mike Clevinger (3-4, 4.19 ERA) takes the hill for the White Sox and LHP Clayton Kershaw (8-4, 2.95 ERA) does so for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1948 In front of a crowd of 12,622 at Ebbets Field, Jackie Robinson, who hits a third-inning two-run homer, and Cleveland’s Larry Doby, the only two African-Americans big leaguers, play against each other for the first time. In the Sunday evening charity exhibition game, the Dodgers best the first-place Indians, 6-2, raising $15,000 for the Brooklyn Amateur Baseball Federation, which benefits sandlot ballplayers in Flatbush.
  • 2003 After being activated from the disabled list by the Dodgers, first baseman Fred McGriff bats cleanup and goes 2-for-4 in his return against the Padres. It was the Crime Dog’s first trip to the DL during his 18-year career.
  • 2010 After just seven days in the major leagues, Stephen Strasburg is named National League Player of the Week. The Nationals’ right-handed flamethrower starts his career 2-0 with 22 strikeouts, second to only Karl Spooner, who fanned five more batters in his first two major league starts with the Dodgers in 1954.

Lineups when available.

Jun 13

Game 67, 2023

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White Sox at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCSCH, SPNLA

RHP Lance Lynn (4-6, 6.72 ERA) is the White Sox’s pitcher this evening. He’ll face the Dodgers’ RHP Tony Gonsolin (3-1, 2.21 ERA).

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1957 In a game which features the ejection of Johnny Logan and Don Drysdale, Clem Labine loses for the first time in ten months and 38 relief appearances when the Braves beat Brooklyn, 8-5. The Milwaukee shortstop charged the mound after getting drilled in the ribs by the Dodger right-hander, resulting in banishment for both players.
  • 1962 Warren Spahn’s record drops to 6-7 when the Braves southpaw suffers his fifth one-run decision of the young season, losing a 2-1 decision to the Dodgers at Milwaukee’s County Stadium. Sandy Koufax’s fifth-inning home run, the first of only two round-trippers he collects during his 12-year career, proves to be the difference.
  • 1973 The Dodgers infield, a quartet which will be together eight and a half years, setting a major league record for longevity, plays together for the first time. First baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, third baseman Ron Cey, and shortstop Bill Russell are in the lineup in the 16-3 defeat to the Phillies.
  • 1998 The first triple play ever completed at Dodger Stadium is turned by Darren Dreifort (p), Eric Young (2b), Jose Vizcaino (ss), and Bobby Bonilla (3b). With Colorado runners on first and second base, the 1-6-4 double play becomes a triple killing when Jamey Wright is thrown out at third base by the LA second baseman, who covered first base for the second out.
  • 2010 The Angels, with their first sweep at Dodger Stadium, complete their 14-game road trip with 11 victories, the most for the team on a single trip since 1962. In the 6-5 decision over their crosstown rivals, Halo hurler Jered Weaver strikes out his older brother, Jeff, who came into the game as a long reliever in the third inning, for the first time since they were kids.

Lineups when available.