Game 118, 2015

Reds at Dodgers, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Two righthanders face off in the series finale. The Dodgers send Zack Greinke out in search of his 13th win to go along with his league-leading 1.59 ERA, and the Reds send out yet another rookie pitcher, their third in a row this weekend. This one is named Anthony DeSclafani. He’s 7-7 with a 3.75 ERA and has made 23 starts for the Reds this season. In his last four games he’s gone at least six innings and won two of them.

Greinke might want to pitch carefully to Joey Votto. The Reds’ first baseman is 10-24 with three HRs and four walks in his career against him.

Lineup when available.

Late breaking news, non-baseball variety: 8 lbs, 9 oz, 19.5″. Those are the vital stats on Kaden Isaiah Jansen, born at 9:58AM PT today.

72 thoughts on “Game 118, 2015

    • That’s a maybe. Also, Dodgers dickering with Red Sox for left hand hitting outfielder, De Aza. That would only make sense if they are also working on a deal involving Ethier, Crawford, or Pederson. What are they drinking in the FO…

      • Why would they want De Aza? He’s a 31-year-old journeyman outfielder with career numbers of .269/.330/.409/.739 who is having a pretty good year this season in part-time action. Pederson won’t be traded, Ethier shouldn’t be traded, and Crawford might be traded. Anyways, that’s how I see it.

  1. Next seven days:
    Us — at the Athletics for two, at the Astros for three, two days off (Monday and Thursday).
    Them — at the Cardinals for three, at the Pirates for four, no days off.

  2. Hope the top of the ninth goes as quickly and quietly as the bottom of the eighth. Sheesh.

  3. Speaking of the Fox Sports Ohio guys, their understated style is pretty easy to listen to. Not Reds rooters and have some good insight. Good non-intrusive accompaniment to the flow of the game, not trying to be the focus or to distract. Not afraid to be silent and let the sounds of the game provide the flavor.

    I don’t hear many MLB announcers that people dislike but don’t find anything to dislike here.

  4. FS Ohio guys say it’s 98. Greinke’s over 100 pitches. So good chance he’s done. Didn’t seem to look quite as sharp the last couple batters either.

    • foul tip: Thanks. I had never seen the term TOOTBLAN, so I looked it up. For others who also didn’t know what it means it is Thrown Out On The Bases Like A Nincompoop. Delightful! I fond this on a website: TOOTBLANs include extra base outs, outs on would-be sacrifice flies,
      pickoffs, double offs, fielder’s choice outs with an open base, batter’s
      interference, runner’s fielder choice, runner interference, caught
      stealing on a walk (also known as a Cedeno), hit by batted ball and
      sundry other things that can happen during a baseball game. Stolen bases
      are counted separately (unless preceded by a pickoff).

      • ” caught stealing on a walk (also known as a Cedeno)”

        Anyone know the story here? Couldn’t have been easy.

        • “Cedeno was running on ball four to Jock Jones in the 9th inning of a
          game against the Cardinals with the Cubs down 2-1. Instead of looking
          at the batter to see if he walked or instead of, you know, being a Major
          League baseball player who doesn’t overslide bases, Ronny dove
          headfirst right past second, where he was tagged out by David Eckstein.
          That’s right. Cedeno is such a great base stealer, that he was thrown
          out at second base on a f@#$ing walk.”

          Link.

          Play-by-play.

        • Koufax hit two homers in his career, both vs. the Braves in Milwaukee. In 1962 he hit a solo home run off Warren Spahn. In 1963 he hit a three-run homer off Denny Lemaster. So half Koufax’ career home runs came off Hall of Fame pitchers. I wonder how many others can say that (not that the modest Koufax ever would).

  5. Bumgarner humming along in San Francisco, leading 4-0 in he 5th. It looks like we will need this game to maintain our 2.5 game advantage.

  6. When Puig hit his 10th home run last night, he became the eighth Dodger to reach double figures in homers this season. Since the franchise moves west only the 2004 club had more, with nine. Two other clubs — 1979 and 1961 — also had eight. The fewest in L.A. was in 1968 with one: Len Gabrielson with 10 homers that year. I don’t know what the Brooklyn record was for most players reaching double figures in home runs.

  7. I thought this would have been an easier inning for Greinke given the bottom of the order.

  8. Paraphrasing something I saw the other day about the Yasiel Puig cycle: a HR, a TOOTBLAN, a swinging K with RISP, and an outfield assist..

    So, he’s halfway there. At least he got the bad two out of the way first.

    Although the missed dive didn’t work out too well, either.

    • He certainly isn’t as productive as he might be, but using BA here can be a little deceptive. In 83 PA with RISP he has accounted for 27 RBI (a ratio of .33). AGON in comparison is at 45 RBI in 114 similar PAs (or .39).

  9. Last week I made a comment that although someone got thrown out at 3rd, I like that the Dodgers were being more aggressive in general. Since then, there seems to have been a fair number of outs on the bases. Not sure now if being aggressive is really helping any more.

    • Thanks for your response the other day providing background about the weddings that you officiate. My wife is a minister in the Church of Religious Science.

      • You are welcome. Your wife must officiate her fair share of weddings in her position.

        • She generally does them for friends or relatives of friends. She did one last month in Mount Shasta City in Northern California. It was a wonderful ceremony. I got to accompany her. We spent five great days there. Lovely area. By the way, I am Jewish. We have been married 35 years.

          • I appreciate the wisdom of my elders on this site! WBBsAs has been married 34 years, you’re at 35.

          • Marriage is for squares. 😉 I have been with the same gal for 40 years (well, we did get married after the first eleven when we became squares)

          • Holy cow. The demographics of this blog skew about as old as CBS News does!

            I’m single. Lived overseas for six of my prime mate-finding years, including three on Kwajalein where there were very few single women and a whole lot of single men.

  10. Game rolling along more quietly to this point than last night. Greinke at 41 pitches through 3, which is not bad considering 20 pitches were in the first inning.

  11. There’s a non-baseball informational post about the blog above. NO, I’m not shutting it down or anything like that — it’s administrative in nature.