Jul 11

Game 92, 2018

Dodgers at Padres, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

The Dodgers send RHP Kenta Maeda (5-5, 3.24 ERA) to the mound to face the Padres’ LHP Joey Lucchesi (4-4, 3.27 ERA). Maeda went 5 2/3 innings against the Angels in his last start, giving up just one run. He went on paternity leave the following day. Lucchesi is a rookie; he went down with a hip strain but has come back and pitched well in three of his four starts since then.

On this day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1953 Giant rookie Al Worthington throws a four-hitter, blanking the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, 6-0. The whitewashing, which halts Brooklyn’s record NL streak of homering in 24 consecutive games and marks the only game this season the team will not a score, makes the 24 year-old right-hander the first National League freshman this century to throw consecutive shutouts at the start of a career, a feat that Karl Spooner will also match next season.
  • 1958 The Los Angeles city council declares today ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game Day’ to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the iconic baseball song. In a pregame ceremony at the LA Memorial Coliseum, the Dodgers honor lyricist Jack Norworth, presenting him with a lifetime pass to any American or National League game.
  • 1978 At Jack Murphy Stadium, Steve Garvey becomes the first two-time MVP in All-Star history. The Dodger first baseman’s game-tying, two-run single and a triple help the National League to beat the AL, 7-3.
  • 1980 The Dodgers sell Charlie Hough to the Rangers. The 32 year-old knuckleballer will spend 11 seasons with Texas, posting a 139-123 record along with an ERA of 3.68.
  • 1998 Padre reliever Trevor Hoffman, brother of opposing manager Glenn Hoffman, saves the Padres’ 4-1 victory over the Dodgers. It’s the first time in major league history a player has faced his brother as the skipper of the opposing team.

Also, in 1976 At Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium thirty-four couples marry at home plate and a wrestling championship match takes place in a promotion billed as Headlocks and Wedlocks. The Braves take down the Mets, 9-8.

Lineup:


Jun 17

Game 70, 2018

Happy Fathers’ Day to all the Dads in the audience.

Giants at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, NBCS Bay Area

RHP Chris Stratton ((7-4, 4.56 ERA) takes the hill for the Giants. He lost his last start after four consecutive wins, despite going seven innings and giving up only three runs on four hits to the Marlins. LHP Caleb Ferguson (0-0, 9.53 ERA) gets his third start for the Dodgers. His second one on June 12 was a marked improvement over his first on June 6, but he still gave up five hits and two runs in four innings on Tuesday against the Rangers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1915 Cubs right-hander reliever George Washington Zabel, called into the game with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, throws 18 and 1/3 innings of the Cubs’ 4-3 victory over the Robins at Chicago’s West Side Park. ‘Zip’, establishing the major league record for the longest relief stint in one game, beats Brooklyn starter Jeff Pfeffer, who tosses a 19-inning complete-game. (Pfeffer won 113 games for Brooklyn and lost only 80 in a nine-year career with the Robins.)
  • 1956 Joe Adcock’s ninth-inning home run off Brooklyn right-hander Ed Roebuck, his second round-tripper of the game, proves to be the game winner in the Braves’ 5-4 victory over the Dodgers. The blast to left field, which clears an 83-foot wall at the 350-foot mark, is believed to the only homer ever to land on the roof at Ebbets Field.
  • 1956 Fred Haney, named yesterday to replace Charlie Grimm , wins two games in his managerial debut with the Braves when the team sweeps a doubleheader against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, 5-4 and 3-1, starting a streak of 11 consecutive victories. The club’s former coach will compile a 341-231 (.596) record, guiding Milwaukee to two pennants and a world championship during his four seasons at the helm.
  • 1976 At Shea Stadium, Dave Kingman hits a walk-off homer to give the Mets a 1-0 victory over the Dodgers. Sky King’s game-ending blast comes off Charlie Hough in the 14th inning.
  • 1992 Dodger farmhand Mike Piazza, believing he was low balled in his contract negotiations, takes exception to the team giving a reported bonus of $500,00 to top draft pick Ryan Luzinski, a 220-pound catcher from Holy Cross High in Delran, New Jersey who will never play in a major league game. Next season, Piazza will be selected as the National League’s Rookie of the Year, and will hit .331 in seven seasons for LA.

One more item from the history book: on this date in 1962 Met Marv Throneberry’s apparent first inning triple becomes an out on an appeal play for missing second base in an 8-7 loss to San Francisco at the Polo Grounds. When New York manager Casey Stengel questions the call, he is told by the umpire, according to legend, “Don’t bother arguing Casey, he missed first base, too.”

Lineup when available.


Sep 03

Game 136, 2017

Dodgers at Padres, 1:40 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSSD

The Dodgers ask LHP Alex Wood (14-1, 2.41 ERA) to help them salvage a split in this series, while the Padres ask RHP Jhoulys Chacin (11-10, 4.03 ERA) to help pull off an unlikely series win.

Wood is coming off the disabled list where he’d been with an irritated sternum; he’s been given a cortisone injection. Despite that he’s having a career year. Chacin has been unable to get past the fifth inning in his last four starts but has limited the opposition to one run in three of them.

Seager and Bellinger have not been in the lineup together since August 19. The Dodgers are averaging 3.14 runs-per-game in the two weeks since.

This day in Dodgers history:

  • 1917 Grover Cleveland Alexander goes the distance in both games of the Phillies’ doubleheader sweep of Brooklyn at Ebbets Field. In his 18 innings of work, the Philadelphia right-hander limits the Dodgers to seven hits en route to posting 5-0 and 9-3 victories in the twin bill.
  • 1978 At Dodger Stadium, Lee Mazzilli becomes the first Mets player to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a game. The center fielder’s first and seventh inning blasts, respectively hit off southpaw Tommy John and right-hander Charlie Hough, pace the last-place club to an 8-5 victory.

Lineup when available.

Jun 17

Game 69, 2017

Dodgers at Reds, 1:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-O

LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (2-6, 4.42 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers, trying to get his first win in nearly a month. The Reds’ rookie RHP Asher Wojciechowski (1-0, 5.21 ERA) hasn’t won since May 20 himself. Ryu has given up four runs including four home runs in each of his last two starts. Wojciechowski has gone at least five innings in each of his last two starts after giving up three home runs over four innings in his first start with the Reds on May 30.

Before the game the Reds unveiled a bronze statue of Pete Rose in headlong slide, joining statues of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez outside Great American Ballpark.

Dodgers farmhand Jair Jurrjens was suspended for 80 games by MLB for testing positive for testosterone. He’s 4-3 with a 4.64 ERA in 11 Pacific Coast League outings this season, including 10 starts.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1956 Joe Adcock’s ninth-inning home run off Brooklyn right-hander Ed Roebuck, his second round-tripper of the game, proves to be the game winner in the Braves’ 5-4 victory over the Dodgers. The blast to left field, which clears an 83-foot wall at the 350-foot mark, is believed to the only homer ever to land on the roof at Ebbets Field.
  • 1956 Fred Haney, named yesterday to replace Charlie Grimm , wins two games in his managerial debut with the Braves when the team sweeps a doubleheader against the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, 5-4 and 3-1, starting a streak of 11 consecutive victories. The club’s former coach will compile a 341-231 (.596) record, guiding Milwaukee to two pennants and a world championship during his four seasons at the helm.
  • 1976 At Shea Stadium‚ Dave Kingman hits a walk-off homer to give the Mets a 1-0 victory over the Dodgers. Sky King’s game-ending blast comes off Charlie Hough in the 14th inning.
  • 1992 Dodger farmhand Mike Piazza, believing he was low balled in his contract negations, takes exception to the team giving a reported bonus of $500,00 to top draft pick Ryan Luzinski, a 220-pound catcher from Holy Cross High in Delran, New Jersey who will never play in a major league game. Next season, Piazza will be selected as the National League’s Rookie of the Year, and will hit .331 in seven seasons for LA.

Lineup: