Tag Archives: Clayton Kershaw

May 26

Game 52, 2023

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Dodgers at Rays, 3:40 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Sun, SPNLA

The Dodgers’ RHP Noah Syndergaard (1-3, 5.88 ERA) hopes to win a second consecutive game for the first time this season. In his way is the Rays’ LHP Jalen Beeks (1-2, 4.68 ERA), who’s been in the big leagues since 2018 and has a career record of 15-10 and a 4.15 ERA.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 2015 Clayton Kershaw pitched seven innings of four-hit ball and the Dodgers scored six runs in the fourth inning on doubles by Howie Kendrick, Andre Ethier and A.J. Ellis and went on to beat the Atlanta Braves 8-0.
  • 2019 Kenta Maeda got his sixth win of the season in a slugfest at PNC Park which the Dodgers won 11-7 over the Pirates.

Also, a very famous game took place on this date in 1959: Pirates’ hurler Harvey Haddix pitches 12 perfect innings but loses 1-0 to the Braves in the 13th inning. The heart-breaking winning run scores on a Don Hoak error, a sacrifice, a walk, and a two-bagger by Joe Adcock. To add insult to injury,

In 1991, the Committee for Statistical Accuracy in Baseball announced that a no-hitter would be redefined as “a game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit,” meaning Haddix’s gem no longer qualified. When he was made aware that one of the greatest games ever pitched no longer had a place in the record books, his response was simple: “It’s OK. I know what I did.”

Lineups when available.

May 21

Game 48, 2023

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Dodgers at Cardinals, 11:15 AM PDT, TV: BS Midwest, SPNLA

It’s the Dodgers’ LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-3, 2.52 ERA) versus the Cardinals’ RHP Jack Flaherty (3-4, 5.24 ERA).

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1927 For the second consecutive day, an umpire at Ebbets Field is the target of fan abuse. Arbiter Frank Wilson needs a police escort after the Robins (Dodgers) drop a twin bill to the Cubs.
  • 1952 The Dodgers score a major league record fifteen first-inning runs en route to a 19-1 rout over the Reds at Ebbets Field. After Ewell Blackwell retires the first batter, the next 19 Brooklyn batters reached base (10 hits, 7 walks, and 2 HBP), including Pee Wee Reese getting to first base three times during the frame.
  • 1963 Jim Maloney ties a major league record shared by Max Surkont (1953 Braves) and Johnny Podres (1962 Dodgers) when he strikes out eight consecutive batters, beginning with the last out in the first inning, in the Reds’ 2-0 victory over Milwaukee at County Stadium. The Cincinnati right-hander also equals the franchise mark with 16 strikeouts in one game, established by Noodles Hahn in 1901.
  • 2000 Major League Baseball has its first six grand-slam day less than one year after establishing the mark with five, with Garret Anderson (Angels), J.T. Snow (Giants), Brian Hunter (Phillies), Jason Giambi (A’s), and Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green (Dodgers) all contributing to the record. The NL also set a league record, blasting four of the six base-loaded homers.

Lineups when available.

May 18

Game 45, 2023

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Dodgers at Cardinals, 4:45 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports Midwest, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Julio Urías (5-3, 3.61 ERA) pitches for the visiting Dodgers and RHP Adam Wainwright (0-0, 7.20 ERA) goes for the Cardinals. This is just Wainwright’s third appearance of the year; he missed all of April with a groin strain he suffered in a workout prior to the championship game of the World Baseball Classic. He went 2-0 over eight innings in the WBC, so he’s apparently still got some skill at age 41. He’s got 195 career wins, right behind Clayton Kershaw.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1929 In the doubleheader played at Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl, the teams combine to score a record fifty runs when the Dodgers outlast the Phillies, 20-16, before dropping the nightcap to the home team 8-6. In the opener, Brooklyn’s Johnny Frederick crosses the plate five times, giving him the major league mark of scoring eight runs in two consecutive games.
  • 1931 Dodgers’ outfielder Babe Herman hits for the cycle for the first of two times this season. In 1933, as a member of the Cubs, he will again hit for the cycle, making him and Bob Meusel the only major leaguers to have accomplished the feat three times since 1900.
  • 1942 Night games in New York are banned for the duration of WW II, leaving fans in the dark about the status of the All-Star Game scheduled to be played at the Polo Grounds on the evening of Monday, July 6. The prohibition of nighttime tilts, announced by NYC Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine, will change the starting times for 28 contests involving the Dodgers and Giants. (The first night game at Yankee Stadium will be played in 1946.)
  • 1998 With a 6-3 victory over the Orioles, the Devil Rays become only the second expansion team in major league history to sweep an away four-game series. The 1993 Colorado Rockies, who did it against the Dodgers, is the other team to accomplish this feat.

Another historical note: In 2004 At the age of 40, southpaw Randy Johnson becomes the oldest pitcher to throw a perfect game when the Diamondbacks beat the Braves, 2-0. The ‘Big Unit’ joins Cy Young, Jim Bunning, Hideo Nomo, and Nolan Ryan as the only hurlers to throw no-hitters in both leagues and creates the longest time span between no-no’s, having first accomplished the feat against the Tigers in June of 1990.

Lineups when available.

May 16

Game 43, 2023

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Twins at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: BS North, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

RHP Bailey Ober (2-0, 1.85 ERA) goes for the Twins and LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-2, 2.36 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1913 Alfredo Cabrera, born in the Canary Islands, becomes the first person from Spain to appear in the majors. The 32 year-old Cardinals shortstop will go 0-for-2 in the only big league game he will play, a 6-5 loss to the Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
  • 1967 Reliever Phil Regan loses his first game in 77 appearances. The ‘Vulture’ gets pinned with his first defeat in over a year when Astros’ third baseman Bob Aspromonte hits a two-run triple in the tenth to beat the Dodgers, 5-3.
  • 1970 During a game against the Giants at Dodger Stadium, Alan Fish, sitting with friends from the Poinsettia Playground in the second row seats along the first base line, is struck in the head by a foul ball off the bat of Manny Mota. The 14 year-old boy will die four days later to become the first fatality as a result of a batted ball in major league history.
  • 1983 In an 11-4 rout of the Pirates, rookie right fielder Darryl Strawberry hit his first major league home run, a two-run round-tripper off Pittsburgh’s Lee Tunnell at Three Rivers Stadium. The troubled Mets outfielder, the eventual franchise leader with 252 homers, will hit a total of 335 during his turbulent 17-year career with the Mets, Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees.
  • 2000 After a fan steals Los Angeles’ catcher Chad Kreuter’s hat and hits him in the back of the head, many Dodgers, including coaches John Shelby and Rick Dempsey, go into the stands and start fighting with the Wrigley Field faithful. When the melee ends, several fans are arrested as the game is delayed nearly ten minutes, and there is litter all over the field.

Lineups when available.

May 10

Game 38, 2023

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Dodgers at Brewers, 10:40 PM PDT, TV: BS Wisconsin, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Clayton Kershaw (5-2, 2.53 ERA) goes for the Dodgers and LHP Wade Miley (3-1, 2.31 ERA) goes for the Brewers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1953 With a double and home run, Roy Campanella drives in all the runs in the Dodgers’ 5-0 victory over the Phillies at Ebbets Field. Campy’s total of 40+ RBIs in the first 30 games will not be matched until Tino Martinez accomplishes the feat in 1997 with the Yankees.
  • 1955 Dodger right-hander Don Newcombe faces only 27 batters when he one-hits Chicago at Wrigley Field, 3-0. Gene Baker, who will be thrown out trying to steal second base, ruins Newk’s bid for perfection, with a fourth-inning single.

Other historical notes: on this day in 1909 Fred Toney completes the longest no-hitter in organized baseball history, a 1-0 victory over the Lexington Colts of the Blue Grass League. As word spread around town about the Class D Winchester Hustlers right-hander’s performance on the mound, fans continued to stream into the ballpark before the lone run of the contest scored on a squeeze play in the bottom of the 17th. And if you thought the Phillies’ Ben Chapman was bigoted only toward African-Americans, think again. On this date in 1934 Chapman, who will lead the protest against Jackie Robinson in 1947, harasses a Jewish fan during a Yankees’ 13-3 victory of the White Sox at the Bronx ballpark. The New York left fielder shouts disparaging epithets and taunts the team’s supporter with Nazi salutes.

Lineups when available.

May 05

Game 33, 2023

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Dodgers at Padres, 6:40 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports San Diego, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Clayton Kershaw (5-1, 1.89 ERA) pitches for the visiting Dodgers while RHP Yu Darvish (1-2, 3.60 ERA) takes the ball for the Friars.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1953 In the second game of a twin bill at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, Braves’ hurler Max Surkont strikes out the hitter for the third out of the second inning, and will continue to fan batters until there is one out in the fifth inning en route to a 10-3 victory over the Reds. The eight consecutive strikeouts establish a new major league record, surpassing the mark of seven straight strikeouts shared by Dazzy Vance (Robins aka Dodgers, 1924) and Van Lingle Mungo (Dodgers, 1936).
  • 1955 In his first major league start, Dodger rookie starter Tommy Lasorda ties a record, throwing three wild pitches in the first inning of the team’s 4-3 victory over St. Louis at Ebbets Field. The future Dodgers’ Hall of Fame skipper, during his one inning of work, will be spiked by Wally Moon while covering a play at home plate after uncorking on of his errant pitches.
  • 1962 In just his fourth big league start, Bo Belinsky throws the first hitless game in Angels history and the first one ever tossed at Dodger Stadium, beating the Orioles, 2-0. The 25 year-old southpaw is only the tenth rookie to throw a no-hitter.
  • 2000 Former Dodger skipper Tommy Lasorda is named manager of the United States’ Olympic baseball team. The Hall of Fame pilot won four National League pennants and two World Series titles with Los Angeles.
  • 2008 At Coors Field, Derek Lowe throws 43 pitches before he retires the first Rockies batter of the game. The Dodgers starting pitcher never recovers from the 50-pitch, three-run first inning, leaving after the fifth of a 7-2 eventual loss to Colorado.
  • 2008 In the 4,000th game played at Dodger Stadium, Joe Torre’s Dodgers beat the Mets, 5-1. The Los Angeles skipper also managed in the 1,000th game at the Astrodome (Mets – 1977) and Coors Field (Yankees – 2007), the 2,000th at Busch Stadium (Cardinals – 1991), the 3,000th at Angel Stadium (Yankees – 2003), and the 6,000th at Yankee Stadium (Yankees -2001).
  • 2009 The Dodgers tie the major league record of 12 consecutive wins at home to start the season with their 3-1 victory over Arizona. L.A.’s 12-0 start at home equals the mark set by the Tigers in 1911.

Lineups when available.

Apr 23

Game 23, 2023

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Dodgers at Cubs, 11:20 AM PDT, TV: Marquee Sports Network, SPNLA

LHP Clayton Kershaw (3-1, 2.52 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers while RHP Marcus Stroman (2-1, 0.75 ERA) does the same for the Baby Bruins.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1958 In a 7-6 loss to Chicago at the LA Coliseum, two Dodger mainstays from Brooklyn reach career milestones. First baseman Gil Hodges, who will finish his 18-year major league tenure with 370 home runs on his way to the Hall of Fame, hits his 300th career round-tripper, and Captain Pee Wee Reese, a future Hall of Fame shortstop himself, plays in his 2000th game.
  • 1999 Fernando Tatis Sr. becomes the only player in baseball history to hit two grand slams in one inning when he collects eight RBIs in one frame to breaks the old record of six. The Cardinal third baseman hits both off Dodger starter Chan Ho Park in an 11-run third of the team’s 12-5 victory at Chavez Ravine.
  • 2000 The Dodgers complete a sweep of the Reds to notch their 1,000th win over baseball’s oldest professional franchise. Since 1970, Los Angeles is the only National League franchise to play over .500 ball (120-115) in Cincinnati (Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field).

Lineups when available.

Apr 18

Game 18, 2023

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Mets at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: SNY, SPNLA, TBS

RHP Tylor Megill, (3-0, 2.25 ERA) pitches for the Mets and LHP Clayton Kershaw (2-1, 3.50 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

Here’s a novel way to steal a base:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1925 At his Waldorf-Astoria apartment, Dodgers’ owner Charles H. Ebbets dies of a heart attack at the age of 65. Later in the day, his team opens the home season in Brooklyn losing to the Giants at Ebbets Field, 7-0.
  • 1939 In Brooklyn, Red Barber calls the action in the first broadcast of a regular-season Dodger game, a 7-3 loss to New York at Ebbets Field. The future Hall of Fame announcer was brought in from Cincinnati by the team’s new president, Larry MacPhail, who had hired the ‘Ol Redhead’ when he was in a similar post with the Reds.
  • 1947 Dodger president Branch Rickey names team scout Burt Shotton to replace Leo Durocher, who was suspended ten days ago by Commissioner Happy Chandler for acts “unbecoming to a major league manager.” Brooklyn’s new 62 year-old skipper reluctantly takes over the team two games into the season and will manage the club for one year in his street clothes along with wearing the team’s hat and jacket.
  • 1950 Vin Scully calls the first game of his illustrious 67-year career with the Dodgers, detailing Brooklyn’s 9-1 defeat to the Phillies on Opening Day at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park. The 22-year old broadcaster, who will be awarded the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award by Bud Selig in 2014, will become the team’s primary announcer just three seasons later.
  • 1950 The Phillies play their first game with name official changed back from Blue Jays, routing the Dodgers at Shibe Park, 9-1. The team wears red pinstriped uniforms designed by manager Eddie Sawyer that are reminiscent of club’s look in the early 1900s.

  • 1952 On Opening Day in Brooklyn, Willie Mays is knocked unconscious when he smashes into the Ebbets Field wall after chasing pinch hitter Bob Morgan’s seventh-inning, two-out bases-loaded line drive into the gap in left field. All three Dodgers base runners cross the plate but do not score when the motionless Giants center fielder comes to his feet and jogs into the dugout, apparently unhurt, having held onto the ball after making a fantastic catch for the third out to end the inning.
  • 1958 At the Los Angeles Coliseum in front of a National League record crowd of 78,672, the Dodgers play their first game in the City of Angels. Carl Erskine gets the win, besting Al Worthington and the Giants, 6-5.
  • 1959 Branch Rickey, former general manager of the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Pirates, is appointed the president of the Continental League. The third potential major league never materializes, but helps to accelerate the expansion of the existing leagues, including putting a National League team in New York to fill the void created by the Giants’ and the Dodgers’ departure to the west coast in 1958.
  • 1964 L.A. southpaw Sandy Koufax throws the second of his two career immaculate innings when he strikes out the side on nine pitches. Although Leo Cardenas, Johnny Edwards, and Jim Maloney all strike out quickly in the top of the third inning, Cincinnati will score all of the game’s runs in the next frame, thanks to a three-run homer hit by Deron Johnson, to beat the Dodgers in the Chavez Ravine contest, 3-0.
  • 1966 Dodgers shortstop Maury Wills singles to center off future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, becoming the first batter to hit on artificial turf in a major league game. The Astrodome’s new playing surface, called Chemgrass initially by its manufacturer, the Monsanto Company, couldn’t be made quickly enough, so the season begins with the artificial material only on the infield with the outfield remaining painted dirt until July.
  • 2008 The Dodgers announce Joe Beimel has been selected by fans, in an online poll during Spring Training, as the player whose likeness will now be used in an August 12 bobblehead promotion. The 30 year-old southpaw reliever, considered a long shot for the honor, gets the nod due to a strong internet campaign orchestrated by his parents, Ron and Marge.

    Lineups when available.

    • Apr 17

    Game 17, 2023

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    Mets at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN, SNY, SPNLA

    LHP David Peterson (0-2, 4.91 ERA) pitches for the Mets and RHP Dustin May (1-1, 1.47 ERA) does the same for the Dodgers.

    Today in Dodgers’ history:

    • 1904 By not charging admission but requiring fans to buy a scorecard, the Superbas find a way to play their first Sunday game at home, beating the Beaneaters, 9-1, at Brooklyn’s Washington Park. The strategy attempts to circumvent legislation, known as the Blue Laws, designed to enforce religious edicts, including the observance of Sunday as a day of worship.
    • 1955 In his first major league at-bat, Roberto Clemente singles off Dodger pitcher Johnny Podres. The Pirates’ rookie, who will die in a plane crash attempting to bring relief aid to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua in 1972, will collect precisely 3,000 hits during his 18-year major league career, all with Pittsburgh.
    • 1956 White Sox shortstop Luis Aparicio, Dodger right-hander Don Drysdale, and Reds outfielder Frank Robinson play in their first major league games. The trio’s debut marks the first time three future Hall of Famers have made their initial appearance on the same day.

    • 1988 The Braves beat the Dodgers, 3-1, after breaking the National League record with ten losses to start the season. The team will drop 27 of its first 39 decisions, costing Chuck Tanner his job as the Atlanta manager.
    • 2013 Clayton Kershaw becomes the second-fastest Dodger to strike out 1,000 batters when he throws a second-inning 93-mph fastball past San Diego first baseman’s Yonder Alonso. The 25-year-old southpaw reaches the milestone in 970 career innings, 15 2/3 more than needed by Hideo Nomo, who established the team mark in 2003.

    Lineups when available.

    Sometimes I wonder about Dave Roberts. Chris Taylor, he of the .135 BA with five hits (albeit four of them home runs) in 37 ABs, hits cleanup today.

    Apr 12

    Game 13, 2023

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    Dodgers at Giants, 6:45 PM PDT, TV: NBCS BA, SPNLA

    LHP Clayton Kershaw (1-1, 3.75 ERA) takes the ball for the Dodgers and RHP Alex Cobb (0-1, 2.53 ERA) gets it for the Giants.

    Today in Dodgers’ history:

    • 1906 At Brooklyn’s Washington Park, Boston Beaneater rookie Johnny Bates becomes the first modern player to homer in his first major league at-bat. The 23 year-old outfielder connects off Harry McIntire in the top of the second inning in the team’s 2-0 Opening Day victory over the Superbas.
    • 1962 Pete Richert, making his major league debut, comes out of the bullpen and strikes out the first six batter he faces, a major league record. The rookie southpaw fans four in the third inning in LA’s 11-7 comeback victory over the Reds at Dodger Stadium.
    • 1976 The game against the Padres is rained out at Dodger Stadium for only the second time in the 14-year history of the ballpark. The washout ends a streak started in April 1967, covering a span of 724 straight contests, with subsequent postponements coming much sooner when inclement weather cancels two consecutive home dates in September.

    Lineups when available.