Sep 30

Game 161, 2023

Dodgers at Giants, 6:05 PM PDT, TV: NBCS BA, SPNLA

LHP Clayton Kershaw (13-4, 2.42 ERA) makes what might (might!) be his last regular season start for the Dodgers. He’ll face RHP Tristan Beck (3-3, 4.05 ERA) of the Giants.

Tom Verducci of SI has his doubts that the Dodgers can navigate the postseason successfully with the rotation they have:

Not since Leo Durocher sent a bunch of draft classified 4F pitchers to the mound in 1944 have the Dodgers had a worse rotation. Never in franchise history have Dodgers starters thrown fewer innings in a full season.

The workaround for manager Dave Roberts will be to parcel the game among many pitchers. It’s a dangerous way to navigate October—the more pitching changes you make, the more chances you have to be wrong—but it’s what Roberts has done all season, and it has a better chance of working because of a fortuitous postseason schedule chock full of off days.

When you consider why this formula is necessary more than preferred, think about all the starting pitchers the Dodgers are paying this year who are not on their active roster: Trevor Bauer, Julio Urias, Noah Syndergaard, Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May. That’s $63.2 million in starting pitching gone.

The Dodgers were forced to cobble together a rotation of Clayton Kershaw, youngsters and well-traveled veterans in which nobody has thrown 140 innings. The rotation’s ERA is 4.61, the fourth worst in franchise history and the worst since Hal Gregg and his bad back fronted Durocher’s Brooklyn wartime rotation while leading the league in the Triple Crown of wildness: walks, wild pitches and hit batters.

Roberts’s workaround to this assortment has been to consistently pull starters quickly and rely on his bullpen. The Dodgers have the best bullpen in baseball in the second half (2.28 ERA) and it’s not even close.

[snip]

This is Roberts’s plan: cover the first 18 batters or so with a starter and divide the other 20 or so among relievers.

[snip]

The plan can work because of the off days, including one before and one after NLDS Game 2. Even if the Dodgers advance in five games against their NLDS opponent, Roberts will have a rested bullpen for six of his first eight postseason games. There is almost no penalty for scripting short starts every game.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1923 It’s Zack Wheat Day at Ebbets Field, and the retiring Dodger outfielder collects two hits and is given an automobile. Cy Williams of the Phillies spoils the special day as he ties the score in the seventh inning with his 39th homer and his 40th in the 12th frame gives Philadelphia the victory, 6-4.
  • 1933 At Sportsman’s Park in Cubs’ 12-2 rout of the Cardinals, Babe Herman hits for the cycle, becoming the first player in baseball history to do it three times. The Chicago outfielder also accomplished the rare feat on two other occasions while playing for the Dodgers in 1931.
  • 1947 Ralph Branca becomes the youngest player to start a World Series opener. At Yankee Stadium, the 21-year and 9 months old right hander and the Dodgers lose to the Bronx Bombers, 5-1.
  • 1951 Knowing the Giants have won their game in Boston, the Dodgers rally from a five-run deficit to beat Philadelphia in 14 innings, 9-8, forcing a three-game playoff for the National League pennant. After Jackie Robinson makes a game-saving catch in the thirteenth to preserve an 8-8 tie, he hits a home run in the next frame that proves to be the difference in Brooklyn’s victory at Shibe Park.
  • 1953 George Shuba, best known as the Montreal Royal teammate who shook Jackie Robinson’s hand after the rookie had homered, becomes the third major leaguer and the first National League player to pinch hit a home run in the World Series when he goes deep off Allie Reynolds in the Dodgers’ 9-5 Game 1 loss at Yankee Stadium. ‘Shotgun’ joins Yogi Berra (1947) and Johnny Mize (1952), who both accomplished the feat playing for the Bronx Bombers.
  • 1956 Don Newcombe, a three-time twenty-game winner, goes the distance to earn his major-league leading 27th victory when the Dodgers beat Pittsburgh at Forbes Field, 8-6, on the last day of the campaign. Newk’s win is the most ever in a season by an African-American pitcher.
  • 1962 On the last day of the season, Gene Oliver’s eighth-inning homer off Johnny Podres proves to be the difference in St. Louis’ 1-0 victory over the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. The loss to the Cardinals forces Los Angeles into a best-of-three-game playoff with the Giants for the National League pennant, a series the team will lose to San Francisco.
  • 1999 The largest regular-season crowd in Candlestick Park history, 61,389 fans, watches the Dodgers beat the home team, 9-4 in the last baseball game to ever be played at the ‘Stick’. Giant greats help mark the occasion with Juan Marichal tossing out the ceremonial first pitch before the game and Willie Mays throwing out the ballpark’s final pitch after the game.

Here’s a kick: Miguel Rojas took the rookies shoe shopping.

Lineups when available.

Sep 12

Game 144, 2023

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

RHP Michael Wacha (11-3, 2.99 ERA) goes for the Padres and RHP Lance Lynn (10-11, 6.09 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

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 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.

    “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.

  • 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.
  • 2021 Max Scherzer becomes the 19th player to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau with a fifth-inning punch out of Eric Hosmer, who will break up the right-hander’s bid for a perfect game with a one-out double in the eighth of LA’s 8-0 victory over the Padres. The three-time Cy Young Award winner whiffs nine batters in the Dodger Stadium gem, including his third career immaculate inning, tying a major league mark shared by Sandy Koufax and Chris Sale.

Lineups when available.

Sep 11

Game 143, 2023

Padres at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: Padres: Catch the San Diego Padres now on NEW channels! Tune in on DirecTV (now channel 694-3), AT&T U-Verse (now channel 781), Cox (now Yurview channel 4), and Spectrum (now channel 305). Fans can now watch all Padres games in-market both LIVE and on demand during the 2023 season through an MLB.TV Single Team Padres subscription.

Dodgers: SPNLA

RHP Pedro Avila (1-2, 2.18 ERA) pitches for the visiting Padres and RHP Gavin Stone (1-0, 10.50 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers.

Here’s a free article from the NYT about all the other Dodger babies born this season. Five boys, one girl.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 Ralph Branca becomes the youngest pitcher to win twenty games in the National League. The 21-year-old Dodger right-hander, who finishes the season with 21 victories, reaches the plateau in his third attempt when Brooklyn beats the Cardinals at Sportsman’s Park, 4-3.
  • 1959 The Dodgers end Elroy Face’s consecutive win streak at 22 with a 5-4 victory over the Pirates. The reliever, who will end the season with an 18-1 record, is beaten by Chuck Churn, one of only three major league victories in his career.
  • 1966 In his first major league at-bat, John Miller homers off Lee Stange in the second inning of the Yankees’ 4-2 victory over Boston at Fenway Park. The 22 year-old left fielder, whose total of 10 hits in his 32-game career will include just two round-trippers, will become the only player to hit home runs in his first and last major league plate appearance when he goes deep as a pinch-hitter for the Dodgers in his final turn at bat in 1966.
  • 1998 Kevin Malone is named as the Dodgers’ general manager, replacing Tommy Lasorda, who is promoted to Senior Vice President of the team. The “new sheriff in town” tenure in Los Angeles will be marked by the signing of high profile players to huge contracts, including Kevin Brown’s seven-year deal making the right-hander the first $100 million man in baseball.

Lineups when available.

Oct 03

Game 160, 2022

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT SportsNet RM, SPNLA

RHP Jose Ureña (3-8, 5.24 ERA) pitches for the visiting Rockies and LHP Tony Gonsolin (16-1, 2.10 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 In Game 4 of the Fall Classic, Bill Bevens comes within one out from pitching the first no-hitter in World Series history. The Yankee hurler loses his claim to fame and the game when Cookie Lavagetto, pinch-hitting for Eddie Stanky, hits a two-out ninth-inning double giving the Dodgers a 3-2 improbable victory.
  • 1951 In Game 3 of the National League playoff series at the Polo Grounds, Bobby Thomson’s one-out three-run homer off Ralph Branca beats the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth, 5-4, and the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant. The round-tripper, better known as the ‘shot heard around the world,’ becomes one of the famous home runs in baseball history.

  • 1962 At Dodger Stadium, the Giants beat Los Angeles, 6-4, to take the rubber game of the best-of-three National League playoffs, clinching the National League pennant. LA shortstop Maury Wills sets a major league record for the most games played in a season, appearing in all of his team’s 165 games.
  • 1976 After being at the Dodger’s helm for 23 years, Walter Alston’s managerial career ends when the team drops a 3-2 decision to the Padres, finishing the campaign ten games behind the Reds. During his tenure, beginning in Brooklyn in 1954, the skipper known as Smokey to his players compiles a 2040-1613 (.523) record en route to capturing seven pennants and four World Series titles.
  • 1987 Benito Santiago’s consecutive game hitting streak ends at 34 when the backstop is held hitless in three trips to the plate by Dodger hurler Orel Hershiser, who tosses a complete game in a 1-0 loss to the Padres. The stretch of straight games with a hit by the 23-year-old represents a new mark for rookies and catchers.
  • 1993 The Giants, despite winning 103 games, are eliminated from the Western Division race when the Dodgers derail their division dreams, 12-1. Catcher Mike Piazza, who will be named the league’s Rookie of the Year, hits two home runs in the game.
  • 1999 In the final regular-season game played at the Astrodome, Mike Hampton (22-4) beats the Dodgers, 9-4. The victory clinches the division title as the Astros finish one game ahead of the Reds in the National League Central.
  • 2005 The ax begins to fall when two managers lose their jobs the day after the season ends. Skippers Jim Tracy (Dodgers/5 years/427-383) and Alan Trammell (Tigers/3 years/186-300) are the first to go.
  • 2009 Needing only a win or a Colorado loss for the past week, the Dodgers finally clinch the National League West title with a 5-0 victory over the wild-card Rockies. The title marks Joe Torre’s 14th consecutive season in the postseason, having won thirteen previous divisional titles, ten with the Yankees, one with the Braves, and now his second with LA.

Lineups when available:

Oct 02

Game 159, 2022

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

RHP Germán Márquez (8-13, 5.12 ERA) pitches for the Rockies and LHP Tyler Anderson (15-4, 2.54 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 After scoring six runs in the bottom of the second inning in Game 3, the Dodgers hold on to beat the Yankees, 9-8, for their first victory in the Fall Classic. The Ebbets Field contest takes three hours and five minutes to complete, making it the longest game ever played in World Series history.
  • 1947 In Game 3 of the Fall Classic, Yogi Berra hits the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history. In the seventh inning of a 9-8 loss to the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, the historic homer comes off Ralph Branca.
  • 1952 Carl Erskine strikes out 14 Yankees in Game 3 to establish a new World Series mark. The Dodger hurler’s performance bests the record of A’s Howard Ehmke, who struck out 13 Cubs in Game 1 of the 1929 Fall Classic.
  • 1963 In the Fall Classic opener, Sandy Koufax fans his 15th batter of the game when he strikes out pinch-hitter Harry Bright for the final out of LA’s 5-2 victory over the Yankees. The Dodger lefty, who struck out the first five Bronx Bombers he faced in the game, surpasses Brooklyn’s Carl Erskine’s 1953 World Series mark of 14, also accomplished against New York.

  • 1965 Los Angeles clinches the National League pennant on the next to last day of the season at Dodger Stadium when Sandy Koufax gets his 26th victory, defeating the Braves in the clincher, 3-1. The Dodgers, winning 14 of their last 15 games, finishes the campaign with a 97-65 record, two games ahead of the second-place Giants.
  • 1977 When Dusty Baker hits his 30th homer of the season against the Astros’ J.R. Richard, the Dodgers become the first team in major league history to have four players hit 30 or more home runs. He joins with Steve Garvey (33), Reggie Smith (32), and Ron Cey (30) to complete the foursome.
  • 1981 New York’s once-legendary center fielders, Giant Willie Mays, Dodger Duke Snider, and Yankee Mickey Mantle, are guests on the Warner Wolfe show. The appearance marks the first time all three Hall of Fame outfielders have been together on a television show.
  • 1985 Mets sophomore Dwight Gooden pitches a 5-2 complete-game victory over the Cardinals and will become the seventh pitcher in baseball history to finish the season leading both leagues in wins (24), ERA (1.53), and strikeouts (268). Doc joins Walter Johnson (Senators – 1913), Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies – 1915, 1917), Dazzy Vance (Dodgers – 1924), Lefty Grove (A’s -1930, 1931), Hal Newhouser (Tigers – 1945), and Sandy Koufax (Dodgers – 1963, 1965, 1966) in winning the major league pitching triple crown, but he will not follow the six legends into the Hall of Fame.
  • 2004 Steve Finley, for the second time in his career, hits a walk-off grand slam. The center fielder’s ninth-inning bases-loaded home run in the 7-3 win over the Giants at Chavez Ravine clinches the NL West title for the Dodgers. (Ed note: Charles Gottschalk inspired this entry – LP).

Lineups when available.

Sep 12

Game 140, 2022

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 PM PDT, TV: BS Arizona, BS Arizona Extra, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Tyler Anderson (14-3, 2.73 ERA) takes the Chase Field mound for the Dodgers and RHP Ryne Nelson (1-0, 0.00 ERA) does so for the D-Backs. This will be Nelson’s second big league start; he went seven scoreless innings against the Padres a week ago and got the win.

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 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.

    “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.

  • 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.

Lineups when available.

Oct 03

Game 162, 2021

Brewers at Dodgers, 12:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin, SPNLA, TBS (out-of-market only)

In the last game of the year the Central Division champion Brewers hand the ball to LHP Brett Anderson (4-5, 4.26 ERA). The Dodgers counter with RHP Walker Buehler (15-4, 2.49 ERA).

If the Dodgers win and the Giants lose to the Padres up north, the two California teams will play a tiebreaker game tomorrow, Oct. 4, to determine who wins the NL West. Any other result sends the Dodgers to a wild card game against the Cardinals on Wednesday, Oct. 6.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 In Game 4 of the Fall Classic, Bill Bevens comes within one out from pitching the first no-hitter in World Series history. The Yankee hurler loses his claim to fame and the game when Cookie Lavagetto, pinch-hitting for Eddie Stanky, hits a two-out ninth-inning double giving the Dodgers a 3-2 improbable victory.
  • 1951 In Game 3 of the National League playoff series at the Polo Grounds, Bobby Thomson’s one-out three-run homer off Ralph Branca beats the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth, 5-4, and the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant. The round-tripper, better known as the ‘shot heard around the world,’ becomes one of the famous home runs in baseball history.

  • 1962 At Dodger Stadium, the Giants beat Los Angeles, 6-4, to take the rubber game of the best-of-three National League playoffs, clinching the National League pennant. LA shortstop Maury Wills sets a major league record for the most games played in a season, appearing in all of his team’s 165 games.
  • 1976 After being at the Dodger’s helm for 23 years, Walter Alston’s managerial career ends when the team drops a 3-2 decision to the Padres, finishing the campaign ten games behind the Reds. During his tenure, beginning in Brooklyn in 1954, the skipper known as Smokey to his players compiles a 2040-1613 (.523) record en route to capturing seven pennants and four World Series titles.
  • 1987 Benito Santiago’s consecutive game hitting streak ends at 34 when the backstop is held hitless in three trips to the plate by Dodger hurler Orel Hershiser, who tosses a complete game in a 1-0 loss to the Padres. The stretch of straight games with a hit by the 23-year-old represents a new mark for rookies and catchers.
  • 1993 The Giants, despite winning 103 games, are eliminated from the Western Division race when the Dodgers derail their division dreams, 12-1. Catcher Mike Piazza, who will be named the league’s Rookie of the Year, hits two home runs in the game.
  • 1999 In the final regular-season game played at the Astrodome, Mike Hampton (22-4) beats the Dodgers, 9-4. The victory clinches the division title as the Astros finish one game ahead of the Reds in the National League Central.
  • 2005 The ax begins to fall when two managers lose their jobs the day after the season ends. Skippers Jim Tracy (Dodgers/5 years/427-383) and Alan Trammell (Tigers/3 years/186-300) are the first to go.
  • 2009 Needing only a win or a Colorado loss for the past week, the Dodgers finally clinch the National League West title with a 5-0 victory over the wild-card Rockies. The title marks Joe Torre’s 14th consecutive season in the postseason, having won thirteen previous divisional titles, ten with the Yankees, one with the Braves, and now his second with LA.

Lineup:

Oct 02

Game 161, 2021

Brewers at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Wisconsin, SPNLA

Milwaukee’s Cy Young candidate RHP Corbin Burnes (11-4, 2.29 ERA) takes the mound for the Brewers. He’ll face the Dodgers’ biggest winner, LHP Julio Urías (19-3, 3.01 ERA).

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 After scoring six runs in the bottom of the second inning in Game 3, the Dodgers hold on to beat the Yankees, 9-8, for their first victory in the Fall Classic. The Ebbets Field contest takes three hours and five minutes to complete, making it the longest game ever played in World Series history.
  • 1947 In Game 3 of the Fall Classic, Yogi Berra hits the first pinch-hit home run in World Series history. In the seventh inning of a 9-8 loss to the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, the historic homer comes off Ralph Branca.
  • 1952 Carl Erskine strikes out 14 Yankees in Game 3 to establish a new World Series mark. The Dodger hurler’s performance bests the record of A’s Howard Ehmke, who struck out 13 Cubs in Game 1 of the 1929 Fall Classic.
  • 1963 In the Fall Classic opener, Sandy Koufax fans his 15th batter of the game when he strikes out pinch-hitter Harry Bright for the final out of LA’s 5-2 victory over the Yankees. The Dodger lefty, who struck out the first five Bronx Bombers he faced in the game, surpasses Brooklyn’s Carl Erskine’s 1953 World Series mark of 14, also accomplished against New York.

  • 1965 Los Angeles clinches the National League pennant on the next to last day of the season at Dodger Stadium when Sandy Koufax gets his 26th victory, defeating the Braves in the clincher, 3-1. The Dodgers, winning 14 of their last 15 games, finishes the campaign with a 97-65 record, two games ahead of the second-place Giants.
  • 1977 When Dusty Baker hits his 30th homer of the season against the Astros’ J.R. Richard, the Dodgers become the first team in major league history to have four players hit 30 or more home runs. He joins with Steve Garvey (33), Reggie Smith (32), and Ron Cey (30) to complete the foursome.
  • 1981 New York’s once-legendary center fielders, Giant Willie Mays, Dodger Duke Snider, and Yankee Mickey Mantle, are guests on the Warner Wolfe show. The appearance marks the first time all three Hall of Fame outfielders have been together on a television show.
  • 1985 Mets sophomore Dwight Gooden pitches a 5-2 complete-game victory over the Cardinals and will become the seventh pitcher in baseball history to finish the season leading both leagues in wins (24), ERA (1.53), and strikeouts (268). Doc joins Walter Johnson (Senators – 1913), Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies – 1915, 1917), Dazzy Vance (Dodgers – 1924), Lefty Grove (A’s -1930, 1931), Hal Newhouser (Tigers – 1945), and Sandy Koufax (Dodgers – 1963, 1965, 1966) in winning the major league pitching triple crown, but he will not follow the six legends into the Hall of Fame.
  • 2004 Steve Finley, for the second time in his career, hits a walk-off grand slam. The center fielder’s ninth-inning bases-loaded home run in the 7-3 win over the Giants at Chavez Ravine clinches the NL West title for the Dodgers. (Ed note: Charles Gottschalk inspired this entry – LP).

Lineup when available.

Sep 30

Game 159, 2021

Padres at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports San Diego, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

RHP Vince Velasquez (3-8, 6.22 ERA) takes the hill for the Padres; RHP Tony Gonsolin (4-1, 3.00 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1923 It’s Zack Wheat Day at Ebbets Field, and the retiring Dodger outfielder collects two hits and is given an automobile. Cy Williams of the Phillies spoils the special day as he ties the score in the seventh inning with his 39th homer and his 40th in the 12th frame gives Philadelphia the victory, 6-4.
  • 1933 At Sportsman’s Park in a 12-2 Cubs rout of the Cardinals, Babe Herman hits for the cycle, becoming the first player in baseball history to do it three times. The Chicago outfielder, playing for the Dodgers, also accomplished the feat on two other occasions in 1931.
  • 1947 Ralph Branca becomes the youngest player to start a World Series opener. At Yankee Stadium, the 21-year and 9 months old right hander and the Dodgers lose to the Bronx Bombers, 5-1.
  • 1951 Knowing the Giants have won their game in Boston, the Dodgers rally from a five-run deficit to beat Philadelphia in 14 innings, 9-8, forcing a three-game playoff for the National League pennant. After Jackie Robinson makes a game-saving catch in the thirteenth to preserve an 8-8 tie, he hits a home run in the next frame that proves to be the difference in Brooklyn’s victory at Shibe Park.
  • 1953 George Shuba, best known as the Montreal Royal teammate who shook Jackie Robinson’s hand after the rookie had homered, becomes the third major leaguer and the first National League player to pinch hit a home run in the World Series when he goes deep off Allie Reynolds in the Dodgers’ 9-5 Game 1 loss at Yankee Stadium. ‘Shotgun’ joins Yogi Berra (1947) and Johnny Mize (1952), who both accomplished the feat playing for the Bronx Bombers.
  • 1956 Don Newcombe, a three-time twenty-game winner, goes the distance to earn his major-league leading 27th victory when the Dodgers beat Pittsburgh at Forbes Field, 8-6, on the last day of the campaign. Newk’s win is the most ever in a season by an African-American pitcher.
  • 1962 On the last day of the season, Gene Oliver’s eighth-inning homer off Johnny Podres proves to be the difference in St. Louis’ 1-0 victory over the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. The loss to the Cardinals forces Los Angeles into a best-of-three-game playoff with the Giants for the National League pennant, a series the team will lose to San Francisco.
  • 1999 The largest regular-season crowd in Candlestick Park history, 61,389 fans, watches the Dodgers beat the home team, 9-4 in the last baseball game to ever be played at the ‘Stick’. Giant greats help mark the occasion with Juan Marichal tossing out the ceremonial first pitch before the game and Willie Mays throwing out the ballpark’s final pitch after the game.

Lineup:

Sep 12

Game 144, 2021

Padres at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports San Diego, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Blake Snell (7-6, 4.22 ERA) pitches for the Padres, facing RHP Max Scherzer (13-4, 2.28 ERA) of the Dodgers.

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 when available.