Game 158, 2022

Rockies at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT Sportsnet RM, SPNLA

The Rockies give the ball to RHP Kyle Freeland (9-11, $.63 ERA) and the Dodgers give theirs to RHP Michael Grove (1-0, 4.07 ERA).

Because the Dodgers have been in more tie-breaking series than any other team in baseball, they’ve had a lot of activity on the first day of October over the years. On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1944 Dixie Walker, an outfielder on the seventh-place Dodgers, wins the National League batting crown with a .357 batting average, finishing ten points higher than runner-up Stan Musial. In 1947, the ‘People’s Cherce’s younger brother, Harry ‘the Hat’, will also lead the Senior Circuit, hitting .363 in the year when he is traded, after playing ten games for St. Louis, to Philadelphia.
  • 1946 The Dodgers and Cardinals, who both finished the season with a 96-58 record, play the first game of a best-of-three series to determine the National League’s championship, marking the first time in major league history a playoff is needed to send a team to the World Series. St. Louis wins today’s Sportsman’s Park contest, 4-2, and will clinch the pennant in Game 2, beating the Brooklyn at Ebbets Field, 8-4.
  • 1950 On the last day of the season, Pee Wee Reese, ignoring second base ump Frank Dascoli’s directive to slow down when his high outfield fly becomes stuck between the screen and the right field wall, continues sprinting around the bases at full speed, crossing home plate with the tying run in a game the team needs to win to finish tied with Philadelphia for the NL flag. The Dodgers shortstop’s unusual inside-the-park homer, due to an odd ground rule, will be the only run Robin Roberts allows in the Phillies’ pennant clinching 4-1 victory at Ebbets Field.
  • 1950 After they retire today, Burt Shotton of the Dodgers and the A’s Connie Mack will become the last managers to wear street clothes. Although no edict specifically mandates a skipper must wear a uniform, there is now a rule that states that a person not wearing a uniform, except medical personnel, isn’t allowed on the field of play during a game.
  • 1950 In the season finale, Robin Roberts, in the first of his six consecutive 20-win seasons, becomes the first Phillies right-hander to win twenty games for the team since Grover Cleveland Alexander accomplished the feat with a total of 30 victories in 1917. The complete-game, ten-inning 4-1 Ebbets Field victory over the Dodgers hurled by the Whiz Kid from Springfield (IL) clinches Philadelphia’s first NL pennant since 1915.
  • 1951 The Giants’ 3-1 victory over the Dodgers in the first game of the National League playoffs is the first major league contest to be televised coast-to-coast. CBS, who obtained rights to the game, transmits the picture from Ebbets Field, but has to get the signal from ABC, who had made previous arrangements with WOR-TV, the New York station which carried Brooklyn’s regular season games.
  • 1955 After losing the first two contests in the Bronx, the Dodgers even the World Series at a pair of games apiece when they defeat the Yankees at Ebbets Field, 8-5. Brooklyn will make it three victories in a row tomorrow with a 5-3 victory over the Bronx Bombers, but it will take a dramatic Game 7 for the ‘Bums’ to capture their first World Championship.
  • 1961 The Wrigley Field on the West Coast hosts its last professional baseball game when the Angels, who will play at Dodger Stadium next season, are defeated by Cleveland, 8-5, in front of 9,868 fans at the 36 year-old ballpark, which will be torn down in five years to make room for an eventual public playground and senior center. In addition to being the home for the American League expansion team, the venue housed the PCL’s Angels from 1925 through 1957 and served as the location for the 1960 television series Home Run Derby.
  • 1974 At the Astrodome, Mike Marshall establishes the major league mark for the most appearances by a pitcher when he throws two innings in the Dodgers’ 8-5 victory over Houston. With his 106 appearances, the right-handed reliever appears in 65% of the games that his team played this season.
  • 1993 Mike Piazza plates Jose Offerman with a first-inning single to set a new team mark for runs driven in by a rookie with 107. The 24 year-old Dodgers catcher breaks the franchise record for rookie RBIs established by Del Bissonette, a freshman first baseman who played with Brooklyn in 1928.
  • 2009 The Rockies’ 9-2 win over Milwaukee assures the team of a wild card berth in the postseason, and puts the team in position to still win the NL West by sweeping the Dodgers this weekend in L.A. Although the team was 12 games under .500 on June 3, today’s victory, their 91st – a club record – puts Colorado 23 games over .500, another first in the 17 year history of franchise.

Lineups when available.

COL Lineup

Yonathan Daza (R) CF
Jose Iglesias (R) SS
Ryan McMahon (L) 3B
C.J. Cron (R) 1B
Brendan Rodgers (R) DH
Sean Bouchard (R) LF
Randal Grichuk (R) RF
Elias Diaz (R) C
Alan Trejo (R) 2B

LAD Lineup

Mookie Betts (R) RF
Trea Turner (R) SS
Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
Trayce Thompson (R) LF
Miguel Vargas (R) DH
Austin Barnes (R) C
Cody Bellinger (L) CF
Hanser Alberto (R) 3B
Gavin Lux (L) 2B

(Twitter is currently down.)

98 thoughts on “Game 158, 2022

  1. Grove faltering here a bit. Or – he is wanting more of Jaime talking with Tim and Orel!

    • It’s amazing that, coming from a country where baseball is a fringe sport at best, he could become such a remarkable figure in the game.

  2. The Mutts are tanking against the Crackers in Atlanta. DeGrom (yesterday) and Scherzer (today) have both gotten knocked around.

  3. “You can put this one in the refrigerator. The door’s closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling.”

    • Not lightning in a bottle, but it will do.Another odd stat: he’s 0-for-0 with two RBIs.

  4. Checking the score from time to time and noticed the Dodgers tied the game. Took a quick look at gameday and it looked like fantom scoring. Came here and scrolled down the comments and now I know what happened.

  5. Lamet used to be a statistical darling when he was with the Padres.
    And obviously he should get traded to the NL NY franchise.

  6. With the return of Kahnle and Almonte, and the emergence of Martin, I think that Kimbrel’s spot on the NLDS roster is very much in doubt.

      • I think Alberto definitely. He’s adequate at the plate, can play a few positions, is a great cheerleader and can pitch when we have a 12–1 lead. Or would they dare do that in a postseason game? Gallo strikes out way too frequently, but he can find lightening in a bottle once in a great while, is an excellent outfielder and bats lefty, unlike the other two. Vargas seems too green. I’d go with the first two.

        • I hear what you are saying about Hanser. Gallo’s glove is his best asset. Vargas is green to be sure, but speed and youthful energy can have its own charm.

  7. I wrote a haiku a few days ago when Kimbrel walked in the winning run vs the Padres:

    Goodnight Craig Kimbrel
    More pitches not required
    Tired of results

  8. Woah. Who is the calling the game with Orel tonight? I know it’s not Joe and it doesn’t sound like Tim…

    • It was great they featured an inning of his Spanish-language play-by-play on the main broadcast. It’s clear what an example Vin was to him.