Oct 06

NLDS Games Three, 2019

On this day in baseball history Sandy Koufax takes Yom Kippur off, Willie Davis makes three errors in the fifth inning of Game Two of the World Series, Jim Palmer beats Sandy Koufax in the same game, Phil Niekro wins his 300th game, and Lenny Harris surpasses Manny Mota’s career pinch-hit record.

The early game is Braves at Cardinals, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: TBS

The Braves send rookie RHP Mike Soroka to the Busch Stadium mound to face the Cardinals’ veteran RHP Adam Wainwright. Soroka has been sensational on the road; he’s made 16 starts away from home and given up no more than three runs in any of them and no more than two in fourteen. That computes to a road ERA of 1.55. Wainwright will be making his 25th career postseason appearance — his 13th start — and a 3.03 career ERA in those games. He’s been even better at Busch, where he’s got a 1.72 ERA.

Braves lineup:

Cardinals lineup:

The second game is Dodgers at Nationals, 4:45 PM PDT, TV: TBS

The Dodgers send LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu to the mound to face the Nationals’ RHP Aníbal Sánchez. Ryu’s been dominant at home and a little less so on the road, but as the MLB Game Preview author says, when you lead the major leagues in ERA you pitch well everywhere. Sánchez is substituting for Max Scherzer, who’d originally been penciled in for this start until he struck out the side in the 8th inning in Game Two.

The Dodgers and their families arrived at National Airport yesterday evening. Look at all the daddies holding their children’s hands going down the stairs.

Dodgers lineup:

Nationals lineup:

Sep 16

Game 150, 2018

Dodgers at Cardinals, 5:00 PM PDT, TV: ESPN

On ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball RHP Ross Stripling (8-3, 2.61 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers and RHP Adam Wainwright (1-3, 4.70 ERA) goes for the Cardinals. Stripling’s three losses this season have come on the road despite a 2.86 ERA in his 18 appearances away from Dodger Stadium. He’s 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA against the Cardinals in his short career. This is Wainwright’s fifth start of the year. He made three in April and injured his elbow, tried to come back in May but wasn’t ready, and has made one start in September. Six days ago he started against the Pirates, went five innings, gave up seven hits and four earned runs but avoided the loss. Because of this lost season, he’s thinking about retirement.

On this day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1924 Cardinal first baseman Sunny Jim Bottomley goes 6-for-6, including two homers, and bats in a record twelve runs when the team beats the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, 17-3. The previous mark of 11 RBIs in one game was established in 1892 by today’s opposing Dodger manager, Wilbert Robinson.
  • 1976 In the 11th inning at Veterans Stadium, Rick Joseph hits a walk-off grand slam in the Phillies’ 8-4 victory over the Dodgers. Two batters are walked intentionally by Ron Perranoski to face the weak hitting Philadelphia pinch hitter, who responds with his first career home run, which will be his only round-tripper this season.
  • 1988 The Reds’ Tom Browning pitches a perfect game against the Dodgers, striking out eight and allowing only eight balls to be hit out of the infield in his 1-0 victory. Over three starts, including the perfect game, he retires 40 consecutive batters – one shy of a major league record.

On September 16, 1993 Dave Winfield got his 3000th hit. In 1996 Paul Molitor did the same. And in 2005 Youppi!, who got his start at Olympic Stadium, is named as the first official mascot of the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first to ever switch from Major League Baseball to the NHL. The acquisition, reportedly at the cost of six figures, is made possible when the Expos leave the hairy orange arm-waving giant behind in favor of an eagle called “Screech” when they moved to Washington, D.C. to become the Nationals.

Lineup when available.

Jun 01

Game 55, 2017

Dodgers at Cardinals, 10:45 AM PT (that’s 7:45PM CEST for Bob Hendley), TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), ESPN, SPNLA, FS-M

RHP Brandon McCarthy (5-1, 3.28 ERA) goes for the Dodgers and RHP Adam Wainwright (5-3, 4.20 ERA) will go for the Cards. McCarthy left his last start against the Cubs after six scoreless innings, complaining of knee tendinitis, which he says he’s had since spring training. Wainwright has made three consecutive quality starts, giving up just one run in his last 20 1/3 innings. This will be his 331st game in a Cardinals uniform, which moves him past Larry Jackson into 10th place on the all time games-pitched list for the Redbirds.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1955 Duke Snider blasts three home runs in the Dodgers’ 11-8 win over Milwaukee. Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, and Roy Campanella also go deep in the Ebbets Field’s contest, helping Brooklyn set a franchise record with six home runs.
  • 1962 In the nightcap of a twin bill at Shibe Park, Don Drysdale beats the Phillies for the 13th consecutive time, continuing a streak which started in 1958. The Dodger right-hander, however, will drop his next seven decisions against Philadelphia after today’s victory.
  • 1997 When Wilton Guerrero scurries to pick up pieces of his shattered bat after grounding out to start the game, home plate ump Steve Ripley becomes suspicious and discovers that the bat has been altered. The rookie Dodgers second baseman is immediately ejected from the game by crew chief Bruce Froemming, and the 21 year-old infielder will also receive an eight-day suspension and a $1,000 fine for his use of a corked bat.

Lineup when available.

Oct 11

ALCS Day Two, NLCS Day One, 2014

Royals at Orioles, 10:00AM HST/1:00PM PT, TV: TBS

In Game One the Royals reversed conventional wisdom and hit three home runs while stealing no bases. The Orioles did the opposite, stealing two bases and hitting no home runs. The two teams go at each other again Saturday afternoon with the Royals leading the series 1-0. Pitching for the Royals will be Yordano Ventura, who went seven innings against the Angels in the Division Series on Friday, surrendering five hits and one run while striking out six. Ventura’s career record against the Os is 0-1 with 17 strikeouts and a 1.26 ERA. His opponent will be Bud Norris, who pitched 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball against the Tigers in the final game of the ALDS, giving up two hits and striking out six. He was a hard-luck loser against the Royals in May, giving up one run in 7 1/3 innings.

Giants at Cardinals, 2:00PM HST/5:00PM PT, TV: Fox

Madison Bumgarner and Adam Wainwright are the two horses of their respective staffs. The Giants did well against Wainwright this season, roughing him up twice, including May 30 at home when they got to him for seven earned runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. Bumgarner split two decisions against the Cardinals this year.

The teams are pretty even. Look at these numbers:

The similarities in the Giants and Cards are reflected in regular-season pitching numbers that are close to identical. Both teams finished with 3.50 team ERAs and eight complete games. The Cards, with 1,221 strikeouts, racked up 10 more than the Giants’ staff. Hitters batted .242 against the Cards, .241 against the Giants.

Oct 03

NLDS Day One, 2014

Giants at Nationals, 12:00PM PT, TV: FS1

The Giants start 13-year veteran Jake Peavy, the mid-season acquisition who was 1-9 with a 4.72 ERA for the Red Sox but 6-4 with a 2.17 ERA when he got back to the National League with the Giants. Their ace, Bumgarner, pitched and won the wild card game on Wednesday and won’t be available until Game 3 of this series on Monday. The Nationals have had their rotation set for two weeks, and tomorrow they start Stephen Strasburg, who was 14-11 with a 3.14 ERA this season. He’ll be making his postseason debut; in a controversial move the Nats’ management shut him down before the season ended in 2012, the last time the Washington team made the playoffs. (They missed the wild card by four games last season, and Strasburg was recovering from Tommy John surgery anyway).

Cardinals at Dodgers, 3:30PM PT, TV: FS1

Clayton Kershaw vs. Adam Wainwright. The best pitching matchup of any of these four series. We could see a double no-hitter.

Can Molina stop Dee Gordon and the other Dodger base stealers? Can the Dodgers keep from going into another hitting slump like they did last year?

We’ll find out this afternoon.

Jun 26

Game 81, 2014

Cardinals at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Adam Wainwright (he of the 10-3, 2.08 ERA record) goes for the Redbirds. The Dodgers send Josh Beckett (5-4, 2.28 ERA) out to meet him. Wainwright’s ERA is second in all of baseball, Beckett’s is fifth. (Kershaw’s is 2.24, but he hasn’t got the number of innings to match the one-inning-per-team’s-games requirement yet — he’s got 72.1 innings, and the Dodgers have played 80 games.)

Who’s gonna pitch for the Cards the rest of the series? Good question.

Joe Kelly, Michael Wacha and Jaime Garcia are already missing because of injury, and St. Louis had to use five relief pitchers after Miller exited. There is no official word on whether Miller will be available for his next start.

That means that Carlos Martinez (three career starts) and Marco Gonzales (moved from Double-A to the Majors on Wednesday for his first start) might need to hold down spots in the rotation.

Lineup when available.

Oct 28

World Series Game Five

“On paper, this projects as a low-scoring game. The Cards are batting just .235 as a team this series. The Red Sox are even worse at .189.”

Boston at St. Louis, 1:30PM HST, 4:30PM Pacific, 7:30PM Eastern on Fox.

The Sox’ pitcher is Jon Lester; the Cardinals’ pitcher is Adam Wainwright.

In two World Series starts, Lester has yet to allow a run, including pitching 7 2/3 shutout innings against the Cards in Game 1.

[snip]

Wainwright . . . struggled in the opener, allowing five runs (three earned) in five innings.

Oct 23

World Series Game One

St. Louis at Boston, 1:30pm HST, 4:30pm PST, 7:30pm EST on Fox.

David Pinto has a good analysis of the two teams, as does Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com.

One more thing to think about: this World Series is the last hurrah for Tim McCarver of Fox; he’s announced his retirement at the end of the season.