Thinking Blue- June 7, 2012
Ron Cey is one of two Los Angeles Dodgers with nine career home runs in Philadelphia.
Another night, another win for the Dodgers in the City of Brotherly Love. The script for last night’s game was similar to the ones for the first two Dodger victories; solid starting pitching, clutch hitting and a good work by the bullpen.
One thing that’s been missing for the Dodgers in the three game series is the long ball. Los Angeles’ wins have come without the team hitting a single home run. That isn’t surprising with Matt Kemp out, Andre Ethier in the midst of a 0 for 16 slump and the rest of the lineup made up of contact-type hitters, but one would hope that the long ball returns to the Dodger attack today against Phillies’ lefty Cole Hamels.
Historically, several L.A. Dodger hitters have flexed their muscles in Philadelphia. There’ve been 12 instances where Dodger hitters have had mutliple home run games in Philadelphia. Philadelphia area native Mike Piazza had two of those games in back to back contests late in the 1995 season. Other Dodgers with two homer games in Philly include Don Demeter, Steve Sax, Eddie Murray, Greg Brock, Chris Gwynn, Dusty Baker, Shawn Green, Jason Grabowski, Joe Ferguson and Ken Boyer.
Ron Cey and Pedro Guerrero are the LA Dodgers with the most homers ever in Philadelphia with nine each, followed by Piazza with eight and Willie Davis, Raul Mondesi and Bill Russell with seven each. Three Los Angeles pitchers have gone deep against the Phils on the road. Don Drysdale did the trick twice, with Jerry Reuss and Omar Daal each having one homer.
The only pinch-hit homer ever by a Los Angeles Dodger in Philadelphia came on May 9, 1976 when Ed Goodson hit a two run blast in a game Los Angeles would lose by a 10-3 score.
The most homers by a Los Angeles Dodger team in a game in Philadelphia is four, with the Dodgers performing the feat three times. On September 3, 1968, Ken Boyer hit two homers with Bill Sudakis and Willie Crawford contributing one each. Eddie Murray’s two homer game in Philly came on May 14, 1989, in a contest where Mike Scioscia and Jeff Hamilton also contributed round-trippers. And on May 18, 2004, Jason Grabowski’s two homer game was supplemented by blasts by Olmedo Saenz and Adrian Beltre.
From A(lston) to Z(immerman) 