Aug 21

Game 120, 2022

Marlins at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: BSF, SPNLA

RHP Ryan Pepiot (1-0, 4.26 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers today, his 25th birthday, and RHP Sandy Alcantara (11-5, 1.92 ERA) does so for the Marlins. Pepiot has made two starts in August but he’s been pulled before he could finish the fifth inning in either. Alcantara leads the league in ERA (the Dodgers’ Gonsolin, Urias and Anderson are numbers 2, 3 and 6 respectively). He’s 2-1 with a 1.52 ERA in August.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1975 The Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 6-0. Rick goes 6 1/3 innings and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
  • 1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk’s pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez’s double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest. (Editor’s note: I got home from work in time to see that inning. I was nearly yelling by the time the Dodgers got the third out.)

  • 2005 Florida suspends their bat boy for six games after the 11 year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny’s $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The Milk Processor Education Program will promise to pay off the dare and to cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if the sixth grader, who is able to drink the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down, agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.

Lineups when available.

Aug 21

Game 124, 2021

Mets at Dodgers, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: FS1, SPNLA, WPIX

Old friend LHP Rich HIll (6-4, 4.08 ERA) goes for the Mets and RHP Max Scherzer (10-4, 2.89 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1975 The Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 6-0. Rick goes 6 1/3 innings and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
  • 1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk’s pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez’s double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest.

  • 2005 Florida suspends their bat boy for six games after the 11 year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny’s $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The Milk Processor Education Program will promise to pay off the dare and to cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if the sixth grader, who is able to drink the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down, agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.

Lineup:

Aug 21

Game 28, 2020

Rockies at Dodgers, 6:40 PM PDT, TV: ATT Sportsnet RM, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

The visiting Rockies send RHP Jon Gray (1-2, 5.74 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers’ RHP Walker Buehler (0-0, 5.21 ERA). Gray won his last start, giving up three runs on three hits while striking out seven in seven innings. Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts says Buehler is close to his normal self, but his ERA surely doesn’t reflect it yet.

Kershaw passed Don Drysdale in career strikeouts as a Dodger yesterday:

Today in Dodgers’ history, two very different events, one a calamitous bullpen meltdown I witnessed on Friday Night baseball and one hilarious overreaction on the part of a baseball team’s supposedly-professional management:

  • 1975 The Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 6-0. Rick goes 6.1 innings, and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
  • 1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk’s pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez’s double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest.

  • 2005 Florida suspends their bat boy for six games after the 11 year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny’s $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The Milk Processor Education Program will promise to pay off the dare and to cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if the sixth grader, who is able to drink the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down, agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.

Lineup:

Aug 21

Game 128, 2019

Blue Jays at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: SNET, SPNLA

RHP Wilmer Font (3-3, 4.41 ERA with three different teams so far this season — Rays, Mets, Jays) faces the Dodgers’ RHP Walker Buehler (10-3, 3.31 ERA). The Jays have indicated this will be a bullpen game, so while Font starts he’s expected to give way to Zack Godley and others in the middle innings. Buehler’s last start was uncharacteristic: in four of the five innings he started he allowed the leadoff man to get on base, including the fifth when he was knocked out and was charged with the loss to the Marlins. He’s 5-0 at home this season with a 2.33 ERA.

Here’s Bellinger, thrown out at third and losing his pants on the same play!

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1975 The Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 6-0. Rick goes 6.1 innings, and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
  • 1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk’s pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez’s double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest.

  • 2005 Florida suspends their bat boy for six games after the 11 year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny’s $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The Milk Processor Education Program will promise to pay off the dare and to cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if the sixth grader, who is able to drink the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down, agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.

Lineup:

Aug 21

Game 127, 2018

Cardinals at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: SPNLA, FS-M, ESPN

The Cardinals have moved Luke Weaver to the bullpen and replaced him with tonight’s starter, rookie RHP Daniel Poncedeleon (whose name seems to be the equivalent of Fred Meriwetherlewis). He’s 0-0 with a 2.04 ERA on the year, and in his one start he threw seven scoreless innings, walked three and struck out three but did not get a decision. His opponent will be the Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-0, 1.77 ERA), whose last start was remarkably good — he pitched six scoreless innings while giving up just three hits and striking out six in his first appearance after three months on the disabled list.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1975 The Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 6-0. Rick goes 6.1 innings, and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
  • 1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk’s pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez’s double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest.

  • 2005 Florida suspends their bat boy for six games after the 11 year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny’s $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The Milk Processor Education Program will promise to pay off the dare and to cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if the sixth grader, who is able to drink the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down, agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.

Whoa. The Nationals have apparently thrown in the towel on this season. They just made two trades for very little in return: Matt Adams to the Cardinals for cash and Daniel Murphy to the Cubs for cash or a PTBNL and another minor leaguer.

Lineup when available.


Aug 21

Game 123, 2017

Dodgers at Pirates, 4:05 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, ATT SportsNet Pit

The Dodgers will start LHP Alex Wood (14-1, 2.30 ERA) in the fourth game of their seven-game road trip. He and the Dodgers will face RHP Gerrit Cole (10-8, 4.04 ERA).

The Dodgers won the first three games of the season series by a combined total of 21 runs to six. Wood has made seven appearances against the Buccos, six of them starts, and he’s held them to a .227 BA while putting up a 2.61 ERA. Cole had a good June and July going 7-2, but he’s been up and down the rest of the season and he’s given up more than twice as many HRs (26) as he ever has before. His ERA is half-a-run higher than his career average to this point, too.

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1975 The Reuschel brothers of the Cubs join forces to blank the Dodgers, 6-0. Rick goes 6.1 innings, and Paul finishes the game for the first shutout thrown by siblings.
  • 1990 The Phillies overcome an eight-run deficit, scoring nine runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Dodgers, 12-11. John Kruk’s pinch-hit three-run homer ties the game, and two batters later, Carmelo Martinez’s double plates Rod Booker with the eventual winning run in the Chavez Ravine contest.

  • 2005 Florida suspends their bat boy for six games after the 11 year-old accepts former Marlin and current Dodger hurler Brad Penny’s $500 dare to drink a gallon of milk in less than an hour without throwing up. The Milk Processor Education Program will promise to pay off the dare and to cover the lost wages resulting from the suspension if the sixth grader, who is able to drink the quantity in the allotted time but cannot keep it down, agrees to drink three glasses every 24 hours.

Here’s a bit of trivia I’d never heard before: in 1951 Major General Emmett O’Donnell is selected by the owners to be the new commissioner. President Harry Truman overrules the decision, stating the officer is needed in Korea in his post as commander of bombers.

Bellinger improving but ankle still swollen. Won’t start tomorrow either, Roberts said.

Lineup when available.