Jun 06

Game 60, 2017

Nationals at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MASN 2

RHP Max Scherzer (6-1, 2.56 ERA) pitches for the Nats and Brandon McCarthy (5-2, 3.38 ERA) for the Dodgers.

Scherzer is 2-0 with a 1.02 ERA, 24 Ks and two BBs over 17 2/3 innings in his last two outings. In his career he’s 1-2 with a 3.98 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings (five starts) at Dodger Stadium. McCarthy only went four innings in his last start due to blister problems, but he says there was no recurrence of it during a long bullpen session Sunday.

Will the Dodgers add to their rotation and bullpen at the deadline?

This day in Dodgers history:

  • 1944 Baseball cancels today’s scheduled eight-game slate due to the Allied invasion of Normandy known as D-Day. The military operation has 60,000 Allied troops, including six minor leaguers who will be killed in action, landing along a heavily protected 50-mile stretch of the coastline in France to fight Germany to begin an offensive assault against Hitler and the Nazi party.
  • 1957 After an 86-minute delay, the first fog out in major league history occurs at Ebbets Field when the umpires call off the Dodgers’ game against the Cubs due to extremely poor visibility. Brooklyn has a 1-0 lead when the game is postponed with one out in the bottom of the second inning.
  • 1968 The day after Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles, Maury Wills refuses to play in a 4-2 loss to the Dodgers, his former team. The 35 year-old shortstop stays in the Chavez Ravine training room, reading RFK’s book, To Seek a New World.
  • 1994 Mike Piazza hits the longest home run recorded in the history of Joe Robbie Stadium when his first career grand slam is estimated to travel 477 feet. The catcher’s Ruthian blast, one of four Dodger round-trippers during the Florida contest, isn’t enough to thwart the Marlins’ 11-10 come-from-behind victory.
  • 2006 When Eric Gagne, who will earn his first save in over a year, throws his first pitch to his receiver Russell Martin, the pair become the first All-French-Canadian battery in major league history. The pitcher and catcher both attended Polyvalente Edouard Montpetit High School, one of the few schools in Montreal which had a baseball program.
  • 2006 On the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the century, the Dodgers score six runs in the sixth inning during the sixth game of the homestand, beating the Mets, 8-5. On 05/05/05, the Twins scored five times in the fifth inning en route to a 9-0 victory over the Indians.

Lineup when available.

Jun 01

Game 55, 2017

Dodgers at Cardinals, 10:45 AM PT (that’s 7:45PM CEST for Bob Hendley), TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), ESPN, SPNLA, FS-M

RHP Brandon McCarthy (5-1, 3.28 ERA) goes for the Dodgers and RHP Adam Wainwright (5-3, 4.20 ERA) will go for the Cards. McCarthy left his last start against the Cubs after six scoreless innings, complaining of knee tendinitis, which he says he’s had since spring training. Wainwright has made three consecutive quality starts, giving up just one run in his last 20 1/3 innings. This will be his 331st game in a Cardinals uniform, which moves him past Larry Jackson into 10th place on the all time games-pitched list for the Redbirds.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1955 Duke Snider blasts three home runs in the Dodgers’ 11-8 win over Milwaukee. Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, and Roy Campanella also go deep in the Ebbets Field’s contest, helping Brooklyn set a franchise record with six home runs.
  • 1962 In the nightcap of a twin bill at Shibe Park, Don Drysdale beats the Phillies for the 13th consecutive time, continuing a streak which started in 1958. The Dodger right-hander, however, will drop his next seven decisions against Philadelphia after today’s victory.
  • 1997 When Wilton Guerrero scurries to pick up pieces of his shattered bat after grounding out to start the game, home plate ump Steve Ripley becomes suspicious and discovers that the bat has been altered. The rookie Dodgers second baseman is immediately ejected from the game by crew chief Bruce Froemming, and the 21 year-old infielder will also receive an eight-day suspension and a $1,000 fine for his use of a corked bat.

Lineup when available.

May 27

Game 50, 2017

Cubs at Dodgers, 4:15 PM PT, TV: Fox

RHP John Lackey (4-4, 4.82 ERA) goes for the Cubs in this late-afternoon game on Big Fox. His opponent will be the Dodgers’ RHP Brandon McCarthy (4-1, 3.76 ERA). Lackey had a three-game winning streak snapped his last time out when he gave up five runs on seven hits in five innings against the Giants. McCarthy had his best outing of the year in his last start when he went six innings and gave up three hits to the Marlins. He beat the Cubs in April, too. In fact, in four career starts against the Baby Bears he’s 1-1 with a 1.47 ERA, 18 strikeouts and a 1.20 WHIP. But wait! Lackey holds a 1.73 ERA against the Dodgers in 12 career starts!

This day in Dodgers’ history: The source site is unreachable so far today, so here’s an old game.

  • 1955 Oisk lost to The Barber 3-1, giving up all three runs in the 7th and 8th innings. The first was on a home run by Bobby Hofman, a lifetime .248 hitter with 32 career HRs to his credit. Oddly, Hofman was pinch-hitting for Davey Williams, a lifetime .252 hitter who also had 32 career HRs. The second and third runs were provided by the much more notable Willie Mays, who homered with a man on in the 8th.

Lineup:

May 21

Game 45, 2017

Marlins at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F, KTLA

The Marlins ask RHP Vance Worley (2-5, 4.43 ERA in AAA New Orleans) to make his 2017 debut against the Dodgers, a team he’s faced in four games (three starts) over his career and posted a 5.63 ERA for his trouble. He first got to the major leagues in 2010 with the Phillies. He spent two more years with them, then one with Minnesota, two with Pittsburgh and one with Baltimore. He’s 33-30 for his career with a 3.75 ERA, and over that time righties have hit him better than lefties, .758 OPS vs. RHB, .747 OPS vs. LHB.

The Dodgers will send RHP Brandon McCarthy (3-1, 4.15 ERA) to the hill to recover his pre-disabled list form when he gave up two runs or fewer in his first four starts. This will be only the second time he’s faced the Marlins; the first time he gave them only three hits in a 1-0 complete game for the D-Backs in 2013.

This day in Dodgers history:

  • 1952 The Dodgers score a major league record fifteen first-inning runs en route to a 19-1 rout over the Reds at Ebbets Field. After retiring the first batter, the next 19 Brooklyn batters reached base (10 hits, 7 walks, and 2 HBP). Captain Pee Wee Reese reaches first base three times in the inning.
  • 2000 Major League Baseball has its first six grand-slam day less than one year after establishing the mark with five, with Garret Anderson (Angels), J.T. Snow (Giants), Brian Hunter (Phillies), Jason Giambi (A’s), and Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green (Dodgers) all contributing to the record. The NL also set a league record, blasting four of the six base-loaded homers.

Julio Urias has been optioned to OKC and Josh Ravin has been brought up.

Lineup when available.

May 15

Game 39, 2017

Dodgers at Giants, 7:15 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBCS-BA, MLBN (out-of-market only)

RHP Brandon McCarthy (3-0, 3.10 ERA) takes on RHP Matt Cain (2-1, 4.54 ERA) at AT&T Park this evening. We learn now that the unspecified injury which put McCarthy on the 10-day DL was a dislocated shoulder. He threw a 4-inning 60 pitch simulated game on Wednesday and is “chomping at the bit,” says his manager Dave Roberts. Cain did well in April, posting a 2.30 ERA in five starts, but has struggled so far in May, giving up 12 runs (11 earned) in two starts spanning 8 1/3 innings for an 11.88 ERA.

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1919 After 12 scoreless innings at Ebbets Field, the Reds score 10 runs in the 13th inning to beat Al Mamaux and the Dodgers, 10-0. Cincinnati starter Hod Eller, who tossed a no-hitter in his previous start, is the beneficiary of the blowout.
  • 1956 Sal Maglie, obtained on waivers by Cleveland last season from the Giants, is shipped to the Dodgers for a hundred dollars after impressing Brooklyn in an exhibition game. The ‘Barber’ will post a 13-5 record along with a 2.89 ERA for the eventual NL Champs, finishing second to teammate Don Newcombe in the balloting for both the Cy Young and MVP awards.

The Dodgers made room for McCarthy by optioning Brett Eibner back to Oklahoma City. Poor guy. He hits the longest HR any Dodger has this year, and that’s the recognition he gets.

Lineup when available.

May 08

Game 32, 2017

Pirates at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ROOTPIT

It’ll be righty Trevor Williams (1-1, 5.40 ERA) for the Bucs against Brandon McCarthy (3-0, 3.10 ERA) or Alex Wood (2-0, 3.28 ERA). Williams has been in the bullpen and hasn’t started since Spring Training, so he may be on an 80-pitch limit. Yesterday would have been McCarthy’s day to start. That had been pushed back a day due to a mysterious weight-room injury to his non-throwing shoulder but the rainout denied him that. Wood’s last game was April 26, when he made his third start.

Is Cody Bellinger the latest version of Eric Karros, who got a chance in 1992 and made the most of it?

Today in Dodgers history:

  • 1941 An Army-Navy Relief game between New York’s two National League teams raises over $60,000. Dolph Camilli’s homer is the difference in the Ebbets Field exhibition as the Dodgers edge the Giants, 7-6.

Lineup when available.

Wood’s doing the pitching and NL Player of the Week Cody Bellinger is playing 1B.

May 07

Game 32, 2017 (PPd.)

Dodgers at Padres, 1:40 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD, KTLA

It’s not clear (ha!) whether the weather will allow this game to be played, but if it is it will be RHP Brandon McCarthy (3-0, 3.10 ERA) for the Dodgers and Trevor Cahill (2-2, 3.60 ERA) for the Padres. This may portend well for the Dodgers:

McCarthy’s greatest success has come against the Padres. He is 8-1 with a 3.79 ERA in his career against San Diego, and he beat them, 10-2, on April 6 in Los Angeles.

Two years ago Cahill was in the Dodgers’ minor league system rehabilitating his career; now he’s pitching against them in the bigs. He lost in the opening series of the season to them. He’s been striking out a lot more hitters than usual this year: 30 percent of them instead of the 17 percent he’s averaged over his career. It may be his curveball: opponents are 2-34 against that pitch this season.

Regarding the weather, there’s this:

There have been only two rainouts in Petco Park history, the most recent coming on July 19, 2015, between the Padres and the Rockies. The other took place in 2006, two years after the park opened.

Today in Dodger history:

  • 1959 At the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Yankees defeat the Dodgers, 6-2, in an exhibition game played to benefit Roy Campanella, who was paralyzed in an auto accident prior to the team moving to the West Coast in 1958. The game, which draws the largest crowd ever for a baseball game, 93,103 fans with another estimated 15,000 turned away from the sellout, begins with an emotional ceremony in which Pee Wee Reese pushes the wheelchair-bound catcher into the darkened stadium that is totally illuminated by fans holding candles or matches.
  • 1960 The Sherry boys become the tenth pair of siblings to appear as battery mates in a major league game when Norm replaces John Roseboro behind the plate in the top of the eighth to catch Larry, who is starting his first inning in relief. The backstop will hit a two-out home run in the bottom of the 11th inning, assuring his brother of a victory in the Dodgers’ 3-2 walk-off win over Philadelphia.
  • 1969 Willie Davis, furious with the Wrigley Field Bleacher Bums because of their continual verbal abuse of him, tells his Dodgers teammates that he wants to hit a home run in the middle of the group, which he does in the sixth inning to tie the score. The LA center fielder exacts a bit more more revenge on the heckling horde when his 12th-inning two-run round-tripper proves to be the difference in the 4-2 defeat of the Cubs.
  • 1970 At Shea Stadium, Wes Parker hits a triple off Jim McAndrew to beat the Mets in the tenth inning, 7-4. The three-bagger completes the cycle for the Dodger first baseman.
  • 2011 After a first-inning walk in the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the Mets, Andre Ethier goes 0-for-4, ending his 30-game hitting streak. The L.A. outfielder falls one game short of the franchise record set in 1969 by Willie Davis, who enjoyed a 31-game hitting streak that season.

Lineup when available.

Apr 29

Game 25, 2017

Phillies at Dodgers, 6:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-P, MLBN (out-of-market only)

RHP Zach Eflin (0-0, 1.50 ERA) takes the hill for the Fightin’ Phils against RHP Brandon McCarthy (3-0, 2.25 ERA) of the Blue Crew. The last time the Dodgers saw Eflin they scored seven runs and hit three homers in three innings in his final start of 2016.

McCarthy last faced the Phillies in April of 2014 when he was with the Diamondbacks. A.J. Burnett beat him with help from his now-teammate Chase Utley despite McCarthy’s seven innings and 12 strikeouts.

Justin Turner has a 14-game hitting streak.

The Number One prospect in the MLB draft is a kid named Hunter Greene from Notre Dame HS in Sherman Oaks, Ca. He pitches and plays shortstop. He visited the Dodgers and tweeted these photos this morning:

It’s unlikely he’ll still be available by the time the Dodgers select in the first round, folks.

Lineup when available.

Apr 23

Game 19, 2017

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-0, 2.12 ERA) takes the mound for the Dodgers and RHP Shelby Miller (2-1, 3.50 ERA) does so for the D-Backs. Both pitchers had forgettable 2016 seasons — McCarthy with Tommy John surgery and Miller with poor performances all round (3-12, 6.15 ERA for the year with no wins at Chase Field).

McCarthy, 33, has bounced around the big leagues — the Dodgers are his sixth team. He’s never had a brilliant season but has been serviceable when healthy. His career record is 59-68 with a 4.13 ERA in 1069 innings.

Miller, 26, was a 15-game winner in 2013 and 2014 with the Cardinals before going to the Braves in exchange for outfielder Jason Heyward. He had a horrible W-L record (6-17) but a good ERA (3.02) in 2015 with the Braves. He was traded to the D-Backs following that season. For his career he’s 37-48 with a 3.68 ERA in 694 innings.

The Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez, Joc Pederson, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Andrew Toles and Yasiel Puig are a combined 16-for-33 (.485) against Miller. On the other hand, before Saturday’s game Goldschmidt was a career .313 hitter (121-for-386) with 24 homers and 80 RBIs vs. the Dodgers.

Lineup when available.

Apr 17

Game 14, 2017

Rich Hill spoke to Alanna Rizzo about his recurring blister problem.

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

I think the other National League teams have concluded that the Dodgers are vulnerable to left-handed pitching, and until proven otherwise they’re going to keep starting them. Thus today the Diamondbacks send LHP Robbie Ray (1-0, 2.19 ERA) out for the finale of this four-game series. He’ll be opposed by RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-0, 1.50 ERA) for the Dodgers.

Ray has a 2.96 ERA in his career against the home team. Among current team members only Kiké Hernandez and Yasiel Puig have had great success against him.

McCarthy has been a very pleasant surprise for the Dodgers since coming off last year’s surgery. He held the Padres to two runs over six innings in his first start and last time out he blanked the Cubs for six innings. Only one of the current D-Backs has even 10 at-bats against him in his career. He pitched for the D-backs in 2013-2014 and went 8-21 with a 4.75 ERA in 40 starts.

Lineup when available.