May 23

Game 41, 2022

Dodgers at Nationals, 4:05 PM PDT, TV: MASN 2, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Tyler Anderson (4-0, 4.04 ERA) takes the mound for the Dodgers; he’ll face RHP Joan Adon (1-7, 6.38 ERA). While Anderson is off to an excellent start this season, Adon is obviously not. He has had three starts in which he gave up six, five and four runs in fewer than five innings each time.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2002 Shawn Green hits four home runs in one game to become the 14th player in major league history, the second this month, to accomplish the feat. The Dodger right fielder’s 6-for-6 performance in Milwaukee’s Miller Park, which also includes a single and double, breaks Joe Adcock’s 1954 mark for total bases by one, with a total of 19. In the same game the Dodgers set a franchise mark when the team hits eight homers in one contest, bashing the Brewers, 16-3. Shawn Green’s four round-trippers accounts for half of the record-breaking barrage with Brian Jordan, Hiram Bocachica, Adrian Beltre, and Dave Hansen also contributing four-baggers in the Miller Park contest.

Lineups when available.

May 21

Game 39, 2022

Dodgers at Phillies, 3:10 PM PDT, TV: NBCSP, SPNLA

RHP Mitch White (1-0, 4.82 ERA) makes his first start of the 2022 season for the Dodgers. He’ll be opposed by the Phillies’ RHP Aaron Nola (1-4, 3.64 ERA). White has appeared in one game since coming off the Covid-19 IL, where he’d been since April 30. Nola went seven innings against the Dodgers last Sunday; he gave up two runs on four hits and got no decision.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1927 For the second consecutive day, an umpire at Ebbets Field is the target of fan abuse. Arbiter Frank Wilson needs a police escort after the Robins (Dodgers) drop a twin bill to the Cubs.
  • 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 Ewell Blackwell retires the first batter, the next 19 Brooklyn batters reached base (10 hits, 7 walks, and 2 HBP), including Pee Wee Reese getting to first base three times during the frame.
  • 1963 Jim Maloney ties a major league record shared by Max Surkont (1953 Braves) and Johnny Podres (1962 Dodgers) when he strikes out eight consecutive batters, beginning with the last out in the first inning, in the Reds’ 2-0 victory over Milwaukee at County Stadium. The Cincinnati right-hander also equals the franchise mark with 16 strikeouts in one game, established by Noodles Hahn in 1901.
  • 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.

Lineups when available.

May 08

Game 26, 2022

Dodgers at Cubs, 4.10 PM PDT, TV: ESPN

RHP Walker Buehler (3-1, 2.12 ERA) climbs the hill to face the Cubs’ RHP Marcus Stroman (1-3, 5.13 ERA) in the Dodgers’ first appearance on Sunday Night Baseball this season. In Buehler’s last start he threw a complete game three-hit shutout, the third complete game of his career. Stroman has made five starts this season and lost the middle three, but he won his last game, going seven innings and giving up just two hits and no runs.

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.
  • 2012 Josh Hamilton becomes the 16th major leaguer to hit four home runs in one game when he blasts an 0-2 pitch over the Camden Yards centerfield fence in the eighth inning of the Rangers’ 10-3 victory over Baltimore. The Texas outfielder, who connected each time with a man on base, also hits a double to set the American League’s single-game record for total bases with 18, one shy of Shawn Green’s major league mark of 19 established in 2002 with the Dodgers.

In a sign that the apocalypse cannot be far away, in 2012 the New York State Senate congratulates Mr. Met with a voice approved resolution, honoring the larger-than-life bobblehead for being named the best mascot in the U.S. in a fan survey conducted by the Marketing Arm. The Amazins’ spherical symbol of cheer, who defeated the popular Phillie Phanatic in the poll, is commended by the legislative body for having his legacy serve as “a sterling example for all mascots”.

Lineups when available.

Sep 07

Game 139, 2021

Dodgers at Cardinals, 4:45 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Midwest, SPNLA

The Dodgers have yet to announce a starter, while LHP J.A. Happ (8-7, 6.20 ERA) goes for the Cardinals.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1903 A year before the first subway line is completed, the Brooklyn Superbas, later to be known as the Dodgers, play their cross-town rivals in a two-stadium, same-day doubleheader. The first game played in Washington Park begins at 10:30 am with 9,300 fans watching the visiting Giants win the opener, 6-4, and later that afternoon in front of 23,623 patrons at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, Brooklyn wins the second game, 3-0.
  • 1916 The Giants defeat the Dodgers 4-1 to start their major league record 26-game winning streak. The ‘Jints’ start the span two games under .500 and make up nine games in the standings, but remain in fourth place during the entire streak.
  • 1962 With four steals in a 10-1 loss to the Pirates, Dodger Maury Wills breaks the modern National League record for stolen bases in a season with his 82nd swipe. Bob Bescher established the mark in 1911, playing left field for Cincinnati.
  • 1964 At Connie Mack Stadium, a Labor Day crowd of 26,390 fans watches the first-place Phillies split a doubleheader with the Dodgers. The attendance for the twin bill brings the season’s total to 1,224,172 patrons, breaking the all-time franchise home attendance record established by the Whiz Kids in 1950.
  • 2001 Shawn Green breaks a franchise record for homers in a season with his 44th home run, the first of two dingers the Dodger right fielder will hit off Dustin Hermanson in the team’s 7-1 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The previous mark had been shared by Duke Snider (1956) and Gary Sheffield (2000).

Lineup when available.

Aug 08

Game 112, 2021

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

The Angels give the ball to rookie LHP Reid Detmers (0-1, 12.46 ERA). In his second big league start he’ll face the Dodgers’ RHP Walker Buehler (11-2, 2.16 ERA).

On this day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1903 In the third inning of the 4-3 nightcap loss to New York at the Polo Grounds, Dodger starter Henry Schmidt is thrown out of the game after he throws the baseball out of the park. The Brooklyn hurler became very angry when opposing pitcher Joe McGinnity dashed home from third base while his infielders were arguing the close call at the bag.
  • 1954 Gil Hodges comes to bat three times in the eighth inning when the Dodgers score 13 runs en route to a 20-7 rout of the Reds at Ebbets Field. The first baseman will go 1-for-3 in the frame with a leadoff triple, but will be responsible for all three outs when he hits into a double play and flies out to centerfield to end the Brooklyn barrage.
  • 1957 Club President Walter O’Malley makes it official, announcing the Dodgers will play in Los Angeles next season. The club’s departure from Brooklyn corresponds with the massive social shift taking place in the borough that finds many of its former residents leaving for the suburbs of Long Island.
  • 2000 Cubs hurler Phil Norton becomes the 18th pitcher in major league history to give up four homers in one inning in the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory at Chavez Ravine. Kevin Elster, Darren Dreifort, Gary Sheffield, and Shawn Green all take the 24 year-old southpaw deep in the bottom of the fourth inning.
  • 2000 Darren Dreifort hits two home runs and gets the win in the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory over the Cubs. The starting pitcher, who hurls 6.2 innings, goes deep in the bottom of the fourth and fifth frames.
  • 2000 After kissing one another in the seventh inning, a female couple is abruptly asked to leave Dodger Stadium immediately and are told never to “set foot back on the premises” for “lewd behavior”. The pair had planned to sue the organization, but ended up not doing so after the team apologized, promising to contribute 5,000 tickets to LGBT organizations and continue sensitivity training for all its employees. [Note: The Dodgers held their eighth annual LGBT Night in 2021.]

Lineup when available.

May 29

Game 52, 2021

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

The visitors send RHP Logan Webb (3-3, 4.09 ERA) to the Dodger Stadium mound to face the home team’s LHP Julio Urias (7-1, 3.03 ERA). Webb is coming off the IL where he’d been with a shoulder strain. Urias has gone 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA in his last three stsrts.

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1905 According to legend, Dodger hurler Elmer Stricklett introduces the spitball, helping Brooklyn to beat the Giants, 4-3. Prior to the 1921 season, the spitball will be totally banned, except for 17 existing spitballers who are allowed to keep throwing the slippery pitch legally until they are retired, including Burleigh Grimes, who will be the last player to legally throw a doctored pitch before retiring in 1934.
  • 1928 At Ebbets Field, Bill Terry hits for the cycle to pace the Giants to a 12-5 victory over the Robins (Dodgers). The New York first baseman is the first player in major league history to include a grand slam as part of the cycle.
  • 1956 In a 10-1 loss to the Dodgers at Forbes Field, Dale Long is held hitless by Don Newcombe, ending his consecutive-game home run streak. The Pirates’ first baseman had established a new major league mark by homering in the last eight Pittsburgh contests.
  • 1979 At Dodger Stadium, Dusty Baker, Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Garvey, Gary Thomasson, Derrel Thomas, Joe Ferguson, and Davey Lopes set a team record by hitting seven home runs as the Dodgers crush the Reds, 17-6.
  • 2000 At the age of 104, Fred Roberts, the oldest living Dodger fan, makes his first visit to Dodger Stadium. Wearing a jersey with the number 104, the World War I veteran cheers as Shawn Green’s sixth inning grand slam helps to beat Al Leiter and the Mets, 4-1.

Lineup when available.

May 25

Game 48, 2021

Dodgers at Astros, 5:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT SportsNet SW, FS1, SPNLA

Two former aces and teammates face one another as the Dodgers send LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-3, 3.18 ERA) to the hill to face RHP Zack Greinke (4-1, 3.77 ERA). When they were on the same staff between 2013-2015 Greinke won 51 games and Kershaw won 53.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1919 Casey Stengel, traded by the Dodgers in the off-season to the Pirates, calls time, steps out of the batter’s box to give the razzing Ebbets Field fans the ‘bird’. The Pittsburgh right fielder doffs his hat, allowing a sparrow to fly out, much to the amazement and amusement of the fans.
  • 2002 With four homers on Thursday (5/23), one on Friday (5/24), and two more on Saturday (5/25), Shawn Green becomes the first major leaguer to hit seven round-trippers in three games. The Dodger outfielder’s nine big flies in a week also breaks a National League record, established by Ralph Kiner with eight and tied by Ted Kluszewski and Nate Colbert.
  • 2002 Getting his 3,509th K, Diamondback southpaw Randy Johnson passes Walter Johnson to become seventh on the all-time career strikeout list. After fanning Shawn Green in the first to catch the ‘Big Train’, Dodger outfielder Brian Jordan swings and misses a 2-2 pitch in the second inning to become the ‘Big Unit’s’ historic victim.

Lineup when available.

May 17

Game 47, 2021

Dodgers at Giants, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: NBCS BA, SPNLA

The visiting Dodgers send LHP Julio Urias (6-1, 3.04 ERA) to the mound to face the Giants’ RHP Anthony DeSclafani (4-1, 2.03 ERA). Urias has had great success against the Giants in his young career: in fifteen appearances (nine starts) against them he’s got an ERA of 2.12 and has held them to a .231 BA.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2002 Shawn Green hits four home runs in one game to become the 14th player in major league history, the second this month, to accomplish the feat. The Dodger right fielder’s 6-for-6 performance in Milwaukee’s Miller Park, which also includes a single and double, breaks Joe Adcock’s 1954 mark for total bases by one, with a total of 19. In the same game the Dodgers set a franchise mark when the team hits eight homers in one contest, bashing the Brewers, 16-3. Shawn Green’s four round-trippers accounts for half of the record-breaking barrage with Brian Jordan, Hiram Bocachica, Adrian Beltre, and Dave Hansen also contributing four-baggers in the Miller Park contest.

Lineup:

May 17

Game 45, 2021

In case anyone is curious about radiation, here’s how mine’s going. It’s a fascinating process. Because the cancer is in my throat, while I was in the hospital they built a plastic mesh mask form-fitted to my face and head. They place the mask over my face when I lie down on the standard narrow table, clamp it to the table to immobilize my head, and then start the radiation process, which typically lasts no more than 15 minutes.

I asked. Apparently about half the patients take their plastic thingie home as a souvenir when their treatment is completed.

Dodgers at Giants, 6:45 PM PDT, TV: NBCS BA, SPNLA

The visiting Dodgers send RHP Trevor Bauer (4-2, 2.20 ERA) to the hill to face the Giants’ LHP Alex Wood (5-0, 1.75 ERA). Obviously Wood knows the Dodgers well and vice versa since he spent nearly five years with the team from Southern California.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1927 For the second consecutive day, an umpire at Ebbets Field is the target of fan abuse. Arbiter Frank Wilson needs a police escort after the Robins (Dodgers) drop a twin bill to the Cubs.
  • 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 Ewell Blackwell retires the first batter, the next 19 Brooklyn batters reached base (10 hits, 7 walks, and 2 HBP), including Pee Wee Reese getting to first base three times during the frame.
  • 1963 Jim Maloney ties a major league record shared by Max Surkont (1953 Braves) and Johnny Podres (1962 Dodgers) when he strikes out eight consecutive batters, beginning with the last out in the first inning, in the Reds’ 2-0 victory over Milwaukee at County Stadium. The Cincinnati right-hander also equals the franchise mark with 16 strikeouts in one game, established by Noodles Hahn in 1901.
  • 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.

Lineup:

Aug 08

Game 15, 2020

Giants at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN, NBCS-BA, SPNLA

RHP Johnny Cueto (0-0, 4.97 ERA) goes for the Giants; LHP Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 0.00 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers. Cueto started Opening Day against the Dodgers and went four innings while giving up one run. In his subsequent two starts he was much less effective, going 3 2/3 innings against the Padres and 5 innings against the Rockies. Kershaw’s first start of the year was delayed by back trouble but was worth waiting for: he went 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the D-Backs. In his career he’s 23-12 against the Giants.

Roberts says “Seager is day to day. He’s getting tests on his back and will likely not play tomorrow.”

Here are the Dodgers’ four home runs in last night’s game.

On this day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1903 In the third inning of the 4-3 nightcap loss to New York at the Polo Grounds, Dodger starter Henry Schmidt is thrown out of the game after he throws the baseball out of the park. The Brooklyn hurler became very angry when opposing pitcher Joe McGinnity dashed home from third base while his infielders were arguing the close call at the bag.
  • 1954 Gil Hodges comes to bat three times in the eighth inning when the Dodgers score 13 runs en route to a 20-7 rout of the Reds at Ebbets Field. The first baseman will go 1-for-3 in the frame with a leadoff triple, but will be responsible for all three outs when he hits into a double play and flies out to centerfield to end the Brooklyn barrage.
  • 1957 Club President Walter O’Malley makes it official, announcing the Dodgers will play in Los Angeles next season. The club’s departure from Brooklyn corresponds with the massive social shift taking place in the borough that finds many of its former residents leaving for the suburbs of Long Island.
  • 2000 Cubs hurler Phil Norton becomes the 18th pitcher in major league history to give up four homers in one inning in the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory at Chavez Ravine. Kevin Elster, Darren Dreifort, Gary Sheffield, and Shawn Green all take the 24 year-old southpaw deep in the bottom of the fourth inning.
  • 2000 Darren Dreifort hits two home runs and gets the win in the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory over the Cubs. The starting pitcher, who hurls 6.2 innings, goes deep in the bottom of the fourth and fifth frames.
  • 2000 After kissing one another in the seventh inning, a female couple is abruptly asked to leave Dodger Stadium immediately and are told never to “set foot back on the premises” for “lewd behavior”. The pair had planned to sue the organization, but ended up not doing so after the team apologized, promising to contribute 5,000 tickets to LGBT organizations and continue sensitivity training for all its employees.

Lineup: