Monthly Archives: July 2017

Jul 20

Game 96, 2017

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Braves at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSE

This is the first of a four-game series. It’ll pit the Braves’ RHP Mike Foltynewicz (7-5, 3.84 ERA) against the Dodgers’ RHP Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 3.38 ERA). The Dodgers have beaten the Braves twelve of the last fifteen times they’ve met at Dodger Stadium.

Foltynewicz took a no-hitter into the ninth inning of a game against Oakland on June 30 before giving up a leadoff HR to break it up. He came out and the reliever struck out the side to preserve the 3-1 win. The Dodgers have won McCarthy’s last five starts, but he came out before completing five innings in two of them. He gave up four runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Marlins on Saturday.

The Dodgers have good prospects down on the farm, says Kyle Glaser of Baseball America.

Sergio Romo has been DFA’ed and Grant Dayton has been reinstated from the 10-day DL.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1906 At St. Louis, Brooklyn hurler Mal Eason no-hits the Cardinals, 2-0. The ‘Kid’ was the losing pitcher when Johnny Lush pitched a no-hitter against the Superbas (Dodgers) in May.
  • 1970 Twenty-six year-old right-hander Bill Singer pitches the first Dodger no-hitter since Sandy Koufax’s departure when he keeps the Philadelphia batters hitless in a 5-0 victory at Chavez Ravine. The ‘Singer Throwing Machine’, who spent 52 days on the disabled list earlier in the season recuperating from hepatitis, posts a 5-0 record along with a 1.84 ERA in July, and will be named NL Player of the Month.
  • 2008 The Dodgers, with a five-run ninth-inning rally at Chase Field, beat the Diamondbacks, 6-5, and move into a flat-footed tie (48-50) with Arizona for first place in the National League West. Andre Ethier has the key hit in the comeback victory, a go-ahead triple off the center-field wall, as D-Back closer Brandon Lyon, pitching in his third consecutive game, couldn’t hold a three-run lead.

Lineup when available.

Jul 19

Game 95, 2017

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Dodgers at White Sox, 5:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, WGN

RHP Kenta Maeda (7-4, 4.38 ERA) makes his 14th start of the year. He’s only gone past five innings in three of those fourteen, but he’s won three of his last four decisions. He’ll be opposed by YALHP Carlos Rodon (1-2, 4.32 ERA), who made only one start in Spring Training before going on the DL with left biceps bursitis and has made three starts since coming off it on June 28.

Vin Scully performed with the LA Philharmonic last week and again last night.

Many an uncommon man and woman have read it in performances with proper forceful meaning during the history of Copland’s stirring patriotic justification of the American ideal, a 15-minute oration for narrator and orchestra written in early 1942 in the wake of Pearl Harbor.

Not a word has gone out of date. But ours is such a fragmented whom-do-you-trust age, even Lincoln can be readily and shamelessly misinterpreted. So it proved an inspiration for Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic to invite the most trusted voice in all of L.A. to recite “Lincoln Portrait” at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday night. The one person we can all agree about. Vin Scully.

Here are some video highlights.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1977 Pitcher Don Sutton wins All-Star MVP honors after helping the National League to a 7-5 victory over the American League. Sutton is the N.L.’s starting pitcher at Yankee Stadium and delivers three scoreless innings of work. He becomes only the third player in franchise history to be named All-Star MVP. Garvey also contributes to the N.L.’s victory with a home run in the third inning.
  • 1993 Outfielder Raul Mondesi makes his major league debut and singles in his first at-bat. He goes on to bat .291 with four home runs and 10 RBI in 42 games. The following season, he is named National League Rookie of the Year after batting .306 with 16 homers and 56 RBI.

Lineup:

Jul 18

Game 94, 2017

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Dodgers at White Sox, 5:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, WGN

The Dodgers try to make it ten straight wins tonight in Chicago at what was once called “New Comiskey Park” and is now called “Guaranteed Rate Field.” Blech. That name is newer (2016) than the two teams by a long shot: the Dodgers were first established in the late 1800s and the White Sox were charter members of the American League in 1901.

The teams first met in the 1959 World Series when the Dodgers claimed the title in six games. The teams first got together during the regular season in 2003 with the White Sox taking two of three games. They haven’t played each other since Chicago took two of three in ’14. The White Sox hold a 16-11 advantage all-time over the Dodgers.

Is the Dodgers’ “surge” sustainable for the rest of the year?

The Dodgers send LHP Clayton Kershaw (14-2, 2.18 ERA) out tonight to face RHP Miguel Gonzalez (4-8, 5.15 ERA). Kershaw has been on a roll; he’s won ten straight and his last loss was May 1. Gonzalez has been rehabbing shoulder joint inflammation since mid-June and has lost eight of his last nine decisions.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1939 The Red Sox send 21 year-old farmhand Pee Wee Reese to the Dodgers for $35,000 and a player to be named later (Red Evans), along with three minor leaguers due to a less-than-enthusiastic scouting report filed by Joe Cronin, the team’s current player-manager, who deliberately downplayed the prospect’s talent to keep his own job in the Boston infield. The Louisville Colonels regular shortstop, a future Hall of Famer, will become a crowd favorite, helping Brooklyn to win seven pennants during his 16 seasons with the team.
  • 1949 Jackie Robinson testifies in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, reading a carefully worded statement put together with the help of Dodger GM Branch Rickey. The Brooklyn second baseman’s statement makes it clear he disagrees with singer and actor Paul Robeson’s belief that American Negroes would refuse to fight in any war against Russia due to the country’s racial discrimination toward blacks.

Lineup when available.

Jul 16

Game 93, 2017

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Dodgers at Marlins, 10:10 AM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

The Dodgers go for a sweep behind LHP Rich Hill (5-4, 3.69 ERA). He’ll face the Marlins’ LHP Chris O’Grady (1-0, 5.06 ERA).

Hill has struck out 27 in his last 21 innings and gone 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA. All three of those games were quality starts. O’Grady makes his second career start. His first was against the Giants on July 8, when he went 5 1/3 innings, gave up five hits and three runs and got the win. He’s taking the place of Edinson Volquez, who was scheduled to come off the 10-day DL but whose patellar tendinitis hasn’t healed.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1913 In a game against the Cubs, Superbas’ second baseman George Cutshaw handles 14 chances without an error. The infielder’s defensive prowess helps Brooklyn beat Chicago at Ebbets Field, 4-2.
  • 1948 Brooklyn’s Branch Rickey agrees on a deal with Giants owner Horace Stoneham that releases his manager Leo Durocher to become the Giants’ skipper, replacing the popular Mel Ott. Burt Shotton will take the ‘Lip’s’ place in the Dodger dugout.

On this date in 1990 Steve Lyons embarrassed himself dreadfully by dropping his uniform pants while standing at first base after sliding into the bag to beat out a bunt.

Lineup when available.

Jul 15

Game 92, 2017

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Dodgers at Marlins, 4:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

The Dodgers’ lefty ace #2 Alex Wood (10-0, 1.67 ERA) tries to win his eleventh against the Marlins RHP Jose Urena (7-3, 3.54 ERA).

In his last start on July 5 Wood went seven shutout innings against the D-Backs, giving up three hits while striking out ten and walking only two. It’s the fourth consecutive start and eighth in his last nine starts in which he’s given up no more than one run. Urena has been on fire too. He’s won six of his last seven starts, although he’s faltered a little in his last two, going only five innings in each. Wood’s beaten the Marlins in five straight games, while Urena has made three appearances against the Dodgers and allowed them just one earned run over 15 1/3 innings for a 0.59 ERA.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1960 Home plate umpire Frank Dascoli stops play for 24 minutes when Willie McCovey hits a pitch into shallow left field that no one can see because of the dense fog. The Giants first baseman’s second inning ‘invisible triple’ doesn’t deter the Dodgers when they go on to win the Candlestick Park contest, 5-3.
  • 2003 At the All-Star Game played in Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field, Angels outfielder Garret Anderson goes 3-for-4, including a two-run homer and a double, helping the American League to beat the NL, 7-6. Pinch-hitting in the eighth inning, Rangers third baseman Hank Blalock hits a go-ahead two-run homer off the usually untouchable reliever of the Dodgers, Eric Gagne.
  • 2004 Eric Gagne surpasses Jeff Shaw for the most career saves in franchise history, collecting his 130th save in a Dodger uniform. The 28 year-old right-handed closer pitches a perfect ninth, striking out the side in the team’s 5–2 victory over Arizona at Bank One Ballpark.

Non-Dodger lowlights: it’s the anniversary of the 1967 game in which Cardinals’ pitcher Bob Gibson’s right fibula is fractured by a Roberto Clemente line drive. It’s also the anniversary of the 1973 game in which Norm Cash tried to use a piano leg instead of a bat in the ninth inning of the second of Nolan Ryan’s no-hitters that season.

Lineup:

Jul 14

Game 91, 2017

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Dodgers at Marlins, 4:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

The Dodgers come back from their mid-season break with RHP Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 3.12 ERA) on the Miami mound against the Marlins’ RHP Dan Straily (7-4, 3.31 ERA).

McCarthy came off the disabled list and pitched six innings of two-run ball against the Royals. Straily is coming off a career-high 8 1/3-inning performance against the Giants in which he gave up only four hits and one run.

The social whirl: Kiké Hernandez got engaged over the All Star break.

Houston Mitchell of the LA Times talks to Ross Porter about the infamous Reggie Jackson interference call in Game Four of the 1978 World Series. You’ll have to scroll about halfway down the column.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1968 In the nightcap of a twin bill, Don Wilson strikes out eighteen batters in a nine-inning game to tie a major league record shared by Bob Feller (Indians, 1938) and Sandy Koufax (Dodgers, 1959 and 1962). The Astros right-hander fans future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench for the last out of his 6-1 victory over the Reds on a wind-swept night at Crosley Field.

    Courtesy of the Houston Astros network via Astrosdaily.com

  • 1995 Ramon Martinez throws the 22nd no-hitter in franchise history when he beats the Marlins at Dodger Stadium, 7-0. The Dodger right-hander, who was booed by the home crowd in his last outing, was perfect before walking Tommy Gregg on a 3-2 pitch after getting the first out in the seventh inning.
  • 2005 Defeating their historical arch rivals, the Giants become the first team to win 10,000 games as a franchise by edging the Dodgers in LA, 4-3. The Giants, who started as the New York Gothams in 1899, have posted a 10,000-8,511 record during the club’s 123 seasons in the National League.

Lineup when available.

Jul 10

All Star Break Post

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Home Run Derby rules

All Star Game players

Venezuelan ballplayers move to Miami for safety.

USA Today picks its best All Star Game performers at each position. Garvey and Drysdale make the cut.

Miami is home to passionate players as well as fans.

Jul 09

Game 90, 2017

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Royals at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSKC

The Royals try to salvage one game of what’s been an unsatisfying return to Dodger Stadium for the first time since 2003. The trouble is they have to get past Clayton Kershaw (13-2, 2.19 ERA) to do it. They’ll ask LHP Danny Duffy (5-4, 3.51 ERA) to shut the high-powered Dodgers’ offense down while they try to put together some hits and runs against the Dodgers’ ace.

Duffy has made one start since returning from the disabled list and he did pretty well, going 5 2/3 innings against the Mariners, giving up two runs and five hits in a 7-3 win. Kershaw went seven shutout innings against the D-Backs Tuesday and gave up just two hits in a game the Dodgers held on to win 4-3 despite a three-run HR off Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning.

The Dodgers won their 60th game last night, becoming just the 4th team in 40 years to do that before the All Star break.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1956 The BBWAA, by a narrow margin of 14-12, votes to establish the Cy Young Award to honor the major leagues’ most outstanding pitcher. Commissioner Ford Frick initiated the idea because he felt hurlers were not recognized in the MVP voting, but ironically the first recipient of the Cy Young Award, Dodger Don Newcombe, also won the Most Valuable Player Award.
  • 1996 In Philadelphia, Dodger backstop Mike Piazza hits a moon shot into the upper-deck at Veterans Stadium and also bangs a RBI double, helping the NL to blank the AL, 6-0, in All-Star action.

In non-Dodger history, it seems fitting that in 1968, the Year of the Pitcher, the All Star Game would play out this way: In the first All-Star game played indoors, American Leaguers are held to just three hits in the Astrodome, with the National League winning the first Mid-Summer Classic to end with a score of 1-0. The contest’s lone tally comes in the bottom of the first frame when Willie Mays, who had been picked off but stayed on the bases due to Luis Tiant’s throwing error, scores an unearned run on a double play ball.

Lineup:

Jul 08

Game 89, 2017

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Royals at Dodgers, 4:15 PM PT, TV: Fox

RHP Ian Kennedy (3-6, 4.44 ERA) starts for the Royals and RHP Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 3.25 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

Kennedy has won three straight games after going 0-6 with a 5.40 ERA in his first 11 starts. He’s been prone to the gopher ball, giving up 16 HRs so far this season. He’s also 5-9 against the Dodgers in his career. McCarthy is coming off the 10-day DL; his last start was June 25 when he lost his control and threw three wild pitches against the Rockies while lasting only three innings. He’d been 4-2 with a 1.57 ERA over six starts before that.

To make room for McCarthy the Dodgers optioned Scott Van Slyke to OKC.

Kershaw is an occasional goof.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1949 Hank Thompson, who broke in to the majors as a member of the St. Louis Browns twelve days after Larry Doby’s American League debut with the Indians in 1947, becomes the first African-American to play for the Giants. When the former Kansas City Monarchs’ standout faces Dodger right-hander Don Newcombe, it marks the first time a pitcher-batter confrontation takes place between black players in the major leagues.

Lineup:

Jul 07

Game 88, 2017

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Royals at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSKC

The Royals send RHP Jason Hammel (4-7, 5.08 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda (6-4, 4.56 ERA).

Hammel hasn’t gotten past the sixth inning in either of his last two starts. In his most recent one he gave up seven runs (six earned) on nine hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Twins. He is 2-7 with a 5.00 ERA in 18 career games (14 starts) against the Dodgers. Maeda had a rough time in his last start when he gave up five runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings in a loss to the Padres. In his previous four appearances he had a 1.06 ERA. Maeda has never faced the Royals before.

In case you missed it, Scott Van Slyke was recalled from OKC to replace Grant Dayton, who went on the 10-day DL with a stiff neck. Also, as expected, Alex Wood will replace Clayton Kershaw at the All Star Game.

Another thing you might have missed: yesterday was Dave Roberts Bobblehead night, and his kids had a big part in it. Daughter Emme sang the National Anthem and his son, Cole, threw out the ceremonial first pitch — a strike. Then the two kids teamed up to say “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball!”

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1953 The Dodgers set a major league mark for the most consecutive games with a home run by a team with a least one round tripper in their 24 contests. Brooklyn starter Preacher Roe hits the record-breaking homer with a third-inning blast in the team’s 9-5 victory over Pittsburgh at Forbes Field.
  • 1998 Jeff Shaw becomes the first player to participate in an All-Star game wearing a uniform for a team he hasn’t yet played for when he works an inning, allowing three hits and a run pitching for the National League squad before appearing in a regular season game for the Dodgers. The 32 year-old closer, who posted a 1.81 ERA along with 23 saves in the first half of the season for the Reds, was traded three days by Cincinnati to Los Angeles for Paul Konerko and Dennys Reyes.
  • 2004 Kazuhisa Ishii tosses a one-hitter in the Dodgers’ 11-0 defeat of Arizona. The 30 year-old Japanese southpaw retires the first 12 batters he faces before issuing a leadoff walk to Luis Gonzalez, which is followed with a single by Shea Hillenbrand, but then the left-hander proceeds to mow down 15 consecutive D-Backs to finish his masterpiece.

Lineup when available.