History – Page 12 – Dodger Thoughts

On September 14, 2015

By Jon Weisman

As the second week of September began in 1965, the Dodgers had spent all but 17 days of the season atop the National League standings, and never trailed by more than a single game.

That meant nothing a week later.

Koufax’s perfect game, from the eyes of his catcher

On September 9, 2015

Today is the 50th anniversary of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game. In this piece for the September issue of Dodger Insider magazine, Cary Osborne listened to Koufax’s catcher, Jeff Torborg, tell the story from his point of view of the historic event. (Click the image below to enlarge.)

— Jon Weisman

Leapin’ legends: Kershaw has most strikeouts in a season since Koufax

On September 2, 2015

In History, Postgame

PUMPED. (via @jon.soohoo)

A post shared by Los Angeles Dodgers (@dodgers) on Sep 2, 2015 at 9:22pm PDT

The all-time Dodger single-season strikeout leaderboard

By Jon Weisman

With one out remaining, the Dodger Stadium crowd stood at a full-throated roar of joy and awe.

And then held its breath, as Clayton Kershaw battled almost as never before.

Twice a strike away from a complete game, Kershaw allowed singles to Matt Duffy and Buster Posey. With the pitch count at 127, Don Mattingly came to the mound. About 15 seconds later, Mattingly went back to the dugout, alone.

Marlon Byrd stood in, and after two more pitches, Kershaw was again one strike away.

Then ball one. Then ball two.

Then, on his 132nd pitch of the game, tying his career high, a swing and a miss at an 89 mph slider. A glorious swing and miss.

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Kershaw struck out 15 in carrying the Dodgers’ to a 2-1 victory over San Francisco tonight, setting a career high for a season at 251 (breaking his old mark of 248), and giving Los Angeles the highest total of strikeouts for a year for a Dodger pitcher since Sandy Koufax struck out 317 in 1966.

The 15 whiffs also tied a career high for a single game, originally set at his June 18, 2014 no-hitter.

Kershaw induced 35 swinging strikes tonight, which SHATTERS the previous pitch fx era (2008-present) record of 30, which Kershaw co-held.

— Daniel Brim (@DanielBrim) September 3, 2015

This all came in another pressure-packed Dodgers-Giants game — the third-straight one-run win for the Dodgers, propelling them to 6 1/2 games ahead in the National League West. After Angel Pagan’s RBI single in the top of the sixth tied the game, Chase Utley hit his first Dodger homer to put Los Angeles back in front.

Kershaw lowered his ERA to 2.18, third in the big leagues. Since May 26, Kershaw has a 1.26 ERA with 178 strikeouts in 135 2/3 innings. In his past 750 innings, his ERA is 1.98.

In his past three games, Kershaw has struck out 39 batters, averaging 14.04 strikeouts per nine innings.

Kershaw paved the way for his complete game by averaging barely 12 pitches per inning for the first seven frames. He began the ninth at 107 pitches.

“It was a tough one with him,” Don Mattingly said. “His stuff was really good. Still crisp, we thought. He felt good. We felt like if there was any game we were going to let him go back out there, with Kenley and a few guys were basically down — Kenley was not available tonight — it was just a game that you felt like you were going to let him go for it. And that was it.”

When Mattingly visited the mound, he intended to leave Kershaw in the game as long as he was OK. He said he occasionally took him out early in games this year in order to save bullets for games like this.

Said Mattingly: “Utley told me, ‘You made a good decision by not taking me out.’ I was gonna get hurt.”

Kershaw wasn’t thinking about strikeouts in the ninth inning.

“I was just trying to get an out,” Kershaw said. “Those guys are great hitters, obviously. Duffy’s having a great year, and Posey’s Posey. Some good at-bats all night. They made me work that last inning, and I was fortunate to get one more out.”

Mike Bolsinger will make a spot start Friday, giving Kershaw and other Dodger starters an extra day of rest.

No-no, no-no — Dodgers no-hit again

On August 30, 2015

In History, Postgame

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

By Jon Weisman

Nine innings without a hit, then nine days, then nine more innings without a hit.

That’s the story for the Dodgers, who were no-hit tonight at Dodger Stadium by Jake Arrieta in a 2-0 victory by the Cubs.

Barely a week after Mike Fiers no-hit the Dodgers in Houston, Arrieta was magnificent, his 116 pitches darting in and out of the strike zone, striking out 12 and walking only Jimmy Rollins with two out in the sixth.

Kiké Hernandez reached base on a hard grounder to second baseman Starlin Castro that was ruled an error — on his postgame ESPN interview, Arrieta said he thought it was a hit. The other close calls came when Carl Crawford ended the seventh with a liner up the middle that Castro backhanded, and Hernandez hit a tough grounder to short that Addison Russell corralled for a 6-3 out. (Hernandez tweaked a hamstring running to first on the play, so that could be the most damaging aspect of this game.)

Justin Turner, Rollins and Chase Utley, the same trio that ended the game against Fiers (though in different order), made the final three outs tonight. Turner, in his first at-bat of the night, struck out. Rollins took a called strike three. And Utley, who made the final out in Josh Beckett’s no-hitter and has been involved in three no-hitters in the last nine Dodger games he has played in, struck out swinging.

The Dodgers had never been no-hit twice in the same year, and hadn’t been no-hit in consecutive years since Amos Rusie of the New York Giants and Jack Stivetts of the Boston Beaneaters did so in 1891 and 1892. Los Angeles set a National League record for fewest days between no-hitters, according to Mike Petriello. The MLB record occurred when the Chicago White Sox were no-hit on May 5-6, 1917.

There have been no-hitters at four Dodger games in the past two seasons. Most recent before that was the six-pitcher no-hitter by Seattle in 2012. That ended a 16-year drought of Dodger games without a no-hitter on either side, dating back to Hideo Nomo’s 1996 Coors Field no-hitter. Kent Mercker pitched the last no-hitter against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, in 1994.

Beyond the obvious, the frustration for the Dodgers was wasting what turned out to be some resilient pitching.

It didn’t start that way: Alex Wood was trailing by two runs after three batters, when Chris Denorfia walked with one out in the first and Kris Bryant homered. Wood struggled through the first three innings, throwing 72 pitches.

But he used only 32 pitches over his next three innings, retiring 10 of his last 11 batters. Relief pitchers Juan Nicasio and J.P. Howell generated inning-ending double plays in consecutive innings, as the Dodgers held the Cubs hitless with runners in scoring position tonight (and in the entire series, in fact).

Chicago had 13 hits, two walks and 12 left on base.

Remembering ’65: See-saw second half of August

On August 24, 2015

By Jon Weisman

When might you be having a charmed season? When you’re scoreless with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Sandy Koufax bats for himself and walks, and then Roberto Clemente — of all people — drops a fly ball to allow the game-winning run to score.

That’s what happened August 14, 1965 at Dodger Stadium to allow the Dodgers to win, 1-0.

“It was sinking all the way,” Jim Gilliam, who hit the ball at Clemente, told Frank Finch of the Times. “Clemente first had his glove up in front of his chest, but at the last moment had to shift it. That’s when he muffed the ball.”

Said Clemente: “I was groping for the ball. I lost it.”

Though there were still many skeptics about the ’65 Dodgers, one who saw their potential was Pirates third baseman Bob Bailey.

“They’re not just giving an 80% effort like some teams,” Bailey told Times columnist Sid Ziff. “They go all out. They go for the extra base, the squeeze bunt, the impossible catch. And, of course, they’ve got tremendous pitching.”

But rather using the Clemente game to launch like a rocket to the National League pennant, the Dodgers would have one of their bumpiest weeks of the year.

Remembering ’65: Summer of spitballs?

On August 17, 2015

By Jon Weisman

Along with everything else in a hot pennant race 50 years ago, a spitball controversy revved up between the Dodgers and Milwaukee Braves.

“Drysdale may call ’em sinkers, but I got three wet ones in a row when he fanned me in the third,” Hank Aaron told Frank Finch of the Times after a 4-3 victory Milwaukee victory August 4.

Aaron’s comments might have been calculated at least in part to take the spotlight off Braves manager Bobby Bragan, who was in the midst of a spitball controversy of his own.

“How long is NL president Warren Giles going to allow Bobby Bragan to flout authority by publicizing the fact that he has his pitchers under orders to throw spitters?” Finch had asked in print two days earlier. “To be sure, every club has spitball pitchers, but they don’t advertise.”

For his part, Bragan remained sanguine about the whole thing.

“If a pitcher can control the spitters, he’s crazy not to throw it,” Bragan told Finch. “Sure, we’ve got a couple of guys who throw it real good. Dan Osinski told a writer that he’s been using one for seven years.”

If you want to call it praise, Bragan added that Drysdale “throws the best spitter in the game,” according to Finch.

Whatever the case, it didn’t help Drysdale in Milwaukee that August 4. Allowing homers to both Aaron and Gene Oliver, Drysdale pitched an eight-inning complete game but took the loss.

Here’s what else was happening with the Dodgers, who were 1 1/2 games ahead in the National League on August 1 and 1 1/2 games ahead in the National League on August 15.

Grandson of former Dodger Stadium PA announcer making MLB debut tonight at Dodger Stadium

On August 14, 2015

In Dodger Stadium, History

By Mark Langill

If he can’t pitch in his “home” ballpark in Cincinnati, at least Reds rookie pitcher John Lamb can make his Major League debut tonight in the stadium his grandfather worked as the iconic public address announcer from 1962-82.

John Ramsey’s booming voice (you can hear it in these 1978 World Series introductions) was well known by Southern California sports fans because he seemed to work every event in town – Dodgers, Lakers, Kings, Angels, Rams and USC football. Ramsey joined the Dodgers in 1958 when the team played at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The New Hampshire native graduated from USC in 1954 and later obtained a Master’s degree in Business. Ramsey was also the first Super Bowl public address announcer when the Packers and Chiefs played at the Coliseum in 1967, although the game was billed “The First AFL-NFL Championship Game” at the time. Ramsey passed away at age 62 in 1990.

Lamb graduated from Laguna Hills High and was originally selected by Kansas City in the fifth round of the 2008 draft. A veteran of Tommy John surgery, Lamb came to the Reds in the recent Johnny Cueto trade.

Before Hershiser and Gibson in ’88, Tim Leary nearly stole the show

On August 13, 2015

Tim Leary is congratulated by Manny Mota after his walkoff hit.

By Jon Weisman

Chances are, if you remember Tim Leary’s days as a pitcher for the Dodgers, you remember his hit.

On this day in 1988, Leary came off the bench for the Dodgers and delivered an 11th-inning walkoff single up the middle for a 2-1 victory over the Giants.

And chances are that if you’ve forgotten anything about Tim Leary, it’s that on this day in 1988, Leary was a better bet for the National League Cy Young Award than Orel Hershiser.

The day before his pinch-hit, Leary had gone 8 1/3 innings in a 7-3 victory over San Francisco that left his ERA at 2.37. The day after Leary’s pinch-hit, Hershiser was knocked out after only two innings, allowing eight runs (five earned). Hershiser’s ERA went all the way up to 3.06.

And so, in what was shaping up to be a wonderful season for Leary, his trip to the plate on August 13, 1988 was magical — even if the circumstances leading up to it were a bit bizarre.

What if the Dodgers had traded a 19-year-old Clayton Kershaw?

On August 12, 2015

In History, Transactions

By Jon Weisman

Pitching prospect Julio Urias turned 19 today, 19 and still a Dodger, 12 days after the MLB non-waiver trade deadline.

Among other things, the occasion made me wonder whom a 19-year-old Clayton Kershaw might have been traded for, back in 2007.

The intricacies of Ebbets Field ground rules, 1956

On August 10, 2015

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In the wake of Neil Walker’s “What does a yellow line mean?” triple Sunday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, I thought you might enjoy this snapshot of not-so-simple Ebbets Field ground rules, straight from page 38 of the 1956 Dodger Yearbook.

— Jon Weisman

Remembering ’65: When Koufax hit

On July 28, 2015

By Jon Weisman

Sandy Koufax wasn’t much of a hitter in his career, but in July 1965, he arguably had the greatest clutch at-bat by a starting pitcher in Los Angeles Dodger history.

Zack Greinke’s streak ends at 45 2/3 innings

On July 26, 2015

In History, Midgame

Zack Greinke's scoreless streak ends at 45 2/3 innings. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/nWq49lmokf

— Jon SooHoo (@JonSooHooPics) July 26, 2015

By Jon Weisman

It was more death by paper cuts than a single crushing blow, but sadly for fans of the Dodgers and history, Zack Greinke’s consecutive scoreless inning streak ended in the third inning against the Mets today at 45 2/3 innings.

After retiring the first six hitters of the game, Greinke hit Kirk Nieuwenheis with an 0-1 fastball to start the bottom of the third. Catcher and No. 8 hitter Kevin Plawecki then lined a 1-1 fastball to center field, which — in a key moment — Joc Pederson bobbled trying to backhand for an error that allowed Nieuwenheis to reach third base with nobody out.

That was the first baserunner in scoring position against Greinke since the fourth inning July 4 (21 innings) and the first to reach third base since the first inning June 23 (37 2/3 innings)

The Dodgers played the infield in at the corners, and pitcher Jacob deGrom hit a chopper to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Gonalez fired home, but Yasmani Grandal’s tag on Nieuwenheis was a hair late.

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At first, it looked like this might invite the classic umpire reversal that benefited both Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser in their streaks. But there was no doubt looking at a replay about the call.

Despite the error, the run was earned. Assuming that Nieuwenheis would have remained at second on the Plawecki single, you also have to assume he’d go to third base on deGrom’s grounder. Subsequent fly balls by Curtis Granderson and Ruben Tejada could have scored him. Of course, we’ll never really know what happened, but that’s how it goes down officially.

Some might blame Pederson, but my guess is that Greinke blames himself for hitting Nieuwenheis with the pitch — a mistake for a pitcher who had avoided them for so long.

Nevertheless, Greinke finishes with the sixth-longest scoreless streak of all-time:

59 Orel Hershiser (1988)
58 Don Drysdale (1968)
55 2/3 Walter Johnson (1913)
53 Jack Coombs (1910)
47 Bob Gibson (1968)
45 2/3 Zack Greinke (2015)

During Greinke’s streak, opponents had a .124 batting average, .152 on-base percentage and .144 slugging percentage — while Greinke, who singled in his first at-bat today — hit .188/.188/.188.

Soon, the spotlight will turn back to Clayton Kershaw, who now has the longest active scoreless streak in baseball at 29 innings.

As we tip our hat to Greinke, here’s a final look at the wondrous run.

A second hit-by-pitch, this striking Michael Conforto with the bases loaded, led to a second run off Greinke, who finished his day with seven innings and a 1.37 ERA on the season.

Doubles by Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner and a single by Yasmani Grandal tied the game for the Dodgers in the ninth, but Juan Uribe — facing the Dodgers with his second team this week — drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th.

July 22, 2009: Relive Manny’s Bobbleslam

On July 22, 2015

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Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

Hey, it’s not a five-year or 10-year anniversary, but with a free afternoon, why not celebrate the sixth anniversary of Manny Ramirez’s bobbleslam? It was good enough to key the Boxscore of the Month for Dodger Insider magazine in July.

By the way, that last sentence in the blurb below about starting pitchers not batting eighth since 2009? That was true until this month, when Yimi Garcia did so July 6.

— Jon Weisman

Suspended game returns memories of Chicago 1982