Dodgers at Rockies, 12:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT SportsNet RM, SPNLA
RHP Kenta Maeda (7-4, 3.76 ERA) goes to the hill in Denver. He’ll face RHP Chi Chi González (0-1, 5.40 ERA). This is hard to believe, but Maeda is 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA against the Rockies at Coors Field in his career. González took the loss in his first start of the year last Tuesday, but it was the first time he’d been on a big league mound since 2016 thanks to extended recovery from Tommy John surgery, so he was probably just delighted to be back pitching whether he won, lost or got no decision.
Fox doesn’t offer a way to embed videos, but here’s a link to the clip of young Mr. Rios getting a triple for his first big league hit.
Today in Dodgers’ history:
- 1962 Sandy Koufax becomes the first Dodger southpaw to throw a no-hitter since Nap Rucker accomplished the feat in 1908 when he keeps the expansion Mets hitless in the team’s 5-0 victory in Los Angeles. The 26 year-old left-hander, en route to fanning 13, strikes out the first three batters he faces – Richie Ashburn, Rod Kanehl, and Felix Mantilla, on nine pitches to start the game with an immaculate inning.
- 1973 With an 8-7 extra-inning loss to L.A. at Riverfront Stadium, the Reds finish the day 11 games behind the first-place Dodgers. Led by the eventual National League MVP Pete Rose, who will win the batting title with a .338 average, Cincinnati will go on a 60-26 tear to capture the Western Division by 3.5 games.
- 1985 Pedro Guerrero ties a major league record by hitting 15 home runs in June when he goes deep off Bruce Sutter in his final at bat of the month. The eighth inning two-run round-tripper will prove to be the difference in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory over Atlanta at Chavez Ravine.
- 1997 Rangers’ hurler Bobby Witt becomes the first American League pitcher to hit a home run in a regular-season game in nearly 25 years. His round-tripper off Ismael Valdes helps Texas to beat the Dodgers in interleague action, 3-2.
- 2013 “When it comes to compassion, the Rays are batting .000.” – DELCIANNA WINDERS, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement at the PETA Foundation.
Miguel Cabrera, joining Luis Gonzalez of the Dodgers, becomes only the second player to hit a homer into the 10,000-gallon touch tank at Tropicana Field. The Tigers slugger’s round-tripper draws the attention of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who, in a written letter to the Rays’ organization, requests the team to allow the 30 or more captive cownose rays be returned to their natural habitat because the animals are subject to harassment, loud crowds, and at the risk of being injured by baseballs.
Lineup when available.
Today's Dodger lineup at Rockies:
Pederson LF
Beaty RF
Taylor SS
Bellinger 1B
Muncy 2B
Ríos 3B
Hernández CF
Martin C
Maeda P#Dodgers | @Biofreeze pic.twitter.com/0G0TGxXNR0— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 30, 2019
NPUT
Keeping the Angels in my thoughts today.
With good reason.
The Angles have lost too many good players before their time, starting with Lyman Bostock and, then, Nick Adenhart.
Oh Canada! https://twitter.com/BSmile/status/1145714789299171328?s=20
Dodgers gain ground on everybody except the Gnats – 12 ahead of Rox, 13.5 ahead of Pads, 14 ahead of Snakes, 19.5 of Gnats. Yanquis are closing in on best record – Dodgers are one game and .004 ahead of them. As the Barves lost, Dodgers have best NL record by 6-1/2 games.
And again with the bad call on Urias.
Zelmo for two!
Tie game, but at a cost. Hopefully not too great.
This would be a great time for Kiké to find his…
I sense big trouble brewing right now.
Blackmon with OPS 1.459 at Coors this year.
That last home run was a Colorado home run.
Phew. We come back to Denver for one more three-game series — July 29-31. The other six times we play them at Dodger Stadium.
ESPN sets a new personal worst with two blackouts in one day.
We did what we needed to do. We split the series and we took four games off the schedule. Time to move on.
So long Denver!
that will do
Woo-HOO!!!
Good future person!
get Blackmon off the basepaths, great idea
Still …the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard, and the jello’s jiggling
Well. It’s Coors, so…
Make that 2 HRs.
For those watching on SPNLA and hearing Joe and Orel talk about it, here’s the Baseball Almanac timeline of the rules changes baseball’s made since 1845.
Well, here we go. Three outs in a row please.
Joc’s raised his average 9 points with three hits in this game.
Martin: ugh! At least he has two hits in this game.
Enrique likes that first pitch!
Rbi for Belli!
Nice easy inning.
Urias is awesome.
The best time to pitch to Blackmon is with the bases empty.
We may need to add a catcher to our trade deadline shopping list. You know, one that can hit.
Will Smith says hello.
Then they should use him.
I am sure they will.
Yes. I hope we see more of him after the all star game.
Not sure who is out there and available that can hit, in any event
Some guy named Grandal’s doing pretty well for the Brewers.
I doubt he’s available.
Or that we would want him back. (And the Brewers wouldn’t get rid of him anyway.)
No, there’s too much talent. Smith should be next year’s starter (maybe later this year), Barnes a backup.
At OPS+ 133, I’d take him!
I took this comment as being facetious.
You’d be correct.
Nice inning from Julio after a Rockies start.
Well done
He couldn’t spell his name properly, but he had the right idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9YmFnx94xA
Ooph. Ugly play. Or lack thereof.
Are you kidding, Ump? Was that penance for the ball 4 call?
Three Dodgers pitchers named to ASG roster: Buehler, Kershaw, Ryu
No everyday players other than Cody, who made it in as a starter by popular vote.
Good. They need the rest. Plus, no risk of injuries.
Radio guy Tim is lobbying for Muncy to go there, as injury replacement if for no other reason.
Will the Dodgers have a representative in the home run derby? Should they?
Cody was invited but declined.
Hey good news you made the all star team. The bad news is, it is in Cleveland.
Only one HR so far. Odd.
Our bullpen only has to get 4 more innings to end this game
A bridge too far?
Beaty’s lazy ball for a double and everything else singles.
Not crushed, but still well hit.
This is better. Six ain’t 16 but it’s better than zip.
Maybe this will be the Bellinger ab I was hoping for last time.
This game is wacky.
I actually love Coors Field – in limited amounts. It is anxiety-inducing, though.
It’s a beautiful stadium. But, man!
It is a great place to watch, and an easy walk from a downtown hotel, and the ticket prices are much less than Dodger Stadium, but still you can have it.
Narrow seats
I love Denver and love the Rockies when we aren’t playing them (sister and nephews big Rockies fans) but I can’t forgive the altitude for Kenley’s heart scare.
You can never assume it’s a laugher.
I saw a game there once back when Don Baylor was managing. Beautiful place to watch a game.
I watched Kemp basically end his career there
Thank you, ump.
Hit it in front of those deep outfielders
That’ll do, Matt. That’ll do.
I would please like about 16 more in this inning.
Only 10 more to go.
Mister Singles.
A singular sensation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyZeGOsR9IA
Yes! Two in!
Turner needs a Barry Bonds elbow pad
Regardless of how this game ends, here is how I feel about playing here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3mgapAcVdU
I agree. Made me laugh.
Oh no, a painful way to get an RBI
Station to station. Nice job you guys.
Now we need an extra base hit
Greedy.
Joc’s single worked just fine
I was terrified Martin was going to hit into a DP.
You got it!
Did Roberts really think Rosscup was the answer in that inning? I guess so.
Lefty lefty. He loves that configuration.
Wasn’t a move made from the heart, I can assure you.
Like that!
Rios has a sweet swing.
DP!!!!!!! Woot!!!!!!
We need a day off. 18 games in a row is at least two games too many.
I thought there for a hot minute that we were going to have the killer 5th inning. Maybe a killer 6th?
Lots of game left and it is looking more and more like Colorado High ball from here on out
That dribbler set all this up
Maeda looks bummed.
I foresee a DFA.
I can’t even…
Rosscup? Really?
He got weak contact – too weak…
Only other lefty is Julio. Doc hesitates to bring him in with runners on.
Figures that Maeda would pitch better than Buehler, Ryu, and Kershaw in this series. I mean I guess. Somehow.
(Although Kersh pitched better than his linescore yesterday.)
Pulling out the player of the game already.
Goes out on top!
Too soon. Too soon.
Hmm..third time facing the top of the order Rox lefties? A more aggressive move by Doc would have been to bring in Julio. Even then, Rosscup got the weak contact he was looking for.
A different view from the dugout though
I am glad we got two runs in the top of this inning, but we really needed more.
No kidding. Bad luck for Belli. He hit that ball hard.
Big K for Kenta.
Sometimes I dislike baseball.
That sounds like bad futuring.
Not terrible, but not great.
Cody may want to speak to Murphy under the stands after this game.
“And don’t bring your glove.”
Wow, he has sure had some hard-hit outs this weekend.
If Belli hadn’t tried the slide would he have been safe?
Looked like he was beaten anyway and did it out of desperation.
Thanks.
No way.
Just unreal.
Belli cannot catch a break.
CT coming off the hot streak a bit.
Haven’t seen Taylor swing and miss like that nearly as much lately. Old Taylor…
MO is to swing and miss when they are right over the plate.
Said he adjusted by starting his swing earlier. That time it cost him.
That strike 2 looked like one for Taylor to hit.
Hoping Bellinger gets up this inning and has a more successful at bat.
Like something off – or over – a wall.
Yes, and no.
But really mostly no.
He must be so frustrated. I know I am.
Calling that hit a grounder to first on Gameday does not do it justice.
Kenta a real pain in the…
Nice, Joc!
Keep it rolling.
Kenta doing all the work today!
Maeda doing it all!
We are matched up again!
Great time for a hit, Martin!
Probably not Maeda’s last inning – but for sure he will get one more at bat. Since he has 25% of all the hits that have happened in today’s game.
Kenta’s pitch count rising fast.
Take your glasses off Clark Kenta and go back to work
That was super, man.
Cody not happy right now.
He’s hit the ball well, without results.
Great hit, better than great catch.
It had to happen. Tim N on the radio called Chi Chi González “Chi Chi Rodriguez” just now.
Blackmon against the Dodgers this season at the start of this game:
.424/.474/.788/.1.262
Grisly like
Wordplay!
We have scored first in all four games in this series.
One would think we could win 50% of the time with that stat
If we win today, we would have accomplished that in this series. But who knows?
A quiet 6 game hitting streak for Joc. Would be louder if some of BABIP would reflect how hard he has hit the ball.
At Coors, he’s a singles hitter.
Ironic.
With that single, Maeda ups his batting average to an even .300.
A tidy 27-pitch two innings for Kenta.
Kiké has given us some significant home runs, which are great, but otherwise not much. For the year he is .211/.282/.398/.680. He is hitting below .185 since the end of April. During June he has 19 Ks and 3 BBs.
I thought that the Dodgers had decided not to play Bellinger at first anymore because of possible injuries there.
Doc said that he wanted to give him a rest after three days of running around in the Coors outfield.
I think we will see more of it.
Yeah, Joc at first is not a good look.
Questions include whether Bellinger is a noticeably better right fielder than Verdugo and if Pollock is a better defender in CF than Verdugo. An outfield of Joc, AJ, and Alex with Belle at first could be the Dodgers best defense.
I would certainly take Belli in RF over Verdugo, however slim the margin, but this injury risk thing of him at first shouldn’t be a decider. Heck, Joc more likely to be injured there. Just tell Belli not to dive so much and leave those for Quique or Max, who has greatly improved his defense.
Coulda, woulda, Maeda win this game?
What is the under for today’s Rockies/Dodgers game?
I was surprised to read how well Maeda has pitched at Coors (don’t have the stats at hand right now).
Um. I wrote that in the body of the post.
“Maeda is 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA against the Rockies at Coors Field in his career.”
Short-term memory issues.
London blackout again, but ESPN is condescending to show us a handful of highlights – unlike their usual Sunday MO.