[mlbvideo id=”36320575″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]
By Jon Weisman
Tonight wasn’t the Dodgers night — it was a 10-4 over-and-out night — but it wasn’t for lack of baseunners. The National League’s No. 1 team with runners in scoring position had three hits but 11 outs, stranding 10 runners and wasting most of their 16 hits, including three by Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig’s first home run since July 31.
That was more than unfortunate — that was very rare.
The last two times the Dodgers had at least 16 hits without scoring more than four runs, the games went more than 20 innings: their 1-0 victory in 22 innings at Montreal on August 23, 1989 and their 21-inning victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field that took two days to complete, August 17-18, 1982.
Before that was a 14-inning victory over Pittsburgh on September 1, 1981, a 15-inning win over St. Louis on July 20, 1973, a memorable 19-inning, 7-3 loss to the Mets on May 24, 1973 (Willie Davis went 6 for 9) and a 12-inning loss to the Astros on April 10, 1973.
You get my drift? Before tonight, the last nine-inning game in which the Dodgers had at least 16 hits and at most four runs was June 20, 1970, when they lost at Cincinnati, 5-4. Nine Dodgers had hits and five had multiple hits, led by Wes Parker with three. They even went 4 for 13 with runners in scoring position and, like tonight, had a ninth-inning home run. But it wasn’t enough.
My philosophy: It’s better to have had baserunners and lost than never to have had baserunners at all.
David Hougie Wolf Salvadori
GREAT STORY AND LOVED IT….MAYBE YOU CAN HELP ME..OR THE DODGERS ABOUT MY NUMBER PLAYER..PUIG…
HE’S STANDING TO FAR AWAY FROM THE PLATE AND PLEASE GET THE INFO TO BIG MAC OR PUIG HIMSELF..
HE’S 3 TO 4 OR EVEN 6 INS. AWAY FROM THE PLATE..AND REACHING FOR THE BALL….WHY?? AND SINCE EARLY AUG TOO…PLEASE FORWARD..
HOUGIE WOLF..WOLFIE BOY OF MERCED
oldbrooklynfan
You could be right, I keep forgetting to mention that I think Hanley stands too close to the plate, in my opinion.
oldbrooklynfan
It seems like the Dodgers offense was still hot last night but they just stop scoring runs at the same rate.