Game 126, 2019

Dodgers at Braves, 10:20 AM PDT, TV: FSSO, SPNLA

RHP Tony Gonsolin (1-1, 3.21 ERA) is back from OKC to make his third big league start. His first was forgettable: he went four innings and gave up six hits and six runs to the Diamondbacks on June 28. His second start was much better: he went six innings and gave up just two hits to the Cardinals on August 5. Dustin May is scheduled to make his first relief appearance of the season when Gonsolin reaches his pitch count. The Braves send LHP ace Max Fried (14-4, 3.78 ERA) out to try to clinch the series. He was a first-round pick of the Padres in 2012 and came over to the Braves in 2014 as part of the deal which sent Justin Upton to San Diego.

Here’s Bellinger’s amazing catch in center field in Saturday’s game:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1959 Long time baseball executive Branch Rickey is named president of the newly formed Continental League. The 77 year-old former Dodger general manager is currently serving as an advisor with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • 1982 In the second longest game in franchise history, the Cubs lose to the Dodgers, 2-1. The Wrigley Field contest, which is played over two days, takes a Dusty Baker sacrifice fly and 21 innings to complete.

A sad note: On this day in 1967 Jack Hamilton of the Angels threw a fastball which shattered Tony Conigliaro’s left cheekbone. The 22 year-old Red Sox slugger missed the rest of 1967 and all of the following year and never came close to the Hall of Fame potential displayed during his first three seasons.

Lineup when available.

140 thoughts on “Game 126, 2019

  1. Tuesday Topics – It was a quiet Monday in baseball. Dodgers still lead Gnats by 18.5, Snakes by 19, Pads by 22 and Rox by 24.5. The magic number remains 19.

    For best in NL, Dodgers still lead Barves by eight. Dodgers and Yanquis both idle last night, so Dodgers continue to trail NY by one. The Minute Maids held on against Detroit, and now trail NY by three and LA by two.

    While the Dodgers didn’t look their best against Atlanta, I’d say the most worrisome team in the NL is Washington. The Nats (gnot the Gnats) would seem a likely mild card finalist, and can boast a rotation of Scherzer (assuming he’s healthy), Strasburg (ditto) and Corbin. That’s formidable in a short series. Washington, though, is only four games behind Atlanta in the loss column, and might well overtake them for the division championship.

  2. Ken Gurnick reported that Kiké Hernández and Chris Taylor will likely be activated on Tuesday. I guess Garlick goes back to OKC and Negron gets a tight quad or something that will put him on the IL until September.

    • Can see them trying to keep hold of Negron, who has no more options, to the extent they may send down Beatty, who still has some. IL would do the trick.

  3. There was some concern that Belli might need to change his approach since he was not getting much by the shift. Well, since he went with high socks he is 10-26 (.384 BA), with 5 dingers.

      • Yup, and it’s a small sample, so it does vary up and down a bit. Still way better than in years past.

        • Yeah, so much better that if their overall record was .600, they would still be better than the two other division leaders.

  4. 1 for 22 after the second inning? Did I hear that correctly?

    The Braves are leading their division. It’s not unlikely we’ll see them in October. We’d better do a better job then than we did this weekend against them.

  5. After a great first inning, Dodgers now need to score at least one more time after snoozing through 2 – 8th

  6. Perhaps May should have remained a starter, particularly after his last start. What’s up, Doc?

  7. Gonsolin had thrown just 72 pitches. Roberts must have known something I don’t, ’cause seemed to me he earned a shot at five innings and a chance at the win.

  8. We will need five innings from a bullpen that didn’t get help by the trading deadline.

  9. Quick hook for Gonsolin after 72 pitches? He had 90 in his last MLB start on August 5.

  10. What was that I said a short while ago about Gonsolin’s pickoff attempt? Please disregard.

  11. I hope this won’t be one of those games where our wasted opportunities prove fatal.

    • As I recall BA RISP is above .300 and second best in the NL. Hate it when it happens, but nowhere near the same amount of misery as last year.

  12. Somewhat lost in the nature of this fine season is the fact that Seager is just having an OK year by his standards, although he has shown flashes of being red-hot, including recently. But I wonder if he is not fully recovered from all his injuries.

    • His hot May and June suggests that he had a big bounce back from his off-season surgeries, so they probably shouldn’t be include in “all”. Now seems to be on upswing after his in-season injury.

  13. Can’t stop remembering what Grant said when the Dodgers picked up Jedd: now the Dodgers will have 25 Gyorko’s on the roster.

  14. The Dodgers have five singles, a double, a homer and two walks, yet only three runs. Fried has retired only four of the first 13 batters he has faced.

  15. Two outs, runner on first, Hechavarria has only three steals for the season, and the pitcher is on deck. Just concentrate on the batter. Eschew the pickoff attempt.

  16. I am watching the game on TBS. Ron Darling is perceptive. On the hard grounder by Smith to Donaldson at third, Darling criticized Donaldson for not going around-the-horn to try for a DP and said he was playing too deep to try to do the third-to-first DP. “You’ve got to be perfect if you’re going to play the Dodgers,” he said. Of course, the Braves got the DP a batter later.

  17. Acuna’s quite a player, but our own Max has a higher WAR at this point, 5.3 to 5.2. Acuna rates a bit higher on oWAR, but surprisingly Max gets his advantage on the defensive side!

  18. I will take three runs in the first inning anytime. However, had Pollock not been picked off and if Gyorko had more speed, we might still be batting. I wonder why Ebel didn’t send Gyorko in on Garlick’s double, given that the intentional walk to Negron was likely to follow with the pitcher, Gonsolin, on deck.

  19. I read the details of what Urias did to his female friend, pushing her down, which was witnessed. I think the 20-game suspension is appropriate. Organized sports, which have been slow to take such actions, have awakened in the last few years. Such behavior cannot be tolerated. Perhaps Urias, and others, both inside and outside of sports, will learn a lesson about the ramifications of inappropriate, violent behavior. Sadly, such behavior in our society by men to women is all too frequent.

  20. Sunday Supplement – Yesterday was disappointing, as Dodgers now lead second-place Gnats by just 18.5 games. The Snakes trail by 20.5, the Pads 23.5, the Rox by 25. For best in NL, Dodgers’ lead over Barves has shriveled to just nine games.

    For best in baseball, Dodgers now trail Yanquis by one, but remain 3-1/2 ahead of the Minute Maids, who lost their third straight in Oakland yesterday. If the A’s can finish the sweep today, they’ll trail Houston by just five in the loss column.