"He lost his dog" (baseball usage)

[Gerald Cohen]

    I've come across an odd expression used in a baseball context: "He
lost his dog." The general meaning seems to be: (of a pitcher) proved
to be ineffective, lost control of the situation.  Origin: ?

    It appears in the newspaper _San Francisco Bulletin_, May 26,
1913, p.12/2-3; article title:" May 25 to Be Known as Longest Day of
Baseball" col. 2 "Ever hear of a ball game that bored you? No? Well
such an exhibition was staged at the local part yesterday.  Along
about the third inning, after Cy Parkin had manifested a desire to
walk a lot of people, Howard Gregory was rushed to the rescue.  From
the moment that Howard started the flutter of Angles wings was heard
and the sound continued until the gong in the press box interrupted
with nine metallic strokes. When Gregory was [sic; should be 'gave']
up the ghost, Dolly was every bit as bad as "Gray" and a little
worse.  He lost his dog right off the reel [=right from the start],
the Angels kicking him for the remaining tallies that went to make up
their grand total of 22." --[The game was between the Los Angeles
Angels and the Oakland Oaks].

      Would anyone have any insight at all on this baseball usage "He
lost his dog"? Also I'm not sure what Dolly and Gray refer to,
although I have the feeling I may be missing something obvious.

  ---Gerald Cohen