Don Sutton sits on top but this will be about Doug Rau
Don Sutton has the highest game score against the Washington National franchise at Dodger Stadium. It was a crazy game as Little D went eleven innings and they lost 3 – 5 even though he only gave up one earned run. The Expos scored three runs in the top of the 14th to win the game.
Tim Leary and Orel both had games from the 1988 World Championship club here.
With all the great names on his list like Andy Messersmith, Jerry Reuss, Burt Hooton, Tim Leary, and even Derek Lowe, this one will be about Doug Rau.
I saw his name on this list and I saw the date, and I wondered was this the game that I could never forget? Doug Rau was a part of the Dodger rotation from 1974 – 1978 making at least 30 starts every year. He was never the best pitcher on the team but he was always good for above average work. He pitched on three teams that went to the World Series. He was the Claude Osteen of the 70’s which is appropriate because he replaced Claude Osteen in the Dodger rotation in 1974 when Osteen was traded the winter of 1973 for Jimmy Wynn. Anyway after making 162 starts in five years, Rau started 1979 as a main part of the rotation. Something was wrong and Rau hit a rough patch and was getting shelled in April. He ended April of 1979 with an ERA over 10.00. There were whispers he was done, that the league had finally caught up with his soft throwing junk but he turned it around in May. This was one of those games. A beautiful one hit shutout. On May 28th Rau would throw another shutout. On June 4th he would pitch his last game as a Dodger. Rau gave up 13 hits in four innings and would never pitch another game for the Dodgers. He had blown out his elbow. It was a sad ending for a pitcher who had been a constant on the best overall teams the Dodgers ever had.
And yes, this was the game I could never forget. It has always stayed in my mind, how dominant you could be one day, and just a few weeks later, your career was over.
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Don Sutton 1975-08-24 MON L 3-5 11.0 4 1 3 9 89 Fernando Valenzuela 1986-05-20 MON W 4-0 9.0 2 0 1 6 88 Andy Messersmith 1975-06-09 MON W 4-0 9.0 4 0 3 12 88 Tim Leary 1988-08-21 MON W 4-0 9.0 6 0 0 12 87 Jerry Reuss 1982-07-20 MON W 10-1 9.0 4 0 0 8 85 Doug Rau 1979-05-11 MON W 7-0 9.0 1 0 4 4 85 Clayton Kershaw 2015-08-12 WSN W 3-0 8.0 3 0 0 8 84 Clayton Kershaw 2013-05-14 WSN W 2-0 8.2 5 0 1 11 84 Orel Hershiser 1988-08-19 MON W 2-0 9.0 5 0 1 8 84 Orel Hershiser 1985-09-03 MON W 4-0 9.0 4 0 1 6 84 Derek Lowe 2008-07-26 WSN W 6-0 8.0 1 0 1 4 83 Tim Leary 1988-05-19 MON W 2-0 9.0 7 0 0 10 83 Jerry Reuss 1980-08-31(1) MON W 2-0 9.0 4 0 1 3 81 Burt Hooton 1978-08-28 MON W 4-0 9.0 4 0 1 3 81 Andy Messersmith 1974-04-26 MON W 7-1 9.0 3 1 3 7 81 Pedro Astacio 1994-07-05 MON W 2-1 8.0 2 1 2 8 80 Don Sutton 1978-06-18 MON W 5-0 9.0 6 0 1 6 80
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Generated 6/6/2017.
Ron LeFlore makes a surprising appearance
As I do these leaderboards, I’m learning two things. Hideo Nomo and Shawn Green had some monster games as Dodgers.
No Dodger has ever had a double digit total base game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium, but if we include the Montreal Expo franchise we can find three Dodgers who did the trick.
Shawn Green rocked three home runs against Montreal back in 2001, driving in seven runs. Raul Mondesi hit two home runs and two singles for ten total bases way back in 1995. Old friend Joe Ferguson hit two home runs, and a double to net his ten total bases.
Player Date Opp Rslt PA R H 2B HR TB RBI BB Shawn Green 2001-08-15 MON W 13-1 5 3 3 0 3 12 7 0 Raul Mondesi 1995-09-02 MON L 8-9 5 3 4 0 2 10 4 0 Joe Ferguson 1980-08-31(2) MON W 7-2 4 2 3 1 2 10 3 0
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Generated 6/6/2017.
How about against us?
This was unexpected. I expected to possibly see the names of HOF Andre Dawson, HOF Tim Raines, HOTFG Larry Walker, slugger Adam Dunn, future HOF Bryce Harper, or maybe HOF Gary Carter, but I did not expect to see Ron LeFlore who was famous for being an ex-convict and his speed, not his power.
LeFlore only hit 59 major league home runs, but he stole an amazing 459 bases. Included in that 459 stolen bases was his major league leading 97 in 1980. Doing more digging into LeFlore I had every right to be surprised. This was the only game in a long career that he had at least ten total bases in one game. Only one other time would he even hit two home runs in a game.
If you have never heard the story of Ron LeFlore you should give this a read. LeFlore was one of the unique players that dot major league history. A story of perseverance against massive odds.
If there was any consolation to his prison sentence, it was that it afforded him the opportunity to play some organized baseball, albeit within the structure of a state prison. LeFlore’s ballplaying skills became so evident that one of his fellow inmates, a man who knew Tigers manager Billy Martin, convinced the Detroit skipper to come to the prison and take a look at the young outfielder. Martin came away duly impressed and worked out an arrangement for LeFlore to be paroled for one day, so that could participate in a tryout camp in front of Tigers coaches and executives.
When I wonder why I do these leaderboards I find a Ron LeFlore and remember why. It isn’t to read about Clayton Kershaw dominating once again, it is finding these pearls among the big clams. At the time the Ron LeFlore story was a big deal. Over the years his unique story has probably faded to the point that only fans from that era remember him unless you are from Detroit. I was glad to see he’s still alive though I always have a hard time picturing the men who used their legs as their weapons going through senior life without them.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA R H 2B HR TB RBI Ron LeFlore 1980-06-18 MON LAD L 7-8 5 3 3 1 2 10 3
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Generated 6/6/2017.
The best a Washington National could do was Ian Desmond putting up nine total bases back in 2015.
Which one of these guys is the relief pitcher?
If you start with the premise that Clayton Kershaw is still the ace, That the NL May Pitcher of the Month Alex Wood is the number two, and Brandon McCarthy is the 3rd part of the rotation you are still left with four pitchers fighting over two rotation spots.
The decision to send Ryu to the bullpen on May 25th seemed reasonable at the time. However since that time Ryu has pitched three times, once in relief and has been extremely effective. His start last night showed him getting stronger as the game went on and able to get great hitters out even as they faced him for the 3rd/4th time in the order. Ryu has made nine starts and has been able to get more than 15 outs six times. Rich Hill has made six starts and not once has been able to get more than 15 outs. Kenta Maeda has made ten starts and only twice has gotten more than 15 outs. Urias is back in AAA and still struggling to find the stuff that allowed him to plow through AAA in 2016 and make his major league debut at age 19 in May of 2016.
Last night it looked like Ryu was throwing as hard as he ever had, and Brooksbaseball backed that up. In June of 2014 Ryu was throwing his four seamer at 91.49 MPH, last night he averaged 91.35 MPH. This is a step up from his 90.03 in April of 2017. I liked everything I saw of Ryu last night against a potent offense.
When Wood comes off the DL this weekend, which starting pitcher hits the DL or bullpen? It shouldn’t be Ryu.
Rk Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO HR GSc 30 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-24 SFG L 1-2 6.0 5 1 1 3 0 60 31 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-05-18 MIA W 7-2 5.1 7 2 1 3 2 48 32 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-05-11 COL L 7-10 4.0 8 5 6 4 0 14 33 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-05-31 STL L 1-2 6.0 3 1 1 4 0 65 34 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-06-05 WSN L 2-4 7.0 7 4 0 4 1 51 35 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-07 COL L 1-2 4.2 6 2 1 5 1 48 36 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-13 CHC L 0-4 4.2 6 4 2 5 2 39 37 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-18 COL L 3-4 6.0 7 4 1 7 3 48 38 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-30 PHI W 5-3 5.1 3 1 3 9 0 64 44 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-30 STL W 9-4 4.0 4 3 3 2 0 41 45 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-04 SDP L 0-4 5.0 6 3 2 4 1 45 46 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-25 STL W 7-3 5.0 7 3 2 4 0 43 47 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-09 COL W 10-6 5.0 5 4 1 5 1 45 48 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-15 ARI W 8-4 4.0 4 4 1 5 1 42 49 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-22 ARI L 5-11 5.0 9 6 1 5 4 29 50 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-10 PIT W 5-2 8.1 5 2 0 5 1 70 51 Kenta Maeda 2017-06-04 MIL L 0-3 4.0 2 2 3 7 1 54 52 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-28 PHI W 5-3 7.0 5 2 1 8 0 66 53 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-05 SDP W 8-2 5.0 3 1 3 8 0 60 54 Rich Hill 2017-04-16 ARI L 1-3 3.0 5 2 2 2 1 41 55 Rich Hill 2017-05-24 STL L 1-6 4.0 4 5 7 4 0 31 56 Rich Hill 2017-05-29 STL W 5-1 5.0 2 1 2 4 0 61 57 Rich Hill 2017-04-05 SDP W 3-1 5.0 2 1 3 5 1 61 58 Rich Hill 2017-06-03 MIL W 10-8 4.0 3 2 4 5 1 47 59 Rich Hill 2017-05-16 SFG L 1-2 5.0 6 1 0 6 1 57
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Generated 6/6/2017.
Zimmerman uprising
When the Dodgers played the Nationals last year in the NLDS the one thing they thought they could count on was Ryan Zimmerman not being much of a factor. The weary 1st baseman came into the postseason with the 3rd worst wRC+ in the NL. He had been horrible in the regular season. The postseason, however, was a different beast. Zimmerman ended up posting a .917 OPS in the NLDS. He outhit his teammates, Harper/Rendon/Turner. The Dodgers won the NLDS but it wasn’t because of Ryan Zimmerman.
Whatever got Zimmerman going in October last year has carried over into 2017 and more so. Hard to remember an over 30-year-old player being so bad one year and coming back with an MVP type season the next.
The Nationals are neck and neck this year with Dodgers as they fight for the best record in the NL. You don’t have to look far to figure out why the Nationals are playing so well. You just have to gaze out toward 1st base.
Get the picture?
Anyway, back to Ryan Zimmerman:
- He’s tied for most home runs in the NL with 16.
- He has the 2nd most doubles with 18, one behind Nolan Arenado.
- He leads the NL in RBI with 48
- He leads the NL in Slug % at .713. His closest competitor is Bryce Harper at .648. That is a crazy number.
- He leads the NL in ISO at .338
- He leads the NL in OPS at 1.133
- He leads the NL in wRC+ at 194.
- He leads the NL in wOBA at .469
He’s not slowing down. The A’s intentionally walked Harper yesterday. Zimmerman crushed a home run.
This is a dangerous lineup. This isn’t October 2016.
Dustin May wins June 4th FFA
There was some heated competition for the Dodger Farm Factory Award for the week ending on June 4th but it involved mostly pitchers and Nineteen-year-old Dustin May got the nod.
Wilmer Font had the best game of the week when he struck out ten in a six-inning two-hitter.
Trevor Oaks had the most interesting game. Oaks pitched a seven-inning two-hit gem with zero walks and seven strikeouts. That was a sweet pitching performance but what made this game stand out was that Oaks also hit a three-run home run off of ex-Dodger Javy Guerra. Even stranger was that Oaks hit the home run in the top of the 8th and would not pitch the 8th inning.
Dustin May won the award for pitching two games in the week. His second game was the gem, but he combined for thirteen innings, eleven hits allowed, three earned runs allowed, zero walks, and thirteen strikeouts. On the year Dustin May has struck out fifty-four with only eight walks.
On the hitting side, it was nice to see Yusniel Diaz finish the week on a hot note. He started out zero for ten but finished with three straight multi-hit games going eight for fourteen with two home runs.
Oneil Cruz had a four-hit game on Sunday, the first time in his professional career he had four hits in a game on the mainland. Heck, it was the first time he had more than two hits in a game on the mainland.
Continuing to muddle the waters at Shortstop for the Great West Loons, the Dodger added 6th round 2016 draft pick Errol Robinson to the mix. Robinson started at SS on Sunday and collected four hits and stole three bases. Robinson is older than his other shortstop competition. Robinson has now played nine games at 2nd, one at 3rd, three at SS, and two in CF. He’s the Kiké Hernandez for the Loons. The strange part of this is that Gavin Lux spent most of the week playing 2nd base. Lux now has more starts at 2nd, than he does at SS. Go figure.
Dodgers roll through the best of the NL Central
On May 23rd the Dodgers were 26 – 19 and 2.5 games back of the Rockies. They were about to face the Cardinals/Cubs/Cardinals/Brewers. The best teams the NL Central could throw at them. This was the time to answer the question. Can this team beat the good teams?
They started the four series set without their best hitter Justin Turner. They lost their starting CF on May 23rd, the first game of the four series set. Their second best starter would make his last start in the four series set on May 26th.
With all that, they went 9 – 4 including a sweep over the World Champion Cubs. For a few moments, they even caught the Rockies and were in first place.
- They did it with a new starting center fielder in Chris Taylor who put up a .870 in 46 plate appearances as a center fielder. Hard to believe that Taylor had never played center field before and now he’s already a seasoned veteran.
- They did it with their NL May Rookie Player of the Month having a tough patch as his OPS dropped from .965 to .884.
- They did it with their 2016 MVP candidate Cory Seager dropping his OPS from .871 to .820
- They did it without much help from Rich Hill or Kenta Maeda
- They did it with their cleanup hitter hitting four doubles and one home run and looking more like James Loney than Adrian Gonzalez.
- They did it with Clayton Kershaw having one of the worst games of his career
Basically, the Dodgers did it without hitting on all cylinders, which just goes to prove you don’t need all cylinders, you just need the right ones. Ha, probably not true in a mechanical sense. You kind of do need all your cylinders to get the most production but I like the line so it stays.
The NL Central is behind them, but now they face a team who can challenge them for the best team in the NL this year.
The Washington Nationals.
Lamb and Schebler once again
One thing stood out for me. Jake Lamb and Scott Schebler are the exact same baseball age at 23. 67. Jake Lamb was promoted two weeks ago to be the Diamondbacks starting 3rd baseman. Lamb had the highest wOBA in the Southern League at .433, but his BABIP was sitting at .389. Schebler has an wOBA of .403 but with a more reasonable BABIP of only .304.
Since that promotion, Jack Lamb has been the starting 3rd baseman and has hit 53 home runs with an OPS just a tad below .800 at .799. This year Lamb has 14 home runs and is one of six NL 3rd baseman with an OPS > .900.
Schebler wouldn’t get a Dodger promotion in 2014. In fact, he barely got a promotion in 2015 getting in just 19 games. Fifteen months after I had compared Schebler favorably to Jake Lamb it was looking like a bad comparison. One was a starting 3rd baseman, the other couldn’t even crack a twenty-five man roster.
Schebler was traded in the winter of 2015 to the Reds along with teammate Jose Peraza in a three-team deal. The Dodgers got Trayce Thompson and hard-throwing Montas. Thompson was kind of the right-handed version of Scott Schebler but with some major league success already under his belt.
Thompson started off 2015 on fire and Schebler started it off in a slump so bad that he was sent back to AAA. Those who are quick to note these things claimed the Dodgers had made another heist in the deal.
One year later, that trade isn’t looking as good as it looked last year at this time. This time Thompson is the one in AAA and struggling to get back to the major league roster.
Schebler struggled in April but his manager had his back and now Scott Schebler has an NL league-leading sixteen home runs.
“(Price) told me ‘Hey, don’t look over your shoulder,’” Schebler said. “This is your job, you are going to be the everyday guy, we are going to give you an ample amount of opportunity. That just meant everything me because it’s such a sample-size game that you press a little bit and you feel pressure. For him to do that, to have my back on that … I think he knows what kind of person I am. It’s a credit to him to pull me into his office like that and know that it would mean a lot to me, whereas maybe it wouldn’t mean as much to other guys.”
He’s hit eight home runs in both April and May. That comparison to Jake Lamb isn’t looking so bad now. The two of them have combined for 30 home runs and they now have a career OPS within five points of each other. Both seem locked into their positions for the foreseeable future.
I was always a big fan of Scott Schebler, but I was kind of expecting a guy who could play decent corner outfield defense, a little speed, and hit right hand pitching with enough power to keep him in the lineup. At no time did I think Schebler was a 30 home run type of guy. Nor did I think Jake Lamb was that type of guy. I thought they could have similar careers but I didn’t think the careers would be this good.
My only disappointment in Schebler is his lack of triples at the major league level. One of my favorite Schebler stats was his propensity for hitting triples. He hit 62 minor league triples but only two major league triples. Go figure.
Bellinger / Taylor blazing beginnings
As Chris Taylor continues to prove he belongs somewhere in the starting lineup I started wondering where he would place among LAD who started their Dodger careers off with a bang.
I usually start with Marlon Anderson and Ronnie Belliard, two Sept pickups who excelled for the team and helped propel them toward the postseason.
I created a leaderboard of LAD who had <= 250 plate appearances, were good enough for an OPS+ > 110. I removed pitchers and anyone who had less than 50 plate appearances.
When you look at the list below you will see Sept heroes acquired via waiver deadline deals like Marlon Anderson. Late summer free agent signings like Justin Ruggiano and Dick Stuart. Mid season trade acquisitions like Steve Finley and Toby Hall. Rookies like Cody Bellinger, Ralph Bryant, and Andrew Toles. Players signed as free agents in the winter like Jose Hernandez.
Does anyone remember Toby Hall being any good for the Dodgers? I sure don’t, I thought he underperformed from the get go.
Nice to see Jose Hernandez on this list. What a 2004 season he had as the super utility infielder/outfielder. Look at all those extra base hits. Twenty – Six extra-base hits in 238 PA. The Kiké Hernandez of his day.
Belliard didn’t even make the cut. He was hot enough in Sept of 2009, but he got too many at-bats in 2010 and that pulled him down.
This list is a just a point in time for Bellinger, Toles, and Taylor as they will accumulate much more than 250 LAD plate appearances in their career. Unless Toles gets traded this winter. For everyone else, they will remain static on this list as their Dodger careers were complete with less than 250 plate appearances.
This leaderboard is thus
Current search:Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, Playing for the LAD, From 1958 to 2017, Played games at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, DH or PHR, (requiring PA<=250, onbase_plus_slugging_plus>=110 and PA>=50), sorted by greatest Adjusted OPS+
Player OPS+ PA From To Age 2B 3B HR RBI BB Justin Ruggiano 165 60 2015 2015 33-33 4 1 4 12 3 Marlon Anderson 161 102 2006 2007 32-33 3 2 7 17 10 Jose Hernandez 137 238 2004 2004 34-34 12 1 13 29 26 Cody Bellinger 136 156 2017 2017 21-21 6 1 12 31 16 Chris Taylor 134 208 2016 2017 25-26 10 2 8 30 25 Tim Harkness 129 84 1961 1962 23-24 4 0 2 7 13 McKay Christensen 123 55 2001 2001 25-25 2 0 1 7 3 Ralph Bryant 123 169 1985 1987 24-26 6 3 8 24 15 Andrew Toles 121 217 2016 2017 24-25 12 1 8 31 13 Steve Finley 112 250 2004 2004 39-39 12 0 13 46 21 Dick Stuart 111 104 1966 1966 33-33 1 0 3 9 11 Toby Hall 110 60 2006 2006 30-30 4 0 0 8 2
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Generated 6/4/2017.
“Taylor made comeback”
Charlie Steiner doesn’t do much for me but that was his call after the Dodgers won earlier today on the backs of a grand slam home run by Chris Taylor in the 9th inning.
“Taylor made comeback”
Worth a mention
One day after a sleepfest the Dodgers/Brewers put on a show today with hitting/stolen bases/defense.
I’d say more but don’t have time just wanted to get the Charlie reference up before I forgot about it.
Strikeouts are kind of boring
That was what I was thinking last night about the 10th inning after a bazillion players struck out in the Dodger / Brewer game. No one could make contact for either team. Eventually, the game was decided by three solo home runs. Basically, the game consisted of strikeouts or solo home runs.
The strikeouts were historically cool but that was about it. It wasn’t like Clayton Kershaw was dominant, it was more like the Brewers can’t make contact. At first, I just assumed Kershaw was being brilliant but once Baez/Dayton struck out eight of their own nine hitters they faced I had to come to the conclusion that this might have been more about the Brewers than the Dodger pitchers. The Brewers lead the NL in strikeouts with 524. They strike out over 25% of the time. As a team.
They couldn’t make contact with anyone who wore Dodger blue except one time.
Maybe that type of game floats your boat, but it put me to sleep. I mean I used to love strikeouts and home runs but only because they used to be hard. In a league where everyone strikes out, and everyone hits home runs (except Adrian Gonzalez) it isn’t as cool as it used to be.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 