Game 62, 2021

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Dodgers at Pirates, 9:35 AM PDT, TV: YouTube

LHP Julio Urias (8-2, 3.48 ERA) goes for the Dodgers and RHP Mitch Keller (3-6, 6.65 ERA) goes for the Pirates.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2012 Bobby Abreu, who was tied with Mickey Mantle for 109th place on the all-time hit list, surpasses the Yankee legend with a second-inning double in L.A.’s 8-2 interleague victory over Seattle at Safeco Field. The 38 year-old outfielder has collected 2,416 hits playing for the Astros, Phillies, Yankees, Angels, and Dodgers.

Lineup when available.

118 thoughts on “Game 62, 2021”

  3. Rained out, the Gnats lose just half a game to Dodgers – as do the idle Pads. Given that the Nats played an extra-inning at Tampa last night, using all their best relievers, the day off should benefit them more than it does SF.

  4. Getting back to “scuffling” vs. “struggling” per Bellinger, one of the synonyms for “scuffling” is “struggling.”

    • Great, if unexpected, scene from a great movie. B.J. Thomas, who sang it, died a couple of weeks ago at 78. As we have some time on our hands, here is a portion of his obituary in the L.A. Times:
      “A Hugo, Okla., native who grew up in Houston, Billy Joe Thomas broke through in 1966 with a gospel-styled cover of Hank Williams’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ and went on to sell millions of records and have dozens of hits across several genres. He reached No. 1 with pop, adult contemporary and country listeners in 1976 with ‘(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.’ The same year, his “Home Where I Belong” became one of the first gospel albums to be certified
      platinum for selling more than 1 million copies.
      “His signature recording was ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,’ a No. 1 pop hit and
      an Oscar winner for best original song as part of the soundtrack to oneof the biggest movies of 1969, the irreverent western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Thomas wasn’t the first choice to perform the whimsical ballad composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; Ray Stevens turned the songwriters down. But Thomas’ warm, soulful tenor fit the song’s easygoing mood, immortalized on film during the scene when Butch (Paul Newman) shows off his new bicycle to Etta Place (Katharine Ross), the girlfriend of the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford).
      “ ‘Raindrops’ ” has since been heard everywhere from ‘The Simpsons’ to ‘Forrest Gump’ and was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. But, at first, not everyone was satisfied. Thomas was recovering from laryngitis while recording the soundtrack version and his vocals are raspier than for the track released on its own. Redford, meanwhile, doubted the song even belonged in ‘Butch Cassidy.’
      “ ‘When the film was released, I was highly critical — how did the song fit with the
      film? There was no rain,’ Redford told USA Today in 2019. ‘At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. How wrong I was.’
      “Thomas would later say the phenomenon of ‘Raindrops’ exacerbated an addiction to pills and alcohol that dated to his teens, when a record producer in Houston suggested he take amphetamines to keep his energy up. He was touring and recording constantly, and taking dozens of pills a day. By 1976, while ‘(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song’ was hitting No. 1, he felt like he was “No. 1,000.’
      ” ‘I was at the bottom with my addictions and my problems,’ he said in 2020 on ‘The Debby Campbell Goodtime Show.’ He cited a ‘spiritual awakening,’ shared with his wife, Gloria Richardson, with helping him to get clean.
      “Thomas had few pop hits after the mid-1970s, but he continued to score on the country charts with such No. 1 songs as ‘Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love” and ‘New Looks from an Old Lover.’ In the late 1970s and early ’80s, he was also a top gospel and inspirational singer, winning two Dove Awards and five Grammys,
      including a Grammy in 1979 for best gospel performance for ‘The Lord’s
      Prayer.’
      “Fans of the 1980s sitcom ‘The Facts of Life’ heard him as the singer of the show’s theme song. He also acted in a handful of movies, including ‘Jory’ and ‘Jake’s Corner’ and toured often. Recent recordings included ‘Living Room Music,’ featuring cameos from Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill and Richard Marx. He had planned to record in 2020 in Muscle Shoals, Ala., but the sessions were delayed because of the pandemic.. . .
      “Besides music, Thomas loved baseball as a kid and started calling himself B.J. because so many Little League teammates also were named Billy Joe. . . “

        • Well, that certainly was his biggest hit, or the song he is most known far. The film won four Oscars: original screenplay, cinematography, original score and original song, and was nominated for best film.

          • I strangely found myself singing the Facts of Life theme song in the shower a few days ago!

          • From Wikipedia entry on Bobbie Gentry, who is 78:
            1978–1982: Final performance and appearances
            Gentry appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on Christmas Day 1978. She attended the Best of Vegas Awards on March 21, 1980.
            On May 10, 1981, Gentry was one of many celebrity guests to take part in An All-Star Salute to Mother’s Day. During the television special she performed “Mama, a Rainbow” from the musical Minnie’s Boys for her mother who was seated in the audience. This would prove to be Gentry’s final public performance.
            Gentry’s final public appearance came almost one year later when she attended the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 30, 1982. She was 40 years old. Since that time, she has not recorded, performed or been interviewed. One 2016 news report stated that Gentry lives in a gated community near Memphis, Tennessee. According to another, Gentry lives in a gated community in Los Angeles.

  8. Here comes the runs and I say do do do do do do (or however the song goes)

  16. Barnes has two walks today. He has not walked three times in a game since April 2019.

  20. We’re going to need more than four runs to win this game. Also, Kenley won’t be available after pitching the last two games.

  22. Don’t worry if the game is stopped before five innings are completed. Here’s why (from a baseball website):
    “Major League Baseball, though, revised its suspended-game rule for the 2020 season and that revision has carried over into 2021. Any game that’s started, no matter how many or few pitches have been thrown, can be suspended at any point if weather or other conditions prevent play. . . This is an excellent rule. What it accomplishes is this: Teams no longer have to play through horrendous conditions to get tofive innings (“official game”) or, almost worse, sit around for several hours waiting for bad weather to clear the area.”

    • Yeah in general, though this particular game is complicated because it is the last game of this East coast swing. Two more trips coming up, but not clear when they would be able to get back here.

  30. Dodgers are ready to explode this game. Can feel it coming like a summer thundershower.

    And Urias is making it rain…

  35. That was a pretty good last curveball to Mookie. Would not have been surprised if the ump rang him up on it. He has been called out on far worse pitches this season.

  38. Good morning to some of you, particularly to Link in Hawaii, where it is 6:21 a.m. Good afternoon to the rest. That was a great win yesterday. To get 7 1/3 innings of one-hit shutout relief pitching is remarkable…Muncy is leading the NL in walks (45) and OBP (.420). Urias is tied for the MLB lead in wins (8).

    • Yes. Bickford was the only reliever used, and he pitched just one inning for the first save of his career.

  43. Pujols has had only 52 ABs with the Dodgers, but his slugging percentage is higher that it ever was in any of his nine-plus seasons with the Angels.