Hill/Wood/Kershaw have three things in common
Two are obvious. They are all left handed. They are all Dodgers.
But did you know that over the last fourteen days they are also the three best pitchers in the NL?
Fangraphs tells us, this is so: (this snapshot only worked if viewed on July 7th, 2017)
Before the snapshot changes, this is what the NL starting pitching leaderboard looks like for the split of the past fourteen days when run on July 7th, 2017
| Name | Team | WAR | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 |
| Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | 1.2 | 3 | 20 | 13.95 | 2.25 |
| Rich Hill | Dodgers | 0.9 | 3 | 21 | 11.57 | 1.29 |
| Alex Wood | Dodgers | 0.9 | 3 | 19 | 11.84 | 3.32 |
| Michael Wacha | Cardinals | 0.8 | 3 | 17.2 | 11.72 | 2.04 |
| Max Scherzer | Nationals | 0.8 | 2 | 13 | 12.46 | 1.38 |
| Adam Wainwright | Cardinals | 0.7 | 3 | 18.1 | 10.31 | 1.96 |
| Patrick Corbin | Diamondbacks | 0.6 | 3 | 17.1 | 9.87 | 2.6 |
| Jacob deGrom | Mets | 0.6 | 2 | 15 | 11.4 | 1.2 |
| Jimmy Nelson | Brewers | 0.6 | 3 | 19 | 12.79 | 1.89 |
Isn’t that beautiful?
Rich Hill puts another win on the Dodger wall
Rich Hill and Logan Forsythe were two of the last holdouts this year in the summer of the Blue, but both have joined the fray, and the team looks unstoppable.
For the 3rd straight start, Rich Hill worked seven innings and now has twenty-seven strikeouts to only three walks over his last three starts. That is ace like work. I’m still not convinced that giving the injury-prone thirty-seven year old a three-year deal was the best move but right now, it looks great.
I don’t do recaps unless the game is special since everybody else does them but this game fell under that special category.
You had the possibility of sweeping the Diamondbacks at home, breaking a little of that same spirit they broke with the Rockies two weeks ago.
Robbie Ray proved why he is an all-star. He doesn’t quite make up for the Diamondbacks trading Max Scherzer to the Tigers but it helps. He was part of a three team deal that left the Tigers holding the bag while the Diamondbacks got Ray, and the Yankees got Didi Gregorious who has turned into a nice everyday SS.
Ray and Hill combined to strike out twenty-two hitters, out of thirty-nine outs. The game was 1 – 1 when both starters exited.
Luis Avilan was the first bullpen pitcher to get knocked around but he would not be the last. None of Avilan, Morrow, or Fields did their jobs giving the Diamondbacks a 4 – 1 lead headed into the bottom of the 9th.
At which point Fernando Rodney lost the plate and eventually the game. The big hit was the Corey Seager single up the middle to tie the game.
Batting cleanup Chris Taylor would notch his fourth hit to win the game after Justin Turner was intentionally walked to load the bases. His 1st hit was a bloop over the second baseman. His second hit was a bloop down the first base line. His 3rd hit was shot to deep RCF. His 4th hit was a walk-off line drive to LF over the head of the drawn in LF.
Joe Davis made a great call on the hit by Chris Taylor but the MLB videos have Charlie Steiner and that ain’t being linked. Oh fine, here is the link.
Which gets us back to Logan Forsythe. He’s been hot for ten games but in his last four starts, Mr. Forsythe has seven hits, four extra-base hits, three walks and is kick starting the offense. His walk in the bottom of the 9th plated the first run and you just had faith that Logan was going to get something done, just like a month ago you had faith he would not get something done.
Forsythe is the craziness of baseball. A month ago he looked as lost at the plate as any hitter ever has, and right now he is as locked in as any hitter in baseball.
Anyway, the Dodgers won again. The swept another team trying to make a race of the NL West. It was their 9th sweep of the year. That is crazy. It was their 58th win of the year and we still haven’t reached the all-star break. That is crazy. And according to their pythag, they are underperforming by two games.
You could make a case that the three best pitchers in the NL since Friday June 23rd have been Rich Hill, Alex Wood, and Clayton Kershaw.
Next
Alex Wood makes it six all-stars
With the announcement that Alex Wood has been picked as a replacement all-star the Dodgers now have six 2017 All-stars.
Even if the baseball All-Star game does not float your boat, as a Dodger fan you have to be excited to see this incredible team rewarded.
They all deserved it, no gimmie’s here.
1st/LF – Cody Bellinger
SS – Corey Seager
3rd – Justin Turner
SP – Clayton Kershaw
SP – Alex Wood
Closer – Kenley Jansen
Blazing Dodger Blue meets en fuego Royal Blue
A month ago the game was figuring out where the assorted Royals were going to end up. Cain, Hosmer, Moustakas, and Vargas were the primary names being bandied about. I had even conjectured that Cain would be a good fit for the Dodgers given the struggles of Pederson and the uncertain status of the untested Chris Taylor as two of the Dodger everyday outfielders.
Forget about it
Not just because the Royals are now players but because Joc and Chris seem entrenched along with help from Kiké as the Dodger outfielders.
The Royals are so hot they have climbed from last place on June 2nd to one game behind the division-leading Cleveland Indians. They did this by going 17 – 9 in June, and 5 – 1 so far in July.
No longer sellers, the Royals will be looking to add pieces in July.
What a great matchup the Dodger/Royals will be providing fans of Blue this weekend.
The offense is a bit out of synch for the Royals. All of the heavy lifting is being conducted by the infield, while the outfield has been struggling to keep pace.
The Dodgers have Justin Turner, the Royals can match them with Chatsworth High star Mike Moustakas who might be the hottest hitter in baseball. Moustakas has hit five home runs in the last seven days and twenty-five for the season which is already three more than his career high of twenty-two.
The Dodgers have Chris Taylor but the Royals can match that with Whit Merrifield who much like Taylor appeared to be destined to be an AAA or utility player at best this season. Instead, Merrifield has filled a huge hole at 2nd base while giving the team some speed. Whit does not measure upto Chris Taylor over the whole season so far due to his poor June but over the past seven days Whit is as hot as any second baseman in baseball with a 149 wRC+ along with five stolen bases.
The Dodgers have Cody Bellinger but right now the Royals can match that with Eric Hosmer. Outside of all-star snub Logan Morrison, Hosmer is the hottest hitting AL 1st baseman over the past seven days with a wRC+ of 202. Overall his 126 wRC+ is the best of his career.
The Dodgers have Corey Seager and the Royals can match that with…………………..Ha ha, no bloody way they can match Corey Seager.
If the Royals need some help they might be looking toward the outfield.
Lorenzo Cain has had an off year but in June he was spectacular putting up a full month wRC+ of 162, good enough for 3rd best for AL CF in June. For the season Cain is having a Cain like year after being down last year. His full season wRC+ is 110 which seems very Cain-like. According to Fangraphs, he’s not the dominant defensive CF we saw in two world series but he’s still above average. Just not spectacular.
The Dodgers have their Cuban right fielder, the Royals have their Cuban Right Fielder. The Dodger one is much better in all aspects of the game. I think Puig and Soler were signed the same season. Soler was signed by the Cubs and was generally expected to become a star. Didn’t happen. May not happen. Soler was sent down to AAA earlier this year, and is now back but is still not doing much.
The better Jorge has been Jorge Bonifacio but Bonifacio is one of the four Royal outfielders who have struggled lately. Jorge banged some home runs early and was a force in May but has seen his wRC+ drop rapidly as the season has progressed.
To give you an idea how bad the right fielder Jorge’s have struggled they have combined to strike out eighteen times in forty-four plate appearances. Nine for each.
Alex Gordon was one of the better left fielders in the game when we saw him in the 2014/2015 World Series. The 2016 version of Alex Gordon was the worst LF in baseball even accounting for good defense. The 2017 version started off much the same as the 2016 version and it has not gotten any better.
The Royals are contenders but they are doing it with the worst hitting outfield in the American League, and have only the Giants to thank for not being the worst hitting outfield in all of baseball.
Seven Day Stats for the Royal Hitters:
| Name | PA | wRC+ | wOBA | HR | R | RBI | SB |
| Whit Merrifield | 34 | 149 | 0.399 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Mike Moustakas | 26 | 205 | 0.482 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Eric Hosmer | 31 | 202 | 0.477 | 2 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| Alcides Escobar | 28 | 108 | 0.34 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Brandon Moss | 16 | 178 | 0.442 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Alex Gordon | 24 | 99 | 0.326 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Salvador Perez | 26 | 104 | 0.333 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Ramon Torres | 13 | 152 | 0.404 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Lorenzo Cain | 27 | 68 | 0.28 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Jorge Bonifacio | 23 | 73 | 0.288 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Drew Butera | 4 | -4 | 0.173 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jorge Soler | 21 | 73 | 0.286 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
The Dodgers will be facing Jason Hammel, Ian Kennedy, and Danny Duffy.
Did the Cubs make a mistake in letting Hammel walk this past winter and turning to Brett Anderson instead? Brett Anderson has shockingly spent most of the season on the disabled list. Hammel started out like he wasn’t going to finish the season in the Royal rotation but has righted the ship and is coming off a very good June. Can he carry that into July?
Ian Kennedy was the Royals big free agent signing in 2016 and it is not going well. He is giving the Royal rotation innings, he’s just not making it easy to win games that he starts. He has given up sixteen home runs in only eighty-one innings and is carrying a FIP of 5.36.
Danny Duffy was kind of the Alex Wood of 2016 for the Royals. Headed into 2016, the young left-hander Duffy had lost his spot in the rotation and was destined for the bullpen. He pitched well out of the bullpen was inserted into the rotation and went on to have his best season. This year, Duffy has pitched well but missed all of June, which oddly was the Royals best month. He’s now back and will be making his second start since coming off the DL.
The Dodgers don’t get to face All-Star Jason Vargas one of the great pitching stories of 2017. Too bad, really wanted to see him.
The bullpen no longer has Greg Holland or Wade Davis who have combined for forty-four saves for other teams. These don’t appear to be good decisions. Jorge Soler was the price for Wade Davis and he looks like the same bust he was for the Cubs. Greg Holland simply required a small investment and they passed.
Kelvin Herrera who had been the super setup man for Holland and Davis is now the closer and while he has struggled at times with that role the real problem is that he is no longer the super setup man. The long deep bullpen that was the key to the Royals success of 2014 and 2015 is gone.
Well not gone, just not the best in baseball anymore. Joakim Soria is still here and has moved into the super setup role and it looks like he’s doing the job. Mike Minor is certainly doing the job. The problem might be that those guys are the best, and it drops off from there. They picked up Feliz a few weeks ago and he might help but the Brewers didn’t think he could.
The starters still don’t go deep and the bullpen is not as good as it was to make up for it.
Now that I’ve looked at the Royal team I’m kind of coming away unimpressed. I think the hot streak by the Royals is a mirage and that this team still needs lots of help to continue to be a contender. They are in a tough spot with three key players in their free agent year who could help them get pieces for the next Royal run but as long as they are in contention they can’t trade them.
I wish them well, I really enjoyed watching those 2014/2015 teams but they could be in for a rude awakening facing the hottest team in baseball who appear to be better than them at every spot across the board.
Justin Turner currently in the company of Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn
Can Justin Turner keep his batting average above .380 by the all-star game? With Alex Wood his 1st half season is done so we know we will end the first half with a perfect 10 – 0 record.
Only 15 hitters since 1958 have managed to have at least a .380 BA by the all-star break and Justin Turner currently ranks 8th. Turner has his work cut out for him, it would be very easy for him to fall below .380 in just one game, much less four games.
I would take the under myself.
Player Split Year BA PA OBP SLG OPS Rod Carew 1st Half 1983 .402 254 .457 .498 .955 Larry Walker 1st Half 1997 .398 369 .496 .741 1.237 John Olerud 1st Half 1993 .395 372 .492 .671 1.163 Rod Carew 1st Half 1977 .394 395 .463 .586 1.049 Tony Gwynn 1st Half 1997 .394 365 .431 .588 1.019 Andres Galarraga 1st Half 1993 .391 290 .424 .646 1.070 Nomar Garciaparra 1st Half 2000 .389 286 .444 .643 1.087 Justin Turner 1st Half 2017 .384 259 .473 .571 1.044 Darin Erstad 1st Half 2000 .384 414 .441 .592 1.033 Tony Gwynn 1st Half 1994 .383 352 .447 .552 .999 Frank Thomas 1st Half 1994 .383 392 .515 .795 1.311 Todd Helton 1st Half 2000 .383 361 .479 .701 1.181 Rod Carew 1st Half 1974 .382 423 .440 .465 .905 Paul ONeill 1st Half 1994 .382 326 .475 .622 1.097 Larry Walker 1st Half 1999 .382 316 .449 .738 1.188
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Generated 7/6/2017.
Old Tyme stats kicking butt
Alex Wood is 10 – 0 in the first half but starter wins aren’t supposed to mean anything anymore
Justin Turner is hitting over .380 just before the break but batting average isn’t supposed to mean anything anymore since we have wRC+ to hang with now. So why is everyone celebrating the batting average of Justin Turner? I’ve seen tweet after tweet from baseball people who are loving the batting average of Justin Turner even though they know that batting average is one of the hanger on stats from their father’s day.
What is an old man to do?
Embrace them old tyme stats is what he’ll have to do.
Only four pitchers since 1958 have gone into the all-star break with at least ten wins and zero losses. Alex Wood has done it in fewer starts than anyone. He has the lowest OPS against than anyone.
Those stats below are crazy:
Dave McNally started 25 games and threw 156 innings
Roy Face won 12 games and never started one of them
I Player Split Year G W L ERA GS IP OPS
Dave McNally 1st Half 1969 25 13 0 2.88 24 156.0 .604
Roy Face 1st Half 1959 32 12 0 1.13 0 56.0 .503
Stephen Strasburg 1st Half 2016 16 12 0 2.62 16 106.2 .584
Alex Wood 1st Half 2017 15 10 0 1.67 13 80.2 .476
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Generated 7/6/2017.
How about Los Angeles Dodgers with undefeated records at the break?
Player Split Year W L ERA GS IP SO9 SO/W Alex Wood 1st Half 2017 10 0 1.67 13 80.2 10.8 4.41 Rick Rhoden 1st Half 1976 8 0 2.91 16 108.1 3.5 1.31
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Generated 7/6/2017.
Only two Dodgers have ever hit the break with at least eight wins and zero losses.
Rick Rhoden didn’t exactly wow the hitters now did he? Contact Contact Contact must have been his game. I remember three things about Rick Rhoden
- Vin told the same story over and over about the scissors on the water slide that messed up his leg and thus had one leg longer than the other.
- He was a good hitting pitcher who could scorch a line drive to RCF.
- He was traded for Jerry Reuss in what turned out to be a brilliant trade even though at the time you were dealing a 25-year-old for a 30-year-old pitcher.
One time LAD 1 – 0 Losers
Bringing this little 1 – 0 loser arc thread to a close we now look at all the pitchers who lost one game 1 – 0. This is a fun list with many names you won’t see often, combined with two of the greatest pitchers of any era.
Several scrapheap projects. Al Downing had been part of the last great Yankee teams of the early 60’s but by the time he became a Dodger in 1971 his career was headed nowhere. Downing rediscovered his touch as a Dodger and would win 20 games for the first time. Al would finish 3rd in Cy Young voting. As a Dodger, he would go onto to throw 16 games with a game score of 75 or more, and of those 16 games, this would be the only game he would lose. He was called Gentleman Al for his gentle nature.
Who is this Kershaw guy?
Giovanni Carrara? Are you kidding me???
Nomo, Kuroda, and Maeda – how about that.
Jim Brewer – I don’t ever recall him being a starter for the Dodgers. Looks like he was pressed into service because of a Sept doubleheader and acquitted himself quite well.
Joe Moeller as a teenager
John Ely – must have been the game that got him on the sports illustrated cover.
Rubby De La Rosa – all the promise and then the surgery.
Player Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Al Downing 1976-09-08 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 1 3 78 Andy Ashby 2003-07-26 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 3 64 Bob Ojeda 1992-08-28 L 0-1 7.0 4 1 3 5 67 Brad Penny 2005-06-20 L 0-1 6.0 6 1 0 4 60 Brian Bohanon 1998-09-11 L 0-1 8.0 7 1 5 8 67 Clayton Kershaw 2012-09-11 L 0-1 7.0 3 0 3 5 71 Darren Dreifort 2000-04-24 L 0-1 6.0 5 0 3 2 61 Giovanni Carrara 2001-06-08 L 0-1 5.0 4 1 0 3 58 Greg Maddux 2008-09-14 L 0-1 7.0 2 0 0 3 76 Hideo Nomo 2002-04-14 L 0-1 6.2 4 1 4 6 64 Hiroki Kuroda 2010-08-13 L 0-1 7.0 4 1 2 3 66 Ismael Valdez 1995-09-06 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 0 6 78 Jason Schmidt 2007-06-05 L 0-1 6.0 1 0 3 4 71 Jim Brewer 1967-09-10(2) L 0-1 7.0 3 0 3 4 72 Jim Neidlinger 1990-08-07 L 0-1 7.2 2 0 2 6 77 Joe Moeller 1962-04-29(2) L 0-1 7.0 3 1 3 3 67 John Ely 2010-05-27 L 0-1 7.1 4 1 2 4 68 Josh Beckett 2013-04-14 L 0-1 8.1 6 1 1 9 75 Kenta Maeda 2016-06-08 L 0-1 6.2 5 1 1 9 68 Kevin Brown 2000-04-25 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 3 4 64 Mark Hendrickson 2006-08-22 L 0-1 6.0 5 1 0 4 62 Mike Morgan 1991-04-30 L 0-1 8.0 2 1 2 5 77 Nathan Eovaldi 2012-06-08 L 0-1 6.0 5 0 2 6 66 Odalis Perez 2002-09-24 L 0-1 8.0 5 1 0 8 76 Pedro Astacio 1993-09-07 L 0-1 7.1 4 1 3 6 69 Rick Honeycutt 1984-07-31 L 0-1 6.0 5 1 3 2 57 Rubby De La Rosa 2011-06-29 L 0-1 7.0 6 1 2 4 63 Sandy Vance 1970-05-22 L 0-1 7.0 2 1 6 3 66 Shawn Hillegas 1987-08-24 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 4 6 69 Stan Williams 1960-09-19 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 0 6 69 Tim Leary 1988-10-02 L 0-1 5.0 3 1 3 3 57 Tommy John 1976-04-21 L 0-1 7.0 8 0 3 3 61
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Generated 7/5/2017.
Big and Little D dominate 1 – 0 loser list
I was right about Don Sutton leading the Dodgers in losing 1 – 0 games but he had company from his big brother Don Drysdale. They both did it a staggering nine times. This points to two things. They were both incredible pitchers, and they both pitched for some bad offensive teams.
The list below only shows pitchers who had the dirty deed done to them more than once.
Notes from the list:
- I was quite surprised to see that Orel Hershiser lost eight 1 – 0 games.
- Fernando and Burt Hooten did it seven times, showing once again just how underrated Burt Hooten was.
- Chad Billingsley had some company with his five 1- 0 losses.
- Andy Messersmith stands out because Andy lost his five games in only three years.
- Bill Singer, Bob Welch, Doug Rau, and Claude Osteen had it happen four times.
- Sandy Koufax only did it three times. Evidently, the Dodgers scored more runs for Koufax than they did for Drysdale even though Drysdale was one of the premier hitting pitchers in his time.
- Derek was the only member of the three-time loser club.
- The two timers included Alan Foster, Jerry Ruess, Johnny Podres, Ramon Martinez, Tim Belcher, Tom Candiotti, and Zack Greinke
Player Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Alan Foster 1969-05-23 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 4 5 73 Alan Foster 1967-09-27 L 0-1 7.0 4 1 1 8 72 Andy Messersmith 1974-06-11 L 0-1 9.0 4 0 1 4 80 Andy Messersmith 1973-08-08 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 3 7 70 Andy Messersmith 1975-08-02 L 0-1 8.0 2 1 4 7 77 Andy Messersmith 1975-07-21 L 0-1 9.0 6 0 0 8 81 Andy Messersmith 1975-07-04 L 0-1 7.0 6 1 4 2 59 Bill Singer 1971-05-15 L 0-1 7.0 2 1 4 6 71 Bill Singer 1969-06-04 L 0-1 9.0 2 0 0 10 93 Bill Singer 1969-06-12 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 2 12 85 Bill Singer 1968-08-08 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 3 6 76 Bob Welch 1987-08-16 L 0-1 8.0 4 0 3 5 76 Bob Welch 1986-09-02 L 0-1 8.2 6 1 1 9 76 Bob Welch 1986-07-08 L 0-1 7.0 3 0 0 6 75 Bob Welch 1984-06-17 L 0-1 6.0 5 1 0 5 63 Burt Hooton 1984-09-07 L 0-1 8.0 2 0 2 4 80 Burt Hooton 1978-04-29 L 0-1 7.0 2 1 2 3 70 Burt Hooton 1978-08-01 L 0-1 8.1 5 1 2 3 70 Burt Hooton 1978-04-11 L 0-1 6.0 4 1 0 2 62 Burt Hooton 1977-08-06 L 0-1 8.2 6 1 3 6 71 Burt Hooton 1976-09-28 L 0-1 8.0 4 0 3 3 72 Burt Hooton 1976-06-25 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 2 5 78 Chad Billingsley 2010-04-25 L 0-1 6.0 4 1 2 5 63 Chad Billingsley 2008-04-13 L 0-1 5.0 4 1 2 8 61 Chad Billingsley 2007-08-03 L 0-1 7.2 5 1 2 8 71 Chad Billingsley 2007-08-08 L 0-1 5.0 6 1 4 3 50 Chad Billingsley 2011-05-14 L 0-1 8.0 1 0 2 8 84 Claude Osteen 1972-05-24 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 1 4 75 Claude Osteen 1968-07-11 L 0-1 7.0 6 1 0 3 64 Claude Osteen 1967-07-09 L 0-1 9.2 9 1 2 7 72 Claude Osteen 1965-06-21 L 0-1 9.0 2 1 3 5 81 Derek Lowe 2008-09-21 L 0-1 7.0 5 0 3 7 71 Derek Lowe 2008-06-29 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 7 68 Derek Lowe 2007-06-09 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 0 3 78 Don Drysdale 1968-07-24 L 0-1 8.0 4 1 2 3 71 Don Drysdale 1964-06-28 L 0-1 8.0 7 1 4 5 65 Don Drysdale 1964-06-03 L 0-1 10.1 4 0 4 10 89 Don Drysdale 1964-07-21 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 1 9 81 Don Drysdale 1964-09-27 L 0-1 10.0 3 0 2 6 90 Don Drysdale 1964-09-22 L 0-1 8.0 5 1 2 6 72 Don Drysdale 1963-06-28 L 0-1 9.0 7 1 1 7 75 Don Drysdale 1960-04-20 L 0-1 8.0 5 1 0 5 73 Don Drysdale 1960-08-17 L 0-1 8.1 4 1 2 8 77 Don Sutton 1972-05-07 L 0-1 10.0 1 0 4 3 89 Don Sutton 1972-06-24(1) L 0-1 8.0 8 1 1 6 67 Don Sutton 1970-08-28 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 3 7 77 Don Sutton 1968-06-10 L 0-1 10.0 5 1 3 10 85 Don Sutton 1968-05-16 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 1 4 62 Don Sutton 1968-07-28(2) L 0-1 7.0 6 1 0 7 68 Don Sutton 1977-06-03 L 0-1 9.0 5 0 2 2 77 Don Sutton 1976-06-17 L 0-1 9.0 6 0 2 4 77 Don Sutton 1976-09-17(1) L 0-1 11.0 6 0 3 6 88 Doug Rau 1972-10-01 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 4 4 74 Doug Rau 1977-09-05 L 0-1 7.0 4 0 1 4 70 Doug Rau 1977-07-25 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 1 2 60 Doug Rau 1976-08-04 L 0-1 8.0 4 1 2 2 70 Fernando Valenzuela 1989-06-02 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 5 66 Fernando Valenzuela 1987-06-11 L 0-1 9.0 7 1 5 6 70 Fernando Valenzuela 1985-04-28 L 0-1 9.0 2 1 1 10 88 Fernando Valenzuela 1983-09-16 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 2 7 68 Fernando Valenzuela 1982-09-04 L 0-1 9.0 4 1 2 11 84 Fernando Valenzuela 1981-10-01 L 0-1 8.0 5 0 2 7 75 Fernando Valenzuela 1989-04-29 L 0-1 7.0 4 0 1 1 69 Jerry Reuss 1982-07-25 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 2 5 69 Jerry Reuss 1981-04-21 L 0-1 8.0 8 1 0 2 64 Johnny Podres 1962-09-30 L 0-1 9.0 5 1 0 7 80 Johnny Podres 1960-08-19 L 0-1 8.2 3 0 3 2 75 Orel Hershiser 1989-04-27 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 1 4 70 Orel Hershiser 1987-10-03 L 0-1 8.0 3 1 2 5 75 Orel Hershiser 1986-04-08 L 0-1 9.0 9 1 2 4 67 Orel Hershiser 1993-06-24 L 0-1 9.0 8 1 2 4 69 Orel Hershiser 1992-06-20 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 3 6 69 Orel Hershiser 1989-09-08 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 4 6 61 Orel Hershiser 1989-09-24 L 0-1 7.0 8 1 2 5 60 Orel Hershiser 1989-08-28 L 0-1 8.0 8 1 1 4 65 Ramon Martinez 1994-04-07 L 0-1 8.0 6 1 1 10 75 Ramon Martinez 1989-08-07 L 0-1 8.0 4 1 2 9 77 Sandy Koufax 1964-05-27 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 5 7 69 Sandy Koufax 1963-06-01 L 0-1 7.0 3 1 1 10 76 Sandy Koufax 1960-09-03 L 0-1 7.0 7 1 2 6 63 Tim Belcher 1988-09-16 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 1 7 80 Tim Belcher 1991-08-09 L 0-1 8.2 5 0 2 4 76 Tom Candiotti 1995-07-06 L 0-1 8.0 3 0 0 5 81 Tom Candiotti 1992-06-02 L 0-1 7.0 5 1 4 4 63 Zack Greinke 2015-06-23 L 0-1 6.0 3 0 2 5 69 Zack Greinke 2013-09-28 L 0-1 6.0 4 1 0 7 67
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Generated 7/5/2017.
Kershaw cracks top gamescore against Dbacks at home
Clayton Kershaw once again played with a no-hitter but had to settle for just another victory. The final score of 4 – 3 does not properly reflect his dominance last night in which he put up a game score of 82.
That game score put him on the leaderboard of Dodger pitchers with a game score of at least 80 against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. This was the second time Kershaw had made the list. The first was way back in 2011, and the score was identical at 4 – 3.
Not a surprise to see Kevin Brown at the top of the list, the surprise is that I think this is the first time I’ve seen him on top of any of my game score leaderboards.
Ishii is a surprise because of the date. If Ishii was going to make a game score leaderboard I would have expected it to happen in April or May, I simply don’t remember him pitching a good game after May of 2004.
Jose Lima was just starting Lima time. That would be the best start of 2004 for Lima Time. Until October.
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Kevin Brown 2000-06-15 ARI W 4-0 9.0 4 0 0 10 89 Kazuhisa Ishii 2004-07-07 ARI W 11-0 9.0 1 0 1 5 89 Chad Billingsley 2011-05-14 ARI L 0-1 8.0 1 0 2 8 84 Jose Lima 2004-05-29 ARI W 10-0 8.0 2 0 1 7 84 Chan Ho Park 1998-07-24 ARI W 3-1 8.0 2 1 2 11 83 Clayton Kershaw 2017-07-04 ARI W 4-3 7.0 2 0 2 11 82 Brad Penny 2005-07-01 ARI W 7-0 8.0 3 0 1 7 82 Odalis Perez 2003-07-05 ARI W 2-0 8.0 3 0 0 5 81 Clayton Kershaw 2011-05-13 ARI W 4-3 7.0 3 0 2 11 80 Derek Lowe 2008-09-05 ARI W 7-0 8.0 2 0 2 4 80
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Generated 7/5/2017.
When I first glanced at the list I noticed that Billingsley was the only pitcher to lose his game, and with the score 1 – 0 I thought it was a different game. I clicked on the box score to find out I was mistaken. Which meant that Billingsley had lost two games against the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium by a score of 1 – 0. Hard luck loser indeed. The game I thought it was, was the 19-year-old debut of Justin Upton.
Turns out that Chad Billingsley lost five games by the score of 1 – 0. Talk about a hard luck loser.
Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 2007-08-03 ARI L 0-1 7.2 5 1 2 8 71 2007-08-08 CIN L 0-1 5.0 6 1 4 3 50 2008-04-13 SDP L 0-1 5.0 4 1 2 8 61 2010-04-25 WSN L 0-1 6.0 4 1 2 5 63 2011-05-14 ARI L 0-1 8.0 1 0 2 8 84
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/5/2017.
By comparison, Clayton Kershaw has only lost one game 1 – 0.
I’m sure Don Sutton lost a good number of 1 – 0 games, so now my next article will be about who has the most 1 – 0 losses for the LAD. I’m betting on Don Sutton. I think Don was not only the king of the one-hitter but also of the 1 – 0 loss.
The Campaign Continues
Dodger fans at the game tonight were treated to Orel Hershiser and Justin Turner putting on the Ritz as they combined on the Nations birthday with a memorable moment. At the same time, Dodger fans listening to Joe Davis got a glimpse why he is filling the big shoes of Vin Scully very well.
Orel took to Dodger vision to implore the fans at the stadium to exercise their right to vote by voting for Justin Turner and send him to Miami. Not long after Orel sat down, Justin Turner added an exclamation point to his campaign by slamming a home run to dead center field.
While the fans at the game were going crazy, Joe Davis was telling those of us at home watching the game
“The campaign continues, Justin Turner just keep on running to Miami”
Can’t make this stuff up.
I do find it funny that while the Keith Law book is being consumed by baseball fans everywhere, and they are being taught that batting average isn’t exactly the best stat to measure a player by, those of us who should know better are giddy over the .388 batting average of Justin Turner as we turn the corner to the all-star game.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 