Game 123, 2017

Dodgers at Pirates, 4:05 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ATT SportsNet Pit

The Dodgers will start LHP Alex Wood (14-1, 2.30 ERA) in the fourth game of their seven-game road trip. He and the Dodgers will face RHP Gerrit Cole (10-8, 4.04 ERA).

The Dodgers won the first three games of the season series by a combined total of 21 runs to six. Wood has made seven appearances against the Buccos, six of them starts, and he’s held them to a .227 BA while putting up a 2.61 ERA. Cole had a good June and July going 7-2, but he’s been up and down the rest of the season and he’s given up more than twice as many HRs (26) as he ever has before. His ERA is half-a-run higher than his career average to this point, too.

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1975 The Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 6-0. Rick goes 6.1 innings, and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
  • 1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk’s pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez’s double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest.

  • 2005 Florida suspends their bat boy for six games after the 11 year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny’s $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The Milk Processor Education Program will promise to pay off the dare and to cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if the sixth grader, who is able to drink the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down, agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.

Here’s a bit of trivia I’d never heard before: in 1951 Major General Emmett O’Donnell is selected by the owners to be the new commissioner. President Harry Truman overrules the decision, stating the officer is needed in Korea in his post as commander of bombers.

Bellinger improving but ankle still swollen. Won’t start tomorrow either, Roberts said.

Lineup when available.

183 thoughts on “Game 123, 2017

  1. World Champ Cubbies are projected to win 87 games. The Dodgers have already won 88.

  2. At the risk of being presumptuous . . . Woo-Hoo! (first time I have ever posted that).

  3. A 20-game lead in August and yet we’re all hanging on every pitch.
    Can you imagine what we will be like in October? 🙂

  4. Dodgers’ lead is now 20-1/2 games over the idle Rox, 21 over the Snakes (who edged the Mutts 3-2).

    • It’s good for the Dodgers to be challenged. It’s even better when they overcome the challenge like they did tonight.

      • I like the “Or so” part, because that would include when I’m seeing them next week!

        • Where are you seeing them? I will be at the game Saturday night with my daughter and my sister.

          • Unfortunately for meeting you, Scoop, it’ll be in San Diego. Friday night and the Saturday day game.
            Maybe, Kersh will be pitching one of them!

          • Shucks.
            I will post my seat location later this week in case any of you are at the game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night, 8-26.

          • Have tix for the Dodger-Nats series here in DC, if anyone is going to be around.

  5. Dovydas Neverauska, the first native of Lithuania ever to play in the majors, just became the first native of Lithuania against whom Yasiel Puig ever homered.

  6. How about some friendly competition to see who’s “grandest” of them all between Yasmani and Curtis?

  7. KK-enley!
    C’mon, bats, I’ve got things to do! (Should’ve gone out an hour ago, but they still had a lead then and it was theoretically gonna be over soon.)

  8. Even tho he wouldn’tve gone the extra inning, does Baez get shackled with a “blown save”?

  9. Watson and Baez, THAT’s how to do it.
    C’mon, bats, get the W . . . and end this AGONIZING losing streak! (Okay, now I’m making fun of myself.)

  10. C;mon, Pedro — get the K or double play!
    (I’ll settle for any out, no run scoring.)

  11. Surprised Kenley wasn’t up — not for multi innings, but to step in during the crucial moment.
    Kennedy just said he figures the huge divisional lead takes away urgency.

  12. I was supposed to be in San Diego next week — in one day, out the next.
    Then I realized the Dodgers will be in town that weekend — and I haven’t seen them live in this magical year. I was making plans to try for postseason games, but the cost is prohibitive if I don’t win the ticket lottery for face value.

    Thanks to the flexibility with my work (and Southwest Airlines), I’ll be at Friday night’s game, as well as Saturday’s makeup daytime game.

    • I have a friend who is VERY angry with Southwest right now because due to overbooking they bumped him and a bunch of other people from flights to eclipse-watching country, thereby ruining their plans for this major event.

      Which is not to say “Don’t enjoy those games!” 🙂

      • I’m surprised to hear that.
        I was told that after the United problems, SWA stopped overbooking — I always hope to take a voluntary bump and get all the benefits that go with that. (Happened to me once.)

  13. Bob H. — or anyone — how do the Dodgers stack up vs. other teams scoring in innings 7, 8, 9?
    If they’re not tops, they have to be up there.

  14. The diamond ring has flashed again and the sun is shining once more in Dodger bats!

  15. JT! — but no run . . . 🙁
    Third time’s the charm with loaded bases? Gotta get SOMEthing!

  16. Link, I will be in Honolulu on Wednesday, October 11, before we head to the Big Island the next day. Perhaps we could meet up for lunch (I get in just before midday).

    First time ever, I think it’ll be my 44th state.

  17. Puig — at least D is still strong!
    Had followed the results and just heard that AGon just missed a Slam . . . but looks like the eclipse on Dodger bats is into Game 2. Hope they start shining again!

  18. In a sim game, such as the four innings Kershaw pitched today, do the batters swing at pitches or just stand in the box?

  19. Wood needs to go 5.2 innings to be eligible for the ERA NL leaderboard for at least a day. If he blanks the Filibusteros over those innings he would rank second behind Klayton and ahead of Max.

  20. Pederson, in his first game since returning to OKC, went 1-for-4 last night, a single, and struck out once. His team lost 12-2 at Colorado Springs.

    • His OPS not all that much lower than Grandy’s. I have to believe this is just a thing to get him straightened out, maybe tweak a couple mechanical things, without ML fan pressure.

  21. While SF may have been the first team eliminated from division championship contention, in the so-called “wild card” the Gnats (magic No. 20) are ahead of the Fillies (magic No. 19) in that regard. The Fillies don’t play tonight, but the Gnats host the contending Cerveceros.

      • I was watching on TV. It was brutal. The Dodgers had actually led 11-1 after 7. As the 9th inning began, many Dodgers were sitting near Lasorda in the dugout. As the inning got worse and worse, Lasorda became increasingly isolated as the Phillies piled on the runs and his rage grew and grew. At the end of the top of the 9th he was by himself. The Dodgers had won the night before on a walkoff and did the same thing the following night, both also against the Phillies.

  22. Actually Cole has been best in July and August, so we are facing a relatively hot pitcher with an ERA of 3.12 over his last eight starts