Tag Archives: Trevor Bauer

Sep 30

Game 161, 2023

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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.

Dec 27

Hot Stove League #3, 2022-2023

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The Dodgers’ apparent attempt to stay below the luxury tax cutline was thrown into turmoil by MLB’s reinstatement of Trevor Bauer.

Whether or not the Dodgers release him, Bauer will still be owed $22.5 million this season. (That could drop to about $21.8 million if he is released and signed by another team on a league-minimum salary.)

That’s less than the $32 million Bauer was originally supposed to make in 2023. But even that reduced amount pushes the Dodgers’ estimated luxury tax payroll for next season, according to Fangraphs Roster Resource database, to just under $233 million — the threshold at which the league begins assessing luxury tax penalties.

After paying tax penalties the past two years, and facing an inflated 50% tax rate in 2023 for being a repeat offender, the Dodgers had previously seemed likely to stay below the $233-million tax line.

They had freed up more than $100 million in salary from last year’s team. They had made only a string of modest one-year signings so far this offseason. And though their lack of spending had netted an underwhelming cast of additions for next year, the long-term benefits of potentially resetting the tax now would have positioned them to spend big again next offseason, when Shohei Ohtani is set to headline the free agent market.

Bauer’s reduced suspension could complicate any such plans.

Staying below the tax line could box the Dodgers out from making other needed additions to the roster in 2023 — such as adding more pitching depth or a left-handed bat before the end of the winter, or trading for a shortstop or bona fide ace before the midsummer deadline.

On the other hand, if they do cross the threshold to complete their 2023 squad, the resulting penalties might make them less willing to pay a luxury tax again the following season, leaving the possibility of adding another lucrative long-term contract a year from now increasingly tenuous.

Given the team’s reluctance to sign Carlos Correa due to possible fan resistance, I can’t imagine them keeping Bauer, even though he’s been convicted of no crimes. I imagine there’s some heavy cogitation going on in the offices at 1000 Elysian Park Avenue.

Apr 29

Game 19, 2022

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Tigers at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: BS Detroit, SPNLA

Today is a battle of the grad students: two guys whose initials are TA face one another. The Tigers send out LHP Tyler Alexander (0-2, 7.20 ERA); he’ll face the Dodgers’ Tyler Anderson (1-0, 2.84 ERA). So far this year Alexander has pitched ten innings and given up 10 runs on fourteen hits. If there’s a bright side, it’s that he’s struck out eight while walking none in those ten innings. The Dodgers’ Anderson started the season in the bullpen but with Andrew Heaney’s trip to the IL he’s been asked to start. He has yet to go longer than 4 2/3 innings, but he got a win in relief of Tony Gonsolin on April 15.

The biggest news of the day is that MLB suspended former Dodger pitcher Trevor Bauer for two full seasons “for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.” The Dodgers issued the following statement:

“Today, we were informed that MLB has concluded its investigation into allegations that have been made against Trevor Bauer, and the Commissioner has issued his decision regarding discipline. The Dodgers organization takes all allegations of this nature very seriously and does not condone or excuse any acts of domestic violence or sexual assault. We’ve cooperated fully with MLB’s investigation since it began, and we fully support MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse Policy, and the Commissioner’s enforcement of the Policy. We understand that Trevor has the right to appeal the Commissioner’s decision. Therefore, we will not comment further until the process is complete.”

As could be expected, Bauer subsequently announced that he will appeal. The MLBPA (the Player’s Union) hasn’t yet issued a statement.

On this day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1978 The Cardinals tie a franchise record for the quickest nine-inning game played in their history, taking only one-hour and thirty-three minutes to beat the Dodgers at Busch Stadium, 1-0. The contest marks the managerial debut of Ken Boyer, replacing Vern Rapp, the Redbird skipper fired four days ago.
  • 1994 Kirk Rueter becomes the first pitcher in 13 seasons to begin his major league career with a 10-0 record when the Expos beat San Diego at Olympic Stadium, 3-2. In 1981, Dodgers southpaw Fernando Valenzuela started the year with eight victories to improve his overall record to 10-0 for the Dodgers, somewhat similar to the Montreal left-hander, who started his streak last season with an 8-0 mark before winning his first two decisions this year.
  • 2005 Although Eric Gagne is on the disabled list and hasn’t thrown a pitch this season, he is suspended for two games and fined. The action is taken because after being ejected on April 6 for heckling home plate umpire Bill Hohn, MLB warned the Dodgers closer he was in violation of Rule 3.17, which states players on the disabled list may not take part in any activity during the game, the former Cy Young winner continued to dress and participate in game activities.

Here’s a terrifying note: on this day in 1930 (which should be called the Year of the Hitter — look it up) an average of 17+ runs a game is scored in the seven major league games played today. After the dust settles, players from 14 teams will cross the plate 123 times. On a sadder note, on this day in 1939 on a chilly Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, Lou Gehrig comes to the plate in the fourth inning and singles off Washington hurler Ken Chase for his 2,721st and last hit, the most ever in franchise history. The ‘Iron Horse’s’ record will stand for over 70 years until Derek Jeter, another 35 year-old team captain, surpasses the mark in 2009.

Lineups when available.

Jun 28

Game 79, 2021

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Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: NBCS BA, SPNLA

The visiting Giants send RHP Anthony DeSclafani (8-2, 2.77 ERA) to the Dodger Stadium mound to face the home team’s RHP Trevor Bauer (7-5, 2.57 ERA).

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1969 After ending an 11-game losing streak in their previous contest, the expansion Padres are the victims of a 19-0 shutout for the second time this season when Dodgers right-hander Don Drysdale equals the National League-record for the largest margin of victory in a shutout. L.A. will score more than half of their runs when they tally ten times in the third inning.
  • 2000 The Rockies draw their 20 millionth fan to one ballpark faster than any other team in major league history. Taking less than six years, Colorado eclipses the Dodgers’ mark of taking nine years in two stadiums to reach the milestone.
  • 2008 In Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers, without the benefit of a hit for the entire game, defeat the Angels, 1-0. The combined losing effort of Halo hurlers Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo isn’t considered officially as a no-hitter because the home team didn’t have to bat in the ninth (a nitpick if I ever heard one).

Lineup when available.

Jun 23

Game 74, 2021

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Dodgers at Padres, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports San Diego, ESPN, SPNLA

The Dodgers send RHP Trevor Bauer (7-5, 2.43 ERA) out to try to salvage the third game of the series. He’ll face RHP Joe Musgrove (4-6, 2.28 ERA).

On this date 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.

Lineup when available.

Jun 18

Game 69, 2021

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 PM, TV: Bally Sports Arizona, SPNLA

The Dodgers’ RHP Trevor Bauer (6-5, 2.64 ERA) takes the mound in Phoenix, where he’ll face the D-Backs’ LHP Caleb Smith (2-2, 3.61 ERA).

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.

Lineup:

Jun 12

Game 64, 2021

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Rangers at Dodgers, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Southwest, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Kolby Allard (1-2, 3.41 ERA) goes for the Rangers and RHP Trevor Bauer (6-4, 2.40 ERA) does the same for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1940 In a trade which stuns the baseball world, the Dodgers obtain Ducky Medwick and pitcher Curt Davis from the Cardinals for outfielder Ernie Koy, pitcher Carl Doyle, two minor leaguers, and $125,000. The deal to acquire the 1937 Triple Crown winner, which is engineered by GM Larry MacPhail, signals the emergence of Brooklyn as a serious contender.
  • 1941 The Braves break up the Waners’ brother act, sending Lloyd, known as ‘Little Poison’, to the Reds for pitcher Johnny Hutchings. ‘Big Poison’ Paul, the older sibling, was signed as a free agent with the team after being released by the Dodgers last month.
  • 2005 Hee-Seop Choi homers in his first three at-bats in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory over Minnesota. The southpaw-swinging first baseman’s solo shot in the sixth off Brad Radke, who also gave up the infielder’s first two home runs, proves to be the difference in the Chavez Ravine contest.

Lineup when available.

Jun 06

Game 59, 2021

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Dodgers at Braves, 10:20 AM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Southeast, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

The visiting Dodgers hand the ball to RHP Trevor Bauer (6-3, 2.24 ERA) and ask him to win the rubber match. The Braves counter with LHP Max Fried (2-3, 5.12 ERA), whom the Dodgers last saw in Game Six of the 2020 NLCS. They got three runs off him in the first inning but nothing in the remainder of his 6 2/3 inning effort.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1941 The Giants join the Dodgers and Senators in requiring their players wear protective headgear. The durable plastic liners, which are sewn into the hat, don’t provide a defense against defeats when the team drops both ends of a doubleheader to Pittsburgh at the Polo Grounds, 5-4 and 4-3.
  • 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 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.
  • 2007 At Petco Park, Trevor Hoffman becomes the first reliever to save 500 games. It takes the all-time saves leader 10 ninth inning pitches, including an 87 mph fastball thrown past Russell Martin for the final out, to reach the milestone in the Padres’ 5-3 victory over the Dodgers.

Another event of note: in 1944 Baseball canceled its 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 begin an offensive assault against Hitler and the Nazi party. Of less momentous note, in 2000, thanks to the Angels’ video crew playing a clip from the 1994 movie “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective” on the JumboTron, the Rally Monkey is born. With the words “Rally Monkey” superimposed over a monkey jumping up and down in the Jim Carrey movie, the crowd goes wild when Anaheim scores two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Giants, 6-5.

Lineup when available.

May 31

Game 54, 2021

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Cardinals at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Midwest, SPNLA

RHP Jack Flaherty (8-1, 2.84 ERA) takes the mound for the visiting Cardinals and RHP Trevor Bauer (5-3, 2.07 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

On this day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1937 In Game 1 of a Memorial Day doubleheader, Carl Hubbell’s consecutive-game winning streak, compiled over two seasons, ends at 24 when the Dodgers, led by Babe Phelps’ 5-for-6 performance, defeat the Giants at the Polo Grounds, 10-3. ‘King Carl’ is honored between games when the southpaw is presented with the National League’s 1936 MVP Award by Babe Ruth.
  • 1948 Tommy Lasorda, best known as the Dodgers’ Hall of Fame skipper, strikes out 25 batters and collects the game-winning hit when the Schenectady Blue Jays defeat the Amsterdam Rugmakers, 6-5, in 15 innings. The promising southpaw, who goes the distance in the CanAm minor-league contest played in McNearney Stadium, believes he probably threw more than 300 pitches during the game.
  • 1965 For the first time in history, an all-switch-hitting infield starts a big league game. In the nightcap of a twin bill, the Dodgers, with Wes Parker at first base, Jim Lefebvre at second, Maury Wills at shortstop, and Jim Gilliam at third, lose to the visiting Reds, 6-1.
  • 1968 Don Drysdale’s shutout streak stays intact when home plate umpire Harry Wendelstedt rules that Dick Dietz, who is hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, did not make an attempt to get out of the way of the right-hander’s delivery. The Giants catcher finishes the at-bat by popping up, and the next two batters also make outs to give ‘Big D” his fifth straight shutout, tying a major league established by White Sox hurler Doc White in 1904.
  • 2001 The Red Sox finally beat the Yankees in their eighth attempt, and for the first time in over a year since Pedro Martinez scoffed at the ‘Curse’. The right-hander was 7-1 with a 1.44 ERA when he said, “Wake up the Bambino and let me face him — I’ll drill him in the “%#$,” but after the comment he managed only seven more winless starts, making it first time he did not win in seven straight starts since the first seven major league appearances as a rookie with the Dodgers.
  • 2012 With their 6-2 victory, the Brewers beat LA at Chavez Ravine for the fourth consecutive day, making the Brew Crew the first visiting team to sweep a four-game series since the Rockies accomplished the feat in August, 1993. The victories also mark the first time the franchise has ever swept the Dodgers.

Lineup when available.

May 26

Game 49, 2021

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Dodgers at Astros, 4:40 PM PDT, TV: ESPN, ATT SportsNet SW, SPNLA

RHP Trevor Bauer (5-2, 1.98 ERA) tries to pitch the Dodgers to a sweep of this two-game series. He’ll face the Astros’ RHP Luis Garcia (2-3, 3.38 ERA).

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2015 Clayton Kershaw pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and the Dodgers scored six runs in the fourth inning on doubles by Howie Kendrick, Andre Ethier and A.J. Ellis and went on to beat the Atlanta Braves 8-0.

Also, a very famous game took place on this date in 1959: Pirates’ hurler Harvey Haddix pitches 12 perfect innings but loses 1-0 to the Braves in the 13th inning. The heart-breaking winning run scores on a Don Hoak error, a sacrifice, a walk, and a two-bagger by Joe Adcock. To add insult to injury,

In 1991, the Committee for Statistical Accuracy in Baseball announced that a no-hitter would be redefined as “a game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit,” meaning Haddix’s gem no longer qualified. When he was made aware that one of the greatest games ever pitched no longer had a place in the record books, his response was simple: “It’s OK. I know what I did.”

Lineup when available.