Pitchers Who Owned the Dodgers

                                           Just recently we featured a post that showed hitters who were Dodger killers. This post will focus on the pitchers who won the most games against the Dodgers over their careers. There is one pitcher, not a Hall of Famer mind you, but a young pitcher in his second season in 1966, owned the Dodgers like no other I had ever seen up to that point. The pitcher was Larry Jaster of the Cardinals. Over his career, Jaster was 9-5 against L.A. But in 1966, he was 5-0, and all 5 wins were shutouts. In those 5 shutouts, he beat Drysdale twice, Sutton once, and Osteen twice. He gave up just 22 hits in the 5 games. The Dodgers just had no answer for Jaster. 

                                      1. Grover Alexander: The Hall of Famer was 56-23 against Brooklyn. His ERA was 2.13. He allowed 171 earned runs against the Dodgers in 723 innings. He gave up just 13 homers to them. He shut them out 16 times and is credited with 6 saves. He struck out 308 and walked 122. He had 63 complete games against them, and his WHIP was 1.073. In 1919, after returning from his service in WWI, “Old Pete” went 6-1 against Brooklyn with a sub 1 ERA. 

                                      2. Christy Mathewson: Mathewson was 49-19 against Brooklyn with a 0.89 ERA. He had 54 complete games, 13 shutouts and 3 saves against them. He struck out 386 and walked just 94 in 585.1 innings. The Hall of Fame Giant was traded to the Reds in 1916. He was named player-manager. He enlisted in the Army in 1918, despite his wife’s vehement opposition. He was assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service along with Ty Cobb. Branch Rickey also served in the same unit. As a member of the American Expeditionary Force, he was stationed in France.  Mathewson would develop tuberculosis, which most blamed on his chemical unit service. There was an accident during a chemical training exercise where 8 men died. Mathewson himself told Cobb that he got a large dose. Mathewson died of the disease at the age of 47 in 1925. 

                                     3. Eppa Rixey: Rixey is a Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher, who spent the bulk of his 21-year career with the Reds. He also pitched for the Phillies for 8 years. Rixey did not actually dominate the Dodgers; his teams were generally and usually worse than the Dodgers. But he has the third most wins career wise against them. He went 38-42 with a solid 3.17 ERAa. He had 43 complete games against them and tossed 6 shutouts and was credited with 3 saves. 

                                    4. Juan Marichal: The Dominican Dandy had 37 wins and 18 losses against the Dodgers. He threw 10 shutouts and had 35 complete games. He held LA to a .220 BA. He struck out 305, walking 93 in 476 innings. His ERA against them was 2.36. He gave up 37 homers to LA in 64 career games. His battles with Sandy Koufax were classic. Juan beat LA 5 times in a season twice, and 4 times three times. 

                                    5. Dolf Luque: Laque pitched 20 seasons in the majors including 2 with the Dodgers where he had a 21-14 record. He spent 12 years with the Reds, 4 with the Giants and 2 with the Braves. His career record against Brooklyn was 34-12 with a 2.67 ERA. He had 26 complete games and 6 shutouts. He pitched 438.2 innings against Brooklyn and allowed just 9 homers. Interesting fact, Luque was born in Cuba, but was light skinned enough to pass for a Caucasian. He is buried in his native country.

                                   6.Freddie Fitzsimmons: ” Fat Freddie” as he was called, spent 19 years in the majors, 6 of them as a Dodger. So, it was a little surprising to me that he was # 6 on the list in wins against Brooklyn. Of course, his other 13 seasons, he was with the Giants. Freddie managed a 33-15 record against Brooklyn. His ERA was 2.97. He had 9 shutouts and pitched 429.2 innings against the Dodgers. He allowed just 13 homers. He struck out 134 and walked 99. After retiring, he managed the Phillies for 3 years.

                                  7. Bucky Walters: Walters was a right-handed pitcher, who also played 3rd base. And he did it his entire 19-year career. He played for the Phillies and then the Reds. He was 32-26 against Brooklyn with a 3.48 ERA. He had 38 complete games and 2 shutouts over the Dodgers. He walked 209 and struck out 178. He pitched 517.2 innings against them, by far his most against any opponent. He would also manage after retiring.

                                 8. Wilbur Cooper: Cooper was a right-handed pitcher who spent most of his career with the Pirates. Cooper was 32-29 against Brooklyn with a 2.68 ERA. He had 46 complete games against the Dodgers and 5 were shutouts, he was also credited with 1 save. He struck out 177 and walked 120. He allowed just 11 homers in 523.1 innings. He beat the Cardinals 37 times, the Braves 34 times and the Cubs 30 among his 217 career wins. 

                                 9. Red Ames: Ames was a RH pitcher who spent most of his career with the New York Giants. He pitched in the NL for 17 seasons. His record against Brooklyn was 32-27, but he had a sparkling 1.48 ERA against them. Must have lost a lot of close games. He had 32 complete games but only shut them out 3 times. He was credited with 6 saves. He struck out 226, walked 185 and allowed just 6 homers in 499.2 innings of work.

                                 10. Paul Derringer: RHP who spent most of his 15 years in the NL with the Reds. Derringer was 31-36 against the Dodgers in his career with a 4.01 ERA. He had 31 complete games and 3 shutouts.  He was also credited with 6 saves. Derringer pitched 543 innings against Brooklyn, striking out 209 and walking 149. Dodgers hit 21 homers off of him.

                                 11. Vic Willis: Willis is a turn of the century pitcher who won 249 games in his career. He was with the Pirates for most of his career. He won 31 games against Brooklyn, who at the time were called the Superbas. He lost 24 games to them, which I find rather amazing since his ERA against them was a miniscule 0.38 in 469.1 innings of work. He had 47 complete games, 13 shutouts and 1 save against Brooklyn. He struck out 241, walked 126 and allowed 7 homers. He was elected to the Hall by the Veterans committee in 1995.

                                 12. Bob Buhl: Buhl was a RHP who spent 10 of his 15 years in the NL with the Braves. He was 31-21 against the Dodgers in Brooklyn and LA. He pitched in 88 games against them. 70 of those were starts. He had 17 complete games and 5 shutouts. His ERA was 3.00. He struck out 261, walked 163 and allowed 37 homers. He also pitched for the Cubs and the Phillies. He, Lew Burdette and Warren Spahn were members of the 1957 Braves championship team. Buhl did not pitch in the 58 series, he was injured.

                                 13. Bill Sherdel: Sherdel spent most of his career with the Cardinals. The 5’10” 160lb. lefty was nicknamed “Wee Willie”. He was 30-14 with a 3.21 ERA against the Dodgers. He struck out 126 and walked 105 in 402 innings. He had 25 complete games, 4 shutouts and 2 saves. He gave up 443 hits, 22 of them left the park. 

                                  14. Joe McGinnity: “Iron Man” Joe McGinnity pitched for just 10 seasons, but he won 249 games. His first season, 1899, he pitched for Brooklyn and won 28 games. He pitched mostly for the Giants after that. He was 30-9 against the Superbas. His ERA was 0.20. You have to wonder how he ever lost to them. He had 34 complete games and 4 shutouts. He struck out 154 walked 84 and allowed 4 homers. He pitched against them in 46 games throwing 357.1 innings.

                                  15. Robin Roberts: Roberts spent 14 years with the Phillies and 16 over all in the NL. He finished his career in 1966 with the Cubs. He was 29-45 against the Dodgers. Probably caused by pitching for really bad teams.  Had Roberts pitched for the Giants or Dodgers, he could have won 300 games. Instead, he finished with 286 and 245 losses. His career ERA was 3.41. It was 4.01 against the Dodgers. He still managed to have 39 complete games against the Dodgers, but only 1 shutout. Robin is in the Hall of Fame.

                                 Some might be wondering how some more recent aces have fared against the boys in blue. Well, Nolan Ryan was 12-19 against LA. He held them to a .212 BA and 14 home runs in 41 games. He had 6 complete games, 2 of which were shutouts, with one being a no-hitter. How about Randy Johnson. Johnson was 8-7 against the Dodgers. He had 2 complete games and no shutouts. Pedro Martinez was 3-5 against LA with an ERA over 4. Bumgarner, 16-18, 3.05 ERA, Webb, 4-6, 4.11 ERA, deGrom, 1-5, 2,58 ERA, Schilling, 14-6, 2.82 ERA, 216 Ks to just 53 walks. 5 complete games and 3 shutouts. 

                                Dennis Martinez, who had a perfecto against the Dodgers was 6-8 despite a 2.40 ERA. Sal Maglie beat the Dodgers 23 times losing 13. He shut them out 5 times. Lew Burdette beat LA 22 times but lost 28.  The great Warren Spahn beat the Dodgers 24 times but was on the losing end 37. No pitcher has really dominated them lately. Darvish is 5-5 with an excellent 2.20 ERA. Guys like Paul Skenes and Michael King, who both have 2 wins against LA in their short careers with very good ERAs, are just getting started. Both of Arizona’s aces, Kelly and Gallen have losing records against LA. Pfaadt, their # 3 starter is 4-2 with an ERA over 4 against LA. Maybe sometime in the future, there will be a pitcher who dominates like Jaster did in 1966. Oh yeah, Tom Seaver, the Hall of Famer, was 22-22 against the Dodgers. He had a 3.23 ERA, 17 complete games and 4 shutouts. Even Tom Terrific just broke even. 

                                                                                                                         Minor League Scores

                                                                                     Las Vegas 9 OKC 7:   9th inning walk off 2-run homer off of Boyer by Colby Thomas wins game for the Aviators. Outman 3-4 with a double and 3 runs scored and 3 RBIs, Freeland 2-5 with 2 RBIs, Ward, 13th homer, and Berroa 2-4 with 2 runs scored, top performers. Sublette the only OKC pitcher with a clean inning in a bullpen game. 

                                                                                   Wichita 7 Tulsa 1: Campos gave up 5 runs in the first inning and Tulsa never got up off of the carpet. Ramos 2-4 and Young, 2-4 had 4 of the Drillers 7 hits. 

                                                                                    Great Lakes 10 Fort Wayne 4: Luke Fox started and went 6 innings allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and a walk. He struck out 8. Both runs came on solo homers. The Loons had 11 hits. DePaula was 3-3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI and 2 stolen bases. Hope was 0-3 but he scored 2 runs and walked twice. Vetrano was 2-5 with 2 homers and 6 RBIs. One of the homers was a grand slam. 

                                                                                   Modesto 2 Rancho 1: Modesto scored a run without a hit in the bottom of the 9th to walk off the Quakes. Zazueta went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits, no walks. He struck out 5. Brown pitched 2 scoreless innings. The only run scored on a Quintero double in the top of the 8th inning. Quintero was 3-4 with 2 triples. He was the only Quake with multiple hits. Cabrera got the loss, he walked 2 to start the bottom of the 9th, then gave up two infield grounders, the second one score the winning run. 

                                                                                                                                       Dodger game recap

                                   The Yankees hit 4 homers off of Gonsolin in the first 3 innings. Judge hit one in the first. Wells and Grisham connected in the second and Paul Goldschmidt homered in the third. After that, Gonsolin settled down and pitched three perfect innings. The Dodgers had Ohtani lead off with a homer in the first. In the bottom of the 2nd, Edman doubled with 1 out. He went to 3rd on a balk and scored on a ground out by Kike. Conforto singled and Rojas grounded out. Fried kept LA off of the board until the 6th. Ohtani led off with his 2nd homer of the game, #22 on the season. Teo singled to right, Smith then singled off of Volpe’s glove. Freeman then doubled scoring Teo. Loaisiga replaced Fried. Pages singled off of Volpe’s glove scoring Smith and tying the game. Edman reached on a fielder’s choice with Freeman thrown out at the plate. Pages moved to 3rd. Muncy PH for Kike and was intentionally walked. Hill replaced Loaisiga. Conforto walked forcing in Pages. LA 6 NY 5. Rojas hit into an inning ending DP. Dreyer replaced Gonsolin and Muncy remained in the game at 3rd. Dreyer allowed a double to Judge but got 2 outs. He was replaced by Casparius who retired Goldschmidt to end the inning. In the bottom of the 7th, Ohtani and Teo made outs.  Smit then singled to center. Freeman hit a ball right down the left field line for his 2nd double. Pages then singled to center scoring Smith and Freeman. Yankees challenged the safe call on Freeman, but it was upheld. Edman reached on an error and Muncy struck out to end the inning, and the scoring. LA 8 NY 5. Casparius walked Rice, got the next 2 hitters out, and then gave up a single to Dominguez. Scott came out of the pen when NY sent a left-handed pinch hitter up to replace Peraza. NY countered with LeMahieu. Scott got DJ to fly out to Pages on his second pitch. LA went down 1-2-3 in the 8th. Vesia came in to pitch the 9th. Pages moved to left, Edman to center, and Kim came in to play second. Grisham singled to center, Judge popped out to Kim, and Bellinger hit a sharp line drive to Edman in center. Goldschmidt then hit a screaming line drive that Muncy caught for the last out. Gonsolin got his 3rd win, Fried his first loss, and Vesia his second save. Freeman is now hitting .368, Smith, .343 and Ohtani leads the majors with his 22 homers. He has 15 in May, tying Duke Snider and Pedro Guererro for the Dodger record for homers in a month. Raliegh leads the AL with 21 after hitting 2 in Seattle’s game with the Twins. Bad news was that Evan Phillips needs TJ surgery, and Mookie Betts will miss the Yankee series with a bad toe.