Game 66, 2022

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Dodgers at Cincinnati, 3:40 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Ohio, SPNLA

The Dodgers give the ball to RHP Tony Gonsolin (8-0, 1.42 ERA), who would be officially leading the majors in ERA if he had more than 65 innings pitched (he’s pitched 63 1/3). The Reds counter with RHP Tyler Mahle (2-5, 4.46 ERA), who pitched a masterpiece his last time out (9 innings, 3 hits, no runs) and got no decision for his trouble. The Reds started out 3-22 and have gone 20-21 since, so they’ve improved, but they’re still mired in last place in the NL Central. The Dodgers have been mediocre in June, going 7-9, and now they’ve lost Mookie Betts for several weeks.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1957 In his first major league start, Von McDaniel‚ who graduated from Oklahoma’s Hollis High School last month, two-hits the Dodgers at Busch Stadium‚ 2-0. Brooklyn does not get a hit off the 18 year-old bonus baby until the sixth inning.
  • 1998 Bill Russell is released as Dodger manager and is replaced in the dugout by Glenn Hoffmann. In the front office, Tommy Lasorda assumes the general manager duties of the third-place club from Fred Claire.
  • 2016 Dean Kremer becomes the first-ever Israeli to sign a contract with a Major League baseball team when he comes to terms with the Dodgers, after being selected in the annual amateur draft earlier this month. The 20-year-old right-hander, who won Europe’s Most Valuable Pitcher award in both 2014 and 2015, has hurled for Israel’s national baseball team for the past three seasons. (Note: Kremer was traded to the Orioles in the Manny Machado deal in 2018; he’s 1-1 in three starts with the Orioles this season)
  • 2021 Needing only 197 games, nine-year veteran Yu Darvish becomes the fastest pitcher to record 1,500 career strikeouts, easily eclipsing Randy Johnson, who needed nine more starts to reach the milestone. The Padres’ right-hander establishes the mark with the 11th and final strikeout of his six innings of work against the Dodgers.

Lineups when available.

125 thoughts on “Game 66, 2022”

  3. Gonso not so sharp as he’s been in recent outings. Taking a while to put away hitters, elevated pitch count.

  9. Belli can’t catch a break. He has hit two balls right on the money but right at them.

  22. I have searched, but I can’t find the records of teams in challenges this year.

  24. I had breakfast with some friends — big Dodger fans — in L.A. on Sunday, including their two teen-age sons. After we left, one of the boys said that Evan Phillips was sitting at a nearby table. I wouldn’t have recognized him if he had stood right in front of me.

  26. Will wasn’t using his usual good eye. Ump took one from him but still, kept swinging at the high balls.

  28. Gonsolin has settled down nicely. He is at 87 pitches through five. His high water mark this season is 92 (twice).

  29. Freeman now has 23 doubles. The single-season club record is 52, set by Johnny Frederick in 1929. It’s time to surpass that mark.

  30. The Gnats jumped out a 4-0 lead in the second, buy generously gave back all that and more to the Barves, who now lead 5-4 after three.

  32. I did a little digging. That was the Dodgers’ FIRST sacrifice of the year (not including sac flies).

        • Roberts probably opened The L.A. Times on Sunday, saw my letter, turned to his wife and said, “A sacrifice bunt! Why haven’t I thought of that?”

    • Absolutely. In that regard, here is a letter that I sent last week to the sports section of the L.A. Times, which ran it on Sunday:
      “Speaking to The Times after Sunday’s loss to the Giants, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, ‘Collectively, I thought there was a lot of compete. But again, when you have that situation [with runners on base], you have to find a way to push those guys across.’
      “He should look in the mirror. How about considering the double steal, hit-and-run, sacrifice bunt, bunt-and-run, suicide squeeze or safety squeeze? The Dodgers rarely employ any of these to try to move up runners. They have been time-tested for decades. The manager is the strategist, not the players.”

  49. I apologize for going to only one of the three-game series in L.A. last weekend. Perhaps if I had gone to the Friday and Sunday games again, the Dodgers would have swept. LOL. I listened on SiriusXM to the Dodger broadcast while driving home. Steiner made many errors of omission and commission. Monday said that when Taylor swings at a pitch, he puts it in play only 25 percent of the time. With the season now 40 percent complete, CT3 is on a pace to strike out 200 times. JT, Bellinger and Muncy have a combined batting average entering today’s game of .195. (119-for-610). JT, who had driven in 31 runs the first one-third of the season (54 games) has driven in only three more since then. Muncy had the lowest batting average, .153, of all qualified players in either league and the second lowest OPS in the NL. Nonetheless, we are in first place, so that makes me happy.

  54. In his entire 8 1/2-year professional baseball career, nearly all of it in the minor leagues, Eddy Alvarez has played two games in right field, one being the unfortunate occurrences of last Sunday. Why is he in right field again today?

  55. For what it’s worth, Dean Kremer (Stockton-born) is a dual citizen of the US and Israel. His parents are Israeli immigrants, and he grew up speaking Hebrew at home. He’s apparently said he would follow Koufax’s precedent in opting out of pitching on Yom Kippur (should he be so fortunate as to be on a team that’s playing at that time of year).

  56. More about Mahle from Jim Bowden at The Athletic:

    Tyler Mahle, RHP, Reds
    Age: 27
    W-L: 2-5 ERA: 4.46 FIP: 3.29 IP: 74 2/3
    WAR: 1.4 WHIP: 1.246

    Mahle posted a 6.45 ERA in five starts in April and a 4.88 ERA in six starts in May. But he’s rebounded in June, registering a 1.71 ERA in three starts (21 innings, 28 strikeouts, four walks, 15 hits allowed) to put himself back in the trade mix. Mahle is arbitration-eligible and under team control through the 2023 season, which increases his trade value. The righty has a 93-94 mph fastball, a solid split-finger that he throws 26 percent of the time, a well-below-average slider and an occasional cutter. Opponents are hitting .179 (26-for-145) against the four-seamer, .267 (24-for-90) against the split-finger and .306 (11-for-36) against the slider. Mahle had a career-best season in 2021, going 13-6 with a 3.75 ERA in 33 starts with 210 strikeouts in 180 innings.