Jul 26

Game 102, 2017

Twins at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FSNO

RHP Ervin Santana (11-7, 3.26 ERA) goes for the Twins and RHP Brock Stewart (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes a spot start for the Dodgers.

Santana has hit a rough patch in his last five outings, going 2-3 with a 4.25 ERA while walking 11 batters. He only got through 3 1/3 innings last Friday against the Tigers and gave up five runs. Stewart, 25, has been used out of the bullpen this season, appearing in six games and throwing 13 innings. He’s filling in for Kershaw and McCarthy, who are both on the DL. He made five starts for the Dodgers in 2016, going 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA in 28 innings. He’s on a 50-60 pitch limit.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1900 In Brooklyn, a sheriff seizes the St. Louis share of gate receipts to reimburse Gus Weyhing, recently released by the Cardinals after posting a 3-4 record in eight starts with the team, who claims to have been cheated out of ten days of pay. Next week, the right-hander, known as Cannonball by his teammates, will sign with the Superbas as a free agent.
  • 1948 Former Dodger skipper Leo Durocher, who left the team ten days ago, makes his first appearance at Ebbets Field since taking over the Giants. The return of ‘the Lip’ is less-than-triumphant when his new team drops a 13-4 decision to Brooklyn.
  • 1951 In a 9-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Jim Russell becomes the first player in major league history to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a game in two different games. The Dodger outfielder’s accomplishment will be surpassed in 1956 when Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle goes deep both right and left-handed in the same game for a third time.
  • 1960 The Phillies end their scoreless streak of thirty-eight consecutive innings when Johnny Callison plates Tony Gonzalez with a sixth-inning single in the team’s 4-3 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Philadelphia’s drought began when the team failed to score in the last six frames of a 3-0 win against the Giants, and continued when they were shutout in three straight games ( 2-0, 2-0, and 9-0) by the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
  • 1991 Mark Gardner no-hits the Dodgers for nine innings, but Los Angeles wins the game in the bottom of the tenth on two singles off the Expos’ starter and Darryl Strawberry’s RBI single off reliever Jeff Fassero. It’s the first time the Dodgers had been held hitless at home for nine innings since Johnny Vander Meer’s second straight no-hitter in 1938.

Lineup:

Jul 16

Game 93, 2017

Dodgers at Marlins, 10:10 AM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-F

The Dodgers go for a sweep behind LHP Rich Hill (5-4, 3.69 ERA). He’ll face the Marlins’ LHP Chris O’Grady (1-0, 5.06 ERA).

Hill has struck out 27 in his last 21 innings and gone 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA. All three of those games were quality starts. O’Grady makes his second career start. His first was against the Giants on July 8, when he went 5 1/3 innings, gave up five hits and three runs and got the win. He’s taking the place of Edinson Volquez, who was scheduled to come off the 10-day DL but whose patellar tendinitis hasn’t healed.

This day in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1913 In a game against the Cubs, Superbas’ second baseman George Cutshaw handles 14 chances without an error. The infielder’s defensive prowess helps Brooklyn beat Chicago at Ebbets Field, 4-2.
  • 1948 Brooklyn’s Branch Rickey agrees on a deal with Giants owner Horace Stoneham that releases his manager Leo Durocher to become the Giants’ skipper, replacing the popular Mel Ott. Burt Shotton will take the ‘Lip’s’ place in the Dodger dugout.

On this date in 1990 Steve Lyons embarrassed himself dreadfully by dropping his uniform pants while standing at first base after sliding into the bag to beat out a bunt.

Lineup when available.

Jul 06

Game 87, 2017

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: SPNLA, FS-A

The D-Backs try to salvage one game of the series by sending out a left-handed pitcher! It’s true, it’s true! He’s Robby Ray (8-4, 3.06 ERA), who’s going to the ASG by virtue of his fellow players voting him in. Ray is 6-1 with a 1.81 ERA in his last eight starts. The Dodgers, not to be outmaneuvered, send out their own LHP, Rich Hill (5-4, 4.00 ERA), who’s made his last two starts of the year his best ones. In the last one he shut out the Padres for seven innings, giving up just four hits, striking out 11 and walking just one.

Kiké Hernandez is 7-for-18 lifetime against Ray with 3 HRs and five RBI, so expect him in the Dodgers’ lineup.

This date in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1938 At Crosley Field, Yankees’ hurler Lefty Gomez is defeated for the first time in four All-Star starts as the NL wins the All-Star game 4-1. National League shortstop Leo Durocher becomes the first Dodger to start in an All-Star Game and gets a ‘bunt’ home run
  • 1953 In his first major league start, 24 year-old right-hander Al Worthington throws a two-hitter, blanking the Pirates, 6-0. The Giants’ rookie, known as ‘Red’, will become the first National League freshman to throw consecutive shutouts at the start of a career, when he repeats the feat in his next outing, also blanking the Dodgers, 6-0.
  • 2000 Vin Scully, 72, is voted the No. 1 sportscaster of the 20th century by members of the American Sportscasters Association. The Dodger veteran broadcaster’s 51-year career has included play-by-play of 25 Fall Classics and 12 All-Star games.

Lineup when available.