OTDIB – May 13th – Larry Miggins and Vin Scully forever intertwined
May 13th, 1952 Larry Miggins, boyhood friend of Vin Scully hits his first home run with Vin Scully making the call
Larry Miggins hits the first of his two major league home runs, going deep off Preacher Roe in the fourth inning of the Cardinals’ 14-8 loss to the Dodgers at Ebbets Field. The round-tripper hit by the Bronx-born outfielder, who had once shared his dream of playing in big leagues during a prep school assembly with a buddy with aspirations to be a baseball broadcaster, is called by an overwhelmed Vin Scully, Brooklyn’s play-by-play announcer who had wondered that day with his friend “what the odds against that would be.
Sometimes I just find nuggets OTDIB that blow my mind and this was one of them. I had never heard this story before so I googled Larry Miggins. Much to my dismay, I found out I was a few days short because it was all over the Dodger blogs already. Oh well, it was new info for me.
“I was a senior and he was a junior,” Miggins recalled. “We had an assembly for some reason and he ended up sitting right behind me. He grabbed me by the shoulder and said, ‘Larry, you’re going to be in the big leagues and the first time you hit a home run, I’m going to be the announcer to tell the world about it.’ Can you imagine that? He’s 15 years old. I’ll be damned if it didn’t happen.”
Best game scores by LAD at Coors
With Clayton Kershaw getting ready to toe the rubber tonight in Coors, I thought it would be a good time to review the best-pitched games at Coors. Yesterday we looked at the best hitting performances.
No surprise to see Clayton owning the 2nd/3rd best performances so far. Nomo’s no no is, of course, the greatest game ever pitched at Coors. Pre-Humidor even. With the pre-humidor being 2002, it looks like Kevin Brown has the second best pre-humidor game.
Who can forget Dave Mlicki?
Player Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Hideo Nomo 1996-09-17 W 9-0 9.0 0 0 4 8 91 Clayton Kershaw 2013-07-02 W 8-0 9.0 4 0 0 8 87 Clayton Kershaw 2014-07-04 W 9-0 8.0 2 0 1 8 85 Ted Lilly 2010-09-27 W 3-1 8.0 4 1 2 8 76 Greg Maddux 2008-09-14 L 0-1 7.0 2 0 0 3 76 Brad Penny 2006-06-09 W 3-0 8.1 5 0 2 5 76 Kevin Brown 2000-07-24 W 4-1 8.0 3 1 1 5 76 Dave Mlicki 1998-06-18 W 5-0 9.0 7 0 2 4 75 Kenta Maeda 2016-04-23 W 4-1 6.1 3 0 1 8 74 Odalis Perez 2002-04-15 W 5-2 9.0 5 2 1 5 73 Ramon Martinez 1995-05-05 W 6-4 7.0 4 1 4 11 72
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/12/2017.
Nice to see Ramon Martinez here with his 11 K effort which made me wonder who had best strikeout performances at Coors. Let’s find out:
How about that. Ramon is the only Dodger to have double-digit strikeouts at Coors.
Player Date Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Ramon Martinez 1995-05-05 W 6-4 7.0 4 1 4 11 72 Clayton Kershaw 2014-06-08 W 6-1 5.0 3 1 0 9 66 Clayton Kershaw 2010-05-30 W 4-3 5.0 4 2 4 9 56 Hideo Nomo 1996-06-30 L 15-16 5.0 9 5 4 9 26
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/12/2017.
Might be something to be said for rhythm
The Dodgers front office has shown a propensity in recent years to push MLB rules as far as they can until MLB has to change them to make sure the details of the rule can’t be pushed beyond what the original letter of intent was by a boatload of analysts.
This was never more evident in the past few weeks when the Dodgers basically thumbed their noses at the 10 day DL and have decided to use that mechanism as a way to keep all seven starters on the 25-man roster. They can do this because they have seven bonafide starters. Instead of having to make the hard decision and tell someone they going to the bullpen or AAA they are trying to appease everyone while annoying a few.
They are asking these rotation pieces to be team players but I doubt they ever ask Clayton Kershaw to take a phantom DL turn. I guess this is how they will manage the Urias innings.
I understand the Dodger motives but I can’t help but wonder that instead of making the hard decision, they are creating a bigger problem in that the rhythm of a pitcher isn’t going to be compromised by using the DL in this fashion.
The first use of it was Ryu who came off yesterday. Ryu’s command was all over the place and he was shelled. It was Colorado and Coors but does that really explain his lack of command? In his previous three starts before being put on the phantom DL Ryu had walked only five in fourteen innings. He had struck out nineteen. Last night after not having pitched in ten days, he walked six, and the balls hit hard could be blamed on lack of location.
Brandon McCarthy will come off his phantom DL this coming Monday. He will have last pitched on April 29th.
Kenta Maeda won’t pitch for at least ten days after being on an excellent three-game run.
Can these pitchers keep the beat even after being skipped
Time will tell. If it works out, expect all of baseball to follow this route once they figure out how to get seven bonafide major league starters into a rotation.
OTDIB – May 12th, 2015 – Stanton clears Dodger Stadium
May 12th, 2015 – Stanton gets even for the Dodgers not drafting him.
Giancarlo Stanton becomes the fourth player to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium, joining McGwire (1999), Mike Piazza (1997), and Willie Stargell, who accomplished the feat twice (1969, 1973). The jaw-dropping first-inning blast off Mike Bolsinger, estimated to have travelled 475 feet, proves to be the only bright spot in the Marlins’ 11-1 loss to LA at Chavez Ravine.
I was at the game that Piazza hit it out. If I recall correctly he hit the top and it bounced over.
May 12th, 2009 – an unpleasant memory as ex-Dodger Werth steals 2nd, 3rd, and home.
In a 5-3 victory over LA at Citizens Bank Park, Jayson Werth steals home to complete his journey around the bases that also included the swiping of second and third base. In addition to becoming the first major leaguer to complete the stolen base cycle since Eric Young accomplished the feat in 1996 with Colorado, the Phillies’ right-fielder ties a team record established by Sherry Magee (2, 1906) and Garry Maddox (1978).
May 12th, 2004 – Alex Cora and the amazing at-bat
In one of the most remarkable at-bats in big league history, Alex Cora fouls off 14 consecutive pitches and then hits the 18th thrown to him by the Cubs’ Matt Clement over the right-field fence for a two-run home run which doubles LA’s lead to 4-0. The Dodger Stadium crowd cheered each foul ball as the total started to be displayed on the scoreboard.
I was definitely at the Alex Cora game. That was my first year in my new loge season tickets overlooking the Dodger bullpen so I went to just about every game in 2004. The foul balls were amazing, the crowd was amazing, but to hit a home run after all of that. Yeah
If you watch the Alex Cora video you will see his teammate Dave Roberts cheering him on with each foul ball. Vinny is priceless in this one.
May 12th, 1970 – Mr Cub hits 500
At Wrigley Field only 5,264 fans see Ernie Banks hit his 500th career home run, but on hand to witness the historic home run is Frank Secory, one of the umpires of the 1953 contest in which Mr. Cub hit his first round-tripper. The second-inning line drive, hit off Braves’ pitcher Pat Jarvis into the left-field bleachers, bounces back onto the field and is given to the Cub first baseman after the ball is retrieved by Atlanta outfielder Rico Carty.
I only posted this because of the attendance number. Only 5,000 fans. Cub fans have come a long way from 1970. When I was a kid I used to be blown away by the sad attendance numbers at baseball games compared to Dodger Stadium. I also wish Mr. Cub had lived long enough to see the Cubs win that championship.
Best offensive performances at Coors
Can Bellinger or Chris Taylor crack the list?
Player Date Rslt PA HR TB RBI James Loney 2006-09-28 W 19-11 5 2 11 9 Raul Mondesi 1996-06-30 L 15-16 6 2 12 6 Mike Piazza 1996-06-29 W 13-10 5 3 12 6 Mike Piazza 1995-05-07 W 12-10 5 2 11 6 Alex Cora 2000-07-27 W 16-11 5 2 11 5 Gary Sheffield 2001-07-21 W 22-7 6 2 10 4 Eric Karros 1995-08-02 W 10-7 5 2 10 4 Adrian Beltre 2003-09-05 W 8-7 5 2 10 3 Todd Zeile 1997-07-14 W 14-12 6 2 10 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/11/2017.
I can still remember the Loney game like yesterday but alas the other games are vague memories of Oh Yeah, but not really.
How about post-humidor? I heard it went into effect in 2003. I had to lower the Total base threshold to 8 from 10.
Player Date Rslt HR TB RBI James Loney 2006-09-28 W 19-11 2 11 9 Andre Ethier 2013-09-02 W 10-8 1 8 3 Matt Kemp 2011-06-09 L 7-9 1 9 3 Andre Ethier 2009-08-26 W 6-1 2 9 3 Matt Kemp 2006-06-11 W 6-5 2 8 3 Ron Coomer 2003-09-06 W 10-2 2 8 3 Adrian Beltre 2003-09-05 W 8-7 2 10 3 Adrian Gonzalez 2013-07-04 L 5-9 1 8 2 James Loney 2011-08-21 L 3-5 1 8 2 Casey Blake 2010-09-28 W 9-7 2 8 2 Jolbert Cabrera 2003-07-12 L 3-5 2 8 2 Hanley Ramirez 2013-07-03 W 10-8 1 8 1 Russell Martin 2007-07-29 L 6-9 1 8 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/11/2017.
Rockies Preview – Are they for real this time?
The Rockies play host to the red-hot Dodgers as they try to keep claim to 1st place in the Western division. The Rockies handled the World Champion Cubs pretty good taking two of three. Before that, they knocked off the Diamondbacks two of three.
2014 – On May 7th they were 22 – 14 and in first
place. That would be the last time they were in 1st place
They ended 2014 with a horrific 66 – 96 record. The one time they made the postseason wasn’t based on a fast start but a torrid finish.
The one time they made the World Series wasn’t based on a fast start but a torrid finish when they went 20 – 8 in Sept of 2007 winning fourteen of their last fifteen games.
Right now they are 22 – 13 and are in first place. Will things be different this time?
Probably. This is a good team but they have the same Achilles heal they have always had. The rotation. The arms are better than in the past but these are baby arms. So many rookies are helping fuel the Rockie ascent, but can these baby arms handle a full year of Coors? It rarely happens and right now they need three of these baby arms to handle that load.
I see this team in two lights. One light is what they are now, and the second light is what they can become by upgrading the rotation by trading assets. The first light is very bright on May 11th, but will eventually dim because historically the load is simply too great for young pitchers, old pitchers, any kind of pitchers. The second light is too far in the future because we can’t gauge what moves they will make, we can only look at the team as it stands right now.
Let’s look at the current bright light:
Mark Reynolds, what an NRI signing. Usually when your big free agent signing breaks his hand in spring training that is trouble. For the Rockies, it was the best thing that could have happened. That injury allowed Mark Reynolds to make the team and become the starting first baseman. He has been the MVP of the team so far. They have three players with 1 WAR already in Reynolds, Blackmon, and Arenado.
They needed Reynolds to hit like he’s never hit before because Carlos Gonzalez is hitting like he’s never done before but in a negative way. Look at that chart. Cargo is dead last in wRC+ for the Rockies. He’s probably dead last in baseball in RF. Yup, using Fangraphs, Cargo is dead last. He’s so bad the player in front of him at 29th has twice as much wRC+ as Cargo. That is bad. That is horrifically bad. That would be like Chase Utley being your cleanup hitter every night. Every night.
At this time last year Trevor Story was the talk of baseball but this year he is struggling. Last year at this time Story had already hit eleven home runs with a .924 OPS. His OPS right now is .685.
Ian Desmond just got back off the DL and is now playing in the outfield instead of 1st base. Desmond hit two home runs his 3rd game back. Has not had an extra base hit in the next seven even with six of them at Coors.
Yet, they persevere. So watch out, because if the Rockies can win regularly while Cargo is the worse hitter in baseball and Story scuffles, they might have monsoon of offense coming their way when they get going.
All data below was compiled via fangraphs:
| Name | wRC+ | WAR | PA | HR | R | RBI | wOBA |
| Mark Reynolds | 165 | 1 | 136 | 12 | 24 | 30 | 0.456 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 126 | 1.1 | 156 | 8 | 22 | 27 | 0.396 |
| Nolan Arenado | 117 | 1 | 146 | 8 | 22 | 22 | 0.381 |
| Tony Wolters | 104 | 0.4 | 56 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 0.36 |
| DJ LeMahieu | 75 | 0.3 | 149 | 1 | 15 | 10 | 0.315 |
| Ian Desmond | 70 | -0.1 | 42 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 0.307 |
| Gerardo Parra | 67 | -0.1 | 99 | 3 | 12 | 13 | 0.303 |
| Trevor Story | 66 | 0.1 | 128 | 6 | 18 | 15 | 0.301 |
| Dustin Garneau | 56 | 0.2 | 67 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0.286 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 26 | -1 | 125 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 0.239 |
I’ll admit to not knowing half of the Rockie rotation before the season started. I rarely pay attention to Rockie starters. Jon Gray sure, he has great stuff and the chance to be one of the better historical Rockie pitchers before Coors claims his arm. Bettis because of his cancer issues. Chatwood because he was so good on the road. Tyler Anderson because he showed some promise. But NL Rookie of the Month Antonio Senzatela. Nope. Kyle Freeland Nope. German Marquez, I had heard of but didn’t pay much attention to. Now I will, he looked great last night. Brilliant even. Dodgers won’t be facing Gray who is still on the DL or Marquez but they will face three of the four below. Freeland will be replaced by Jordan Lyles making his first start of the season.
| Name | W | GS | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 |
| Kyle Freeland | 3 | 7 | 40 | 5.85 | 4.05 | 0.23 |
| Antonio Senzatela | 5 | 7 | 44 | 4.91 | 2.25 | 0.82 |
| Tyler Anderson | 2 | 7 | 36.1 | 8.42 | 2.97 | 2.23 |
| Tyler Chatwood | 3 | 7 | 43.2 | 6.39 | 3.71 | 1.85 |
The bullpen, however, is where the Rockies have excelled this season. The starters are 6th in the NL but the bullpen is second with only the Dodgers keeping them from nabbing the top stop. Greg Holland has been everything the Rockies could have hoped for. They love him. They love him so much they might kill him before the all-star game. Holland has saved 14 games already. He has been in 15 of the 35 games which isn’t that crazy a pace except the man didn’t pitch all of last year. They didn’t ease him into the closer role they shoved him, and they shoved him hard. Holland has plenty of help in lefty Jake McGee who rediscovered the ability to get outs, hard-throwing Adam Ottavino, lefty Mike Dunn, and lefty Chris Rusin.
Yup, they got a boatload of effective left-hand relief pitchers.
But can any of them contain Chris Taylor?
To answer the question, are the Rockies for real in 2017?
I think so, while the pitching will regress, I expect the offense to pick up the slack with the additions of Desmond/Dahl, and Cargo getting back to normal. This won’t be a repeat of 2014 when they went from 23 – 16 to 66 – 96. I won’t commit to the Rockies being in the postseason in 2017 but I will commit to them being a better than .500 team.
OTDIB – May 11th – Koufax goes no no
May 11th, 1963 – Sandy Koufax hurls the second no-hitter of his career.
| Sandy Koufax takes a perfect game into the eighth inning before walking Ed Bailey on a 3-and-2 pitch, but will finish the Dodger Stadium contest with the second of four career no-hitters, blanking the Giants, 8-0. The Los Angeles southpaw beats San Francisco ace Juan Marichal, who will also author a no-hitter next month. |
This particular no-hitter by Koufax was rated his 22nd best game using game score. You know what is hard? Having a game score over 100, that is hard. Only 47 pitchers have done that since 1955. Only had a handful have ever done it more than once. Koufax and Kershaw have both done it once.
The Sandy Koufax regular season game score leaderboard:
Date IP H ER BB SO GSc 1965-09-09 9.0 0 0 0 14 101 1966-07-27 11.0 4 1 3 16 98 1964-06-04 9.0 0 0 1 12 98 1961-09-20 13.0 7 2 3 15 97 1963-04-19 9.0 2 0 2 14 95 1961-06-20 9.0 2 0 2 14 95 1965-09-29 9.0 2 0 1 13 95 1962-06-30 9.0 0 0 5 13 95 1960-08-11 9.0 2 0 1 13 95 1965-05-13 9.0 3 0 0 13 94 1965-08-14 10.0 5 0 0 12 94 1960-05-28 13.0 3 3 9 15 93 1963-07-12 9.0 3 0 1 13 93 1955-08-27 9.0 2 0 5 14 92 1964-05-04 10.0 3 1 3 13 92 1965-06-20(1) 9.0 1 1 2 12 91 1964-07-22 9.0 4 0 0 12 91 1963-07-03 9.0 3 0 0 9 90 1966-05-19 9.0 3 0 2 10 89 1963-06-13 9.0 3 0 2 10 89 1960-05-23 9.0 1 0 6 10 89 1963-05-11 9.0 0 0 2 4 89 1961-08-29 9.0 2 0 5 12 88
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/11/2017.
You know what is even harder? Having a game score over 80 in the post season and doing it twice within a span of three days.
The Sandy Koufax postseason game score leaderboard:
Date Series Gm# Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc 1965-10-14 WS 7 MIN W 2-0 9.0 3 0 3 10 88 1965-10-11 WS 5 MIN W 7-0 9.0 4 0 1 10 88
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/11/2017.
Wood / Urias / Maeda sweep away Pirates
The unlikely trio blew through the anemic Pirate offense to give the Dodgers a much-needed sweep as they head into Colorado for an early season bruhaha with the first place Rockies.
To accomplish the sweep the trio put up some personal accomplishments:
- The first time Maeda pitched into the 9th inning
- Heck, it was the first time Maeda pitching into the 8th inning
- The first time Urias got at least 17 outs
- 10th best game score of Alex Wood’s career (73)
- 4th highest game score of Kenta Maeda’s career (70)
- Highest game score of Julio Urias career (70)
Besides those personal accomplishments the starting pitching:
- Gave up only three earned runs in 19 2/3 innings
- Gave up only eight hits in 19 2/3 innings
- Struck out 21 and walked only 3 in 19 2/3 innings
- All three pitchers had a game score over 70
- 2nd/3rd/4th highest games scores of the season that did not involve Clayton Kershaw
Player Date IP H ER BB SO GSc Clayton Kershaw 2017-04-14 8.1 4 1 1 8 78 Clayton Kershaw 2017-04-03 7.0 2 1 0 8 75 Alex Wood 2017-04-26 6.0 1 0 1 5 74 Alex Wood 2017-05-08 5.0 2 0 1 11 73 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-10 8.1 5 2 0 5 70 Julio Urias 2017-05-09 6.1 1 1 2 5 70
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/11/2017.
The sweep by these three left me wondering when was the last time the Dodgers swept a series that did not involve Clayton Kershaw while Kershaw was in the rotation.
OTDIB – Nomar slams his way into history
All this information comes via Nationalpastime.com
May 10th, 1999 ex-Dodger Nomar inks his name into the record books
| In a 12-4 rout of the Mariners, Nomar Garciaparra hits two grand slams in the same game and adds a two-run homer as well. The Red Sox shortstop becomes the first American League player to drive in 10 runs in a game since 1975. |
May 10th, 2012 the Orioles become the first American League team to hit three home runs to lead off a game:
| At Camden Yards, the Orioles start the game with back-to-back-to-back home runs when Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy, and Nick Markakis give the team a 3-0 lead on the first eight pitches thrown by Rangers starter Colby Lewis. The Birds’ trio of round-trippers to lead off the first inning marks the fourth time in major league history the feat has been accomplished, but it is the first occurrence in the American League. |
The funny part to me about this record is that the three names were Flaherty/Hardy/Markakis who have never struck me as home run hitters. Also, five years later both Flaherty and Hardy are still Orioles.
May 10th, 1970 ex-Dodger Hoyt Wilhelm makes his 1,000 appearance
| Hoyt Wilhelm becomes the first major league pitcher to appear in 1000 games. The 47 year-old Braves’ knuckleballer will end his 21-year career in 1972 with 1070 appearances. |
May 10th, 1955 – Newcombe is almost perfect
| Dodger right-hander Don Newcombe faces only 27 batters when he one-hits Chicago at Wrigley Field, 3-0. Newk’s bid for perfection is ruined by a fourth-inning single hit by Gene Baker, who will be thrown out trying to steal second base. |
Cream rises
The best part of a 162 game season is that it will shake out the pretenders and allow the cream to rise to the top. When the season started it would have been hard not to see the cream of the 2017 Dodgers. They were kind of loaded from old veterans like Adrian Gonzalez to a superstar MVP candidates like Cory Seager. When you made out the lineup the team didn’t have a hole no matter how Dave Roberts decided to make out the lineup.
Sure the offense would slump, individuals would slump, but over 162 games those slumps would normalize and an above average offense should emerge.
The real cream, however, was the rotation. When you start with the best pitcher in baseball, add in the best young pitcher in baseball, you only need to find three other arms to hand the ball too. Roberts was free to pick and choose between Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda, Ryu, McCarthy, and Alex Wood. The odds were good that at any time three of those six would be able to carry the workload and do a good job with it. That is exactly what is happening, so while Scott Kazmir and Brock Stewart are doing rehab to possibly help the team later, the Dodgers still have six options for three spots and the competition for those three spots seems to be working. I have no idea how Roberts will manage this rotation, but as they say, it is a nice problem to have.
What I didn’t count on were the globules of Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor who have made the cream rise faster than you’d have expected after a 9 – 11 start. Cody Bellinger showing up before the end of April and simply dominating the game to the point where he will be the Dodgers cleanup hitter from this point going forward against right and left-hand pitching. Chris Taylor playing better than the player he replaced in Logan Forsythe. I did count on Austin Barnes being the best backup catcher the Dodgers have had in a long while and I’m thrilled he’s coming through for them.
This is a good team easily capable of between 90 and 100 wins even if injuries step in. Not using the DL as the injury standard that Dodgers have had to weather losing their 2nd baseman for a month. Their starting 1st baseman was below replacement level due to injuries before finally succumbing to the DL for the first time in his storied career. The young Joc in CF even took a hit.
Wait, that seems like a new column called Fortuitous injuries doesn’t it? Damn, I’ve lost my train of thought, onto the new column.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 