Jul 04

Game 86, 2018

Happy Fourth of July from the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber.

Pirates at Dodgers, 5:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, ATT SportsNet-PIT

The Dodgers ask lefty Rich Hill (1-3, 4.68 ERA) to complete the sweep of the hapless Buccos, who will send RHP Clay Holmes to the mound for his first big league start. He’s 6-3 with a 3.39 ERA for AAA Indianapolis and has made two relief appearances for the Pirates, giving up two hits in four innings while striking out two.

The Dodgers and Reds made a deal today.

The Los Angeles Dodgers today acquired RHP Dylan Floro, minor-league RHP Zach Neal and international signing bonus pool space from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for minor league RHPs James Marinan and Aneurys Zabala.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1884 In American Association action, Louisville right-hander Guy Hecker pitches complete games to win both ends of a doubleheader. The Youngsville, Pennsylvania native does not walk a single batter when he beats the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers at Eclipse Park, 5-4 and 8-2.
  • 1998 The National Baseball Facility of Ireland, considered the main home of the Irish National baseball team, officially opens in Corkagh Demesne Park in Clondalkin, West Dublin when U.S. Ambassador Jean Kennedy throws out the ceremonial first pitch. Dodger owner Peter O’Malley played an instrumental role in the construction of the diamonds now known as the Fields of Dreams, which includes a regulation sized adult field and an international standard Little League field.
  • 2006 Nomar Garciaparra ties the major league record for being hit by a pitch in a game as he is plunked three times by three different Diamondback pitchers in a 10-4 Dodger victory. The LA first baseman is the first National Leaguer to equal the mark, both literally and figuratively, since the 2000 season, when Astros outfielder Richard Hidalgo got thwacked thrice in a game in April.

Lineup:


Oct 11

ALDS Game Five, 2017

Yankees at Indians, 5:00 PM PT, TV: FS1

Game Five doesn’t have the resonance Game Seven does, but it’s the end of the line for one of these teams. The Yankees have to feel pretty good that they’ve gotten this far after fighting through the Wild Card Game to get into the series, while the Indians are probably annoyed that they lost two straight in the Bronx after taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

The Yankees send C.C. Sabathia to the mound to face the Indians’ ace Corey Kluber. Again. This is a rematch of Game Two’s pitchers. In that game Kluber got knocked out early but the Indians came back from a five-run deficit and won in 13 innings. Sabathia gave the Yankees 5 1/3 innings and gave up four runs. The Indians also lost their slugger Edwin Encarnacion to an ankle sprain in the first inning and he hasn’t played since.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1948 In Game 6 of the Fall Classic, the Indians beat Boston at Braves Field, 4-3, to capture the team’s second World Series title in franchise history. Bob Lemon gets the win, with Gene Bearden pitching the final one and two-thirds innings to earn the save.
  • 1965 In Game 5, a 7-0 victory over the Twins at Dodger Stadium, Willie Davis becomes the second player to steal three bases in a World Series game. The L.A. center fielder joins Pirates shortstop Honus Wagner, who accomplished the feat on the same date 56 years ago against Detroit in Game 3 of the 1909 Fall Classic.
  • 1975 As the first host of Saturday Night Live, George Carlin compares baseball to football in the opening monologue of the ground-breaking show. The comedian jokes the national pastime a gentler game, portraying the sport as one which is pastoral and played in a park as opposed to football, in which the objective is to march downfield and penetrate enemy territory in a stadium.

  • 1999 An ailing Pedro Martinez, with both starters ineffective in the decisive Game 5 of the ALCS and the score tied at 8-8 in the fourth, enters the game and doesn’t yield another hit to the Indians for the next six innings. Troy O’Leary collects a grand slam and a three-run home run, both following an intentional pass to Nomar Garciaparra, contributing to the Red Sox’ 12-8 victory at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field.
Sep 18

Game 150, 2017

The one-hundred-and-fiftieth game of the year already? Yikes!

Dodgers at Phillies, 4:00 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, CSN-P

LHP Kershaw (17-3) v. RHP Pinetta (5-10)

Optometrist appointment to click the button for the visual field test. More later.

Today in Dodgers’ history: Happy 4+1 Day!

  • 1984 The Tigers, with a 3-0 victory over Milwaukee, clinch the American League East title to become only the fourth team in major league history to lead from start to finish of a season. The 1923 Giants, 1927 Yankees, and the 1955 Dodgers also led their circuits from wire to wire.
  • 2006 The Dodgers, who are last in the National League in homers, hit four consecutive home runs in an inning when Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew, Russell Martin, and Marlon Anderson all go deep in the bottom of the ninth to tie the Padres, 9-9. The improbable feat, which had been accomplished only by the 1964 Twins, 1963 Indians, and the 1961 Braves, leads to Nomar Garciaparra’s walk-off two-run homer in the tenth and sole possession of first place when Los Angeles beat the Friars, 11-10.

Lineup:

Aug 13

Game 117, 2017

Padres at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

The visiting Padres send RHP Luis Perdomo (6-6, 4.81 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda (10-4, 3.69 ERA) in a Sunday afternoon game.

Perdomo gets 62 percent of balls in play to hit the ground, tops among all NL pitchers with 100+ innings. He’s induced 22 ground-ball double plays this year, tied for third in all of baseball. Maeda has had trouble all year getting past the sixth inning, and his last time out was no exception. He went five and got no decision. He’s been in 20 games (18 starts) this season and has completed exactly 100 innings.

Hatcher reinstated, Farmer optioned.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1910 In a game which features each team having 38 at-bats, 13 hits, 12 assists, 2 errors, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 hit batsman, and 1 passed ball, the Pirates and the Superbas (later to be known as the Dodgers) play to what else – an 8-8 tie.
  • 1951 Any fan who shows up with a musical instrument during the Dodgers’ Musical Depreciation Night is admitted free to the Ebbets Field contest against Boston. With an assortment of trumpets, trombones, zithers, tubas, accordions, bugles, flutes, various type of drums, violins, mandolins, assorted horns, a glockenspiel, a washboard, and a piano, 2,426 fans, which is about 10% of the total crowd, take advantage of the team’s unusual promotion.
  • 1965 Dean Chance establishes an American League record when he fans to extend his streak to 11 consecutive plate appearances with a strikeout. The Angels’ right-hander falls one shy of the major league mark set by Sandy Koufax, who whiffed in 12 consecutive plate appearances in 1955.
  • 1982 At Chavez Ravine, Dodger second baseman Steve Sax steals his 41st base to set a franchise record for rookies when he swipes second base in LA’s 6-1 victory over San Francisco. The eventual National League Rookie of the Year, the fourth consecutive Dodger to win the award, will extend the record to 49.
  • 2006 LA’s Greg Maddux and SF’s Jason Schmidt hook up in a classic West Coast pitcher’s duel, reminiscent of match-ups of Koufax and Marichal, as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 1-0, thanks to Russell Martin’s 10th inning walk-off home run. When Giants slugger Barry Bonds lines into a double play in the first inning, it marks the only time in baseball history a 300 game winner pitches to a batter with over 700 homers.
  • 2007 For the first time in 1,303 games, Nomar Garciaparra of the Dodgers is ejected from a game. The 12-year veteran infielder, who is tossed by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for arguing a called third strike in the fourth inning, is restrained by first base coach Mariano Duncan when he continues to shout and points his bat toward the umpire.

Lineup when available.

Jul 04

Game 85, 2017

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

This is a big series. The D-Backs are 2 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West, which at this stage of the 2017 season looks to be the class of the National League and provider of both Wild Card teams if it were to end today. The D-Backs send lefty Patrick Corbin (6-7, 4.76 ERA) out to face the Dodgers’ lefty Clayton Kershaw (12-2, 2.32 ERA) in a twilight game.

Corbin faced the Dodgers on April 15 and did not do well. He gave up five runs over six innings and got the loss. On the other hand he’s gone 2-1 with a 2.96 ERA (eight earned runs in 24 1/3 innings) in his last four starts, including a five-hit, two run, six-inning outing against the Cardinals last Thursday. Kershaw went 8 1/3 innings on April 14 to beat the D-Backs, giving up one run on four hits.

Turner leads the NL in the Final Vote for the ASG, which continues through Thursday.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2006 Nomar Garciaparra ties the major league record for being hit by a pitch in a game as he is plunked three times by three different Diamondback pitchers in a 10-4 Dodger victory. The LA first baseman is the first National Leaguer to equal the mark, both literally and figuratively, since the 2000 season when Astros outfielder Richard Hidalgo got thwacked thrice in a game in April.

It’s the day in 1985 when the Mets and Braves played a 19-inning game which went until just before 4 a.m. the next day. After the 6 hours, 10 minutes game, the 1000 fans left in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium saw pre-dawn fireworks which awakened and frightened many of the ballpark’s neighbors. Probably infuriated quite a few, too.

This is also the day in 1939 when Lou Gehrig gave his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium.

Lineup when available.

Dec 09

Reboot

Jon revealed his new employment situation to me over the weekend and asked me if I wanted him to put a pointer in his post to this blog, and I said sure, after I congratulated him on what must be a dream job he never anticipated landing.

So here we all are. The winter meetings are beginning, Matt Kemp’s name may be on the trading block, the Dodgers may or may not be trying to acquire David Price from the Rays, they’ve already gotten Dan Haren on the free agency market, and looming over everything is getting Clayton Kershaw signed to a long-term deal.

Whoops. I forgot. They’ve also added Orel Hershiser and Nomar Garciaparra to their TV broadcasting team.

Chat away, Dodgers fans!