Apr 03

Game 9, 2024

Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NBCS BA, SPNLA

LHP Kyle Harrison (1-0, 3.00 ERA) pitches for the Giants this evening; RHP Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 2.45 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers. This is the 22-year-old Harrison’s ninth start in the big leagues; he was 2-1 last year after making his debut in August. It’s the 30-year-old Glasnow’s 130th game and 91st start; he’s got a lifetime record of 31-27 and a 3.86 ERA. By the way, according to MLB.com Glasnow’s nickname is “Baby Giraffe.”

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1966 In his first at-bat against Juan Marichal since the pitcher’s bat-yielding incident last season, Johnny Roseboro hits a three-run inside-the-park home run in the Dodgers’ 8-4 victory over the Giants. Before starting the spring training contest, San Francisco GM Chub Feeney attempted to arrange a handshake between the combatants, with the Los Angeles catcher, who has a $110,000 lawsuit pending against the right-hander and the hurler’s team, declining the offer.
  • 1968 The Tigers trade left-hander Hank Aguirre to the Dodgers for a player to be named later, minor leaguer Fred Moulder. The All-Star southpaw, better known for being the worst hitter in major league history, will compile a .085 batting average during his 16-year major league career, striking out in an astounding 61% of his 388 at-bats. In his sole season with the Dodgers he appeared in 25 games, threw 39 innings, earned three saves and put up a .069 ERA, living up to his reputation by going 0-3 at the plate.
  • 1974 The Indians trade Pedro Guerrero to Dodgers for pitcher Bruce Ellingsen. The 17 year-old infielder/outfielder will compile a .309 batting average and will be named to the All-Star team five times during his 11 seasons with the team.
  • 2008 Twenty minutes before their game, the Dodgers announce reliever Hong-Chih Kuo will start in place of Chad Billingsley, who in turn will be in the bullpen. The unusual move, made due to the threat of rain at the start of the contest, is also employed by the Giants with Merkin Valdez beginning the game on the mound and the announced starter, and eventual winner Tim Lincecum entering the game in the fourth inning.

Lineups when available.

Apr 03

Game Five, 2023

Rockies at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT SportsNet-RM, SPNLA

RHP Ryan Feltner (2022: 4-9, 5.83 ERA) goes for the Rockies and RHP Michael Grove (2022: 1-0, 4.60 ERA) does the same for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1968 The Tigers trade left-hander Hank Aguirre to the Dodgers for a player to be named later, minor leaguer Fred Moulder. The All-Star southpaw, better known for being the worst hitter in major league history, will compile a .085 batting average during his 16-year major league career, striking out in an astounding 61% of his 388 at-bats. In his sole season with the Dodgers he appeared in 25 games, threw 39 innings, earned three saves and put up a .069 ERA.
  • 1974 The Indians trade Pedro Guerrero to the Dodgers for pitcher Bruce Ellingsen. The 17 year-old infielder/outfielder will compile a .309 batting average and will be named to the All-Star team five times during his 11 seasons with the team.
  • 2008 Twenty minutes before their game, the Dodgers announce reliever Hong-Chih Kuo will start in place of Chad Billingsley, who in turn will be in the bullpen. The unusual move, made due to the threat of rain at the start of the contest, is also employed by the Giants with Merkin Valdez beginning the game on the mound and the announced starter, and eventual winner Tim Lincecum entering the game in the fourth inning.

Lineups when available.

Feb 18

Open Thread #8, 2022

The only thing new about the negotiations between players and owners is the brevity of yesterday’s meeting: 15 minutes. From SB Nation:

ESPN’s Jeff Passan has some details of the MLBPA’s proposal. The union backed off its request for salary arbitration for all players with 2+ years of service time and instead requested 80% of the players. The players also requested an increase in the pre-arb bonus pool from $100 million to $115 million. Remember the league offered just $15 million for the bonus pool in their latest offer.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that the league consider’s the union’s most recent proposal of changes to the arbitration system a non-starter.

In other unhappy news, Calvin Jones has died of cancer. He was 58. He was the Dodger scout who studied and advocated signing Clayton Kershaw back in 2005-2006. Published six years ago at Bleacher Report, it’s a good story.

A couple of things about the 2006 draft: it had some very good pitchers in it. Here are the six players who went ahead of Kershaw:

  1. Luke Hochevar
  2. Greg Reynolds
  3. Evan Longoria
  4. Brad Lincoln
  5. Brandon Morrow
  6. Andrew Miller
  7. Clayton Kershaw

Then, three picks later, the Giants selected Tim Lincecum. Right after that the Diamondbacks picked Max Scherzer.

Not a bad draft, huh?

Apr 03

Game Three, 2021

Dodgers at Rockies, 5:10 PM PDT, TV: ATTSportsNetRM, FS1, SPNLA

RHP Walker Buehler (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his first start of the year for the Dodgers and RHP Jon Gray (0-0, 0.00 ERA) does the same for Rockies. Buehler only pitched 36 2/3 innings in last year’s shortened regular season; he went 1-0 in eight starts. He beat the Braves in the NLCS and Tampa Bay in the World Series, though. Gray was 2-4 in the same number of starts last season, pitching just 2 1/3 innings more than Buehler.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1968 The Tigers trade left-hander Hank Aguirre to the Dodgers for a player to be named later, minor leaguer Fred Moulder. The All-Star southpaw, better known for being the worst hitter in major league history, will compile a .085 batting average during his 16-year major league career, striking out in an astounding 61% of his 388 at-bats. In his sole season with the Dodgers he appeared in 25 games, threw 39 innings, earned three saves and put up a .069 ERA.
  • 1974 The Indians trade Pedro Guerrero to Dodgers for pitcher Bruce Ellingsen. The 17 year-old infielder/outfielder will compile a .309 batting average and will be named to the All-Star team five times during his 11 seasons with the team.
  • 2008 Twenty minutes before their game, the Dodgers announce reliever Hong-Chih Kuo will start in place of Chad Billingsley, who in turn will be in the bullpen. The unusual move, made due to the threat of rain at the start of the contest, is also employed by the Giants with Merkin Valdez beginning the game on the mound and the announced starter, and eventual winner Tim Lincecum entering the game in the fourth inning.

Lineup:

Mookie and JT get the day off, CT3 gets a start as does Edwin Rios.

Apr 03

Game 7, 2019

Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PT, TV: NBCS BA, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Derek Holland (0-1, 6.75 ERA) goes for the Giants while RHP Ross Stripling (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his second start for the Dodgers. Holland gave up three runs in four innings to the Padres in his first start of the season, while Stripling threw 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball against the Diamondbacks in his. Holland is 0-3 with a 4.56 ERA in seven career appearances against the Dodgers; Stripling was 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA in four games against the Giants last year.

Bellinger is pleased with his start, naturally, but he’s astonished that yesterday’s game was the 300th of his career.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1968 The Tigers trade left-hander Hank Aguirre to the Dodgers for a player to be named later, minor leaguer Fred Moulder. The All-Star southpaw, better known for being the worst hitter in major league history, will compile a .085 batting average during his 16-year major league career, striking out in an astounding 61% of his 388 at-bats. In his sole season with the Dodgers he appeared in 25 games, threw 39 innings, earned three saves and put up a .069 ERA.
  • 1974 The Indians trade Pedro Guerrero to Dodgers for pitcher Bruce Ellingsen. The 17 year-old infielder/outfielder will compile a .309 batting average and will be named to the All-Star team five times during his 11 seasons with the team.
  • 2008 Twenty minutes before their game, the Dodgers announce reliever Hong-Chih Kuo will start in place of Chad Billingsley, who in turn will be in the bullpen. The unusual move, made due to the threat of rain at the start of the contest, is also employed by the Giants with Merkin Valdez beginning the game on the mound and the announced starter, and eventual winner Tim Lincecum entering the game in the fourth inning.

Lineup when available.

Apr 03

Game Six, 2018

Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 PM PDT, TV: FS-A, SPNLA

This is Clayton Kershaw’s second start of the season. He actually lost the first, the first loss the lefty has ever sustained in his eight Opening Day outings. He wasn’t exactly lit up, however, giving up only a Joe Panik home run in his six innings of work. He’s 0-1 with a 1.50 ERA. His opponent will be RHP Zack Godley, who’s making his first start of the year.

Here are some observations about Kershaw’s first outing from ESPN’s Buster Olney:

Kershaw threw inside at a higher rate than any pitcher in baseball in 2017, in keeping with a career-long habit of bullying hitters. But on Opening Day, his average fastball was down to a career-low 90.7 mph, and he attacked the outer half of the strike zone in his final few innings, often with off-speed pitches, and kept the Giants’ hitters off-balance, allowing one run in six innings. Some evaluators believe Kershaw would benefit from making the same transition CC Sabathia has made during his career; by consistently using both sides of the plate, he can be less predictable and more difficult for hitters to diagnose.

From ESPN Stats & Information research, no pitcher threw inside at a higher rate last season than Kershaw. He threw 40.2 percent of his pitches inside, a full 3 percent higher than any other player.

Another interesting note about Kershaw’s pitch locations: He threw 70.1 percent of his pitches in the lower half of the strike zone last season, more than 10 percent higher than he has thrown in any other season in the past 10.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1968 The Tigers trade left-hander Hank Aguirre to the Dodgers for a player to be named later, minor leaguer Fred Moulder. The All-Star southpaw, better known for being the worst hitter in major league history, will compile a .085 batting average during his 16-year major league career, striking out in an astounding 61% of his 388 at-bats.
  • 1974 The Indians trade Pedro Guerrero to Dodgers for pitcher Bruce Ellingsen. The 17 year-old infielder/outfielder will compile a .309 batting average and will be named to the All-Star team five times during his 11 seasons with the team.
  • 2008 Twenty minutes before their game, the Dodgers announce reliever Hong-Chih Kuo will start in place of Chad Billingsley, who in turn will be in the bullpen. The unusual move, made due to the threat of rain at the start of the contest, is also employed by the Giants with Merkin Valdez beginning the game on the mound and the announced starter, and eventual winner Tim Lincecum entering the game in the fourth inning.

Lineup when available.


Jun 21

Game 70, 2015

Giants at Dodgers, 5:08PM PT, TV: ESPN

Here we go again. The Giants have already swept two series from the Dodgers this season and they have a chance to do it again today in front of a national audience on ESPN. If they do, they’ll take over first place in the NL West by a half-game.

This is the only Sunday Night Baseball appearance the Dodgers make this year. They have a Wednesday game this week and a Friday game July 3. That’s it on “The Worldwide Leader in Sports.” For a team which was regarded as a lock to win its division and make it to the playoffs that seems a little short-sighted to me.

The Giants will send Tim Lincecum to the mound this afternoon. He’s 7-3 with a 3.31 ERA and is having a nice comeback so far from what have been several poor years following his Cy Young winning seasons of 2008-2009. The Dodgers can take some hope in the fact that Lincecum hasn’t had a quality start in his last five and he’s given up six home runs in those appearances.

The Dodgers counter with Brett Anderson, who’s gotten virtually zip in run support and has a 2-4 record and a 3.43 ERA to show for it. The Dodgers have scored two or fewer runs in 7 of his 13 starts this season. He and Greinke should file a class-action lawsuit against the team’s offense.

Yasiel Puig has owned Lincecum since he came into the league. He’s 10-17 against him with four extra-base hits.

Lineup when available.

Guerrero takes Ethier’s place in left field. Since Lincecum’s right-handed, I guess Mattingly just thinks Ethier needs a day off.

May 20

Game 39, 2015

Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA, NBC Bay Area

Brett Anderson goes to the mound for the Dodgers. He’s 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA, and his last two starts have been his best for his new team. He’ll face Tim Lincecum, who’s 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA, in somewhat of a rebound from his poor showings of the last three seasons. He’s 10-8 with a 3.45 ERA in his career against the Dodgers, which is pretty good compared to Anderson’s 0-3 with a 6.10 ERA against the Giants.

Fun fact: The Dodgers and Giants entered Tuesday night’s series opener 69-69 in games played at AT&T Park.

Non-funny fact: LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu will undergo left shoulder surgery tomorrow. The arthroscopic surgery will be performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in LA.

Further info on Ryu: this is exploratory surgery to try to determine the cause of the inflammation he’s had all spring.

Lineup:

Apr 27

Game 19, 2015

Giants at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, MLBN

This is a rematch of the pitchers in last Tuesday’s game against the Giants. Brett Anderson gave up nine hits in only four innings, giving up four runs and taking the loss, 6-2. It’s small consolation that five of the nine hits were infield singles. Tim Lincecum went six innings and got four double plays behind him, giving up one run and five hits and getting the win.

Lineup:


In other news today the Dodgers traded LHP Xavier Cedeño to the Rays for cash.

In late news, Brandon McCarthy has a torn ulnar collateral ligament and will probably need Tommy John surgery. Scott Baker will stay on the roster and Adam Liberatore will come back up to fill McCarthy’s spot.

Apr 21

Game 13, 2015

Dodgers at Giants, 7:15PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Brett Anderson has started two games for the Dodgers so far this season, going six innings in one game and five innings in the other. He got a no-decision in the first game and picked up a win in the second. He’s got an ERA of 3.27. He’s only made three starts against the Giants in his career, and he’s 0-2 with a 5.25 ERA.

Anderson will face two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, who hasn’t looked like the same pitcher he was in 2008 and 2009 when he won those awards in quite a while. He’s started two games this year. In his first outing he looked like a throwback to those years, though; he went 7 scoreless innings, walked 3, struck out 5 and gave up 4 hits. Unfortunately he didn’t get a decision. His second outing was similar: he went 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs while walking only 1 and striking out 4. In that one he got a loss. Lincecum is 9-7 with a 3.38 ERA in 24 career starts against the Dodgers.

Lineup:

Puig is in the lineup, which means his hamstring is better. It also means that Mattingly knows he’s 8 for 14 against Lincecum in his short time in the big leagues.