Aug 13

Game 121, 2019

Dodgers at Marlins, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: FS-F, SPNLA

RHP Dustin May (0-1, 3.18 ERA) takes the mound in Florida. He’ll face Hawai’i boy RHP Jordan Yamamoto (4-3, 4.17), who started off in the big leagues like a house afire but has cooled off in his last four outings: he’s given up four ER or more in each of those games. May will be making the third start of his career: he’s gone 5 2/3 innings in each of his first two, striking out ten and walking just one.

How good is the Dodgers’ rotation? So good that Kershaw is only the third-best pitcher in it. Partly because of that, the Dodgers are having their best season since they moved to Los Angeles. “But, but, the bullpen!” Well,

If there’s a weakness on this team, it’s clearly the bullpen, though having the ninth-best bullpen ERA (per Fangraphs) isn’t exactly the disaster the narrative around the relievers might have you think.

Here’s an excellent story about Walker Buehler from SI’s Tom Verducci. WBBsAs pointed it out in the comments to the previous post.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1910 In a game which features each team having 38 at-bats, 13 hits, 12 assists, 2 errors, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 hit batsman, and 1 passed ball, the Pirates and the Superbas (later to be known as the Dodgers) play to what else – an 8-8 tie.
  • 1951 Any fan who shows up with a musical instrument during the Dodgers’ Musical Depreciation Night is admitted free to the Ebbets Field contest against Boston. With an assortment of trumpets, trombones, zithers, tubas, accordions, bugles, flutes, various type of drums, violins, mandolins, assorted horns, a glockenspiel, a washboard, and a piano, 2,426 fans, which is about 10% of the total crowd, take advantage of the team’s unusual promotion.
  • 1965 Dean Chance establishes an American League record when he fans to extend his streak to 11 consecutive plate appearances with a strikeout. The Angels’ right-hander falls one shy of the major league mark set by Sandy Koufax, who whiffed in 12 consecutive plate appearances in 1955.
  • 1982 At Chavez Ravine, Dodger second baseman Steve Sax steals his 41st base to set a franchise record for rookies when he swipes second base in LA’s 6-1 victory over San Francisco. The eventual National League Rookie of the Year, the fourth consecutive Dodger to win the award, will extend the record to 49.
  • 2006 LA’s Greg Maddux and SF’s Jason Schmidt hook up in a classic West Coast pitcher’s duel, reminiscent of match-ups of Koufax and Marichal, as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 1-0, thanks to Russell Martin’s 10th inning walk-off home run. When Giants slugger Barry Bonds lines into a double play in the first inning, it marks the only time in baseball history a 300 game winner pitches to a batter with over 700 homers.
  • 2007 For the first time in 1,303 games, Nomar Garciaparra of the Dodgers is ejected from a game. The 12-year veteran infielder, who is tossed by home plate umpire Tom Hallion for arguing a called third strike in the fourth inning, is restrained by first base coach Mariano Duncan when he continues to shout and points his bat toward the umpire.

Lineup when available.

Jul 21

Game 102, 2019

Marlins vs. Dodgers, 1:10 PM PDT, TV: FS-F, SPNLA

The visiting Marlins send Hawai’i boy RHP Jordan Yamamoto (4-0, 1.59 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers’ RHP Walker Buehler (8-1, 3.44 ERA). Yamamoto has gotten a lot of ink in the local newspaper; our local TV stations don’t even bother with sports news anymore so I haven’t seen him there. He’s made six starts and given up no more than four hits in any of them. Buehler gave up six runs to the Phillies on Tuesday (only two were earned — there’s the Dodgers’ suddenly suspect defense) but gave up no more and went six innings while the Dodgers caught up and took him off the hook.

Here’s Beaty’s HR in the bottom of the 8th inning to retake the lead lost in the top of the inning:

Bonus video: Kershaw’s 60th 10-strikeout game of his career and his RBI single:

On this date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1930 Harvey Henrick’s ninth-inning three-run round-tripper off the bench gives the Dodgers a dramatic 9-8 come-from-behind victory over the Redbirds at Ebbets Field in the first game of a twin bill. Redbirds George Puccinelli and Jim Bottomley and Brooklyn’s Hal Lee also homer appearing as pinch-hitters in the game.
  • 1956 In a 13-6 defeat to the Cubs, Dodgers’ shortstop Pee Wee Reese becomes one of five active players to collect 2000 hits, and teammate Junior Gilliam sets a major league record by handling 12 assists at second base.
  • 1963 The usually mild-mannered Dodger manager Walter Alston is thrown out of both games of a doubleheader when the Braves sweep a twin bill from Los Angeles for the first and only time in Milwaukee, 7-2 and 13-7. To make matters worse, the manager has beer thrown in his face by a hometown fan as he leaves the second game. (My thanks to Lee for sharing this entry. He attended the game at County Stadium as a ten year-old. -LP)
  • 2003 At Dodger Stadium, Vladimir Guerrero hit his 226th career home run, breaking Andre Dawson’s club record. The Expos’ right fielder hits his milestone round-tripper off Odalis Perez, a 454-foot blast over the left field wall.

Lineup when available.


No Bellinger, no CT3. Just a day off for each of them? I didn’t hear why Bellinger left last night’s game in the double switch; was there any speculation?