Jul 31

Game 108, 2018

Brewers at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FSWI, Dish455, MLBN (out-of-market only)

Trade news at time of posting (9:55 HST):

Phils acquire Wilson Ramos from Rays
Cubs add Kintzler in trade with Nationals
Rays get Tommy Pham from Cardinals
Mariners acquire Cameron Maybin from Marlins
Indians deal for outfielder Leonys Martin
D-backs reacquire Ziegler in deal with Miami

And:


The deal sends the veteran second-baseman to LA for Logan Forsythe, and minor leaguers Luke Raley and Devin Smeltzer.

The deal has not been confirmed by either club.

Also: The Dodgers got RHP John Axford from the Blue Jays for minor-leaguer Corey Copping.

The Brewers send LHP Wade Miley (1-1, 2.01 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers’ RHP Walker Buehler (4-3, 3.92 ERA). Miley has a 3.86 ERA in 81 2/3 innings of work against the Dodgers, mostly with the D-Backs. Even better, he’s 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA at Dodger Stadium. Buehler has had a tough June and July; he spent most of June on the disabled list with microfractured ribs, and he’s had trouble coming back from that in July, giving up 7 earned runs in 9 2/3 innings for a 6.52 ERA.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1954 At Ebbets Field, using a borrowed bat, Joe Adcock hits four home runs in one game as well as a double which just misses by inches being his fifth round-tripper, in the Braves’ 15-7 victory over the Dodgers. The Milwaukee first baseman’s 18 total bases, collected on just seven pitches, set a major league record, surpassing the mark established in 1950 by Brooklyn’s Gil Hodges.
  • 1955 The Indians obtained Sal Maglie off waivers from the Giants, who release the 38 year-old right-hander because of his ailing back. The ‘Barber’, who will be used sparingly in Cleveland, will become a major cog next season in the Dodgers’ National League championship after being acquired by the team in May for $100.
  • 1983 Orioles Gold Glover Brooks Robinson, Giants ace Juan Marichal, ten-time American League All-Star infielder George Kell, and long-time Dodger skipper Walter Alston are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Marichal, the Dominican Dandy, becomes the first Latin player to be enshrined at Cooperstown.
  • 2004 Ten minutes prior to the trading deadline, Steve Finley gives the Diamondbacks permission to deal him to the Dodgers. The trade sends the four-time Gold Glove center fielder and backstop Brent Mayne to LA for minor league catching prospect Koyie Hill, flycatcher Reggie Abercrombie, and southpaw Bill Murphy, who was acquired in yesterday’s trade with the Marlins.
  • 2006 The Dodgers trade infielder Cesar Izturis to the Cubs for 300-game winner Greg Maddux. The last minute deadline deal, in which the future Hall of Famer waived his no-trade clause, gives the 40 year-old hurler an opportunity to go to a contender.
  • 2008 In a three-team swap, the much anticipated departure of Manny Ramirez from Beantown is finally accomplished with the unhappy outfielder being traded to the Dodgers. Former Pirates player Jason Bay will now roam left field for the Red Sox, with Pittsburgh receiving outfielder Brandon Moss and pitcher Craig Hansen from Boston as well as getting third baseman Andy LaRoche and right-hander Bryan Morris from Los Angeles to complete the last-minute trading deadline deal.

Lineup when available.


Jul 30

Game 107, 2018

Brewers at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, ESPN (out-of-market only), FSWI, Dish455

Tonight’s matchup is the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda (7-5, 3.27 ERA) versus the Brewers’ Freddy Peralta (4-2, 3.74 ERA). Peralta is a rookie who has control issues. Last time out he walked four and hit a batter and all five of those men scored. His ERA for July is 6.10. Maeda was cruising along in his last start until he gave up three runs in the seventh inning. That was the 16-inning game won by the Phillies when Plouffe hit a walk-off three-run dinger off Kiké Hernandez.

Here’s an oddity: with Jack Morris’s and Alan Trammel’s induction into the Hall of Fame Sunday, the ’84 Tigers are now represented. That means the 1981 Dodgers

are now the only championship team before 1997 that did not have a player who became a Hall of Famer. That Dodgers team included many players with long and successful careers — Steve Garvey, Fernando Valenzuela, Jerry Reuss, Dusty Baker and so on — but only Manager Tommy Lasorda has reached the Hall of Fame.

I’m wracking my brain trying to figure out any Hall of Fame member on the 1988 champs and the only one I can come up with is Don Sutton in the last season of his career. He was released in August before the season ended.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2004 In a blockbuster trade, the Marlins deal Brad Penny, the winner of two World Series games last season, first baseman Hee Seop Choi, and southpaw prospect Bill Murphy (will be traded to the Diamondbacks tomorrow) to the Dodgers for backstop Paul Lo Duca, relief pitcher Guillermo Mota, and much-traveled outfielder Juan Encarnacion.
  • 2017 Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre collects his 3000th hit when he doubles in the fourth inning in the Rangers’ 10-6 loss to the Orioles at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The twenty-year veteran, who has also spent time with the Dodgers, Mariners, and the Red Sox, is the first-ever Dominican-born player to reach the coveted milestone.

Lineup when available.

Jul 29

Game 106, 2018

Dodgers at Braves, 10:35 AM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FSSO, TBS

The Dodgers send 28-year-old righthander Ross Stripling (8-2, 2.43 ERA) to the hill to attempt a sweep of the Braves. The home team counters with 25-year-old lefty Sean Newcomb (9-5, 3.41 ERA). Neither of these pitchers has been around long: Stripling has a 16-16 record over three seasons and Newcomb has a 13-14 record over two. Over his last seven games Stripling has gone 3-1 but his ERA in July has jumped to 3.97 from an average of 2.75 for the first three months of the season. Newcomb is 1-3 in July with an ERA of 7.00.

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1915 Pirates third baseman Honus Wagner reaches Robins hurler Jeff Pfeffer for a grand slam in the eighth inning, helping Pittsburgh beat Brooklyn at Forbes Field, 8-2. The inside-the-park round-tripper makes the 41 year-old infielder the oldest player ever to hit a home run with the bases full, a record which will last until 1985.
  • 1996 After a mild heart attack last month, Tommy Lasorda, 68 year-old Dodger manager of twenty years, announces his retirement due to his health. The future Hall of Fame skipper, who was named the National League Manager of the Year in 1983 and ’88, led Los Angeles to four pennants and two World Series championships during his 21 seasons at the helm. Bill Russell takes over as interim manager.

Lineup when available.


Jul 28

Game 105, 2018

Dodgers at Braves, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FSSO MLBN (out-of-market only)

Lefty Alex Wood (6-5, 3.87 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers this evening. He’ll face another lefty, Max Fried (1-3, 3.92 ERA). Wood dodged serious trouble his last time out, giving up just two runs even though he allowed five of the first six Brewers he faced to get on base. He got the win in that game, and he’s 5-1 since the first of June. Fried is freshly off the 10-day DL where he’d been placed in early July with a blister on his middle finger.

Peter Gammons has a column at The Athletic extolling people who aren’t in the Hall of Fame and should be:

I started thinking of one more large room in the museum. It would be called “For the Love of the Game,” and set up so people with unique contributions to baseball would seem to be in this room together, talking about how they had made the real life of the game better.

What follows is a list of 20 people in his first class of inductees. I’m pretty sure WBBsAs won’t like two of them.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1991 Expos right-hander Dennis Martinez pitches a perfect game, defeating Los Angeles 2-0 at Dodger Stadium. Ron Hassey becomes the first backstop to ever catch two perfect games, as he also was behind the plate on May 15, 1981 when Indian hurler Len Barker faced 27 batters, beating the Blue Jays, 3-0.
  • 2017 Alex Wood won his twelfth game against just one loss, going seven innings while giving up eight hits and four runs to the Giants. The Dodgers came from behind with four runs in the seventh and won 6-4.

Lineup:


Jul 27

Game 104, 2018

Dodgers at Braves, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FSSO

This afternoon LHP Clayton Kershaw (3-5, 2.64 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers against the Braves’ RHP Mike Foltynewicz (7-6, 2.85 ERA). Kershaw was the victim of three unearned runs in his last start and got a loss. His velocity is several MPH below what we’ve seen from him for years, but he’s still getting batters out. In his first 16 starts Foltynewicz gave up two earned runs or fewer in 15 of them; in his last three starts he’s given up four or more.

Here’s a treat from Kenley Jansen:


Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1918 In his major league debut, Robins (Dodgers) starter Harry Heitman, after giving up hits to four consecutive batters in a 22-7 loss to the Cardinals, is pulled from the Ebbets Field contest. The 21 year-old Brooklyn rookie right-hander will never hurl again in the big leagues, ending his career with an ERA of infinity.
  • 1959 The Continental League is formally announced, with franchises located in Denver, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City, and Toronto. The concept of the new major league is the brainchild of William Shea, an attorney who proposed the idea a year after the Giants and Dodgers left New York City to move to the West Coast.
  • 1966 Sandy Koufax strikes out 16 Phillies and Jim Bunning whiffs 12 Dodgers in the first 11 innings of a pitching duel between future Hall of Famers at Chavez Ravine. With both starters out of the game, Los Angeles beats Philadelphia, 2-1, thanks to an unearned run scored in the bottom of the twelfth inning.
  • 1998 Tony Womack of the Pirates establishes a new major league mark by not grounding out into a double play in 888 consecutive at-bats, breaking the record previously established by Dodger outfielder Pete Reiser in 1946.
  • 2005 Ryan Freel becomes the first player in the Reds’ 136-year history to steal five bases in a game, including two in the ninth that moves him to third base, where he scores the eventual winning run on Felipe Lopez’s sacrifice fly. The Cincinnati second baseman’s thievery contributes to the team’s 7-6 victory over the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. [Note: the Dodgers’ catcher was Jason Phillips, in his only season with the team.]

Lineup when available.


Jul 26

Game 103, 2018

Dodgers at Braves, 4:35 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FSSE, MLBN (out-of-market only)

LHP Rich Hill (3-4, 4.26 ERA) goes for the Dodgers while the Braves send RHP Aníbal Sánchez (5-2, 2.76 ERA) to the hill. Hill went six innings in his last start against Milwaukee, giving up five hits and one run while striking out nine. Sánchez has a 2.92 ERA for the month of July and is having his best year since 2013 when he went 14-8 with a 2.57 ERA for the Tigers.

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1900 In Brooklyn, a sheriff seizes the St. Louis share of gate receipts to reimburse Gus Weyhing, recently released by the Cardinals after posting a 3-4 record in eight starts with the team, who claims to have been cheated out of ten days of pay. Next week, the right-hander, known as Cannonball by his teammates, will sign with the Superbas as a free agent.
  • 1948 Former Dodger skipper Leo Durocher, who left the team ten days ago, makes his first appearance at Ebbets Field since taking over the Giants. The return of ‘the Lip’ is less-than-triumphant when his new team drops a 13-4 decision to Brooklyn.
  • 1951 In a 9-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Jim Russell becomes the first player in major league history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a game in two different games. The Dodger outfielder’s accomplishment will be surpassed in 1956 when Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle goes deep both right and left-handed in the same game for a third time.
  • 1960 The Phillies end their scoreless streak of thirty-eight consecutive innings when Johnny Callison plates Tony Gonzalez with a sixth-inning single in the team’s 4-3 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Philadelphia’s drought began when the team failed to score in the last six frames of a 3-0 win against the Giants, and continued when they were shut out in three straight games ( 2-0, 2-0, and 9-0) by the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
  • 1991 Mark Gardner no-hits the Dodgers for nine innings, but Los Angeles wins the game in the bottom of the tenth on two singles off the Expos’ starter and Darryl Strawberry’s RBI single off reliever Jeff Fassero. It’s the first time the Dodgers had been held hitless at home for nine innings since Johnny Vander Meer’s second straight no-hitter in 1938.

Lineup when available.


One wonders why Muncy is starting at second base and why Bellinger is at first, and why Hernandez is not starting at all.

Jul 25

Game 102, 2018

Dodgers at Phillies, 9:35 AM PDT, TV: SPNLA, NBCSP, MLBN (out-of-market only)

If any member of either team is awake enough to play well behind the two rested starting pitchers I’ll be surprised. The Dodgers send out their young righthander Walker Buehler (4-2, 3.45 ERA) to face the Phillies’ righty Jake Arrieta (7-6, 3.47 ERA). Buehler arrived in Philadelphia from Oklahoma City Tuesday. He’d been sent there as a roster move before the All Star break but didn’t pitch an inning for the team there on this latest visit. Arrieta started the year with two good months, going 5-2 in April and May. His June was awful: he lost four out of five starts. He’s bounced back in July to win two games and lose none so far.

Manager Dave Roberts says he expects Buehler “to stick around for a while.”

Injury updates were announced before Tuesday’s marathon. Tom Koehler is done for the year without throwing a pitch for the Dodgers. Puig and Baez are rehabbing in OKC and will be back for Thursday’s game in Atlanta, and Ryu is about to start rehabbing in the minors. The Dodgers expect him to make at least four starts before returning to the big club.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1962 At Sportsman’s Park, Stan Musial surpasses Giants’ legend Mel Ott as the National League’s all-time RBI leader. ‘Stan the Man’s’ two-run home run off Don Drysdale in a 5-2 loss to the Dodgers gives the Cardinals’ right fielder 1,862 career runs batted in with the Redbirds.
  • 2017 The Dodgers defeat the Minnesota Twins to run their record to 70-31. Kenta Maeda gets his ninth win of the season and Josh Ravin posts his first save.

Lineup when available.

Jul 24

Game 101, 2018

Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, NBCSP, MLBN (out-of-network only)

The Dodgers put RHP Kenta Maeda (7-5, 3.12 ERA) on the mound in Philadelphia to face the Fightin’ Phils’ RHP Aaron Nola (12-3, 2.30 ERA). Maeda has been the Dodgers’ most consistent pitcher all season, and he hasn’t given up more than three runs in a start since May 11. He got a win in relief in his last appearance on July 15, one in which he worked 1/3 of an inning, striking out the Angels’ Ian Kinsler with the bases loaded to get Kershaw off the hook. The Phillies’ Nola is 5-1 with a 2.22 ERA since June 1 and pitched a scoreless inning in the All Star Game. This is the best start of his short career.

In an obvious lineup move, Machado will play third base while Turner is on the disabled list.

Internet-sourced trade proposal: The Mets’ deGrom for the Dodgers’ prospects Verdugo (#2), Ruiz (#7) and Alvarez (#9). MLB’s Jim Duquette poo-poos that but suggests an alternative: “a deal involving Ruiz, right-hander Dustin May (the Dodgers’ No. 9 prospect) and middle infielder Gavin Lux (the Dodgers’ No. 11 prospect) could bring both sides together.”

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1909 At Washington Park, the Superbas sweep a twin bill from the visiting Cardinals with identical 1-0 scores. Brooklyn’s southpaw Nap Rucker, who will finish second in the NL with 200 strikeouts, whiffs 16 Redbirds in one of the contests.
  • 1931 For the second time in ten days, Babe Herman hits for the cycle. The Dodger outfielder joins “Long John” Reilly and Bob Meusel as one of only three ‘tricyclists’ to have accomplished the feat of collecting a single, double, triple, and home run in one game three times.
  • 1965 Unbeknownst to him at the time, 75 year-old Mets skipper Casey Stengel, who compiled a managerial record of 1,905-1,842 with the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, and Mets, manages his final baseball game, a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia at Shea Stadium. After leaving a party after midnight at Toots Shor’s, the ‘Old Perfesser’ loses his balance and fractures his left hip, resulting in the unexpected retirement with the team.
  • 1968 ChiSox reliever Hoyt Wilhelm breaks Cy Young’s record when he makes his 907th career appearance, pitching a third of an inning in which he gives up a run on two hits to be on the short side of the team’s 3-2 loss to Oakland. The 45 year-old knuckleballer, who will retire in 1972 after pitching in 1,070 games, will finish his 21-year major league career with a 143-122 (.540) won-loss record and 228 saves, hurling for the Giants, Cardinals, Indians, Orioles, White Sox, Angels, Braves, Cubs, and Dodgers.
  • 1970 Tommy Agee steals home with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, giving the Mets a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. After reaching on a fielder’s choice, the New York center fielder stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, before scoring the winning run with his thievery of home plate.
  • 1977 After his two-out foul pop-up is dropped by Mets’ right fielder Bruce Boisclair, Davey Lopes responds with a game-ending three-run home run off Bob Apodaca. The L.A. second baseman’s ninth-inning dramatics provide the Dodgers with a 5-3 win and spoil the opportunity for a win for Nino Espinosa, who left the game needing just one more out for a complete-game victory.
  • 1993 Following the game at Dodger Stadium, Vince Coleman tosses an M-80 from a car, resulting in reported injuries to three fans in the Chavez Ravine parking lot, including an 11 year-old boy and a two year-old girl. The Mets’ player was a passenger in the 1991 Jeep Cherokee driven by LA outfielder Eric Davis, who acknowledges Coleman flipped the firecracker out of his vehicle as a ‘joke,’ but not into a crowd of people.
  • 1993 In a 5-4 loss to the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, Mets right-hander Anthony Young extends his record losing streak to 27 games. The latest defeat is the result of the hard-luck hurler walking Dave Hansen in with the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning.
  • 2015 Michael Conforto becomes the 1,000th player in Mets history when he makes his major league debut, going 0-3 in the team’s 7-2 loss to the Dodgers at Citi Field. Tomorrow, the 24 year-old rookie left fielder will enjoy a 4-for-4 day at the plate when he will collect three singles and a double en route scoring four runs.

Lineup:


Jul 23

Game 100, 2018

Dodgers at Phillies, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, NBCSP

The Dodgers send RHP Ross Stripling (8-2, 2.08 ERA) to the hill to face the Phillies’ RHP Zach Eflin (7-2,3.15 ERA). Stripling threw six shutout innings against the Padres in his last start before the All Star Break, while Eflin has been on a hot streak. He’s 6-0 in his last seven starts, putting up a 2.32 ERA in that stretch.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1939 Using yellow dyed balls, the Cardinals beat the Dodgers 5-2 at Sportsman’s Park. The experimenting with the use of the colored sphere, which is designed to make the ball easier to see for the players and the fans, started in Brooklyn last week and will be tested once more, in a September game played at Wrigley Field.
  • 1962 Jackie Robinson becomes the first black player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Joining the Dodger infielder in the Cooperstown ceremony are fireballer Bob Feller, veteran manager Bill McKechnie, and outfielder Edd Roush.

  • 1965 Dick Stuart homers in the first inning in the Phillies’ 5-1 win over New York at Shea Stadium. ‘Dr. Strangeglove’, who played in Boston for the previous two seasons, becomes the first player to have gone deep in each of the 19 major league ballparks now in use. (Ed. note – Nineteen ballparks because both Los Angeles teams, the Angels and Dodgers, share the ballpark in Chavez Ravine. – LP)
  • 1974 At Three Rivers Stadium, Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey, a write-in All-Star starter, singles and doubles to help the National League beat the Junior circuit, 7-2. Mike Schmidt, also a write-in, plays in his first Midsummer Classic thanks to radio intern Howard Eskin’s on-air campaign which urged Phillies fans to stuff the ballot box for their young third baseman.

Also, Nomah! In 2002 Nomar Garciaparra establishes the record for consecutive home runs in the shortest time in terms of innings. In a 22-4 rout of the Devil Rays at Fenway Park, the Red Sox shortstop homers three times in two frames – two two-run homers in the second and a grand slam in the third.

Lineup when available.


Jul 22

Game 99, 2018

Dodgers at Brewers, 11:10 AM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FSWI, Dish455

The Dodgers try to win the rubber match with LHP Alex Wood (5-5, 3.92 ERA) pitching against the Brewers’ LHP Brent Suter (8-6, 4.39 ERA). We’re told Wood has “corrected a mechanical flaw” and is “pitching with more confidence.” He’s won four of his last six starts, averaging six innings in each of them. Suter tied for the team lead in wins at the All Star break with eight, but he’s been slumping. He’s given up 10 runs in 16 innings in his last three starts.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1913 In a game against the Superbas (Dodgers), Slim Sallee becomes the first pitcher in Cardinal history to steal home. In the third inning, the Redbird southpaw scores the first run in St. Louis’s 3-1 victory over Brooklyn at Ebbets Field.
  • 1966 The Mets left fielder learns he is a new dad when the Dodger Stadium scoreboard relays the message, “Congratulations, Ron Swoboda. Your new son is born tomorrow morning”. Cecilia Swoboda gave birth to Chipper, the couple’s first child, at 1:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time, making it the next day on the West Coast.
  • 2005 Yhency Brazoban records his 18th save when he works a perfect ninth inning as the Dodgers beat the Mets, 6-5. The Los Angeles freshman, who is filling in for injured closer Eric Gagne, breaks Steve Howe’s club rookie record for saves established in 1980.

Lineup when available.


Turner is back in the lineup. Whether he’s fully healthy is a different question.