It's time for Dodger Baseball! ('82-'94 Complete)--OOTP 17-23 Alt History

[PilotMan]

It's time for Dodgers Baseball!!


The strike shortened season of 1981 saw Lasorda come screaming out of the dugout as the Dodgers would finish as World Series Champions against the Yankees. It was all about Fernandomaina, the kid from Mexico who would ignite fans from all over and go on to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. I was 6 years old, and the Dodgers would be my team forever more.


So this is going to be an alternate reality, LA Dodgers AAR, dynasty. I'll be slow playing and watching every game, as if it was taking place in real life. Any changes will be AI initiated, I won't control anything.


I'm a fan. Invested. Rooting for the boys in blue. Let's go Dodgers!

[PilotMan]

So it's the fall of 1983. Let me get you up to speed with where we are since 1981.


In 1982, we won the West with a record of 105-57. It was a great year.


Lead once again by Valenzuela, he would go on to claim his second Cy Young putting together another fantastic season with these numbers: 18-10, 266IP, 191H, 77BB/245K and a 2.20ERA. The rest of the staff was able to stay mostly healthy with Jerry Reuss finishing 3^rd in Cy Young voting: 21-5, 263.1IP, 243H, 55BB/148K and a 2.60 ERA. Steve Howe ended up as the Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Year with 43 saves and only 2 blown. His ERA was 1.34 in 80.1 IP. As if that wasn't enough, the runner up to that award was Dave Stewart. Stewart was almost as unhittable. He pitched 83.2 IP with 7 saves against 1 blown. He had 78 K's and a 2.04 ERA. With all that pitching you'd think that hitting was unnecessary.


The rotation the rest of the year after Valenzuela and Reuss, was Bob Welch (15-11, 3.63), Burt Hooton (16-12, 3.52) and Rick Reuschel (10-6, 4.95). In the bullpen, the other inning eaters were Tom Niedenfeuer (56IP/35K, 3.21) and Terry Forster (40.1IP/33K, 1.79ERA).


During the year the biggest let down was the early season ending injury of rookie Steve Sax. Sax tore his labrum in mid April and wouldn't return until September. The team opted to go with fellow rookie Tack Wilson to fill his slot, and he would play half the year putting up decent numbers until the team felt like they needed an upgrade. A mid July trade that sent Dave Goltz and RJ Reynolds to the White Sox would bring Tony Bernazard to the team. The final verdict on the trade with mixed and many didn't feel like the Bernazard deal really benefited the team, but there was happiness that the trade didn't cost more. The only other deal of any significance was when the team grew frustrated with Steve Yeager as a right handed option behind the plate, released him, then sent Ron Roenicke and prospect Mariano Duncan to the Giants for Bob Brenly.


The offense was dominated by Perdro Guerrero and his .312 avg, .521 slg, and 24 HR. But the team did have plenty of hitting up and down the lineup:


1B – Garvey – started all 162 games (.303, 21HR, and 89RBI)
2B - Wilson - (.262/3/36, 13SB) and Bernazard (.258/5/23, 6SB)
3B – Cey – lead the team in HR and RBI (.278/29/116)
SS – Russell – NL Gold Glove Winner (.250/2/53, 10SB)
LF – Baker - (.289/17/76)
CF – Landreaux – Only 20/20 on team (.264/23/79, 36SB)
RF – Guerrero - (.314/24/93)
C – Scioscia - (.280/9/68, .375OBP)


The team dumped the Expos in the NLCS to advance to the World Series against the Tigers. The Dodgers were heavily favored against the Tigers and won the first 2 at home, then lost game 3 in Detroit. Game 4 was within an out of winning, when the Tigers came back and stung them for the win. That gave way to 2 more losses and a 4-2 crash out ending in mass disappointment.

[PilotMan]

During the year the team got Steve Garvey to resign for 2 years at half of what he had been making. Smart move for the team. I think Garvey sold himself short.


Valenzuela gets a 6-year/4.8M extension. The team avoids any early arbitration and he is signed through 1988.


Key losses in free agency were Derrel Thomas, Ray Burris, Terry Forster, Rick Monday, Bill Russell, and Rick Reuschel.


Ken Landreaux would be traded in January for Doc Medich (12-14, 3.54, 244.1IP, in 1982) and cash. The team is thinking about Medich as a #5 starter. Seems like a stiff price to pay, but maybe not.


The first five draft picks for the team at the end of the season were:


1^st round – Kurt Stillwell (SS)
2^nd – Joe Klink (RP)
3^rd – Casey Candaele (2B)
4^th – Billie Merrifield (3B)
5^th – Reggie Montgomery (LF)


The team drafted way at the back, but there's not a lot to get excited about there.


In February, the first big free agency signing for the team is consummated. The team is able to sign Floyd Bannister away from the Mariners to a 4yr/3.9M contract. Bannister adds to the southpaws of Valenzuela and Reuss, and was an All-Star the previous year with a record of 15-14, throwing 248 innings with a 3.38 ERA. That's a big improvement over Reuchel and Medich.


Just before the start of the year, Jerry Reuss gets a 2yr extension worth 1.6M.


In May, Burt Hooton gets his extension. His is worth a very affordable 632k over 2 years.

[PilotMan]

In 1983 the team started off looking good. Except that the Giants and Astros were also looking good. In fact, for the majority of the season all three teams had winning percentages over .600.


The rotation started the year the same as last year with Bannister replacing Reuchel and Hooton dropping down to the #5 spot. Lasorda also promoted Neidenfeuer to the primary set up man behind Howe, with Stewart being pushed down.


The lineup though looks quite a bit different this year. The familiar faces of Bill Russell, Ron Cey and Ken Landreaux are not there. Instead, Pedro Guerrero has been moved to the hot corner to start at 3^rd. That made room for second year man, Mike Marshall who hit 9HR in part time duty off the bench last year.


Starting at center is rookie Franklin Stubbs. Stubbs was in AA San Antonio for most of '82, where he hit .303, had 26 HR and knocked in 101. That would be enough for the AA MVP Award. He finished the year at AAA with another 5HR in 19 games.


With no Bill Russell, Tack Wilson was slated as the opening day shortstop.


Second base was a little crowded with Sax being back and healthy, leaving Bernazard to sit on the bench.

There was a big surprise behind the plate, with Mike Scioscia losing his starting job to the right handed Bob Brenly. Scioscia is the better defender, but Brenly shows more pop in his bat.


Part way through the season Wilson lost his job at SS even though he was putting up the same numbers he did last year, Lasorda felt like he needed to experiment by moving Tony Bernazard to short. It was a disaster defensively, with him committing 20 errors in 21 games.


Over at first base, Steve Garvey just couldn't get his OBP or his power going and with Greg Brock (.319, 22, 59) tearing it up at AAA, the team felt like it was time to give the kid a shot. So he is another new face replacing the old guard that won in '81.


Even with the team performing well, the team started making moves in the middle of July. There were three big trades that impacted the lineup going forward. Here's the breakdown and what happened and why:


The first move was a big one. The team shipped new starter Floyd Bannister (9-6, 2.98, 130IP) along with 24 yr old prospect Orel Hershiser (3-3, 27G and 2 S in AAA) to the Royals in exchange for Roy Smalley (.282, 15HR, 39RBI) . The Dodgers had unsuccessfully pursued Smalley in the off season and his acquisition means that SS will be manned by a 2-time All Star and 1982 Silver Slugger at SS in the AL. Smalley is also under contract for 6 years.


The second trade came the next day. With Smalley manning short, Tack Wilson (.262, 3, 36) became a pawn. He was shipped to the Giants and coming back to the Dodgers is relief pitcher Greg Minton. Minton (2-2, 1S, 36IP, 3.75) was the closer for the Giants in '82, and did well, but lost his job to Al Holland in the off season. Also coming to LA, for the second time, is SS prospect Mariano Duncan, who has been everywhere from rookie ball to AAA.


The third and last trade before the deadline saw the end of a starting job for Dusty Baker. His productivity had been weak for an outfielder, if you think about '82 as being passable. He just wasn't cutting it. Out the door is RP Ted Power (10g, 13.2IP, 0.66ERA), who couldn't break into a regular spot in the bullpen. Once again, SS prospect Mariano Duncan is on the road. Both are heading to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for LF slugger Ron Kittle (.235, 11, 35). Kittle isn't much of defensive drop off from Baker, and he doesn't get on base nearly enough, but he does hit for power more than Baker.


This entire season has been a roll for this Dodger team. They've lead the league in pitching, runs scored and homeruns for most of the year and they were the first team to clinch a division. Our current record is 100-50. It's been a win 2 lose 1 kind of season. There are 12 games left in 1983, the team is primed to finish with a better record than in 1982 and again looks to be the favorite to win the Series. So hopes are seriously high that the moves that we've made are going to be enough to win it, and not choke in the Series like we did last year.

[PilotMan]

It's September 20^th, 1983


Here are your Los Angeles Dodgers (expanded roster edition)!


Pitching Staff


Starters


Fernando Valenzuela (18-10, 265IP, 2.24)
Bob Welch (17-8, 224.1, 3.09)
Jerry Reuss (13-6, 206, 3.28)
Burt Hooton (16-10, 178, 3.39)
Alejandro Pena (4-3, 98, 2.48)


Bullpen


Steve Howe ( 72IP, 1.63ERA, 33S)
Tom Neidenfeuer ( 66, 1.50, 8)
Greg Minton (52.1, 3.61, 3)
Dave Stewart (41.2, 3.61, 2)
Joe Beckwith (3, 6.00, 0)
John Franco (4, 6.75, 0)
Ricky Wright (0)
Doc Medich (38.1, 4.93, 0)
Michael Gentle (0)


Position Players


Catchers
Bob Brenly (133G 473AB, .243, 14, 51)
Mike Scioscia (43G, 82AB, .232, 2, 15)


Brenly has been steady behind the plate, and Scioscia isn't happy about not getting a shot.


First Base
Sid Bream (6G, 6AB, .000, 0, 1)
Greg Brock (67G, 219AB, .196, 10, 37)
Steve Garvey (134, 371, .267, 8, 42)


Bream is really tearing up AAA. Brock just isn't hitting well at all, and Garvey might work his way back to a starting job before long. Garvey will have 1 more year left on his contract.


Second Base
Tony Bernazard (129G, 261AB, .241, 4, 21)
Alex Tavares (4, 2, .500, 0, 1)


Steve Sax is rehabbing in AAA and should return shortly. I'd expect Bernazard to return to the bench when he does.


Third Base
Ron Cey (81, 89, .213, 2, 10)
Pedro Guerrero (145, 582, .320, 35, 90)


Guerrero has been a defensive liability all year, but he's in the race for MVP with a dominant year at the plate. He is in the last year of his deal as is Cey. This could be a problem if nothing is done.


Shortstop
Dave Anderson (14, 13, .231, 0, 2)
Larry Fobbs (5, 4, .500, 0, 2)
Roy Smalley (111, 414, .278, 22, 78)


Anderson has put together a couple of good years in AAA, but he is behind Smalley now and he has a long term deal.


Left Field
Dusty Baker (128, 386, .244, 9, 39)
Ron Kittle (48, 178, .253, 9, 26)


Baker will be a free agent after the season, and at 34 he isn't getting any younger.


Center Field
Franklin Stubbs (146, 563, .249, 27, 90)


Stubbs is likely to finish second in RoY voting and he's been a dangerous hitter for the team all year long. At this point, this is his position to lose for the future.


Right Field
Mike Marshall (143, 551, .310, 25, 87)
Tony Scott (5, 11, .182, 0, 1)


Marshall has rewarded the faithful in the front office with a tremendous season so far.


Top Prospects
Sid Bream (.295 20 69) in AAA
Sid Fernandez (14-7, 3.54) in AAA
John Franco (12-4, 4.47) in AAA
Ken Howell (15-7, 4.56) in AAA
Dave Anderson ( .280 2 37) in AAA


Personally, I really hate to see Hersheiser gone. He was always a favorite. At least we don't have to see him in the same division. First base is really backed up and the team has to decide whether or not Bream or Brock is worthy to succeed Garvey. There's some deep pitching there with Fernandez and Franco. Can the team keep them and find a home for them?

[Young Drachma]

Always a good time of year for a new OOTP dynasty, especially a replay.

[PilotMan]

Always a good time of year for a new OOTP dynasty, especially a replay.

Thanks, yeah, it's hard to put down right now.

---

So here we go.


9/20 8-3 L to the Astros
Mike Marshall leaves the game with an injury, yet to be determined. The Astros come back late and beat up on Greg Minton after Welch got ruffed up. The Marshall injury has me worried. Minton took the loss, Baker homered.


9/21 5-4 L to the Astros
For the second game in a row, the Astros light hitting, no-name, eight in the order batting, first basemen hit a grand slam. Then Burt Hooton left the game with an injury. Kittle and Smalley went deep back to back, then Dusty added a 2 run shot in the 9^th. Kittle came up next and flied out to deep left. No word yet on Marshall's injury. Also, news is out that Sax injured a finger during his rehab stint. He's back on the DL and done until the playoffs, again.


9/23 9-1W over Atlanta
The team goes on a hit parade early. Kittle hits a 3 run shot in the first. Guerrerro hits his 36^th in the 9^th. Pedro's 40^th error at third keeps Fernando from getting the shutout, but he throws his 12^th CG of the year. He is in the race for Cy Young again, but Atlee Hammaker is lights out this year.


The Dodgers released the medical on Hooton. He's done for the rest of this year and most of next with a ruptured UCL. That's bad news for sure, but the playoffs are looming and Hooton wouldn't have been a starter there. At the press conference today, Lasorda said that he would expect Pena to move up and Doc Medich to take over in the rotation for the rest of the short year. Still no news on Mike Marshall. Dusty Baker has been playing RF in his absence.


9/24 9-2 W over Atlanta
Kittle goes deep for the third straight game and Ron Cey hits his 3^rd, a PH homer off the bench. Jerry Reuss goes 7 for his 14^th win.


The medical report on Mike Marshall is out now and if you had bad thoughts, they came true. A torn labrum in his shoulder will keep him down for the rest of the season, but he'll be fine for opening day. Sucks to lose the second best offensive weapon on the team heading into the playoffs. Dusty better get his act together. The team has called up Tony Brewer (.299/22/111) from AAA to take Marshall's roster spot. This is Brewer's first shot at the big leagues, but he's a 2-time PCL All-Star. Scouts aren't high on him however. He could be the standard 4A player and he's nearly 26.

[PilotMan]

9/25 6-4 W over the Braves
We batted around in the first and put 5 on the board. Guerrero with his 41^st error. Welch goes 8 for his 18^th win. Howe gets his 34^th save.


9/26 2-1 L against the Reds
Pena goes the distance, gets PoG, but the offense can't pick him up. Smalley hits number 24. Guerrero with 2 more errors, now has 43. Are they really going to stick with him?




9/27 6-4 W over the Reds
The Dodgers hit 4 homeruns, Baker (12), Stubbs (28), Brenly (15), Kittle (13). Doc Medich pitches into the 8^th, and Minton looks bad in relief once again. Howe closes out for his 35^th.


9/28 5-4 L to the Padres
Fell behind early, but another Kittle would homer and tied it up. Valenzuela gave it right back in the bottom of the 8^th. Dusty would get us within striking distance with a 2-run homer, but Kittle would strike out to end it.


9/29 9-7 W over the Padres
This was a crazy game. We claw back from down 4-1 to make it a 1 run game. But Neidenfuer lets 5 baserunners on and gets really roughed up for the first time this year. Head into the top of the 9^th down 7-3 and the rally begins. Topped off by a Sid Bream, pinch hit, Grand Slam. The first homerun of his career, and the first hit of his career. Not a bad way to start Sid! John Franco gets his first career win. Howe shuts them down for his 36^th save.


Steve Garvey got back into the lineup as Greg Brock is sitting for a few with some knee soreness. That doesn't bode well for longevity when you're only 26. LA will finish the year off with a 3 game homestand against the Giants, who we have a losing record against, next. We just need 1 more win to better the record from 1982.


9/30 4-1 W over the Giants
We pick up win number 106. Roy Smalley goes deep 2 times and knocked in 3, he's got 26 now. Bob Welch goes 7 strong for his 19^th win and Howe gets 6 outs (4K's) for his 37^th save.


10/1 9-2 L to the Giants
Pena was ineffective today, walking 5 and giving up 7 hits. No real bright spots. There was a Dave Stewart sighting, as he pitched 2 scoreless.


10/2 3-1 W over the Giants
Doc Medich dominated allowing 4 hits and a run over 8 and a third. Roy Smalley went deep again for his 27^th and Howe cleaned up the last 2 outs for his 38^th save.


So the 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers are the NL West Champions with a 107-55 record. That is tops in baseball once again. A damn fine year for a fan, and once again, very high hopes for the playoffs.

[PilotMan]

1983 Playoff Preview


The ALCS matchup will be the Detroit Tigers (99-63) taking on the Minnesota Twins (89-73).


The Tigers are the defending World Series Champions and had to fight off both the Yankees and Blue Jays down to the final couple days to get in. All three teams won over 95 games. The Tigers are very well rounded 2^nd in avg, runs, home runs, runs against, and starter ERA. They are dangerous offensively, lead by Kirk Gibson (.283/35/98) and Lance Parrish (.256/30/108). They were able to replace Jack Morris with the addition of John Denny (19-13, 3.33) and Len Barker (19-8, 2.98) without losing a beat.


The Twins started the youth movement last year, and really kept it going through 1983. They are 5^th in avg, and home runs, 6^th in runs, while being 4^th in runs against and starters ERA. While playing in a weaker division they still couldn't clinch until the last week beating back the A's at the end. Offensively, they are lead by Gary Gaetti (.305/31/108) and Kent Hrbek (.286/32/105). The pitching staff is lead by Eric Show (acquired last year in a trade) (19-9, 3.68) and Frank Viola (15-11, 4.44).


The NLCS matchup will be the Los Angeles Dodgers (107-55) taking on the Montreal Expos (97-65) in a rematch of the 1982 NLCS.


The Expos built an incredible powerhouse on paper. The team is stacked, top to bottom, they are first in runs scored, avg, obp, 2^nd in HR's, 4^th in runs against and 3^rd in starters ERA. The lineup is deep, lead by Andre Dawson ( .322/28/94) and Gary Carter (.300/20/75), but they also claim such names Tim Raines (.327/6/73) and Lou Whitaker (.248/7/67). The pitching staff has 4 top level starters: John Candelaria (14-10, 2.50) is the ace. He pitched 2 no-hitters in 1983, one of them a perfect game. Steve Rogers (17-12, 3.88), Charlie Lea (14-12, 3.49) and Bob Knepper (17-7, 3.34). Bill Gullickson (13-7, 3.22), who won 20 last year, can't even break into the rotation in the playoffs. The team had invested over 6 mil in Larry Christenson, assuming he'd start, but he only pitched 21 games in relief. It's an embarrassment of riches.


LA, well, we're pretty good too. 2^nd in runs scored, 4^th in avg, 1^st in home runs, 2^nd in runs against, 1^st in starter and bullpen ERA. Guerrero finished with .318/36/93, while the rookie Stubbs hit .246/28/96. Valenzuela and Welch each won 19 with Valenzuela having a 2.27 ERA and 3.06 for Welch. The bullpen is the separating point though. All Steve Howe (1.62), Tom Neidenfuer (1.86) and Dave Stewart (1.54) had sub 2 ERA's.


The Tigers took 8 of 12 from the Twins. The Dodgers took 9 of 12 from the Expos. Those numbers suggest a rematch of the 1982 Series.


The final power rankings were:
Dodgers 1^st
Tigers 2^nd
Expos 4^th
Twins 8^th


The playoff roster only has a couple of surprises on it for the NLCS. Greg Brock is out and Sid Bream is in. Lasorda says to look for Garvey to be starting against the Expos. The Dodgers only have 1 LHP in the bullpen, and that's Howe. That might be a problem matchup wise.


Both Brock and potentially Sax could be back for the Series opener, if we can get that far.

[PilotMan]

Grading the 1983 Dodger trades





Floyd Bannister and Orel Hershiser to the Royals for Roy Smalley – B-


While Smalley added a ton of pop and finally shored up the defense at short, the loss of both an ace type pitcher and the top organization pitching prospect in return was short sighted. Smalley is 30, and although he has a long contract, his age will work against him. Smalley would have a better year for the Dodgers than Bannister and Hershiser would have for the Royals. Bannister had an ERA of 5.85 with a 3-8 record, while Orel posted a 9.00 ERA in 27 innings of work.


Tack Wilson to the Giants for Greg Minton and Mariano Duncan – B


Wilson could have been productive, but Minton was a known quantity of quality. Getting Duncan was a bonus. Wilson played well for the Giants, and Minton had a 6.05 ERA for LA, but the trade was tipped in the favor for LA overall because of Duncan and how they used him later on.


Ted Power and Mariano Duncan to the White Sox for Ron Kittle – B+


Minton made Power obsolete and Duncan was a freebie from the Giants while Kittle was a top prospect for the Sox in '82 and had already hit 32 HR in a season and a half. Being young, and a better fielder he easily displaced and improved on the production that the team was getting in LF. Kittle would finish with 25 HR combined and 72 RBI, while Power had a 6.50 ERA in light work. Duncan still looks like a solid prospect. Across all levels, he batted .315, with 74 RBI and 46 SB in the minors.


All in all, the trades really benefited the team. The pitching staff didn't suffer the losses, this year anyway, and the addition of Smalley and Kittle made the lineup very difficult to face top to bottom.

[PilotMan]

NLCS Game 1
10/5
Valenzuela v. Candelaria
4-0 L to the Expos
Valenzuela would struggle all game long. The Expos were able to bash out 13 hits over 8 innings and he would walk 4 more. Candelaria threw 7 shut out innings and the bullpen did the rest. Garvey had a 2 hit game, but that was it on offense.
Expos lead 1-0


Game 2
10/6
Welch v. Rogers
5-2 W over the Expos
This would be a reverse of game 1. LA knocked 12 hits off of Rogers in 6 innings, and 13 total. Only 1 would be for extra bases. Guerrero is in a hitting slump and made his second error of the post season. Smalley and Bernazard had 3 hits each. Welch went 7 strong for the win and Howe got the final 6 outs.
Series tied 1-1


Game 3
10/8
Reuss v. Lea
4-2 L to the Expos
Ok, this isn't funny right now. The team couldn't find much offense against Lea in this one. Guerrero had two hits and tied up the game at one point, only to see Gary Carter blast one off of Reuss that ended up being the difference in the game. Jeff Reardon came in and got the last 4 outs. The LA offense is faltering and now backs are against the wall.
Expos lead 2-1


Game 4
10/9
Valenzuela v. Knepper
3-0 W over the Expos
A great pitching dual. The Dodgers have a lot of right handed bats, but they have struggled with talented lefties all year long. Dusty Baker got us started with a homer in the 2^nd, and knocked in 2. Kittle had 3 hits. Valenzuela threw 7 shut out innings, and then Lasorda went to Howe for the last 6 outs. He struggled a little, throwing over 40 pitches, but he got the job done. Now it's down to 1.
Series tied 2-2


Game 5
10/11
Welch v. Candelaria
5-3 L to the Expos
Fucking hell.
Gary Carter started the game off with a first inning homer, that Steve Garvey was able to answer in the bottom of the inning. We would add a second on a Roy Smalley dinger in the 2^nd and all was looking good, except that we couldn't buy a hit. The Expos struck for 1 in the 4^th to tie it, then the 6^th inning came. Terry Francona, who had 1 HR all year long, hit a two run shot, followed by a Ken Phelps solo shot. Smalley would answer with another solo shot in the bottom of the inning to pull one back, and in the 9^th we'd threaten. We'd put runners on second and third with two out and Ron Cey pinch hitting. It was likely Cey's last at bat in a Dodger uniform and he grounded out to second to end it. The Candy Man shut us down for too long. Another talented lefty that the team couldn't figure out. Steve Sax was back for this game, but he went 0-4 and was a non-factor. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!


Fuck.


Welch got nailed for 10 hits, 5 runs in 5.2 and served up 3 homers. We just couldn't match the firepower. All year long, we did, not this year. The Candy Man, John Candelaria, is the NLCS MVP.



The World Series is set. The Tigers did their part. They took care of the Twins in 4 and will face the Expos in what should be a great matchup.


Up next for the Dodgers is Free Agency. The team has a lot of money to spend, but will they?

[PilotMan]

I forgot to add that Welch left the game in the 6th inning with a shoulder issue. In a press conference the next day the issue is going to keep him out 4 months. He should be back for opening day, but he's also a potential free agent. What effect will this have on his ability to get paid, from LA, or anyone else?

[PilotMan]

The Detroit Tigers are the 1983 World Series Champions!

The Tigers took the series 4-2. Lance Parrish hit .375 and hit 3 home runs to take MVP honors. With the exception of game 2, when the Tigers won 10-2, each game was very close with the Tigers coming out just ahead in the end. That's back to back for the Tigers heading into 1984.


Post Season Awards
AL Gold Glove Winners


P Dave Stieb TOR
C Milt May BAL
1B Eddie Murray BAL
2B Randy Ready MIL
3B Buddy Bell TEX
SS Tony Phillips OAK
LF Rickey Henderson OAK
CF Lloyd Moseby TOR
RF Gorman Thomas TOR


NL Gold Glove Winners


P Allen Ripley CHI
C Ozzie Virgil PHI
1B Ray Knight HOU
2B Johnny Ray PIT
3B Luis Salazar SD
SS Dickie Thon HOU
LF Dale Murphy ATL
CF Eddie Milner CIN
RF Tony Gwynn SD


AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Goose Gossage NY (9-4, 1.55, 35/38 S , 63.2IP)


NL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Steve Howe LAD (10-1, 1.62, 38/42 S, 77.2IP)


Niedenfuer finished 3^rd in voting.


AL Silver Sluggers


C Rich Gedman BOS
1B Willie Upshaw TOR
2B Marty Barrett BOS
3B Gary Gaetti MIN
SS Cal Ripken BAL
LF Ricky Henderson OAK
CF Dwayne Murphy MIL
RF Kirk Gibson DET
DH Greg Walker CHI


NL Silver Sluggers


P Rick Rhoden PIT
C Gary Carter MON
1B Andy Van Slyke STL
2B Johnny Ray PIT
3B Pedro Guerrero LAD
SS Dickie Thon HOU
LF Dale Murphy ATL
CF Andre Dawson MON
RF Tony Gwynn SD


AL Rookie of the Year


Greg Walker CHI (.282/31/93)


NL Rookie of the Year


Kevin McReynolds SD (.284/34/105)


Franklin Stubbs finished 2^nd on ROY voting.


Manager of the Year


Sparky Anderson DET
Tom Lasorda LAD


This feels like a gut punch that Lasorda wins Manger of the Year for the second year in a row, and we have nothing to show for it.


AL Cy Young Award


Dave Righetti NYY (20-3, 212.1IP 185K 2.08)


NL Cy Young Award


Atlee Hammaker SF (21-6, 269IP, 230K, 1.74)


Hammaker won the NL Pitching Triple Crown. Valenzuela was 2^nd in voting. Candelaria 3^rd.


AL MVP Award


Willie Upshaw TOR (.357, 233H, 42 2B, 6 3B, 44 HR, 165 RBI, 136 R)


Upshaw won the Triple Crown in the AL with his incredible, amazing, offensive blistering of AL pitching. Ripken was 2^nd, Trammell 3^rd.


NL MVP Award


Atlee Hammaker SF


Deserved. That was a big season, no question. Pedro Guerrero was 2^nd in voting. Andre Dawson 3^rd.

[PilotMan]

The Dodgers have made their first trade of the offseason. It's not terribly important except....


LA sends last years #1 pick Kurt Stillwell (.276/0/22 19SB between Rookie and A) along with P Mike Jones (8-5 4.93 100.1IP in AAA) who is a modest prospect who was a Class A Pitcher of the Year one year ago to the Phillies for infielder Tim Flannery (.268/0/11) and enough cash to offset about 1/4^th of his salary. Flannery was a starter for the Padres a year ago, and the word is he thinks he should be in the mix for LA. Except that at best, he's behind a whole bunch of other players. Not sure how or why on this one.


Dodgers Free Agency


From a fans perspective this is a scary offseason with Pedro Guerrero becoming a free agent. He stands as the probably the biggest name hitting free agency this year, and by finishing 2^nd for the MVP, he made up a large portion of the offense for the team. I really don't want to see him go.


Bob Welch is a staff ace. He may not be the #1 here, but he is good enough to be one somewhere else. Again, as important as he was last year, I really don't want to see him go. After that...


It's Dusty Baker. Baker had a few good games, and added a lot down the stretch, but his 1.4 WAR is probably replaceable and at 34 that number isn't going up anytime soon. There's not a lot of depth behind him however.


And then there's Ron Cey, a guy who went from hitting 29 HR's and had a 4.9 WAR in 1982 to losing his job and only 99 AB in 1983. The Penguin was our last out of 1983, and he's probably gone, but what happens if Guerrero goes? He could easily be a starter again.


Last is Doc Medich. A guy we gave up Ken Landreaux to get and who was going to be the #5 starter initially, but ended up being a long guy out of the bullpen until late in the season. Medich will be 35 in the spring, and he's put some good years in and is fairly reliable for innings. As deep as our staff is though, I just don't see a situation where he comes back again.

[PilotMan]

Hot Stove Notes


Bob Welch is gone to the KC Royals for 6 years/6.93M.


LA finds their replacement for Welch a few days later by signing John Denny away from the Tigers. He won the World Series last year, opted out of his 3yr deal there for more money. He signs for us for 6yrs/6M. So cheaper than Welch. He's a little older, but he is a bonafide ace pitcher.


The end of November the Dodgers consummated another trade, this time with the Padres. Here is the skinny: LA sends C Bob Brenly (.252/15/55) to the Padres for utility man Jim Pankovits (.313/6/34 in AAA) and P Kelly Downs (0-5, 3.46, 83.1IP). Downs was the #21 prospect in baseball in the spring of 1983 and at 23 he looks like a top line starter down the road. Depending on Scioscia, this looks like it has potential. Pankovits just adds gravy.


LA keeps spending. This time they've brought in an All-Star, Silver Slugger, and 3-time Gold Glove winner Dwayne Murphy. Murphy is 28 and hit 41 homers last year for the Brewers. He'll take over in CF and right now, Stubbs is getting pushed to LF. No comment from Kittle yet.


The next day Pedro Guerrero signs for the Phillies. He gets a 6yr/8.66M contract. At least he won't be around to commit 42 errors at third anymore. Still, that's a lot of offense to lose.


LA continues to commit to pitching. Prodigal son, Rich Rhoden is returning to the team, and coming off of a great year too. Rhoden went 21-13 last year with a 3.37 ERA in 272.1 IP. His deal is 3yrs/2.65M. That seems like a steal for another top level ace, who is only 30.


Now, let's get some more offense!


I'm watching free agency and all I can think is “fuck these Canadian teams.” How much talent is enough?!?!?!


Dang. LA is going with the full court press in pitching. Another pitcher is coming to LA. This time it's LHP Frank Tanana. Tanana (13-16, 3.65, 239IP) pitched for the Cardinals last year. His deal is 4yrs/3.1M with the 4^th year a player option year. Tanana is a 3-time All Star.


Whew. The rotation is sure going to look different in 1984. LA has penned another starter. This time it's RHP Milt Wilcox. Wilcox (13-14, 3.37, 254IP) pitched for the Twins last season and has been hit and miss over his career. His deal is 2yrs/1.22M and has to provide more insurance and depth the way that the Medich trade last year did.


1983 Top Five Draft Picks for the Dodgers


OF Doug Jennings (Sup 1^st)
3B Chuck Jackson (Sub 1^st)
1B Brad Pounders (3^rd)
P Joel Lono (4^th)
P Luis M de los Santos (5^th)


Woohoo.


Well now, this is interesting. Local boy Dwight Evans is coming back home. Big news today as the Dodgers got a deal too good to pass up. Evans (.271/30/96) brings a lot of pop, that our lineup was still missing from Guerrero's absence. The deal is 2yrs/2.16M, and even at 32, he's an Iron Man that will show up to play every day. As of right now it looks like both Stubbs and Kittle are out of the starting lineup. Evans is also a defensive stud, with a cannon for an arm. He pushes Marshall out of right over to left. It's a logjam now, but the team is still weak at 3B/SS (depending on where Smalley plays.)


The front office is busy, no question. Here's the low down on the latest trade:


The Dodgers get 2B Willie Randolph (.278/4/56), a 4-time All Star and Silver Slugger winner from the Mariners. They give up LHP Sid Fernandez (14-8, 3.53 at AAA, and Top PCL Pitcher and PCL MVP), IF Casey Candaele, a 1982 3^rd round pick, OF Stu Pederson (.269/9/52 combined minors), C Tony Merulla (.265/1/5 combined minors) and OF Reggie Montgomery (.273/8/64), a 5^th round pick in 1982, W.T.F. The top pitching prospect in the organization, along with 2 high level picks from a year ago, AND 2 other players. Holy crap. Now we have a major crowd at 2^nd base. I don't understand this deal at all.


The most recent signing for the Dodgers is Bobby Grich. Grich (.240/6/17) gets a 2yr/2.08M deal, with the second year being at the team option. He gets some good performance bonuses if he plays. He is a 5-time Gold Glove winner at 2^nd, 6-time All Star, and 2-time Silver Slugger, but...he rode the bench for the Angels last year and he's a primary second basemen. He'll be 35 by April. He's got a chance to win the job at third, but that's about it.


At least the team is spending money. I mean, damn, they are really putting it down. The newest arrival is veteran first basemen, Andre Thornton (.314/2/21). Thornton was actually voted in as an All Star last year, even though he wasn't the starter at first for the Pirates. He was coming off of a 31 hr, 130 RBI season in Cleveland before that. Even though he's 34, he's still got some skills. His deal is 2yrs/1.52M with the second year being a team option.


Another new outfielder. This time it's Ruppert Jones, who can't seem to get out of the NL West, having played for SD, ATL and HOU, the last couple years got a 3yr/1.51M contract. Jones (.248/6/21) , is a good defensive outfielder, and he's got an above average eye, and power. No idea how he'll get any playing time, but he's here now.


Other offseason signings include:


C Buck Martinez (.255/8/27)
SS UL Washington (.280/4/46)
P Dennis Eckersley (18-12, 263.2IP, 140K, 4.20)
OF George Foster (.296/13/83)
SS Gary Templeton (.279/5/47 21SB)
RP Rudy May (2-2, 15 S, 38.2IP, 1.63)




1984 Opening Day Roster


Starting Pitching


Fernando Valenzuela (19-11, 2.27)
Rick Rhoden (21-13, 3.37)
Frank Tanana (13-16, 3.65)
Alejandro Pena ( 4-5, 2.94)
Milt Wilcox (13-14, 3.47)


Bullpen


LR John Denny (19-13, 3.33)
LR Jerry Reuss (14-6, 3.27)
MR Dave Stewart (2-0, 2 S, 1.54)


SU Dennis Eckersley (18-12, 4.20)
SU Steve Howe (10-1, 38S, 1.62)


CL Tom Niedenfeuer (7-3, 8S, 1.86)


Catchers
Mike Scioscia (.227/2/17)
Buck Martinez (.255/8/27)


Looks like a Martinez will back up Scioscia, and possibly set up a platoon situation similar to what he had in Toronto.


First Base
Bobby Grich (.240/6/17)
Andre Thornton (.314/2/21)


Grich is going to start at first. Thornton could be, but for some reason he isn't. Garvey was designated for assignment, possibly getting released. Brock was optioned to AAA.


Second Base
Willie Randolph (.278/4/56)


It's all Randolph, no Sax, no Bernazard, both of them were optioned to AAA.


Third Base
Roy Smalley (.280/27/83)
Scotti Madison (.287/12/74 at AAA)


Smalley will improve our defense at third no question. Madision can play infield and catcher.


Shortstop
Garry Templeton (.279/5/47)
UL Washington (.280/4/46)


We're losing production here that we had last year. However, Templeton is quick, and he's a great fielder. We're going to save runs here.


Left Field
Mike Marshall (.310/25/87)
George Foster (.295/13/83)


Marshall is starting. One can only hope that his level of production is going to be close to what he did last year. Foster provides a nice option if he's hurt.


Center Field
Dwayne Murphy (.279/41/104)
Ruppert Jones (.248/6/21)


Murphy takes over. Jones can play all the outfield positions, he hits with power and isn't bad defensively. Probably an upgrade over Baker.


Right Field
Dwight Evans (.271/30/96)


Evans is backed up by Jones too.


So this is the new Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for 1984. They look quite good on paper again. The newspaper has up picked to win the West again, with the best record in the National. So the expectation has to be a title. The team more than doubled the payroll for this year. There are All Stars at nearly every position. The rotation and bullpen are strong and deep.


So where are last years guys?


Garvey, Minton were both designated and taken off the 40-man. I'm guessing they both get claimed. Kittle, Stubbs, Sax, Bernazard, Bream, Brock, Brewer, Franco were all optioned to AAA. That AAA team is talented. Going to be a lot of unhappy players in the Dodgers organization. This team is built to win right now. If it doesn't happen this year the wheels might fall off.


Dusty Baker signed on with Boston and was moved to first base. Ron Cey is in Toronto. Doc Medich is in St Louis.


Play Ball!

[PilotMan]

FYI

Sid Fernandez is now the #4 prospect in MLB and the top LA prospect is ranked #91, Scotti Madison. There's not much left in the farm system.

[CraigSca]

Fun read. Looking forward to more.

[tucking fypo]

Great stuff here. Hate to give up Hershiser and Sid but a solid rotation and lineup for 1984. Time to get the title back to LA.

[PilotMan]

Fun read. Looking forward to more.

Great stuff here. Hate to give up Hershiser and Sid but a solid rotation and lineup for 1984. Time to get the title back to LA.

Thanks guys.

---

Opening Day 1-0 Win over St Louis
Valenzuela puts together a really nice outing, but the improved defense made the difference. Evans threw out 2 from right, Scioscia threw out a baserunner. LA only had 3 hits the entire game and it was a single from Valenzuela that knocked in the winning run. Neidenfuer made it close, but picked up the save.


The team truly has moved on from 1981 now. It was likely to happen that Garvey would get claimed and now he has as he moves to Cincinnati to play for the Reds. He will be missed.


4/5 4-0 L to the Cardinals
Danny Cox absolutely shut us down over 8 innings allowing only 2 hits. It was a David Green 3-run bomb off Rhoden in the 4^th that was the difference.


4/6 13-0 W over the Pirates
After 1 run in 18 innings, we finally got off the schneid. Dewey broke it all open with his first in the first. After that, he was followed by the pitcher of all people, Alejandro Pena, hitting a 2-run shot, in his first at bat of the year. Murphy and Marshall would also get their firsts. Pena dominated over 8.1, and Eck finished.


Rudy May, whom the team signed for over 400k to a 1 year deal, found no home on the roster. He signed, waited for designation, refused to go to the minors, and was released 10 days later. Sign me up for that job.


4/7 4-1 W over the Pirates
A Ruppert Jones, pinch hit, 2-run double broke a tie in the 6^th. Tanana went 6 and the team scattered 10 hits. We were helped by 3 Pirate errors. Niedenfuer got his 2^nd save.


4/8 3-2 L to the Pirates
Both Valenzuela and DeLeon went deep into this game. Ellis Valentine hit a pinch hit, 2-run double, to put the Pirates up. Then in the 9^th, with Valentine in RF, known for his strong throwing arm, he threw out Smalley at the plate and that would be the run short that would keep us from tying it up.


4/9 5-4 W over the Cubs
Wilcox went 7 good innings, then wore down in the 8^th. Niedenfuer got the last 4 outs to hold on and get his 3^rd save. Marshall hit a 2-run homer.


With Greg Minton not getting picked up on waivers, he was released from the team.


4/11 3-1 W over the Cubs
Rhoden dominated allowing 1 hit through 8. He got into a bit of trouble in the 9^th, but Niedenfuer bailed him out for his 4^th save. The offense still isn't on track. We're getting by on pitching right now. Dwayne Murphy's only hit is his homerun from 5 days ago.


4/13 5-3 L to the Giants
The team ran into a buzzsaw named Atlee Hammaker. He shut us out through 8 innings. Scioscia started the 9^th off with a single, then with two out, and down to the last strike, pinch hitter, Andre Thornton drilled a pitch deep to left to tie it up. The Giants would rally off of Howe in the 10^th and we couldn't keep up.


4/14 4-0 W over the Giants
Dwayne Murphy finally got his second hit of the year. Alejandro Pena has now gone the first 16.1 innings of the year without allowing a run. Dewey hit #2 and Grich hit his first to power the offense. The team on the whole is batting near the Mendoza line. It's a miracle that we're 6-3.

[PilotMan]

4/15 5-3 W over the Giants
Bobby Grich went 3-4 with 3 RBI's and Evans hit a 2-run homer (3) to power the offense and give Frank Tanana (2-0) enough to knock off the Giants. Niedenfuer struck out 3 of the last 6 to claim his 5^th save.


4/16 6-5 W over the Astros
Mike Marshall went 4-5 with 2 RBI's and Templeton went 3-4 and scored twice. Rhoden (2-1) was cruising until Dale Murphy hit a 3-run homer to get the 'Stros back in it. Niedenfuer allowed a run in the 9^th, but buckled down for his 6^th save in 6 chances.


4/17 6-0 W over the Astros
Templeton went 2-5 with 2 RBI and Randolph went 2-4 with 2 RBI while Milt Wilcox (2-0) threw 8 1/3 shut out innings before getting the hook and Steve Howe finished. Team starters now have a 2.00 ERA and are really still carrying this team.


4/18 9-1 W over the Astros
Valenzuela (2-1) didn't allow a hit until the 5^th and pitched 8 innings, with Eck on mop up duty. Evans (4) hit a 2-run homer in the 6^th, and Murphy (2), who seems to be coming alive a little, drilled a 3-run bomb and knocked in 5. Nolan Ryan (0-3) did us a favor by walking 8 in 4 innings.


4/19 4-3 W over the Padres
The streak continues, that's 6 in a row. Dwight Evans went 3-5 and Pena went 8, but left after 8 with the game tied. Bottom of the 10^th it was Bobby Grich who sent all the fans home with a walk off homerun, his 2^nd off of Jimmy Key (0-1).


4/20 1-0 L to the Padres
Tough one to lose. Tanana went almost 8 without allowing a run. It was Steve Howe (0-2) who gave up the run in the ninth after Gwynn lead off with a triple. Dwight Evans got 2 hits to lead the Dodgers.


4/21 4-1 L to the Padres
I don't think we lost 1 series to the Padres all year last year, but we drop the first of this year thanks to another steady diet of left handed pitching. Ken Daley (1-1) did a number on us, followed by Jimmy Key and Gary Lucas and LA had no answers. Scioscia had 2 hits and caught 2 stealing, while Rhoden (2-2) struggled through 7 allowing 10 hits and 3 walks.


4/22 3-0 L to the Padres
The offense is not working right now. Milt Wilcox (2-1) had a good outing and it was wasted as he allowed 2 over 7. Juan Eichelberger (1-2) walked 6 and they missed those chances too. The best highlight was a Milt Wilcox double and Dwayne Murphy walking 3 times.


4/23 5-2 L to the Astros
This wasn't the same Ryan we beat up on before. He had a no hitter into the 7^th before Murphy hit a solo shot, his 3^rd. That was all the offense worth mentioning. Valenzuela (2-2) allowed 5 in 6.2. Denny saw his first innings of the year.


4/24 9-5 W (10) over the Astros
This game had it all. Pena started, got into trouble in the 2^nd inning and LA fell behind 2-0 early. Dwayne Murphy's 3-run homer (4) in the 4^th got us back in it. Pena pitched 6 good innings, and George Foster (on for an injured Grich) hit his first for another run, but a single barrage against Eck in the 7^th cost us the lead. LA would tie it up in the 9^th and in the tenth, with the bases loaded Mike Marshall would send them home with a grand slam, his 3^rd of the year off of Mike LaCoss. Niedenfuer (2-0) pitched 2 scoreless for the win. Bobby Grich left the game with a mild hamstring strain. He's not on the DL.


4/25 4-1 L to the Astros
Another series loss for this team. Jack Morris (3-1) pitched 8 strong, striking out 7. Tom Candiotti got his first save. Frank Tanana would pitch alright, but not good enough. Bobby Grich, nursing the hamstring injury, got 2 hits. George Foster left with a sore knee.


Rudy May was signed to a 1-year deal, but … idk, it's just one of those things. He's still not been designated yet. He must have dirt on the GM.


4/26 4-3 W over the Padres
Tim Flannery has only been on the active roster for a few days, but starting at third today, he hit 2 triples and knocked in a run to spear the team to victory. Rhoden (3-2) went 8, even if it was uneven. Niedenfeur picked up the save, his 7^th, but Kevin McReynolds took him to the fence with a runner on for the last out.


And to no one's surprise, Rudy May is released...again. Lol.


4/27 5-3 W over the Padres
Wilcox (3-1) did what a 5^th starter needed to do and put the team in the position to win the game. The team beat up on Juan Eichelberger. He allowed 9 hits and 5 walks in less than 6 innings. Marshall hit his 4^th, a two-run shot in the first and the team never looked back. Steve Howe came on and got his first save of 1984.


4/28 4-0 W over the Padres
Now we're at 3 in a row. Valenzuela (3-2) recovered from his last 2 shaky outings, goes the distance, gets his first shutout of the year, and strikes out 9. The player of the game though, was Willie Randolph. Randolph lead off, went 4-4, with 2 runs and 2 RBI's. One of those hits was a 2-run shot in the 5^th, his first. Evans hit his 6^th, a solo shot in the 4^th.


Mike Scott throws a no-hitter for the Mets over the Philies.


4/29 11-5 W over the Padres
A sweep and with that win, we've nearly erased the effects of that losing streak. Dwight Evans continues his April Assault. He went 3-4, with 2 homers and 5 rbi's. He's got 8 homeruns now. Templeton and Smalley both had 3 hits each. Both teams combined for 25 hits. Pena (3-0) went 6 for the win.


4/30 7-2 W over the Giants
Frank Tanana (3-1) was a one man wrecking crew. He went struck out 8 over 8 AND lead the hit parade going 2-4 with a double and 3 rbi's. Templeton went 3-4. The Giants used 6 pitchers in a losing effort.

[PilotMan]

April Roundup


Expectations are high and the Dodgers started off strong by finishing on a 5 game win streak for a record of 17-8. We have a 3.5 game lead over the Braves. Only 6.5 games separate first and last. LA has the second best record in MLB behind the Blue Jays, whose record stands at 18-6.


Dwight Evans won NL batter of the month for April. He batted .310 and leads the NL with 8 home runs and 21 RBI's.


The team is only hitting .245, good for 5^th in the NL, but they lead in OBP. The Dodgers are first in runs scored, homeruns, and walks. As far as pitching goes, we are 3^rd in ERA and tied for 2^nd in runs allowed. Defensively, the team is 6^th in efficiency. The improvements on defense have been obvious in the games.


Remarkably, the team can't seem to struggle at home where their record is only 9-8, but they are an undefeated 8-0 on the road.


The front office made a couple of roster moves to start the new month. First, and in a bit of a shocker, Mike Marshall (.250/4/18) is optioned to AAA. Franklin Stubbs (.370/4/13 in Albuquerque) is recalled to take his place. George Foster is going to take over in left for Marshall and Stubbs, along with Ruppert Jones will backup all three outfield positions.


Second, Buck Martinez (0-11 in 4 games) was designated and placed on waivers. He's likely to be released. Taking his place is prospect Scotti Madison (.310/2/12 in AAA).


Last is some confidence in Dennis Eckersley. He was only on a 1 year deal, but was just signed to a 2-year extension. Year 2, or 1986, will be his option, so it really only keeps him for an additional year.

[PilotMan]

5/1 3-1 W over the Giants
Rhoden (4-2) cleaned up his act for this one, pitching 8, allowing 4 hits with 5 k's. Niedenfuer pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 8^th save in 8 chances. Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans provided the offense with two hits each. Randolph knocked in 2 with a double in the 5^th.


5/2 4-1 L to the Giants
Our first road loss of the year comes in May. I guess that's alright. Atlee Hammaker (2-2) just owns this team right now. He struck out 8. George Foster hit cleanup and grounded into 2 double plays. He's hitting .161 right now. Not sure getting rid of Marshall for him was the right move. Rob Deer hit a triple and home run and knocked in all 4 runs for the Giants. Wilcox (3-2) took the loss.


5/4 8-4 W over the Pirates
The offense bailed out a sub par pitching performance by Fernando Valenzuela. Roy Smalley hit a solo shot in the 3^rd (2) and lead the offense going 2-3 with 3 rbi's. Eck (1-0) came on in relief and pitched 2 scoreless. With the Dodgers still down by a run in the 9^th and two out Don Robinson (0-4) walked 3 straight batters, then faced Dwayne Murphy who was only hitting .196. Murphy hit a grand slam, his 5^th , into the centerfield seats. Howe came on and left in the 9^th with an injury. Stewart finished.


Lasorda announced that Howe is on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. He expects to be out for 2 weeks. John Franco was called up from AAA to take his roster spot.


5/5 4-2 (10) W over the Pirates
A see saw affair where the Pirates went up in the 8^th when Johnny Ray his a homer off of Eck, in a tied game. Guante (0-2) came on in the 9^th to close it out, but walked 2. Smalley moved them over, then Ruppert Jones his a sac fly that scored Evans. In the 10^th, Scioscia walked to lead off against Guante, then Randolph would score him later. It could've gotten broken wide open though. Niedenfuer (3-0) got the win and John Denny finished for his first save.


5/6 8-7 W over the Pirates
By all rights, this should have been a loss. Rick Rhoden was the victim of 2 errors in the 8^th that ultimately ended up loading the bases, while LA was still up by 1. He then allowed a Chris Chambliss grand slam with 2 out and 2 strikes. That put the Pirates up 7-4. John Denny (1-0) came on for the last out of the 8^th. The 9^th saw hits by UL Washington, Sid Bream, Scotti Madison, along with 3 walks. Rod Scurry got in trouble, but it was Tom Henke (1-1) who failed to keep it close. Niedenfuer pitched another scoreless 9^th for his 9^th save.


Buck Martinez wasn't claimed, and is back on the roster again. Madison was optioned.


5/7 3-2 L to the Cardinals
Tanana (3-2) pitched good, but Lasorda left him in too long. The Cards scored all their runs in the 8^th. LA loaded the bases in the 9^th with Evans at the plate, but he struck out to end it. Evans lead the team going 3-4 and hit his 9^th home run of the year.


5/8 5-2 (10) W over the Cardinals
LA hit only 1 extra base hit in this one. The other 16 hits were all singles. Wilcox started, went 7, but it was Eckersley (2-0) who got the win. Sid Bream's single in the 10^th to knock in 2 put LA in front for good. Randolph had 3 hits to lead the team. Niedenfeur struck out the side in the 10^th for his 10^th save.


5/9 14-7 W over the Cubs
The teams combined for 6 errors, 28 hits, 21 runs. Jody Davis, the Cubs catcher, hit 2 home runs. Every Dodger got a hit, except for Bobby Grich. Roy Smalley and Willie Randolph had 3 hits each. Even Valenzuela (4-2) had 2 doubles. Franklin Stubbs hit a pinch hit homer for his first of the year.


5/10 7-2 W over the Cubs
LA strikes for 6 runs in the top of the 9^th facing Lee Smith. Pena went into the 7^th, but Eckersley (3-0) picked up the win. Bobby Grich, went 2-4, and cleared the bases with a double in the 9^th.


5/11 1-0 W over the Mets
Rhoden and Gooden (5-3) went toe to toe for the entire game. It would only be a single by Willie Randolph, knocking in Buck Martinez. Eckersley (4-0) threw 2 pitches to get one out in the 8^th and got the win. Tom Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 11^th save.


5/12 4-2 W over the Mets
Frank Tanana (4-2) allowed 3 hits in 8 innings, but two of those hits were home runs. Franklin Stubbs hit his second HR, while Roy Smalley hit his 3^rd. Murphy had 2 rbis. Niedenfeuer picked up his 12^th save.


5/13 6-5 W over the Mets
The wins just keep rolling along. Milt Wilcox (4-2) picked up the player of the game, going 8 and striking out 7. George Foster lead the offense going 2-3, with 2 rbi's. John Denny came on in the 9^th to pick up his second save.


5/14 4-1 W over the Phillies
Valenzuela (5-2) allowed 2 hits over 8 innings and struck out 6. George Foster his his second home run of the year, and Tom Niedenfuer closed out for his 13^th save. We see Pedro Guerrero for the first time since leaving LA. He goes 1-4 with a strikeout. It doesn't get anymore text book for a win, than good pitching and a good enough offense. The Dodgers record in May is pushed to 11-2.


5/15 4-2 W over the Phillies
Alejandro Pena (4-0) held the Phillies to 4 hits and a walk while striking out 8 in 8 innings to get the player of the game. George Foster went 2-4 and Evans picked up 2 more NL leading rbi's. Niedenfuer, who has been getting a lot of work, struggled a little, but held on to get his 14^th save. Guerrero went 2-4 with a triple off of Niedenfuer.

[PilotMan]

5/16 5-3 W over the Phillies
Rhoden (5-2) struggled walking 5 and allowing 7 hits through 6, but the bullpen held things down striking out 6 in the last 3 innings. Sid Bream pinch hit for Rhoden in the 6^th and broke up the no-hitter. Three batters later Dwight Evans hit a grand slam, his 10^th of the year. That's all the offense LA would need. Dave Stewart closed for his first save.


5/18 7-4 W over the Expos
LA took a 7-1 lead into the 9^th. Niedenfuer had to come on to stop the bleeding. He picked up his 15^th save. Tanana (5-2) pitched into the 8^th before giving way. Gary Templeton lead the offense. He went 2-3 with a couple of rbi's. LA has won 10 in a row.


5/19 11-9 L (13) to the Expos
Crazy game. Five lead changes, 7 home runs. Dave Stewart (0-1) served up a home run to Gary Carter in the 12^th and a grand slam to Tim Raines in the 13^th. Even then LA mounted a come back with Mike Scioscia's first dinger, but it was too late. Scioscia had 4 hits, Bobby Grich had 4 rbi's and his 3^rd HR of the year. Niedenfuer had his first blown save of the year.


5/20 7-1 W over the Expos
Alejandro Pena (5-0) struck out 9 over 8 in another dominating performance. Stubbs hit his 3^rd in the first, Dwayne Murphy his 6^th in the 6^th and George Foster hit his 3^rd in the 7^th. Bill Gullickson (5-4) took the loss.


5/22 14-3 W over the Phillies
The LA defense kept the Phils to a fg to keep up the good start to the year. Rick Rhoden improved to 6-2, only throwing 69 pitches over 6. George Foster had a breakout game going 3-3 with his 4^th HR and 4 RBI's. Every starter had at least 1 hit. Dwayne Murphy hit his 7^th. This team has started so well, that it's nearing the end of May, and Jerry Reuss, who was relegated to the bullpen, finally saw his first inning of 1984.


5/23 2-1 L to the Phillies
Kevin Gross (4-0) won the dual with Frank Tanana (5-3) as both pitchers had good games. LA had opportunities, but failed, while the Phils did more with less. Willie Randolph went 2-4.


5/24 6-2 W over the Phillies
Valenzuela (6-2) struck out 9, but gave up 9 hits in 6 innings of work, along with 2 home runs. Scioscia hit #2, Grich #4, and Foster hit #5. LA scored in each of the first 5 innings and would not look back. Randolph went 2-4 and scored twice. Guerrero made his 8^th error, which doesn't see so bad right now.


5/25 7-3 W over the Mets
Dwayne Murphy has been steadily getting hotter. He's gotten his avg up to .264 and is now among the league leaders in RBI's. He went 2-3, and hit his 8^th HR of the year, with 2 walks to lead the team. Alejandro Pena (6-0) struck out 8 and Niedenfuer got the last 4 outs for his 16^th save.


5/26 6-4 W over the Mets
Dwight Evans went 3-4 to keep his hot start going. Wilcox (5-2) only got 68 pitches in. His day was inturruped by a 64 min rain delay. John Denny, Steve Howe bridged the gap, and Dennis Eckersley got his first save of the year.


5/27 5-1 L to the Mets
Doc Gooden (6-5) shut us down, while Rhoden (6-3) took the loss in a rough outing. Buck Martinez had 2 of the team's 4 hits.


5/28 5-1 L to the Expos
Back to back losses for the first time since April 23^rd. The double team of Dawson and Carter sunk the Dodgers on this day. Frank Tanana (5-4) wasn't on his “A” game and the offense didn't bail him out. LA fell behind early and couldn't get on track. Dave Rozema pitched the rare, 3 inning save to close it out.


5/29 3-2 W over the Expos
This battle between these teams is still hot. Valenzuela (7-2) pitched 8. Niedenfeur came on for his 17^th save, although he did let the tying run get to 3^rd with 1 out. The offense was powered by a couple of Dwayne Murphy sac flies. He leads the NL in RBI's now.


5/30 2-1 L to the Expos
Another series loss to the team we're most likely to play again in the playoffs. John Candelaria (5-2) just rolled, striking out 11. LA didn't even get on the board until Foster hit his 6^th in the 9^th off of Reardon. Pena (6-1) took the loss.

[PilotMan]

May Roundup


There's very little to complain about in a month when your favorite team goes 20-7. The Dodgers continued their April push and turned things up a bit. The team currently sits with a 37-15 record, and it 9 games ahead of second place, Houston Astros.


The NL West isn't has tough as it was last season, which should make the timeline to clinch easier. Even if the team plays .500 ball the rest of the year they'll finish with 92 wins. If the Astros continue to play at their same rate of .540 they will only have 87 wins. So the lead there is substantial.


Burt Hooton is still a month away from returning and other than that the team is healthy.


LA is first in runs scored and obp, but 7^th in avg, with a team avg of .255. LA is 3^rd in HR's. In addition to first in runs, they are also first in runs against, and first in starter ERA. The bullpen has dropped off from last year, ranking 6^th, but the biggest improvement has been on defense where they are ranked #2.


There haven't been any major transactions lately and no major lineup moves.


Every single starter from 1-5 has a sub 3 ERA and a winning record. Dave Stewart and John Denny have been struggling in the bullpen, but they've still barely been used. Niedenfuer's 27 innings of work lead the team and so does his 1.00 ERA.


Willie Randolph has had a much better year than anyone anticipated. Between his defense and his ability to draw walks and get on base, he's near the top in WAR. Steve Garvey, leads the NL in hits with 73 and is batting .329. Maybe letting him walk wasn't that great of an idea just yet.


Speaking of OBP, the team has 4 players in the top 5 in BB. They are Murphy, Randolph, Evans, and Grich. All new faces, and clearly part of the offseason talent acquisition process.


John Candelaria and Alejandro Pena are the early season front runners for NL Cy Young.

[PilotMan]

6/1 6-1 L to the Astros
It might be easy to blame Rhoden (6-4) for not getting the QS here, but it's really the offense that couldn't get anything going. The bullpen combination of Stewart and Denny combined to give up another 3 runs as their struggles continued. Dwight Evans picked up a couple hits, but that's about all worth mentioning. Dwayne Murphy left the game in the first after some discomfort in the field.


6/2 5-4 (10) W over the Astros
Frank Tanana served up 2 home runs and the team was down in the 9^th when Bobby Grich tied the game with his 5^th home run off of Frank DiPino (2-3). He then came up on the bottom of the 10^th with the bases loaded and an error by Ray Knight let the winning run score. Niedenfuer (4-0) got the win.


6/3 8-3 W over the Astros
LA scored 6 runs in the first 3 innings off of Don Sutton (3-4) and never looked back. Valenzuela (8-2) went 8 and Gary Templeton went 3-5 with 3 RBI's and his first HR of the year.


Sigh of relief on Dwayne Murphy. What initially looked more serious turned out to be an oblique strain and he's only going to miss a couple of weeks. He's on the DL. Expect Stubbs to continue to start in center field.


6/4 4-3 L to the Reds
The Reds are full of ex-Dodgers. Steve Garvey knocked a 2 run double to put the Reds in front over LA. We also saw former prospect Dave Anderson and vet Juan Beniquez. In the 8^th, LA got the bases loaded with 3 walks with 2 out, only to have Roy Smalley strike out. Alejandro Pena (6-2) took the loss.


6/5 3-2 W over the Reds
Garvey almost did us in again getting both rbi's on a single in the 3^rd. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth when newly recalled Mike Marshall sent the fans home with a walk off home run, his 5^th. Smalley (4^th) and Grich (6^th) also homered as all three runs were solo shots. Niedenfuer (5-0) won again.


6/6 7-3 W over the Reds
Gary Templeton went 3-3 and Mike Marshall hit #6 and Rick Rhoden (7-4) went 8 for the win. Eric Davis hit 2 HR's for the Reds. We finally kept Garvey hitless. Howe pitched a scoreless 9^th.


6/7 5-3 L to the Braves
Craig McMurtry (4-4) allowed 2 hits through 8 and shut us down. Templeton picked up a couple rbi's but that's all we got. Tanana (5-5) struggled through 7.


6/8 7-2 W over the Braves
Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans provided firepower with their 2^nd and 11^th home runs respectively, but it was the 8^th inning grand slam by Mike Scioscia (3^rd) that broke the game open. Fernando Valenzuela (9-2) went the distance, striking out 6.


6/9 3-1 W over the Braves
Pascual Perez took a no-hitter into the 6^th and allowed 2 over 8. He turned the ball over to Bob Shirley and the wheels fell off. He walked Evans and Stubbs, then Mike Marshall walked us off again with his 7^th home run. Pena pitched hard through 8, but Neidenfuer got another win to push his record to 6-0.


6/10 4-3 (11) W over the Braves
For the second game in a row LA was shut down by a starter and the second time we got it back off the bullpen. Again it was Bob Shirley who let in 3 in the ninth to send it to extras. Then, the first batter that Jose Rijo (2-3) faced was Willie Randolph and with one swing, he sent them home. His 3^rd of the year. Neidenfuer again, pitched 2 scoreless and claimed another win. His record is 7-0.


6/11 9-4 W over the Giants
Atlee Hammaker looked like he had our number again, but a couple errors and we chipped away at him and got him out in the 6^th. LA broke it open in the 7^th off of the bullpen. Ron Kittle got his first at bats of 1984 as Stubbs was optioned. He went 2-5, Scioscia went 3-5 and Evans 3-3. Eckersley moved his record to 5-0.


6/12 6-2 W over the Giants
Tanana (6-5) served up 2 home runs and LA fell behind, yet again. He settled down though and struck out 12 in a complete game finish. The offense was all pretty much a Buck Martinez, bases loaded, triple. Willie Randolph went 3-4 with 2 RBI's to help.


6/13 3-0 W over the Giants
Fernanado Valenzuela (10-2) goes the distance for the shutout. He struck out the side in the 9^th. Bobby Grich hit his 7^th.


6/14 2-0 W over the Astros
Alejandro Pena (7-2) faced the minimum 27 batters allowing 1 hit and 1 error on Gary Templeton. Two double plays kept it to the minimum. He struck out 7. Dwight Evans hit his 12^th home run. This pitching just keeps on pushing the team forward.


6/15 4-1 L to the Astros
Ruppert Jones finally hit his first home run and added 2 hits, but that was all the team could muster. Milt Wilcox (5-3) took the loss, even though he went 7 good innings. Ed Whitson (4-0) took us out and ended our streak.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Niedenfuer (5-0) won again.

In some dynasty, at some point, with some game or another ... I had Niedenfuer go something crazy like 19-0 in relief one season.

You just need him to pick up the pace a little ;)

[PilotMan]

6/16 6-2 W over the Astros
Nolan Ryan (7-7) really struggles against our picky offense. Three walks in a row, gave way to Ruppert Jones, who hit his 2^nd home run of the year, this one cleared the bases and opened the game up for LA. Rhoden (8-4) pitched well, going 8. Dwayne Murphy made his return from his injury and went 1-3 with a run and an rbi.


6/17 4-2 W over the Astros
Sid Bream went 3-4 on a rest day for Bobby Grich, and Dwight Evans hit his13th homerun. Frank Tanana (7-5) was player of the game though, as he pitched 8, allowed 3 hits and struck out 5. Niedenfeur pitched a quiet 9^th for his 18^th save. LA wins it's 50^th game of the year. From this point on. If LA only wins half of it's games and the 2^nd place Reds continue at their current pace, LA will win the West by 14 games. It's June 17.


Not a good day for ex-Dodgers. Both Dave Anderson and Doc Medich are declared lost for the rest of the year.


6/19 11-2 L to the Reds
Things were rolling right along with a 1-0 lead in the 6^th. Then the Reds got a HR from Eddie Milner, then in the 8^th they just plain went nuts with 8 runs off of Pena (7-3) and Howe.


6/20 12-1 W over the Reds
A little payback for yesterday. Three big performances in this one. First was Valenzuela (11-2) going 8 and striking out 9. Next was Mike Marshall, hitting 2 HR's, his 8^th and 9^th. Last was Scioscia, going 3-5 and knocking 3. By the top of the 4^th it was 10-0. Willie Randolph scored 4 times and he barely gets a mention.


6/21 5-4 (13) W over the Reds
Game was tied 3-3 after 9. Rhoden and Liebrandt both went deep. Randolph (3-5) and Evans (2-4, 2 RBI's) again carried the bulk of the offense. Bobby Grich hit a 2-run double in the 13^th, and Eckersley gave one back, but still nailed it down for the win. He's run his record to 6-0. That makes him and Neidenfuer a combined 13-0.


Ron Kittle is just tearing up AAA. He's got 22 HR's in 53 games and is hitting .347. That's enough that George Foster and his .236 avg and 6 HR's was put on waivers and taken off the 40-man. Kittle got promoted in his place.


6/22 6-0 W over the Reds
Milt Wilcox (6-3) pitched into the 9^th, but didn't get the shutout. Dwayne Murphy went 4-5 and Bobby Grich had 3 rbi's.


6/23 4-3 L to the Braves
Both pitchers struggled early, then settle down. Tanana (7-6) got into trouble in the 7^th and Dave Stewart couldn't keep the door closed and allowed the go ahead run. LA left 9 runners on base and threatened. Dwayne Murphy hit a 3-run HR in the 1^st inning. His 9^th.


6/24 6-1 W over the Braves
A pair of two run home runs from Dewey (14, 15) and a solo shot from Stubbs (4) powered LA to another win. Even without all the offense Pena (8-3) was in control all game. He goes the distance, while striking out 8. Willie Randolph had another 3-5 day.


Bunch of roster moves. George Foster went unclaimed and he's back on the roster with both Kittle and Marshall going back down. Burt Hooton is finally starting his rehab assignment after his UCL repair.


6/25 8-7 L to the Padres
This was not the typical game. LA blew a 5 run lead when it was over. Valenzuela gave up 10 hits and 5 runs over 7. The team had 3 errors. Niedenfuer (7-1) blew his second save of the year and took his first loss. He ended up leaving the game in the 9^th with a foot problem that didn't look serious. Dewey cracked his 16^th and the bottom 4 batters, Grich, Templeton, Smalley and Valenzuela all had 2 hit games.


6/26 9-0 L to the Padres
Errors cost the team again as SD put up 5 in the first 3 innings. Rhoden (8-5) didn't pitch poorly, but he wasn't helped either. Grich went 3-4 and the team left 9 on. First back to back losses since 5/31-6/1.


6/27 5-0 W over the Padres
Milt Wilcox (7-3) played the role of stopper today with a 2-hit shutout of the Padres. The team cracked off 10 hits off of Ken Daley. Dwayne Murphy hit a monster 450 ft HR, his 10^th. Foster (7) and Dwight Evans (17) also smashed big flies.


Somehow, Charlie Hough (9-7), threw a no-hitter against the Indians, WALKING NONE! That knuckleball was totally rocking.


6/28 4-3 L to the Cubs
Another less than stellar Frank Tanana (7-7) outing. He allowed 4 in 7 innings. Lee Smith struck out the side in the bottom of the 9^th to get his 10^th save. Little used utility man, Tim Flannery, provided the offense, going 3-4, with a double and 2 runs scored.


6/29 7-2 W over the Cubs
Alejandro Pena (9-3) had all his pitches working this day. He struck out 13 Cubs, and at one point, struck out 7 in a row. He was supported by a trio of homeruns. Dwight Evans (18) and George Foster (8) went back to back in the second and Bobby Grich (8) hit his in the 5^th.


6/30 8-5 L to the Cubs
Errors cost LA 3 unearned runs in this one. All middle infield errors, which has been rare this year. Valenzuela (11-3) didn't have a good outing. Murphy hit number 11 in the 6^th and Stubbs hit number 5 in the 9^th. Evans came up as the tying run in the bottom of the 9^th, but grounded out to end it. Mike Scioscia was hurt in a collision at second.

[PilotMan]

June Recap


How can a 19-10 month be underwhelming? No idea. It was a great month for the Dodgers. They sit with the best record in baseball at 56-25 as the break approaches. Another 50 wins will equal last year's total. LA is a full 15 games up on the Reds and Padres. The magic number is 67. It's not even the break yet. It should be just a matter of time before the pennant is ours. Yet LA only has the lead on the best record by 2 games. Montreal is in full control in the East.


LA released a statement on Scioscia. He's going to be out until August at least with a back issue. That's not great. He's not been a big offensive producer, but his defense has been good and he gets on base. This will push Buck Martinez into the starting role. He's also good defensively, but he's lost a step and isn't much of an offensive threat.


From last year to this year, the biggest change has been on defense. LA has the #1 defensive team in baseball. It shows. Many of the games that we've lost have been because of defensive issues in that game. Randolph and Templeton have been outstanding and a massive improvement.


Offensively, the team is slightly behind last year's team. They are 2^nd in runs scored, 5^th in avg, but first in obp and hr's. The pitching staff is similar. With them being first in runs against, and starter ERA. While the bullpen is a lowly 4^h. Not nearly as good at that 1^st last year.


Still, this is a good team.


Willie Randolph has to go to the AS game. He's been nothing short of a stud. Dwight Evans has been the bullwark of offense in most games and Dwayne Murphy is slowly recovering from that poor start.


The starters have been carrying this team mostly. Tanana may be losing favor with Lasorda, and Wilcox might be getting a bump. Tanana is the only starter with an ERA above 3. Pena is a legit Cy Young candidate at this point and Neidenfuer has a shot as the fireman award.


Team health will be key as we turn the season toward the homestretch. It looks like the pennant is ours to lose, but there are 5 other good teams in the league that can easily take us out. We've seen it each of the last couple years.

[Balldog]

This is great! Will be interesting to see Hersheiser turns out as a Royal.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[PilotMan]

This is great! Will be interesting to see Hersheiser turns out as a Royal.



Thank you!

If any of you are curious to the backstory and game story of any players I'll be happy to drop that info in the dynasty.

---

7/1 7-2 W over the Cubs
Rick Rhoden (9-5) had to spread out 8 hits and only went 6 innings, but he got enough support from the offense to get the W. LA put up 5 runs in the 5^th inning and of the 12 hits the team got none were for extra bases. So this was all singles and walks. Tim Flannery got a rare start at 2B, lead off, and went 3-5.


7/2 5-3 W over the Cubs
It was a see-saw affair today. Milt Wilcox (8-3) went 7 and got the player of the game, striking out 7. He did serve up a couple of gopher balls, but Niedenfeur came on and got the final 6 outs with only 13 pitches. Twelve of them were strikes. Stubbs, played in CF and went 2-3, with a pair of rbi's.


7/3 6-2 W over the Pirates
Great outing from Tanana (8-7). He went 8, allowed 4 hits and struck out 5. George Foster got us going right with a 2-run shot in the first, his 9^th of the year. Eckersley allowed the bases loaded in the 9^th, but coaxed a popout from Gary Maddox to end it.


7/4 3-1 L to the Pirates
A young, 21-year old Juan Guzman (1-1) got his first career win, in his third pro start against LA today. He went 6, striking out 5. Tom Henke and Don Robinson finished for the Pirates. The bad news of the day, the scary news, is that Alejandro Pena left the game in the 2^nd inning. Jerry Reuss (0-1), who only had 3 innings of work on the year up to this point, came on and nearly went 4.


Alejandro Pena is suffering some back stiffness. He will be out a couple weeks, and he's on the 15-day DL. Not great, but better than a long term injury that would hurt our championship hopes and dreams anyway. John Franco is called up to take his roster spot and Eckersley has been bumped to the rotation.


Shocking roster move today. No idea what the GM is thinking on this one. Gary Templeton has been placed on waivers and taken off the 40-man. Clearly it's a move to dump him. He's hitting .255, with a .285 obp. He's only made 9 errors at short, and has stolen 13 bases. It's unclear, but it's looking like some mix of UL Washington, Roy Smalley, with Grich sliding between first and third, and some amount of Stubbs at first. It's a strange move, but the team is deep enough to handle it. Sid Bream was recalled and took Templeton's roster spot.


7/5 3-1 L to the Cardinals
Valenzuela (11-4) takes the loss, going the distance. Danny Cox (9-6) shut us down and Willie McGee now has a 27 game hitting streak. The speedy Cards stole 4 bases and manufactured runs off of us. LA did put the tying run on in the 9^th, but couldn't execute. LA left 8 runners on. Tim Flannery was today's short stop and lead off hitter.


7/6 3-0 W over the Cardinals
Rick Rhoden (10-5) was just what this team needed. Not only did he stop Willie McGee's 27-game hit streak, if not for a Dave Winfield single in the 4^th, he would have thrown a perfect game against the Cardinals! LA has still only hit 1 team home run in July. A couple hits by top prospect, Scotti Madison in helped the team today. UL Washington was today's short stop.


7/7 6-4 (12) W over the Cardinals
The Dodgers picked up a win for my birthday! It was tough though. Dwayne Murphy got us on the board right away with a 2-run shot, his 12^th. Milt Wilcox left the game in the 2^nd with back trouble and things would start downhill. Reuss and Denny kept a no-hitter intact until the 6^th, but then things started to unravel. Denny got in trouble, Franco couldn't shut the door, and eventually it was Howe that let them tie it up. LA would run through the entire bullpen and end up with Frank Tanana (9-7) in the game. Dewey sent us home with a massive, 2-run blast in the 12^th inning. His 19^th of the year.


Tests on Wilcox came back negative and he's expected to be back in the rotation with no time lost. Good news again for the stellar rotation.


7/8 8-6 (10) W over the Cardinals
Eckersley got the start and didn't pitch great. He allowed 6 in 6 and a couple dingers. He left with the game in doubt. Dwayne Murphy, apparently pissed he didn't make the all-star team tied it up in the bottom of the 8^th, then sent us home in the bottom of the 10^th, both were two run shots. He's got 14 homers now. Stubbs (6) and Evans (20) also homered. Niedenfeur got the win, he's 8-1.


All Star Teams have been announced. Here is the list of Dodgers, and former Dodgers who made this year's team:


Bob Welch – KC- 9-6, 3.33 ERA, 3 AS
Alejandro Pena – LA – 9-3, 1.73 ERA, 1 AS
Fernando Valenzuela – LA – 11-4, 2.77 ERA, 4 AS
Steve Howe – LA – 0-2, 3.86 ERA, 3 AS
Tom Niedenfeuer – LA – 8-1, 19S, 1.02 ERA, 2 AS
Bob Brenley – SD - .276, 17 HR, 1 AS
Steve Garvey – CIN - .330, 5 HR, 10 AS
Willie Randolph – LA - .331, 3 HR, 5 AS
Pedro Guerrero – PHI - .324, 13 HR, 4 AS
Dwight Evans – LA - .280, 20 HR, 5 AS


LA is well represented this year. Pena won't get to play, but he should be happy for his first one. Brenley looks like he would have been one to keep. Neither Pankovits or Downs have added much yet. Garvey is having a great year.


All Star Game
NL defeated the AL 13-10


At one point the AL lead the game 10-2. It was the middle of the 6^th and they had a 99% probability that they were going to win it. Then the march back began. The NL scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 6^th to tie the game. The big hit was an Andre Dawson 3-run homer off the bench. Eddie Murray had 2 dingers and 4 ribbies to pick up the player of the game. Dodger players didn't have very good games. Valenzuela gave up 2 in his inning, Howe gave up 3, Nidenfeuer got the win (because of course he did) in his scoreless inning. Randolph was 0-3, Evans was 0-3, Garvey was 1-2, Brenley was 1-3.


7/12 5-3 W over the Cubs
Rhoden went 7 and struck out 9, but it was the 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7^th, to Carmelo Martinez that cost him the W. There's a reason the Cubs are in last place. In the 9^th a walk, balk, and wild pitch from Rick Lysander put a runner on third with none out, and ultimately an error lead LA to capitalize. Willie Randolph was on base 4 out of 5 plate appearances. Dwayne Murphy went 3-5.


7/13 4-3 (12) W over the Cubs
There's so much to say in this one from Andre Thornton having to play catcher for 3 innings and going 2-3 with the go ahead RBI in the 12^th, to tying it up in the top of the 9^th off of Lee Smith to send it to extras. Tim Flannery was the real hero here. His hit in the 9^th tied it up, then he had another critical hit later on. Or was it Dwight Evans who's the real hero? He made a throw from deep right and nailed a runner at the plate in the bottom of the 11^th. So it was the bench and bullpen that won this game. Franco, Howe (1-2), and Niedenfeur (21^st save) pitched 6 shut out innings following the Milt Wilcox start.


7/14 3-0 W over the Cubs
Another series win for the Dodgers. Frank Tanana (10-7) pitched brilliantly. He went 8.2 innings before Lasorda lifted him for Dave Stewart who got the final out for his 2^nd save. All 3 of LA's runs came in the 2^nd inning off of 2 Chicago errors. Both George Foster and Bobby Grich went 2-4 in this one.


7/15 6-4 L to the Cubs
Willie Randolph drove the team again with a double and a triple, scoring twice, but Valenzuela (11-5) couldn't keep the Cubs off the bases. Jerry Reuss struggled through the last 2 innings.

[PilotMan]

It's become clear that Gary Templeton was causing problems in the clubhouse. There's really no other explanation for his departure. Yes, you read that right, Gary Templeton, who signed a 3-year deal in the offseason and had started at short for most of the first half of the year has been released after we went unclaimed on waivers.


7/16 5-1 W over the Pirates
Eckersley got his second start of the year and was much better this time out. He went 7 innings and struck out 6 to run his record to 7-0. John Franco pitched the final 2 frames without allowing a baserunner. His best outing of the year. Jose DeLeon (9-6) left the game with an injury in the 3^rd.


7/17 5-0 W over the Pirates
Rhoden allowed 3 hits over 8 innings and would have gone the distance except that Lasorda wanted Niedenfeur to get some work, so he finished it up. Evans went 3-4 with 2 rbi's to lead the way. Another game where LA failed to hit a dinger.


7/18 6-4 W over the Pirates
Milt Wilcox (9-3) got some good run support, but it all came in the 6^th inning. Until then, LA had been held in check. Evans got on base all 4 plate appearances, then had 2 rbi's, but it was Roy Smalley, who has had an off year compared to 1983, who hit his 5^th homer of the year. The three-run shot put LA ahead for good. Niedenfeur pitched 2 innings for his 22^nd save.


The first Dodger trade of any significance in mid summer is here. I say any significance, because it's not that important. LA traded away Ruppert Jones (.188/2/13) is gone to the A's along with some cash. LA is getting the A's starting SS Tony Phillips (.268/4/40). Phillips is young and still developing and is probably the better option in the infield than Flannery. He could also take over for UL Washington. Also, big news for LA, is that Pena was activated from the DL and he's back in the rotation. Franco was sent down.


7/19 7-2 W over the Cardinals
Alejandro Pena (10-3) makes his first start and takes a no-hitter into the 7^th inning. He goes the distance and takes home player of the game. UL Washington, apparently making a claim for first team play, went 2-5 with 3 rbi's. Willie Randolph left the game in the second inning. Uh-oh.


Burt Hooton has come back from his rehab work in Albuquerque. He pitched over 8 shutout innings in a good performance. Dave Stewart, two years removed from a runner up showing for fireman of the year was placed on waivers and designated. That makes me sad.


Mike Scioscia's injury isn't healing right either. He's going to be out for another month.


Reports are that Willie Randolph's injury isn't serious, but he's going to miss a month. That's mid-August for a return. Mike Marshall was recalled. Lasorda mentioned that he would be moving Grich to cover 2B, while Stubbs takes over first. Tony Phillips is going to replace UL Washington at short too.


7/20 4-2 W over the Cardinals
Another 5 game win streak for us. Valenzuela (12-5) went 8 for the win and Niedenfeur picked up his 23^rd save in 25 chances. Phillips made his first start and went 1-3 with a walk and a steal. Evans, Grich and Murphy each got 2 hits.


7/21 10-5 W over the Cardinals
LA smacked 3 home runs, and the bullpen nearly let the Cards get back into this one. Bobby Grich went 4-5 with his 9^th HR and 5 rbi's in this one. Evans went 3-4. That's 6 in a row.


7/22 4-3 (12) L to the Cardinals
So much for that streak. Danny Cox was getting the best of Rick Rhoden until Dwayne Murphy (16) and Bobby Grich (10) went back to back. Rhoden pitched into the 9^th when he got into trouble and Burt Hooton came on and bailed him out. In extras neither team could do much until LA missed a bases loaded chance in the top of the 11^th. Eckersley (7-1) took the loss allowing 3 hits and a walk getting 0 outs to finish.


Dave Stewart is gone to the Mets off of waivers. Not.A.Fan.


7/23 4-3 W over the Braves
Pascual Perez had one over on LA for most of the game. First it was a fightback to tie it in the 6^th, then the never dangerous anymore, had 7 total hits in the last 2 years, 800 year old John Mayberry who hit his first homer in years to put Atlanta up again. Thankfully, Grich got it right back in the bottom of the 7^th to keep it tied. Pena had to spread 11 hits through 8.1, then gave way to Niedenfuer (9-1). Bottom of the inning Mike Marshall walked us off on the second pitch from Bob Shirley (2-7). His 10^th of the year.


7/25 7-4 L to the Braves
The Braves are one of the worst teams in baseball, yet here they are taking us down. Valenzuela (12-6) had the worst outing of the season. He only went 3 innings, but got tagged for 7 runs in the meantime. Eck, Reuss, and Denny kept ATL down from there while we scratched back, but it wasn't enough. Grich was 2-4 with an RBI.


7/26 4-2 W over the Braves
Wilcox (10-3) spread out 10 hits in his 7+ innings of work, while Niedenfeur got the last 5 outs for his 24^th save of the year. Roy Smalley went 3-4 and knocked in 2 runs in the first to put the Dodgers on the board first.


7/27 4-2 L to the Reds
A Dave Parker 2-run HR in the 6^th off of Rhoden (11-6) was the difference maker in this one. The Reds Jack Morris (12-6) shut down LA, except for the Murphy HR in the 2^nd that gave LA an early lead. His 17^th of the year. Rhoden went 8 in the loss.


7/28 7-2 W over the Reds
Mike Marshall went 2-4, with 4 RBI's and a three-run homer in the first. His 11^th of the year. A Roy Smalley (6) solo shot started the scoring festivities early. Frank Tanana (12-7) pitched into the 8^th and although he wasn't dominant, he did strike out 9. He also went 3-3 at the plate knocking in a run.


7/29 13-1 W over the Reds
Alejandro Pena (11-3) pitched into the 8^th and allowed 1 run to get the win. LA put up 4 in the first couple innings and just ran away. Tony Phillips went 3-4 and scored 4 times, while Dewey Evans went 4-4, with 5 RBI's and he hit his 22^nd HR. Sid Bream hit a pinch hit, 2-run homer in the 8^th, with the game already decided, his first.


In former Dodger news at the deadline, a pair of former Dodgers were involved in a trade from KC to SF. It looks like KC just dumped salary as they ditch Floyd Bannister and send over 1/3 of his salary in cash to the Giants. In return, SS Tack Wilson, former starter at short and his .247/1/10 line head to KC along with throw in Jeff Kunkel. Kunkel is a low-grade prospect, even if he's only 22. This is a steal of a deal for SF. Hell, as a fan, I'd have gladly send UL Washington back to KC to get Bannister and some cash back.


7/30 9-2 L to the Padres
Ugly, terrible baseball. Valenzuela (12-7) with another less than stellar outing, 2 errors by Tony Phillips, the bullpen was wholly ineffective, allowing 5 runs in the last 2 innings of work. All around, it was a poor game. Roy Smalley went deep for #7.


7-31 5-3 W over the Padres
Milt Wilcox (11-3) put in a workman like performance going 6.2, allowing 9 hits and striking out 4, while only allowing 2 runs. Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 25^th save. A sac fly in the first from Milt Wilcox got LA on the board. Tony Phillips followed with a single for another run. In the second Bobby Grich hit a solo shot, his 12^th and LA took a 3-0 lead. Both Grich and Phillips ended the game 3-5.

[PilotMan]

July Roundup


For the month of July the Dodgers continued to look like the most dominant team in baseball. They put up a 20-7 record for the month, even though they had to deal with injuries to two starters, one of them an All Star. The team currently stands with a record of 76-32 and is miles and miles in front of the Reds, who are in second place, 20.5 games back. In fact, the gap from 1-2 is 3.5 games more than the gap between 2-6.


The team made no major moves at the trade deadline after they acquired Tony Phillips to play shortstop. Phillips is a Gold Glove winner at short, and he gets on base a lot. Another in a long line of patient, high OBP batters that this team has. July also saw the loss of Dave Stewart for free. He clearly had worth, whether it was to the Dodgers, or someone else. Losing him like that was dumb.


Former Major Leaguers, Ron Kittle and Steve Sax are demolishing AAA hitting. They will certainly be coming back in a month for who knows how long.


Overall, the team still leads the league in runs scored, obp, runs against, starter's ERA, and defensive efficiency. They are 4^th in the NL in AVG, and the bullpen is 3^rd in ERA. Even though it seems like the bullpen gets tagged a lot, they are still putting up good numbers. A lot of that is because Niedenfeur has more innings 3 guys combined.


Alejandro Pena is still the cream of the crop and in contention for the Cy Young. Roy Smalley is clearly having a big down year from last year. His defense is solid, but his bat has been close to a liability. He's hitting over 30 points lower and isn't close to the 27 homers he his last year.


Both Bobby Grich and Dwayne Murphy got hot in July. Murphy his .303, with 6 homers and Grich his .360 with 4. That really helped as Dwight Evans cooled from his June numbers.


Fernando Valenzuela had a terrible month going 1-4 with a 4.78 ERA. That's got to get better if we're going to compete in the post-season.


This team is still considered the best in the league, but not by much. Even with a .704 winning percentage and the gaudy record, the Montreal Expos are only 1 game behind. John Candelaria is the other front runner for the Cy Young, and is also in the running for the triple crown. Check out this Expos lineup:


Raines/LF
Dawson /RF
Yount/SS
Wallach/3B
Carter/C
Whitaker/2B
Hendrick/1B
LeFlore/CF


Ouch.


The other Canadian team is the best in the AL. The Blue Jays are a game up on the Yankees in the East. They also have a very formidable lineup and pitching staff. The weakest team of the leaders is the Twins in the West. They look to take that pennant again, even if they wouldn't be close to any of the other leaders if they were in another division.


The Yankees rotation is the best in the AL. Check out this 5 man setup:


Blyleven
Andujar
Beattie
Soto
Krukow


When Mario Soto is your #4 guy, you've got enough depth to go a long, long, long way. Ron Guidry can't even make the rotation and he's stuck in the bullpen. Dave Righetti, who won the Cy Young as a starter last year, has transitioned to the bullpen as the closer. Also, they've figured out how to keep Keith Hernandez on the field by using Mattingly as the DH.


The magic number for the Dodgers stands at 35. At the current rate, they'll be the first team to clinch a playoff spot. August will require more of the same as we saw in July.


Let's go Dodgers!

[Young Drachma]

Still going strong, that Kittle deal was a steal.

[PilotMan]

8/1 11-0 W over the Padres
Rick Rhoden (12-6) went the distance and got the shutout today. He also got tons of run support along the way. The 4^th inning saw a pair of 2-run homers. The first by Marshall (12) and the second by Grich (13). That would be enough, but they weren't done. Sid Bream went 3-5 and Buck Martinez 2-3 with a pair of ribbies.


8/3 9-3 W over the Reds
The Dodgers knocked 14 hits while Pena (12-3) pitched into the 8^th. Foster went 4-5 with 4 RBI's, while both Evans and Stubbs both went 3-5. Evans hit his 23^rd HR in the 9^th inning.


8/4 3-2 L to the Reds
Valenzuela took the loss to move to 12-8, going the distance. He didn't pitch poorly, although he did allow 11 base runners over the 8 innings. Jeff Russell (8-6) held us to 3 hits over 7 shut out innings. In the 9^th LA finally got on board when George Foster cracked a 0-2 fastball (10) over the right field fence with a runner on to bring us within 1. Former Dodger cast off turned Reds closer and All Star came on to nail it down and get his 16^th save.


8/5 4-2 L to the Reds
Another game where the Reds jumped out and rode starting pitching to the win. Wilcox (11-4) went 7 in the loss. LA got within 2 in the 9^th and loaded the bases with 1 out only to meet Power again, and again, get shut down.


8/6 5-4 W over the Braves
Rhoden (13-6) took a no-hitter into the 5^th, and the Dodgers staked him to a 5-0 lead, then in the 6^th the wheels fell off as he got tagged for 4 runs. He managed to hold it together, then struck out the side in the 7^th. Niedenfuer pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 26^th save. Buck Martinez had 2 rbi's.


8/7 2-1 L to the Braves
And now LA has lost 3 of the last 4. Tanana (12-8) pitched well in the losing effort. He went the distance and only threw 101 pitches. Too bad the offense couldn't get anything going at all. LA left 11 guys on and left runners in scoring position 5 times. Stubbs went 3-3 batting cleanup.


8/8 5-1 W over the Braves
Bobby Grich went 3-4 with a bases loaded triple to power LA to the win. Pena (13-3) continued his Cy Young push going the distance. Even 4 errors and an unearned run couldn't slow him down. Pascual Perez has been the bane of LA in the past. Only Stubbs and his 8^th homer of the year could break him down. As soon as Perez left, LA broke it open.


8/9 8-3 W over the Braves
Buck Martinez has been an offensive albatross for LA. Scioscia has started his rehab in AAA, so he'll be back sooner than later. Martinez today, though, he lit it up going 3-5, hitting his first dinger of the year and knocking in 4. Dwayne Murphy hit #18. Valenzuela (13-8) worked hard going 8 in one of his better performances recently.


8/10 7-2 W over the Giants
It was home run day in San Francisco. Roy Smalley got us started with a solo shot in the first, his 8^th. George Foster cracked #11 in the 2^nd to put LA up 2-0. The bottom of the second saw the first career home run for Chris Brown. In the 6^th, Stubbs hit a 2-run shot, his 9^th, and with a 2 run lead, and 2 runners on, pinch hitter, Mike Marshall smoked his 13^th of the year to put the game out of reach. Milt Wilcox (12-4) allowed only 3 hits over 8 innings to get the win.


8/11 6-3 L to the Giants
Rhoden (13-7) had a little problem with the gopher ball in this one. He served up 2 early on, and a total 6 extra base hits in his 4 innings of work. The offense didn't amount to much either.


Willie Randolph's return has been delayed a couple weeks as his knees haven't been recovering the way they should be.


8/12 2-1 L to the Giants
Another 2 game losing streak on the books. This time we ran into our old friend Floyd Bannister (11-7). Tanana (12-9) pitched one of his better games of the year, except for that 2 run homer to Chris Brown, now the second of his young career. Bobby Grich hit #14 in the first to put LA up early. They left runners in scoring enough times that it should be troubling.


8/13 5-0 W over the Mets
This was billed as another former LA matchup, as Dave Stewart was getting the start. However, he got hurt on his 3^rd pitch and left the game. Mike Scioscia returns from his rehab assignment and takes his place back in the lineup. Alejandro Pena (14-3) was sensational. He allowed 2 hits over 8 innings and struck out 10. The game was tied at 0 until the 8^th when Dwight Evans knocked in a couple then Mike Marshall cracked a 3-run homer, his 14^th of the year to blow it open.


8/14 18-4 W over the Mets
Hard to believe this was Valenzuela/Gooden. Doc has crawled into the Cy Young race, but he had nothing against LA today. Stubbs put us on the board with a solo shot (10) in the second. In the third, things just went nuts. Marshall smacked a 2-run shot (15). Later, Roy Smalley was walked for Valenzuela, who then hit his first career dinger, still off of Gooden, who threw 90 pitches in 3 innings. It was over, but LA wasn't. They put up a 5 spot in the 4^th too. Valenzuela (14-8) pitched 8 innings, struck out 7, went 3-4 with 5 RBI's in the game. Now that's a player of the game line. This game got so out of hand that Bobby Bonilla took the mound to close it out.


8/15 3-2 L to the Mets
Darling and Wilcox went toe to toe. No team had a hit until Tony Phillips hit a solo shot (5) in the 5^th. Wilcox took a perfect into the 6^th, but NY tied it up. They took the lead in the 7^th and Wilcox (12-5) left despite striking out 10. All in all the Mets struck out 15 times in this one. LA could only muster 3 more hits the entire game in the losing effort, and Scioscia had 2 of those.

[PilotMan]

8/17 6-3 L to the Phillies
Rhoden (13-8) got the start, walked 5 and struck out 8, but he was all over the place. LA's offense was all home runs again. Stubbs tied up the game in the 2^nd with #11, but the Phillies took the lead for good on a Steve Balboni 3-run shot. Dwayne Murphy would pull a couple back with his 19^th in the 5^th, but that was about it. Evans, Stubbs and Murphy had all but 1 of the hits in the game.


8/18 6-3 W over the Phillies
Pena (15-3) went 8 and struck out 11 in the victory. LA put up a 5 spot in the first and didn't look back. He was helped by George Foster's 12^th HR in the 3^rd. Dwayne Murphy went 3-4. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 27^th save.


8/19 3-1 L to the Phillies
Marty Bystrom (12-8) struck out 9 and allowed 2 hits in 6 2/3 innings of work. Valenzuela (14-9) took the loss and didn't show his best stuff, but you have to believe that another game of no run support is taking it's toll on the team. Mike Marshall left the game with an injury on a defensive play.


Report on Marshall is that he suffered a back strain on a diving catch. He's gone to the DL. Ron Kittle and his 39 homers in 100 games and 398 at bats is back in the majors in his place.


8/20 10-4 W over the Expos
Milt Wilcox (13-5) got the win allowing 4 in 7 innings of work. LA provided all the offense he would need, and the offense that Valenzuela wished he could've had. LA chiped away at Steve Rogers and by the end of the fifth had put up all 10 runs. They drew 6 walks in that time, and Dwayne Murphy hit his 20^th of the year in the 4^th. Kittle scored twice even if he failed to get a hit. This was the 4^th time in 7 games that we've beaten the Expos this year. It could be just as meaningless as last year. These teams will meet in the playoffs.


8/21 10-7 L to the Expos
No pitching, or at least poor pitching today. The offense ruled the day. Expos put up 3 in the first, LA answered when Dewey hit a 2-run shot, #24. LA was up 7-4 at one point, then the Expos put up 6 in the 5^th on a combination of hits and errors. Tanana only went 4, but it was Jerry Reuss (0-2) that took the loss.


8/22 2-1 (12) W over the Expos
For all the lack of pitching yesterday today it was all about Rhoden, Knepper and the bullpens. Willie Randolph made his return to the LA lineup, and even though the AAA season is winding down, maybe he should have done a rehab stint. He went 0-5 today. LA loaded the bases with 2 out thanks to a Burt Hooton (1-0) single. That brought up UL Washington who poked a single into right to send the fans home happy.


8/23 7-2 W over the Phillies
Pena pushes his record to 16-3 and the Dodgers stop the Phils 5 game win streak. Pena goes 8 allowing an an earned and unearned run. Dewey hits #25, Randolph goes 2-5 with 3 RBI's in a much better performance and the seriously under performing Roy Smalley went 3-4 and scored 3 times.


8/24 6-2 W over the Phillies
Valenzuela (15-9) went the distance and pitched one of his best games of the year. He allowed no hits into the 5^th, allowed 3 the whole game, 2 were for extra bases. LA put up 5 in the first thanks to a 3-run homer by Grich (15) and Scioscia (5) going back to back. Willie Randolph does appear to be back 2-3, with a walk.


8/26 6-5 L to the Phillies
Wilcox (13-6) was victimized by a terrible error on Scioscia that lead to a 4 run first for the Phils. The team managed 12 hits in this one, and scored 4 runs in the top of the 9^th to bring Evans to the plate as the tying run. He dribbled out to the pitcher to end it.


8/27 4-3 W over the Phillies
Rhoden made it another 8 innings in a strong start, striking out 7. A Roy Smalley 2-run homer (9) in the 7^th tied it up. LA had plenty of chances, but they left 9 on base. Philly scored 3, and left 0 on base. Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th with 2 strikeouts for his 28^th save.


8/28 5-3 W over the Mets
We get to see Dave Stewart for the second time, and this time he hangs. He leaves the game in the 5^th with a 3-0 lead thanks to a Gary Redus (3) 3-run shot off of Tanana (13-9). Except for that Tanana was great. LA chipped 1 back in the 5^th and 7^th, and then in the 8^th, down 3-2, Mike Scioscia hit a bases loaded double off of Jessie Orosco that gave LA the lead. Niedenfeur pitched 2 innings for the save, his 29^th.


8/29 6-1 L to the Mets
Doc Gooden (15-10) struck out 9 and had his way with LA. Pena (16-4) allowed 12 hits and 15 baserunners in 6.2, in the losing effort. Every batter in the Met lineup got at least 1 hit. The shocking fact looking in to this Dynasty so far is that of the Sax brothers, Dave is still getting regular playing time, while Steve is stuck in AAA behind Willie Randolph. Dave has more MLB at bats, even if his avg is near the Mendoza line. A bonus thought, Kittle was averaging a HR every 9.5 AB or so in AAA, he's had nearly 50 in the majors this year and is still looking for his first.


8/31 1-0 L to the Expos
The #1 offense downed the #1 pitching staff and defense thanks to pitching. Of course, Montreal has the #2 staff in the league too. Scott Sanderson (15-4) allowed 3 hits in 6.2 innings of work. The closest LA came was a runner on second with 2 out in the 9^th. Reardon went 8 outs for his 38^th save. Valenzuela (15-10) throws a complete game and strikes out 7 in the loss. Wasted effort there.

[PilotMan]

August 1984 Recap


The team fell off in August. The injuries to Randolph, Scioscia and Marshall appeared to cut into the output of the team as our record in the month was 15-12. On the season now the team is 91-44. The Reds have actually gained ground on LA and sit a mere 18.5 games out. The magic number to clinch is 11.


Not only have the Reds caught up, but even with a .674 winning percentage, the Expos have overtaken them for the best record in baseball. The magic number for the Expos is only 6. They'll be the first team to clinch from the looks of it.


The Twins are solidifying their lead and are now 8.5 in front of the Royals. While the only real race in the AL is between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Both teams are separated by 1 game and both have the 3^rd and 4^th best records in baseball right now. Either team can take it right now. The Blue Jays have more home games and a slightly easier schedule. The teams play each other 7 times in the last month.


The acquisition of Tony Phillips is looking like a bad move right now. Since he came over from the A's he's committed 14 errors at short in 38 games and a slash line of .195/.247/.240 in the lead off spot.


As far as the team goes, the offense is starting to fall down in the rankings. Currently #2 in runs scored and OBP. They are #3 in HR's and #5 in team batting. Don't even think about steals. They don't happen. Having said all that, they are now #1 in all pitching categories from runs allowed, to ERA, both starter and bullpen and #1 in defensive efficiency. This was supposed to be the year, but they may have to do it against superior opponents in both the NL and AL, which is a weird thought considering they're on pace for one of the best records in franchise history.


September means call ups and roster expansion. The front office recalled many familiar names, and it seems like they thought there was a big need at middle infielder. Here are the guys who are joining the big league club and their minor league lines:


Jim Pankovits – SS - .305/4/36
Scotti Madison – 3B - .295/6/54
Tony Bernazard – 2B - .289/2/54
Steve Sax – 2B - .347/1/51
Tony Brewer – CF - .334/13/70
Ricky Wright – RP – 3-2, 1 S, 2.79
Kelly Downs – SP – 16-6, 4.75
John Franco – RP – 4-0, 22 S, 0.90


It looks as if Mike Marshall might be able to return in a week or so, barring any set backs. The rest of the team is in fine health.


There are no excuses now. This team needs to close out strong and send a message that they aren't going out without a title.


Let's go Dodgers!

[PilotMan]

9/1 8-2 L to the Expos
Picking up right where we left off. LA played sloppy. Rhoden (14-9) wasn't effective, and the team committed 3 errors that lead to 3 unearned runs. Willie Randolph was again, the only bright spot, getting nearly half the team hits and all the RBI's, hitting his 3^rd dinger of the year. Kelly Downs made his season debut and Ricky Wright made his ML debut, both pitched scoreless innings. This is the first 3 game losing streak of the year.


9/2 2-1 L to the Expos
Not good. A 3 game sweep by the Expos and our longest losing streak of the year. The Expos also won the season series 7-5. Milt Wilcox (13-7) went the distance and pitched great for the most part. Except for a HR allowed by Dawson he was on point. John Candelaria (18-2) should be the Cy Young, and probably the MVP. He allowed 3 hits, struck out 6 for the win. Ron Kittle finally hit his first.


9/3 4-2 L to the Padres
Oh man, LA now has a 5 game losing streak. Another wasted Pena start. Bob Ojeda is having a great year, but has only been getting 2 runs of support per game. He would've had the same here, had it not been for a 2-run homer by Luis Salazar off of Niedenfeur (9-2) in the 9^th that was difference in the game. Pena had pitched well, but it was his bat that tied the game up. He hit his second homer of the year in the loss. Tony Phillips left the game after a collision on a defensive play.


The news is bad. In addition to the 5 game losing streak the MRI on Phillips came back and showed a partially torn labrum. That will do him in for the rest of the year. UL Washington will resume the starting role at short. Greg Brock was called up.


9/4 8-2 (12) L to the Padres
This is really going south. Frank Tanana went 9 and gave up 2 homers, one to Dodger killer Luis Salazar. Again. Greg Brock hit his first homer of the year and Scioscia went 3-6. The game was tied 2-2 into extras and it was the unspectacular pitching of Steve How and his allowing 5 baserunners without getting an out, along with 2 errors in the 12^th that broke the game open. Fernando will be back on the mound to play stopper tomorrow.


It appears that Lasorda is going in a different direction at short. The shortage of offense had caused him to move Benazard back to short (ugh) against righties and Smally against lefties. There are enough big bats in this lineup that this shouldn't be happening.


9/5 6-1 W over the Braves
A WIN! Woohoo! Valenzuela (16-10) pitched a great game. Eight strikeouts in 8 innings of work and only 4 hits allowed. Ron Kittle provided all the offense. He hit a 2-run shot in the 1st and a 3-run shot in the 3^rd. Roy Smalley added his 10^th homer in the 6^th.


9/6 4-3 (10) W over the Braves
It's going to take a long winning streak to undo some of the damage that's been done. Rhoden went 8 and got the PoG award. LA drew 7 walks off of a very distracted Pascual Perez. Mike Scioscia gave LA a lead in the 2^nd with his 6^th homer of the year, but the Braves clawed back. Tony Brewer won the game with his first career ML hit, and that plated Roy Smalley from second. John Franco (2-0) got the win.


9/7 5-2 W over the Reds
Milt Wilcox (14-7) pitched beautifully, striking out 9 and shutting the Reds down except for a Nick Esasky 2-run homer (22) in the first. Dwayne Murphy got one back in the second with his 21^st of the year. Jack Morris shut us down though and it took a Scioscia double in the 7^th and a big single by Roy Smalley tied everything up. Wilcox kept plugging away and went the distance. In the 9^th it was a Sid Bream pinch hit single, then an intentional walk of Scioscia to get to UL Washington, but instead it was Ron Kittle (Mike Marshall is back and got the start). Kittle promptly deposited the ball in the left field pavilion (4) for the walk off win. On the negative side Dwight Evans has gone completely cold. He's hitting .143 with no extra base hits for September and hasn't hit a homer is 2 weeks.


The Expos have clinched the East and now sit 4.5 games ahead of the Dodgers for home field.


9/8 13-3 W over the Reds
Alejandro Pena (17-4) struck out 11 and pitched into the 9^th before he ran out of steam. Reds pitchers walked 8 Dodgers and gave up 3 home runs. LA put up 6 spot in the 8^th inning, but this game was over before then. Buck Martinez went 3-4 with a HR (2) and 5 RBI's. Mike Marshall (16) and Willie Randolph (5) each hit home runs.


9/9 5-4 W over the Reds
Tanana struck out 7 en route to his 14^th win. Dwayne Murphy his a solo shot in the 2^nd inning and went 3-4 with 3 RBI's. Sid Bream got a rare start at first and went 2-3 leading off with the other 2 RBI's. Burt Hooton pitched the 9^th for his first save of the year.


LA wins their 5^th in a row and the magic number is 1.


9/11 7-6 W over the Padres
The DODGERS WIN THE WEST! That's 4 in a row for LA. Good pitching was hard to find. Greg Brock lead off the game (yes, somehow, Greg Brock batted lead off today, don't ask) with his 3^rd hit of the year, it also happened to be his 2^nd homer. That was nothing, at the end of 1, it was 4-3 SD. In the 4^th Grich hit his 16^th homer of the year and put LA up for the 3^rd time, and he would add 4 RBI's in the game. LA drew another 7 walks off of the Padre pitching, but Valenzuela (17-10) walked 4 of his own. Niedenfuer pitched the last 2 innings. A Tony Gwynn triple would allow the Padres to climb within 1, with the tying run on third, but McReynolds would ground out to end it. That's the 30^th save for our closer. He's still only blown 2 all year. How's this for a bad pitching line: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7R/ER, 5 BB, 1 K, 2 HR, 101 Pitches, 53 strikes. That's how Dave Dravecky (12-12) fared. We should be thankful that we've made it all year without a line that bad.


9/12 5-1 W over the Padres
LA pushes the win streak to 7 games. Willie Randolph went 3-3 with 2 walks, 2 runs and an rbi. He is just the key in the #2 spot in the lineup. LA put up 4 in the 4^th thanks to a Bobby Grich 3-run shot. It was his 17^th on the year. Rick Rhoden (15-9) allowed 3 hits and pitched into the 9^th. Hooton finished the game. While we've won 7 in a row, the Expos have won 8 in a row and are 5 ahead of LA for home field.


9/13 7-2 W over the Reds
LA banged out 16 hits and 7 starters had 2 hits or more (Randolph had 3 because of course he did). Alejandro Pena ran his record to 18-4 and lowered his ERA to 1.87 by going 8.1 and allowing 1 run. LA scored in each of the first 5 innings. They were helped by Dewey finally hitting his first home run in 3 fucking weeks. Good god. That was his 26^th. Dwayne Murphy hit his 23^rd in the 5^th and Stubbs hit #12 in the 8^th.


The Expos have now opened up a 29 game lead on 2^nd place St Louis. The Cubs are languishing in last 51 games back. The Twins have their magic number down to 5. The Blue Jays and Yankees are still only separated by 1 game.


9/15 2-1 L to the Reds
LA put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs in the 9^th and couldn't cash in. So the win streak comes an end, but it was close. They had plenty of chances. They drew another 8 walks off of Cincy pitching. Wilcox (14-8) took the loss, but only allowed 2 in 7 innings. Ted Power made us look silly in the 9^th when we had him in trouble. Should've won.

[PilotMan]

9/16 6-2 W over the Reds
Valenzuela (18-10) owned the Reds today. With the exception of one inning, he completely dominated them, with 11 K's in the game. The offense actually gave him some support today too, every player except Valenzuela got a hit today. Lasorda has opted to go with Tony Bernazard back at short and not UL Washington, which can't make Washington happy. Either way, Bernazard went 4-3 leading off. Bobby Grich piled on in the 7^th with a 2 run shot, his 18^th of the year.


9/17 12-9 W over the Braves
Sloppy defense and good hitting put the hurt on pitching today. Neither Rhoden or Jeff Robinson lasted 5 innings and both allowed a total of 8 UN-earned runs. LA put up 5 in the first, 4 on a Mike Scioscia grand slam, his 7^th dinger. Bobby Grich hit #19 in the 3^rd, and after 3 LA lead 7-2. Another pinch hit homer from Ron Kittle (5) in the 5^th gave LA another one. The Braves fought back with 4 in the 4^th and 3 more in the 7^th and took the lead 9-8 off of Kelly Downs. Scioscia got 2 more ribbies and LA retook the lead in the 7^th and he finished with 6 on his 3-5 day. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 31^st save. John Franco threw 5 pitches and got the win (3-0).


9/18 4-3 (12) W over the Braves
Down 3-2 in the 9^th with 2 out and the tying run on third, Mike Marshall hit a difficult ball to third. He charged toward third and just beat out the throw by Brook Jacoby that tied the game. Marshall had 3 hits on the day to lead the team. They almost gave it back in the bottom though as Atlanta put the winning run on third with 0 outs. Steve Howe worked his way out of trouble with a strikeout and a couple of weak ground balls. In the 12^th a Franklin Stubbs triple scored Dwight Evans and that was the difference. Hooton pitched 2 and got the win, moving his record to 2-0.


9/19 4-2 L to the Astros
The Astrodome isn't the place where balls fly out normally. Even the acquisition of Dale Murphy in the offseason hasn't helped this team, who only had 91 team homers coming in. Even having Alejandro Pena, in a potentially Cy Young Award winning season didn't matter, and today you didn't even need to be a power hitter. The never dangerous Rudy Law lead hit his 10 career homer in the third, followed by Brian Downing (still playing catcher) and his 15^th on the year. LA closed with a couple in the 8^th, but Houston hung on and then added a cherry when the never dangerous, Steve Jeltz hit his first career homer off of Jerry Reuss. Pena took the loss and dropped to 18-5.


The Twins won their 11^th straight and clinched the AL West. They look truly dangerous for the first time all year. They are closing in on the .600 winning percentage. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are up 1 on the Yankees, but both teams are struggling with 3-7 records in their last 10 games. The magic number is 10, and the Blue Jays have the slight advantage. The Expos just won game number 108. The second place Pirates are now 30.5 games back, Cubs 51.5 back. Expos lead LA by 6 games with 10 to play. Twins are only down 2.5 for home field in the AL. Another insane stat about this Expos team. The top 4 NL leaders in WAR are all Expos. All of them.


9/20 3-1 W over the Astros
Wilcox (15-8) went 8 solid innings and threw less than 100 pitches to get there. Dwight Evans hit #27, only his second homer of September. His slump is still hurting, but he went 3-4 with 2 rbi's in this one. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 32^nd save. We are closing in on the franchise record for wins for the third straight year, but will certainly go into the playoffs as the underdog. Damn.


9/21 4-2 W over the Giants
Fernando picked up win #19. He pitched 8 good innings, and really cut the Giants down after allowing 2 in the first. Dwight Evans went 3-4 again and scored 3 runs, perhaps he's starting to break out again? This LA team is so deep off the bench right now. They had a string of pinch hitters that went like this: Kittle, Marhsall, Sax, and Brewer. Earlier they had Stubbs, Bream, and Madison. There's just something about being able to bring multiple guys in a row off the bench who can go deep. It really adds to the late game possibilites. A strong wind blowing in from left helped Valenzuela today. No less than 3 right handed batters took balls to the fence off of him. Niedenfuer pitched another 9^th for his 33^rd save.


9/22 4-3 W over the Giants
Rhoden recovered from his poor outing last time to go 8 tonight, while only allowing 3 hits on 89 pitches. In the 9^th Steve Howe made us reach for the Rolaids though. The Giants got the winning run to the plate before Howe finally go the strikeout to seal it. It was his 2^nd save on the year. Willie Randolph got us on the board in the first with his 6^th homer of the year, and in the 5^th Sid Bream added his 2^nd shot. Bream was getting the rare start at first in this one. Floyd Banniser went down for the Giants. He struck out 7 over 6, but 4 walks, 2 homers and a high pitch count did him in. He's 14-8 now on the year combined (KC and SF).


The Blue Jays lead is down to ½ game with 8 to play. Money is starting to go toward NY to win the division. LA has cut the Expos lead to 4 with 7 to play.


9/23 8-1 W over the Giants
This is win number 106 for the boys in blue. Tanana went 7 shut out innings and struck out 8 to run his record to 15-9. UL Washington, Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans all had 3 hits. Evans hit number 28 and had 4 RBI's. This game really should have been a bigger blowout. LA had 12 hits and had to set some kind of record for walks. As a team the Dodgers drew 13 walks from Giants pitching. That's 25 baserunners. They left 15 runners on in the game.


9/24 8-6 L to the Astros
This was not the start that Cy Young hopeful Alejandro Pena was hoping for. Pena (18-6) loses for the second time in a row, sees his NL leading ERA climb above 2 for the first time in a long time, strikes out 7, but can't get out of the 6^th inning. LA would have won if John Franco and Dennis Eckersley could have figured out how to pitch to Bill Doran, who went 3-5 with 2 home runs. Scioscia hit #8, but it was Willie Randolph (making that Sid Fernandez deal look not awful) again, who had it going on for LA. Randolph went 4-4 with a walk. Bernazard reminded us why he lost the starting shortstop job, when he committed 2 errors in an inning.


The Yankees pull into the lead in the East on a 3-1, 17 inning marathon that saw Ron Guidry pitch 5 scoreless innings of relief against the O's. The Bjays fell to the Red Sox. The Expos have clinched home field. They hold a 5 game lead with 5 to play and the tie breaker.


9/25 10-7 W over the Astros
The Astros batted around in the first and put up a 5-0 lead right off the bat. Lasorda stuck with Wilcox (16-8) though and while he settled down, he still had to scatter 12 hits in 6 innings of work. Not his best day. Luckily the offense had a nice answer for the Astros. LA got 3 back in the 3^rd and then they took the lead in the 6^th on a Tony Bernazard dinger. His first of the year. LA would add 2 in the 7^th, thanks to Dwight Evans and number 29, and another pair in the 8^th to pull away. Evans, Grich, Marshall and Randolph all had 3 hits, that was 75% of the offense on the day.


The Blue Jays are back in front by a game, but the race is still looking to come down to the last day. The Dodgers have now tied the club record for wins with 107. That equals our 1983 record. The Expos are up to 111.


9/26 6-3 W over the Astros
Fernando went looking for his 20^th win, and got it. Despite giving one up in the first he settled down, going 7, striking out 9 and walking 4. The Dodgers did commit 3 errors, 2 by Bernazard....again. Niedenfeur came on to close it out, but would leave in short order. Hooton finished for his 2^nd save. Bobby Grich went 2-3 and hit his 20^th homer of the season that put LA up 6-1. Valenzuela went 2-2 and raised his avg to .241 on the year. This win sets the LA Dodger record for wins in a season. There are 4 to play.


Niedenfeur has an injured abdominal muscle which is going to keep him out for a while, but the timeline is unclear at this point. Lasorda has ruled him out for the remainder of the season at least. The Yankees are still down a half and have 4 to play. They suffered a huge blow though as Mattingly is lost for the rest of the year with an Achilles injury. He'll be back for 1985 though.


LA moves Niedenfeur to the 15 day DL. So it looks like he's going to miss the entire NLDS. That's a blow. He's been just dominant all year, and Howe hasn't been. No one else has been.


9/28 3-2 W over the Giants
The final homestand of the regular season starts against the Giants. We see Floyd Bannister, who finally pitches a great game against us as he threw 8 shut out innings. Rick Rhoden matched up well going 7 and striking out 8, but gave up 2 runs and left with a solid lead. Al Holland, one of the best closers in the game in 1984 with 44 saves came into the game to face Randolph, Evans and Grich. That would be all he would face too. Randolph lead off with a single to bring Evans up. He went opposite field and went right over the first baseman putting runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with nobody out. Bobby Grich came up and he put the ball over the left field fence, 381 feet, for his 21^st homer and in walk off style.


9/29 10-1 W over the Giants
The final game of the year for Pena saw him back in form. He came within an out of a shut out and struck out 7 to put him over 200 for the year, and didnt' walk any. His 19 wins are a career high. In the game he threw 99 pitches, 72 for strikes. That's no-hitter level accuracy. The order of the runs doesn't matter, LA hit 4 homers, 2 of them by Mike Marshall, who finished 4-5, 3 runs and 3 rbi's. He's got 18 homers in just over 300 at bats. Greg Brock hit #3 and Roy Smalley hit #11. It was the kind of game that we'll need to have against Montreal.


September 29^th will go down as the day the AL East race was decided. The Yankees had a double header against the Tigers and the Blue Jays were on the road against the Brewers. NY fell in both games, 6-2 and 7-3 in front of all the home fans at Yankee Stadium while the Blue Jays got it done on the road winning 7-5. Toronto has won the East and won 100 games.


9/30 4-0 W over the Giants
LA goes out just the opposite of last year with 5 wins in a row. Milt Wilcox (17-8) was brilliant. He took a no-hitter into the 6^th inning and for some reason was yanked with 1 out in the 9^th for Steve Howe. Howe needed a big throw from Dwayne Murphy at the plate to preserve the shut out. Scioscia and Evans had 2 hits, and Kittle knocked in 2 rbi's while pinch hitting.


And with that. Poof. The regular season ended.

[Balldog]

Dodgers and Expos...should be a good one!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PilotMan]

1984 Playoffs Preview


LA blasted through September with a 20-7 record. A fantastic recovery for the team from August. Even with the losing streak and the big drop in offense for a while, the last part of the month they really made up for it.


In the AL, the defending champs are out. This year the top team in the AL was the Blue Jays. Toronto was the last team to clinch a division beating the Yankees at the wire. They've been contenders, but suffered behind the Tigers recently. The Jays rank 3^rd or 4^th in most offensive categories in the AL, including stolen bases. Their pitching is also very good, 2^nd in runs against and starters ERA, while having the best bullpen. Mike Schmidt was the big offseason acquisition on offense, and while he didn't have an MVP type year he still lead the team in HR and RBI. Tony Fernandez lead in WAR. Mostly due to his 24 steals and insane defensive skills. He still had a slash line of .313/.371/.420, but is going to miss the series rehabbing from a broken wrist. Right behind him were Mike Schmidt (.237/.341/.454, and 31 HR and 110 RBI) and George Bell (.309/.343/.542) and 24 HR and 87 RBI. The Blue Jays pitching staff is anchored by 25 game winner Dave Stieb. Steib (3.23 ERA) benefited from 4.58 runs of support per game and had 25/36 Quality Starts. His 25-8 record was the best in baseball. The #2 pitcher is Luis Leal who went 18-6 with a 3.92 ERA. Leal got 4.88 runs of support and had 20/32 QS.


They will face the Twins, who are making a return to the ALCS. They've been able to keep the youth movement strong and growing. The Twins finished the year very strong going 37-20 to run away with the division. While they have the worst record among playoff teams they do have some good qualities. They were 2^nd in the AL in AVG. OBS, H, and HR. They were #1 in runs scored, and last in stolen bases. The pitching staff isn't quite on the same playing field, but they were 4^th in team ERA and runs allowed. They were 5^th in others and 8^th on defense. The top offensive player was Kent Hrbek. Hrbek has quickly become one of the best players in the Major Leagues with over 30 homers for 3 years, and and has missed only 1 game in the same time frame. He's all of 24 years old. His numbers are .323/.398/.529 along with 33 HR and 124 RBIs. Not to be out done Gary Gaetti (.272/.320/.472, 26/93) and Tim Teufel (.294/.366/.466, 21/77). The pitching staff is anchored by another 24 year old, Frank Viola. Viola went 21-7 on the year with a 2.63 ERA. Viola also got 5.06 runs of support per game and had a QS in 23/34 starts. He's got a good chance at the AL Cy Young Award. The #2 in Minnesota is Jerry Koosman (15-10, 3.70 ERA, 3.74 RS, 22/35 QS) who signed a 1-year deal from the Astros and picked up his 200^th win with the Twins. His 240.2 innings were the most for him since 1980. The Twins also have a uniquely deep bullpen featuring 4 pitchers who at one time or another have been closers. They are Goose Gossage, Gene Garber, Kent Tekulve, and southpaw Gary Lavelle. At 33, Gossage is the youngster of that group.


In the NL we have a rematch of the same 2 teams for the third year in a row. With the series split at 1-1 this is the rubber match. This will be the 4^th year in a row where it's either the Dodgers or Expos in the World Series.


The Expos are a powerhouse of a team as I've mentioned earlier. They are the #1 offensive team in all of baseball with the #1 record. The team is the #2 pitching staff and #3 defense. As I've mentioned before, the Expos have 4 of the top 5 NL leaders in WAR, and the top 3. They are SS Robin Yount (.312/.367/.503, 23/108) Gary Carter (.299/.360/.530, 32/111) and Tim Wallach (.288/.340/.472, 22/92) and that doesn't include the #5 guy, and probably league MVP, Andre Dawson (.290/.320/.540, 40/131 and 23 SB). Their lineup has 4 guys who have won a Silver Slugger, and all of them have been to an All-Star game at one point or another in their careers. It's a ridiculous, embarrassment of riches to say the least. If that wasn't bad enough, the pitching staff isn't bad either. John Candelaria isn't the top in WAR, but he should be the Cy Young winner (20-2, 1.93 ERA, 4.06 RS, 32/35 QS). Backing him up is Bob Knepper (22-6, 2.61 ERA, 4.71 RS, 27/34 RS) and Scott Sanderson (17-5, 2.65 ERA, 4.17 RS, 25/35 QS). The bullpen is anchored by Jeff Reardon (90 IP, 2.90 ERA, 74K, and 47 S). They also were able to grab Bob Stanley who blew his elbow out at the end of 1983 and spent the entire year rehabbing. He still pitched 19 games with a 2.25 ERA, then signed a 3-year extension. It just doesn't seem fair.


LA comes in #2 in batting and #1 in pitching and defense. The Dodgers won a career high in games. Our top 3 in WAR were Willie Randolph (.335/.430/.416, 6/46), Dwight Evans (.291/.383/.493, 29/108) and Dwayne Murphy (.278/.361/.435, 23/88). Top pitching was Alejandro Pena (19-6, 2.01 ERA, 4.64 RS, 30/33 QS), Fernando Valenzuela (20-10, 2.75 ERA, 4.74 RS, 26/34 QS) and Rick Rhoden (16-9, 2.99 ERA, 3.49 RS, 27/35 QS). The bullpen will be missing Niedenfeur for a week though. The team will be able to add him, but he's going to miss the first few games. Steve Howe has moved into the closer spot and he's been strong, but not completely reliable all year. Burt Hooton will back him up.


I'll say it now, even with 111 wins, our boys do not match up with the Expos well at all. We were the favorites last year, I hope we can return the favor. There are no 2 better teams in baseball though. However, I can't feel good about this. The Dodgers just didn't have the good numbers against lefties this year and Montreal comes at us with two of the best. Montreal just killed lefties (31-9) and Valenzuela was 1-1 in 3 starts with a 2.86 ERA.


The final Power Rankings were:


1^st Dodgers
2^nd Expos
4^th Blue Jays
5^th Twins


Here we go!

[PilotMan]

Game 1
10/2
Valenzuela v. Knepper
4-0 W over the Expos
Fernando pitches his best to start the year going the distance and getting the shutout. He wasn't overpowering, with only 4 strikeouts, but he forced a lot of groundouts and let the defense do the work. LA got on the board in the first when a Willie Randolph double scored Franklin Stubbs from first. In the third, Willie Randolph walked, then Mike Marshall hit a 401ft shot into the power alley in left to put us up 3-0. Bobby Grich added his own, a 390ft opposite field solo shot in the 7^th to finish the scoring.


Game 2
Rhoden v. Candelaria
3-2 L to the Expos
Rhoden went toe to toe with the Candy Man. Lou Whitaker put the Expos on the board first in the 2^nd inning with a 411ft solo shot to left-center. LA would get it's first hit in the 5^th and then another in the 6^th. Jim Fanning then surprised everyone when after 92 pitches thrown, and 2 hits allowed he went to the bull pen for David Palmer. In the bottom of the 6^th Gary Carter tucked a deep flyball into the left field corner to add another run for the Expos. They added another on an error in the 8^th to make it 3-0. Reardon had come on in the 8^th to close it out. The 9^th started with a Randolph walk, then Mike Marshall flied out to left. Evans knocked a single to put 2 on with 1 out. Dwayne Murphy flew out to bring up pinch hitting, Sid Bream, who walked to load the bases. Mike Scioscia then sent a ball back up the middle to score Randolph. With Evans heading home Sid Bream tried for third and the throw home was cut off and Bream was cut down at third to end the game. A critical error for LA. Never make the third out at third base. Any number of pinch hitters could have tied the game up, but instead we get a day off, then head home with a 1-1 tie.

[PilotMan]

Game 3
10/5
Pena v. Sanderson
6-3 L to the Expos
This was not the Alejandro Pena that we paid to see. The Expos just brute forced this game to their will. That's about the best way that I can put it. LA opened scoring in the second inning on Dwayne Murphy rushed home on a Pena single. The top of the third would start poorly. Back to back singles by Sanderson and Raines, followed by Hawk hitting a 3-run, 379ft shot into the bullpen in left. But LA would answer right back in the bottom. Randolph singled, Evans walked, then Bobby Grich hit a deep double to left that tied it up. It looked like it would be on. But Montreal answered right back again. Singles by LeFlore, Raines. Yount would plate LeFlore. Wallach would plate Raines and they jumped right back. The Expos added a 6^th in the 7^th off of Franco. All in all the Expos had 17 hits. Pena allowed 12 of them over 6 innings and 5 runs. Again Jim Fanning went to his pen early and it paid off as LA had no fight back in them on this night. Montreal takes a 2-1 lead.


Game 4
10/6
Wilcox v. Gullickson
6-2 W over the Expos
The 'Spos started off right where game 3 ended. Raines lead off with a double then later tagged on a Wallach flyout. That early run put the bad thoughts in my head. Our boys would have our backs though. In the bottom of the first UL Washington walked, then scored when Dwight Evans sent the first pitch 400ft into the left field pavillion. We scored again in the 2^nd when Mike Scioscia cracked a 383ft opposite field homer to left. We tacked on 2 more in the 3^rd when Bobby Grich singled home both Randolph and Marshall to put us up 5-1. Milt Wilcox took over and got some solid defense. Twice getting Gary Carter to ground into double plays to end an inning. LA would put the 6^th run on the board in the 5^th when Mike Marshall, who had singled and moved to third on a Evans double, scored on a wild pitch by Gullickson. Montreal threatened in the 9^th and Lasorda brought Tanana in to finish them off. He allowed 1, but then got Tim Raines looking on strikes to end it. Series is tied 2-2.

[PilotMan]

Peek into the ALCS:
Game 1 to the Blue Jays 3-1 Reuchel defeated Viola. Schmidt homered for the Jays.
Game 2 to the Blue Jays 4-3 (11) Leal overcame Koosman. Teufel homered for the Twins. Twins scored twice in the 9^th to send it to extras.
Game 3 to the Twins 5-4 (10) Hough threw 149 pitches, struck out 11 and outlasted Stieb. Both pitchers pitched into the 9^th inning. Barfield homered for the Blue Jays, while Ken Griffey Sr and Gary Ward homered for the Twins.

[PilotMan]

ALCS
Game 4
Twins down the Blue Jays 4-3. Eric Show went 8, despite allowing homers to Upshaw and Schmidt, the Twins get it done and stay in it. Tied 2-2.


Game 6
10/9
Rhoden v. Candelaria
6-5 W over the Expos
You couldn't write this one better. I'm gonna let you have it just as it happened. Top of the 2^nd LA starts the scoring off LA loads the bases and Roy Smalley works a walk off of the Candy Man to force the run in. He then strikes out Rhoden and Stubbs to close the inning. Bottom of the 2^nd though, Montreal comes back fast. A Lou Whitaker double scores Wallach and Carter. Two ground outs later Whitaker comes in and it's 3-1. Top 3, Willie Randolph starts off with a single, two outs and a 2-2 pitch to Dwayne Murphy who had 1 hit all series, pulled a pitch 406 ft into the right field seats and it was tied up at 3. In the 5^th Ron LeFlore lead off with a double, then Little reached on a error by Grich. LeFlore scored on a Raines fielders choice. Robin Yount then tripled home Raines before being stranded and Montreal went up 5-3. My heart started to fall. In the 6^th Dave Rozema came in, as we had worked the pitch count up on Candelaria. Roy Smalley worked a walk and took second on a sac. Stubbs singled and Smalley came home to cut the lead. In the 8^th Reardon came on, we'd seen him go 2 innings before. That's how it stayed heading into the 9^th inning. The crowd was chanting, Reardon and his 47 regular season saves, but nobody wanted to think about his 5 blown saves. He got Franklin Stubbs to ground out on the first pitch and there was 1 away. Willie Randolph came up next. Reardon got Randolph to ground out on a 2-2 pitch and we were down to the last out. The champagne was being wheeled into the locker room, and the caps were getting ready to come out. Mike Marshall was our last hope. First pitch, ball. Second pitch, ball. Third pitch, called strike. Then a sharp shot to left, just over the short stop and there was 1 on, but there were still 2 outs. Dewey is up next. He's carried this team for parts of this season and is the best bat in the lineup. First pitch, called strike. Second pitch, fouled off. Down 0-2. 2 Out. This is it. BOOM! Deep fly to right field. It's high and it's long! GONE! The ball goes 420ft and LA jumps out 6-5. Steve Howe came on got the first out, before allowing a single to Hendrick. Vance Law pinch hitting. Everyone knowing about his last at bat. How forces the 6-4-3 double play to end the game. We live for another day, and we've seen the last of Candelaria. It's all tied up at 3, coming down to game 7.

[PilotMan]

ALCS
Game 5: Blue Jays win 5-4 to take a 3-2 lead. A 5-run 5^th for the Jays and a Phil Garner homer was all they would need. Luis Leal topped Viola again. The Twins scored 3 in the bottom of the 9^th, but came up just short. Except for game 1, every ALCS game has been a 1 run game.


Game 7
10/10
Pena v. Sanderson
6-5 W over the Expos
HOLY SHIT! This game caps a series for the ages for Dodger fans! I fully came into this game thinking that Pena couldn't possibly get roughed up two games in a row, and boy was I wrong. He was touched for another 10 hits in 6 innings. That means he allowed 22 hits and 9 runs in 12 innings. He barely allowed 7 per 9 for the season. This game lived up to everything that the last one did. Hearts were pounding, tears were flowing as this game looked to be over. LA drew first blood again in the first inning when Mike Marshall singled home UL Washington from 2^nd. Montreal answered right back in the bottom of the inning when Raines scored on a Yount double play. Top of the 2^nd and LA fought on again. This time it was Mike Scioscia again with another opposite field homer of 392ft to put LA up 2-1. Pena kept em off the board until the 4^th. Gary Carter singled, then a George Hendrick triple scored him. Ron LeFlore was intentionally walked for Sanderson who made them pay with a hard liner to right that scored Hendrick. Raines then singled another run home before the inning would end. 4-2 Montreal.
Top 6 LA gets one back. Randolph leads off with a walk followed by a Marshall single. An Evans single scored Randolph and it looked like we were heading for a big inning. Scioscia was hit by a pitch to load them up before Smalley struck out swinging. 4-3 Montreal. That's how it would stay until late. In the bottom of the 8^th , with Tanana on the mound, we just needed to keep it close. Instead George Hendrick took a 2-0 pitch into the left field bleachers and put the Expos up 5-3. Tanana struck out the side but the damage was done. Hearts sank. Hendrick had gone 4-4 with a triple and a homer and would probably be the series MVP because of it. That was it. Reardon was coming on again and there's no way we were coming back on the road. Top of the 9^th, down 2. Best closer in baseball against the bottom of the lineup. Scioscia lead off with a single. Smalley flew out to left, 1 out. Ron Kittle pinch hit and slapped a 1-2 pitch into left to put runners on first and second. The go ahead run was at the plate. UL Washington kept the hit parade going with an unlikely 1-1, line drive into right. Scioscia scored and we're only down 1 with 1 out. Randolph came up next and Reardon was in trouble. He had him down 0-2 and then walked him on 4 straight to load the bases again. Marshall was up next, worked an 8 pitch at bat then knocked a hard ball threw the drawn in infield. That scored Kittle from third and we were tied. I flew up out of my chair. Evans came up next. He hit a fly ball to left and it was deep enough that Washington was able to get home to put us into the lead. The crowd was stunned. That's 2 games in a row where we beat up Reardon in the 9^th. Murphy flew out to end it, and Steve Howe came on for the 9^th. Howe got Harrah to ground out, then Raines (again, always Raines, he's like the devil out there) singled. He didn't steal and Dawson came up. Howe got Hawk to hit a hard grounder to short, and the 6-4-3 double play was on. Grich squeezed it for the out and all that Champagne and those new shirts and baseball caps that said EXPOS 1984 NLCS CHAMPS got boxed up and sent to Ethiopia. Mike Scioscia hit .360 with 2 homers, and kept Raines partially in check. He was the NLCS MVP. Fuck Yeah.


We'll be facing the Blue Jays, because we love traveling to Canada. Dave Stieb allowed 2 hits over 7 innings and struck out 8 in a 4-1 win over the Twins. That's another heartbreaking ALCS loss for the Twins. Mike Schmidt was the MVP.

[PilotMan]

1984 World Series Preview


Now that we've overcome our status as the underdogs in the NLCS we are now the heavy favorite in the World Series. Not only do we have the home field advantage, we come in knowing that we just knocked off the best team that baseball has seen in decades. Not only did we win, we won twice, on the road. We defeated a team of killers and awared winners. A team that probably has the Cy Young and MVP winners on it. We have to be feeling good, but will it be too much?


The Blue Jays took care of the Twins in a hotly contested, tight series. Normally NL teams struggle on the road because they typically don't have the big bat that can fill in at DH. That shouldn't be a concern for us. You can expect a balance of Stubbs, Foster and Kittle, a group that combined for 29 homers on the year, to handle that job. We could also see Andre Thornton getting some playing time on the road too. He was sorely underused, but he did hit .305 in a mostly pinch hitting role.


That's a two way street, because we're also going to be facing the Blue Jays at home without the DH. The Blue Jays DH is none other than the Penguin, Ron Cey. Cey hit 19 homers and had 78 RBI's, but his -1.3 WAR was one of the worst in the league. Dangerous to face, but also not without his weaknesses like his .635 OPS and 138 K's.


The Blue Jays lineup is a strange mix of young and old. In the starting lineup they've got Fernandez (22), Barfield (24), Moseby (24), and Upshaw (27) on the young side. The old duffers are Lacy (36), Schmidt (35), Cey (36), Garner (35), and Dempsey (35). You'd have to think that time isn't on their side. The Rotation is the same with Stieb (27), Leal (27), Thurmond (28), and Reuschel (35). Their closer is 41- year old Ron Reed who didn't have the greatest ALCS.


Of the 9 Blue Jay starters 6 of them reached double digits in homers. George Bell, who hit .309 and 24 homers has found himself on the bench. He could play at DH, but it's been Barfield who took his place on the field. For defensive reasons in all likelihood. Barfield is one helluva defender. I don't see why Bobby Cox is keeping Cey at DH, rather than go with Bell who is more dangerous.


Neidenfeur is back for the series. We lucked out that we didn't need him more in the NLCS, but it's great to have him back in the pen. John Franco loses his roster spot. That leaves Hooton and Howe as the set up men.


Stieb just pitched game 6 so we're not going to see him for a couple games. That might be a good start for us. As for our rotation, we're right where we want to be. Fernando will start game 1 in LA.

[PilotMan]

1984 World Series


Game 1
10/12
Valenzuela v. Reuschel
7-2 L to the Blue Jays
Oh fuck, it wasn't supposed to start like this. The Blue Jays opened up scoring when Jessie Barfield went deep to left in the 2^nd inning. Lee Lacy hit a 2-run shot in the 3^rd and it just got worse from there. Rick Reuschel went 8 innings and allowed 6 hits along the way. Valenzuela couldn't make it out of the 5^th inning. He had 4 walks and 0 strikeouts. Just not himself on this day. In fact, the Blue Jays played more like we did than we did. Marshall and Evans each went 2-4, but no one can really be happy about the way that this one has started. Toronto leads 1-0.


Game 2
10/13
Wilcox v. Leal
4-1 L to the Blue Jays
What the hell is happening? Is it a letdown from the NLCS? Is it just that the AL is that much better than the NL? Is it bad luck? Cause it feels like bad luck. Toronto picked right up where they left off. Moseby lead off with a walk, second on a ground out, steals third, home on an Upshaw single. They keep chipping away. Tony Fernandez, the least dangerous power hitter, who had 2 homers on the year, hit one 421ft to right field. They score in the 5^th on a single, steal, groundout, wild pitch. Bad luck? Sid Bream gets one back for us with his own 376ft solo homer to right, but that's all we can manage. The Blue Jays tack another on in the 9^th with a walk and 2 singles. Leal and the rest of the Blue Jay bullpen had no problems with us. Marshall and Randolph had a couple hits. Murphy is hitting .139 in the postseason and that's higher than both UL Washington and Roy Smalley. 2-0 Toronto. Heading to Canada, where we won our last game.

[PilotMan]

Game 3
10/15
Pena v. Stieb
5-3 L to the Blue Jays
That just about seals it for us Dodger fans. This one looked like we were going to steal it and look to even it up tomorrow, but it didn't happen. We got a run in the first when Randolph scored on a Scioscia double. Randolph added another run in the third when we came home on a wild pitch. We took a 3-0 lead in the 6^th when Stubbs scored on a sac fly. Pena was holding the Jays silent and it felt like we had this one. It looked like so many other games we've had before. Bottom six, Lee Lacy tripled and then Willie Upsaw destroyed a ball 440ft into deep right-center. That closed the gap to 1. Pena still pitched in the 8^th, as we clung to that lead. Lacy lead off with a single, Upshaw walked then Jessie Barfield took a 1-1 pitch out of the park and that was the nail. Three more runs, and that was the final score. There's no more magic to go around. 3-0 Toronto.


Game 4
10/16
Rhoden v. Reuschel
3-0 L to the Blue Jays
What a crushing series. Reuschel had it over on us again. There were no big innings. Rhoden pitched well enough, but Toronto scored in the first and the third on singles, then again in the 4^th when Mike Schmidt sent one out. The next batter was Ron Cey. Rhoden hit him and Cey charged the mound. Both were ejected. Denny came on and kept the Blue Jays from scoring the rest of the way. LA was beaten. There was no answer, like the games before, there was no magic and no fight back. Randolph did his part, with 2 hits, but nobody else did anything worthwhile.


Next year? Long way to come to get this far and go home with nothing.

[Balldog]

Damn. Tough way to end the season!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tucking fypo]

Hate that for the Big Blue!!

By the way, excellent dynasty. Like the brief write-ups on games and other important events.

[PilotMan]

Alright. On to the offseason.

Thanks guys, that sweep smarts. Even still.

1984 Post Season and Awards


First order of business for the Dodgers is to get Lasorda signed to a 4-year extension. That's great for LA. Good choice. Pitching coach Jordan Aviles gets a 2-year contract.


Burt Hooton, Andre Thornton and Bobby Grich are all heading to free agency this off season. Hooton didn't get his contract vested and the team bought out both Thornton and Grich. That frees up some space so the team can maneuver and bring in guys if they want to.




AL Gold Glove Winners
P Bert Blyleven – NYY
C Alex Trevino – BAL
1B Dave Bergman – CHI
2B Glenn Hubbard – NYY
3B Buddy Bell – TEX
SS Cal Ripken Jr – BAL
LF Bob Skube – CLE
CF Jerry Mumphery – DET
RF Mike Davis – OAK


NL Gold Glove Winners
P Walt Terrell – NYM
C Tony Pena – PIT
1B Steve Balboni – PHI
2B Danny Tartabull – CIN
3B Luis Salazar – SD
SS Ozzie Smith – STL
LF Dan Gladden – PIT
CF Chet Lemon – PIT
RF Tony Gwynn – SD


AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Willie Hernandez – DET (9-4, 28S, 2.25 ERA)


NL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Tom Niedenfeur – LAD (9-2, 33S, 1.19 ERA)


Ex Dodger Ted Power was 3^rd in voting for Cincy.


AL Silver Slugger
C Carlton Fisk – NYY
1B Eddie Murray – BAL
2B Tim Teufel – MIN
3B George Brett – KC
SS Cal Ripken Jr. - BAL
LF Jim Rice – BOS
CF Brett Butler – NYY
RF Jack Clark – SEA
DH Kent Hrbek – MIN


NL Silver Slugger
P Fernando Valenzuela – LAD
C Gary Carter – MON
1B Leon Durham – CHI
2B Lou Whitaker – MON
3B Pedro Guerrero – PHI
SS Robin Yount – MON
LF Tim Raines – MON
CF Dale Murphy – HOU
RF Andre Dawson – MON


The Expos had FIVE FREAKING Silver Sluggers! WOW!


AL Rookie of the Year
3B Jim Presley – SEA - (.301/26/100)


NL Rookie of the Year
C Floyd Rayford – CIN - (.292/7/80)


AL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox – TOR


NL Manager of the Year
Jim Fanning – MON


AL Cy Young Winner
Frank Viola – MIN (21-7, 2.63 ERA)


NL Cy Young Winner
John Candelaria – MON (20-2, 1.93 ERA)


Alejandro Pena finished as the runner up.


AL MVP
Frank Viola – MIN


Hrbek was 2^nd in voting.


NL MVP
Alejandro Pena – LAD (19-6, 2.01 ERA)


Ok, that's just plain odd. I'm going to mark this down to the fact that Pena beat him in WAR, and hit 2 homers on the season. That's the only thing I can think. Candelaria clearly had a better pitching year, but Pena wins the MVP and the Candy man comes in second. Not sure this is a situation that we'll see ever again. The top hitter was Hawk Dawson, again for the Expos. They just killed this year.

[PilotMan]

1985 Opening Day Roster


Starting Rotation
L Fernando Valenzuela (20-10, 2.75)
R Rick Rhoden (16-9, 2.99)
L Frank Tanana (15-9, 3.07)
R Dennis Eckersley (8-1, 3.00)
L Jerry Reuss (0-2, 4.35)


This team has a lot of options for starters. It's a little surprising to see that Reuss gets the nod over the rest of the guys in the bullpen, but pending his effectiveness at least there are other options. Valenzuela and Rhoden make a really good 1-2 combo. Tanana is a prototypical #3 starter and Eck is easily #3 caliber. Reuss is really nothing more than a 5 starter on this rotation. The big shocker is that 1984 MVP Alejandro Pena is nowhere to be found.


Bullpen
R Jim Beattie (19-4, 2.61)
R Milt Wilcox (17-8, 2.55)
R John Denny (1-0, 5.57)


R Alejandro Pena (19-6, 2.01)
L Steve Howe (1-3, 3.66)


R Tom Niedenfeur (9-2, 33S, 1.19)


No other team can match the number of wins from last year in their bullpen that we have. Too bad that doesn't count for anything at all. At 1Mil per year, John Denny continues to be the most expensive middle reliever in baseball. Pena and Howe will set up Niedenfuer this year. That could be a very good pairing. The addition of Jim Beattie seems to be a waste with him buried in the bullpen. Only 1 lefty in the bullpen, and you know John Franco is in AAA just waiting to make his mark on the team. Let's hope he doesn't get traded for another middle infielder.


Catcher
Mike Scioscia (.278/8/48)
Buck Martinez (.208/2/23)


Same guys as last year. Scioscia is an above average contact hitter who doesn't strike out much, and a good defender. Martinez is not an embarrassment, and is also a good defender. No competition here who the starter is when Scioscia got his big contract.


First Base
Sid Bream (.352/2/12)
Andre Thornton (.305/1/10)


Bream is first on the depth chart and had a very good year last year between AAA and the majors. He's a decent defender with above average skills. Thornton is a massive liability in the field and he's closing in on 36. He isn't even listed as the #2 first baseman. Not sure, other than a big bat off the bench, what he's doing with the team. Greg Brock was designated and placed on waivers. Stubbs will back up Bream for now.


Second Base
Willie Randolph (.335/6/46)
Frank White (.256/7/34)


Randolph was the most important piece of the offense last year with his ability to get on base. His defense was also stellar at second. He is in no danger of losing his job anytime soon. Frank White is coming off of an injury filled season. He is good in the field and is a good vet bat off the bench.


Third Base
Graig Nettles (.272/18/72)
Toby Harrah (.194/1/3)


This is the old guy position. Nettles is 40 and Harrah is 36. Lasorda is set to platoon them for now with Nettles sitting against lefties. Neither guy is going to hit for high average, and with Harrah we lose a lot of power when he's playing. Nettles is only averaging 15 homers per year for the last 3 years so you'd expect that to drop a litte for this year. I'm wondering if keeping Grich might have been the better option.


Shortstop
Roy Smalley (.226/11/63)


The only shortstop on the roster, Smalley saw his productivity drop off significantly last season. He is a below average short stop in the field, but even with that, he's still dangerous with the bat. I'm hoping that last year was a bit of an aberration. Tony Phillips who was nearly useless last year was optioned to AAA to start the year.


Left Field
Mike Marshall (.275/18/55)


Marshall has a lot of power, but will he stay healthy enough to play much? He also might split time with Ron Kittle, who was the AAA MVP last year (duh? That man was on fire!) Kittle is on the DL with tendinitis to start the year, but he should be called up when he's healthy. Both guys are similar and can hit the ball a mile, strike out a lot, struggle with injuries, and field questionably. Not having George Foster to suck up at bats should help both guys.


Center Field
Dwayne Murphy (.278/23/88)
Franklin Stubbs (.274/12/34)


Murphy didn't bring as much pop to the club as we had hoped. He didn't even get close to the 30 HR mark that was expected. His defense was outstanding however, and he easily holds down the starting spot this year. Stubbs is the primary backup at all 3 outfield positions as well as first base, so we can expect to see him playing quite a bit this year.


Right Field
Dwight Evans (.291/29/108)
Tony Brewer (.333/0/1)


Evans carried the team early last year, then just kind of disappeared. His power dropped off quite a bit playing in LA, which always seems to happen to sluggers who come here, but he hit for 20 points higher in average than the previous year. Brewer starts the year on the roster, but figures to go away in a couple weeks when Kittle comes back.


Notable Absences
Steve Sax. Guy hits .303 his rookie year and then .347 in AAA last year and he can't make the team? And they have so little faith that they go out and get Frank White? He's one of the best contact hitters on the team and he can't make the roster. Trade him for some value, or play him, please, before he can't throw to first any more.


Tony Phillips. Not that shocking. I have a feeling that he'll show up on the roster simply because he can play short stop and the other infield positions. Not likely to make an impact either way after his tenure here last year.


Scotti Madison. Once the top prospect for the team can't make the team as a catcher and they bring Buck Martinez back instead. That can't bode well for his future.


Brian Holton. Tore his UCL last year so he only threw 10 innings at AA. Still one of the better arms in the bullpen once he gets healthy. He was lost in the Rule 5 draft to the Brewers but didn't make the team and came back.


John Franco. Saw a little bit of playing time down the stretch and is now in his final option year. If the team needs another lefty in the bullpen he'll be the first to get the callup. Had 22 saves in AAA last year with a 0.90 ERA. He really needs to step it up this year because this team needs some young help. Could be playing if the team would unload some of it's starters and move them out of the pen.


Kelly Downs. Won 16 games in AAA last year is still only 24. The problem is that there are so many, many arms ahead of him on the club it's going to be hard to get that spot without some big things happening. He still has 1 more option year so it's not as important as it is for Franco.


Greg Brock, Jim Pankovits, UL Washington, Ricky Wright were all designated and placed on waivers. Brock is the only one of that group that's modestly surprising. He hit 3 homers in 17 at bats for us last year, but he hasn't really shined nor been the impact player that he needed to be to win the first base job.


It's time now, FOR DODGERS BASEBALL!

[PilotMan]

4/9 1-0 W over the Astros
Opening day on the road in Houston. Valenzuela and Ryan go toe to toe and neither blinks. Valenzuela had to work a little harder, scattering 7 and walking 4, while Ryan struck out 9 with 1 walk. The bottom of the 9^th saw a young Barry Larking strike out in his Major League debut against Valenzuela. LA would get to the bullpen in the 10^th when they would load the bases for Scioscia who hit a short, difficult grounder to short and somehow legged out the single that allowed the run to score. Niedenfeuer (1-0) got the win, and Pena came on and retired the side in order for the save.


Greg Brock was claimed off of waivers by the Indians. He's still waiting for his assignment.


4/10 9-1 L to the Astros
Rhoden (0-1) pitched great until the Astros got to him in the 5^th, then they put up 7 and that started the run. Our only run came on a Randolph double, that followed a steal of third and a throwing error. Milt Wilcox struck out the side in the 8^th, and that was the best that we had going for us. Jim Beattie made his debut and gave up a homer to Bill Madlock on his third pitch in Dodger blue. Tony Bernazard is leading off and playing second for the Astros, and made us pay going 2-5, with a run and an RBI.


4/11 11-5 W over the Astros
Another big hitting game for both teams. Tanana (1-0) was pitching great until Tony Bernazard made us pay again with a 3-run homer in the 7^th to cut the lead to 3. He ended up 3-5. The big story though was the hitting of Mike Scioscia and Sid Bream. These lefties combined for 7-9, 5 runs, 7 RBI, and a walk. Both men had a double and triple. A nice surprise for the faithful if they stay hot.


4/12 9-4 W over the Giants
Eckersley (1-0) got his first start of the year and served up 5 straight hits and 4 runs in the first. LA answered against Bannister with 5 straight hits of their own and put up a 5 spot in the bottom of the first which changed the nature of the game. I don't even know where to start, everyone hit everything except Smalley and Eck. Dwight Evans and Mike Scioscia each hit their first home runs of the year. Eck struck out 7 in 7.


4/13 6-5 W over the Giants
The starting pitching didn't have the greatest week, but Lasorda was sticking with his men. Even with all the bullpen help his starters are expected to work out of their own jams. LA trailed for the entire game until the bottom of the 7^th. Stubbs lead off the inning with a pinch hit homer to cut into it, and then soon we had a 4 run inning. Mike Marshall went 3-4 with 3 rbi's and his first homer to match Stubbs, who was pinch hitting.


4/14 6-0 W over the Giants
Fernando was on fire. He took a no-hitter into the 8^th when a Julio Cruz single broke it up. Chili Davis would get the other hit, and Valenzuela (1-0) walked 3, but struck out 12. He also ran his scoreless inning streak to start the season to 17.1 innings. The game changed on the 4^th inning, when after two quick outs a pair of walks and a passed ball allowed Valenzuela to knock in 2 with a single. The inning would continue though and LA would load them up and Dwight Evans would clean them off, in his second homer of the year. LA's patient approach at the plate helped too, as they were able to draw 7 walks to go with 7 hits. Quietly, we've got a 4 game win streak.


4/15 2-1 W over the Astros
A great pitchers dual between Rhoden (1-1) and Sutcliffe. Houston scored first on a passed ball in the 4^th, but Rhoden kept his cool and bore down. Bottom of the 8^th Dwayne Murphy, who is off to another slow start, kept us in the game with a solo homer (1) to tie it up. The game went to the 10^th and Rhoden stayed in, striking out 9 in the game. LA got a leadoff double from Andre Thrornton and got to third on a single by Murphy. After a Frank White strikout, Roy Smalley knocked a ball over the drawn in first basemen, Chris Smith, and Thornton came home.


4/16 3-2 L to the Astros
Tanana had another rough first inning against the 'Stros allowing all 3 runs right out of the block. Doyle Alexander did a great job shutting us down except for Sid Bream. Bream tripled and scored to get us on the board in the 7^th, then in the bottom of the 9^th hit his first homer of the year to bring us within 1. We got the tying run on before Don Aase struck out the last 2 to end it. /




4/17 3-1 W over the Astros
Eckersley (2-0) goes 8 allowing 3 hits and striking out 7 for the win. He was very strong throughout. But it was his bat that made the difference. After a Nettles homer (1) the Astros tied it in the top of the 7^th. Eckersley came to bat in the bottom of the inning and hit one over the right field fence to put LA up for good. Niedenfeur picked up his 2^nd save.


4/18 4-1 L to the Padres
The rotation already has been shuffled. John Denny (0-1) got the start and Jerry Reuss was swapped to the pen. Not particularly surprising considering the lack of lefties and their roles in the last year. Denny got owned by Tony Gwynn to the tune of an RBI double and a two-run homer. Young Jimmy Key (2-0) got the better of us for most of the game. Our only run came on a Frank White pinch hit home run (1) late. LA did bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Andre Thornton, but he grounded out to third to end it.


4/19 5-0 W over the Padres
Fernandomania is running wild over SoCal to start the year. He is straight dialed in. Valenzuela (2-0) goes the distance allowing 1 hit to former Dodger Bob Brenly in the second inning. He struck out 8 and his scoreless innings streak is up to 26.1 to start the year. LA got a lot of help on offense notably a Dwight Evans monster 455-ft homer (3) in the 6^th off of Ojeda. Scioscia, Bream, Evans and Murphy all had 2 hits.


Dodger prospect Kelly Downs tore his rotator cuff and he's done for the year. Ron Kittle is back off the DL and as expected, Tony Brewer has been optioned to make room. UL Washington was also released and picked up by Toronto.


4/20 5-3 W over the Padres
Rhoden (2-1) pitched into the 8^th, and pitched well in a solid start. LA overcame 4 errors today and it was the top of the lineup produced. Randolph went 3-5 and scored twice, and Scioscia went 2-4 with 2 RBI's. LA drew 5 walks against Dave Dravecky (1-1) who had only walked 3 all year coming in. Niedenfeur pitched the last 5 outs for his 3^rd save.

[PilotMan]

4/21 10-5 L to the Padres
Tanana got out of the first inning today, but he would lose everything in a big 7^th inning for the Padres that would see them score 7 times. Alejandro Pena (0-1) came on to try and lock it down, but he allowed 3 hits and a walk without getting an out before he was lifted. LA drew 9 walks off of Padres pitching today, but left 9 guys on base. It was an Ozzie Guillen triple that cleared the bases and opened the game up. Buck Martinez went 2-4 and hit his first home run of the year in the losing effort.


4/22 3-2 (10) L to the Giants
Eckersley got the start and went 8.1, scattering 9 hits and allowing 1 run. He got into trouble in the 9^th with the winning run in scoring position and no outs. Steve Howe came in and worked us out of the jam and the game went to extras. LA got a leadoff double from Stubbs, who scored on a Randolph single. Niedenfuer (0-1) came on for the save and quickly got Damaso Garcia and Rob Deer out. He had a 1-2 count on Chili Davis before losing him to a walk Then on a 1-1 pitch, Jeffrey Leonard put the ball in the left field bleachers and we walk off, shocked.


4/23 3-1 W over the Giants
John Denny (1-1) pitched a great game, and he needed to, because his defense didn't help much. The Dodgers commited 5, yes 5, errors. Every infielder and Stubbs in center committed errors. We were lucky. Sid Bream went 2-4 and knocked in 2 of the 3 runs. The first put us on the board when we hit a Floyd Bannister pitch over the right field fence for his 2^nd homer. Alejandro Pena pitched a perfect 9^th for his 2^nd save.


4/24 3-0 L to the Giants
Valenzuela v. Hammaker III didn't go as I and II did. The Giants scored in the 2^nd and 3^rd to go up and Hammaker dominated the Dodgers over 8 innings. Valenzuela pitched 1 out shy of another complete game, before tiring and giving way to Steve Howe. LA only got hits from 4 players, and just couldn't get the offense going against the talented lefty. The Giants newly acquired closer Bob Stanley, who we've had some dubious success against, had no problem finishing us off. Stanley was acquired when the Expos placed him on waivers. Don't feel bad for the Expos, their bullpen features a double headed monster called Quisenberry/Reardon.


4/25 3-2 L to the Padres
Another close loss. It's not been a good week. Rick Rhoden (2-2) started and pitched well enough except for the 6^th inning when the Padres took advantage of a Toby Harrah error. Luis Salazar (really? Again? What is it with this guy and us?) hit a 2-run shot that put the Padres up. Roy Smalley and Dwight Evans had a couple hits each, but all in all, this team is putting next to no offense up right now.


4/26 2-1 (14) L to the Padres
Ouch, this one hurts. Frank Tanana pitched his best game of the year and left after 8 shutout innings. He gave way to Niedenfuer who gave up a double to Gwynn and eventually scored, sending it to extras. The Padres starter Tandy Charley pitched 10 full innings and we couldn't do anything. In extras, Alejandro Pena pitched 3 good innings and Steve Howe (0-1) came on, but it would be another error, this time by Andre Thornton at first that opened things up. Former Dodger farmhand, Larry Fobbs, knocked a single that scored Gwynn for the Padres in the 14^th. LA had no answer in the bottom. April can't end soon enough at this rate.


4/27 6-3 L to the Padres
That's three in a row to the Padres, at home. Geez. Eckersley (2-1) got roughed up, allowing 10 hits in 6 innings of work. LA scored twice in the first but in the second it was none other than, yep, Luis Salazar again, who tied it up with his home run. SD took the lead for good in the 6^th inning when first basemen Pat Casey hit his first career home run. Pena got roughed up in relief, and we just couldn't keep up. SD had 15 hits in the game, and still left 11 guys on. This could have been much worse.


4/28 1-0 W over the Padres
We salvage 1 game at least, but the offense is still lost. John Denny (2-1) was really on his game and pitched into the 9^th before being lifted for Niedenfeur. I'd have left him in to get the shutout, he wasn't in trouble and he had 9 K's in the game. Niedenfeur didn't blow this one. Our only run came when pinch hitting Thornton walked, followed by a Toby Harrah walk, and then Roy Smalley hit a single, for our 2^nd hit of the game. We'd only get 3. W is a W, but this is still bad.


4/30 5-1 W over the Cardinals
Valenzuela (3-1) back on track. Eight innings, 8 strikeouts. Yet another game where we fail to hit a home run. A few hits here, a few hits there, and we scored where we could. Pitching set the stage again.

[PilotMan]

April Recap
LA went 12-9 in the month, good enough for second place in the West. The Padres, hold a tight 1 game lead on us. That series against us really put them up. It's early, but this team is struggling. Early on we were leading the NL in runs scored, but by the end of the month we are 10^th in average, 8^th in homers, and 7^th in OBP. That's some of the lowest numbers we've put up.


The pitching staff is on track. Either first and second in all pitching categories and first in defense, despite a couple of horrendous defensive games.


Our bombers aren't bombing. Dwight Evans leads the team with 3 homers. Sid Bream had a good April and it's good to see that he got the nod over Greg Brock. Graig Nettles is awful. He's hitting .100 in part time play with 1 home run. Roy Smalley not much better at .156.


This team could be super explosive, but right now they aren't doing shit. If the pitching staff can hold it together we might be able to get back on track, but for now it's just not working.


Best record in baseball? California Angels at 15-6. Not sure why, they are among the bottom of the league in offense, and pitching is holding them together. Former Dodgers getting playing time with the Angels are Steve Garvey, Ken Landreaux and Dave Stewart.

[PilotMan]

5/1 8-3 W over the Cardinals
Lots of hits for LA. Finally, maybe this means that we'll break out. Dwayne Murphy hit his 2^nd home run of the year and Dwight Evans went 4-5 with 2 RBI's. LA had 15 hits, and walked 6 times, at least we had baserunners. Rick Rhoden (3-2) pitched well enough, but wasn't commanding.


5/3 7-5 W over the Pirates
Eckersley (3-1) started, but only managed 5 innings. He spotted the Pirates a 4-0 lead when Ron Cey hit a 3-run shot. His 7^th and 4 more than any Dodger, and left down 4-1. A big top of the 6^th for LA got them back in it as they put up 5 to grab the lead. Murphy hit his 3^rd in the 5^th and Mike Scioscia hit a solo shot that started all the scoring in the 6^th. Bream and Marshall in addition to Murphy and Scioscia had 2 hits each. Niedenfuer pitched the last 8 outs for his 5^th save.


5/4 5-4 W over the Pirates
This game mirrored the last one. Tanana gave up a 3-run shot to Johnny Ray and another to Ron Cey. For the second game in a row the Pirates went deep back to back. So we were down 4-1 again. We answered with a couple in the 4^th but we were still down 1. It was all zeros until Andre Thornton came up as a pinch hitter then hit homered (1) off of Rod Scurry with Stubbs on base to give LA the lead. Niedenfuer, for the second game in a row, got the last 8 outs for his 6^th save.


Young Roger Clemens, at 22, throws a no-hitter for the Indians against the Rangers. He struck out 7. It's the first No-No since Charlie Hough last June.


5/6 10-7 L to the Cubs
Neither Valenzuela nor David Cone would make it to the 5^th inning. By then it was 7-5 LA, but Jim Beattie (0-1) came on and just gave the Cubs all the runs. LA still had the lead by the 6^th inning when Ryne Sandberg hit a 2-run triple to put the Cubs up. Mike Marshall went 3-5 with 2 RBI's to lead the Dodgers.


5/7 13-7 W over the Cubs
Rick Rhoden could only make it 4.1 before he was lifted. At one point the Dodgers had a 10-1 lead and then Rhoden allowed 4 homers. LA had 22 hits, exactly 1 of them was for extra bases and that was a Dwayne Murphy solo shot (4). The Cubs Bert Johnson was making his ML debut and it's going to be one he will want to forget. Roy Smalley went 5-6 and scored 4 times, Murphy went 4-6. In fact, it was a big hit parade except for Mike Marshall, he went hitless, the only starter without a hit. Wilcox (1-0) got the win.


5/8 4-2 L to the Cardinals
Twice LA had to answer the Cardinals and wasted a generally good outing from John Denny. Denny left the game tied at 2-2. In the 9^th Niedenfeur (1-2) came on, expecting that he'd shut them down, he proved me wrong. Curt Ford hit a pinch hit double and was knocked in by Tom Herr. Ricky Horton shut us down in the 9^th to hand us the loss. Niedenfeur has started rough, much worse than his last couple years. He's already blown 2 and taken 2 losses. The 2-time all star might not be one this season.


5/9 5-4 L to the Cardinals
Frank Tanana had another rough first inning. He allowed 5 hits and 4 runs and LA was immediately down 4-0 and had a big hole to dig out of. Most of the digging was 1 person, Dwight Evans. LA only had 5 hits all game, 2 of them were home runs by Evans. The first was a 2-run homer that got us on the board. Mike Marshall finally hit his 2^nd homer to put us down 1, then in the next inning Evans homered again to tie it up. Tanana wouldn't allow another hit all game. He left in the 7^th, having struck out 7. Alejandro Pena came and in the 9^th it was Andy Van Slyke that got to him, hitting his 6^th home run of the year to give the Cards the lead and ultimately the win.


5/10 8-0 W over the Pirates
Eckersley (4-1) pitched brilliantly, allowing 3 hits heading into the 9^th. However, after the second pitch of the 9^th he was pulled with some kind of injury so he couldn't get his shutout. LA battered the Pirates with 9 singles, and another where we had no extra base hits. We were also able to take advantage of 4 Pirate errors. Between Scioscia and Evans they had 5 ribbies and 4 of the hits.


Toby Harrah was diagnosed with a strained hamstring. He's gone to the DL and Steve Sax is called up.


5/11 4-2 L to the Pirates
Mike Scott (4-2) just crushed us today. He struck out 12 in 8 innings of work and his only mistake was a 2-run homer allowed to Graig Nettles. That was Nettles 2^nd of the year and gave us a temporary lead. Valenzuela (3-2) went 7 and allowed all 4, while sriking out 8. He was far from dominant though. Tom Henke came on in the 9^th and gave up a lead off single to Scioscia. He struck out Evans next and got Bream to fly out. Marshall got another single to put the tying run on base. Sax pinch hit, in his first apprearance of the year and grounded out weakly to second.


5/13 3-2 W over the Pirates
LA put up 3 in the 2^nd inning. Mike Marshall got us on the board with his 3^rd HR. Rick Rhoden knocked a double, scoring Nettles who had walked, then Randolph singled him in. Rick Rhoden (4-2) went 8 innings and Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 7^th save. LA hands Jose DeLeon his first loss of the year.


Before the game the team got the bad news that Eckersley is going on the 60-day with a fairly serious shoulder injury. It's a partially torn labrum and he won't be back anytime soon. John Franco is taking his spot on the roster. He has option to stay with the team or become a free agent after the year. Jerry Reuss and not Pena, Beattie or Wilcox will take his place in the rotation. This is a blow.


5/14 4-2 W over the Cubs
LA put up runs in the first and in the 2^nd it was Graig Nettles going deep for his 3^rd of the year. Mike Scioscia hit his 3^rd, a big solo shot in the 5^th to put us up 3-0. Shawon Dunston went deep off of Denny to cut the lead down to 3-2, but LA managed to hang on. Denny moves to 3-1 with 8 strong innings. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 8^th save.


Funny aside – in the last week the Dodgers have signed Mark Fidrych who hasn't played in the majors since 1980, and Sparky Lyle, who is nearly 41 and last saw the majors back in '82 with the Phillies. The funny thing with Lyle is that wherever he was the last 2 seasons his minor league team won the title.


5/15 6-1 L to the Cubs
The Cubs break their 5 game losing streak on us. They get a great performance from Mike Mason (3-4) and a leadoff home run from Leon Durham (7), a solo shot from Dunston (3) in the 8^th, and the big one, a grand slam from Jody Davis (6) that just broke the game open. Frank Tanana (1-2) takes the loss. He struck out 7, but only could go 5 innings. He still can't seem to find his rhythm this year. Both Dwayne Murphy and Graig Nettles left the game shaken up. No word yet on their condition.

[PilotMan]

5/17 4-3 W over the Phillies
Shane Rawley had LA in control all day. He left after 8 innings of work with a 3-1 lead. Dave Smith came on to pitch the 9^th. The Stubbs lead off and grounded out, Frank White struck out and just when it looked like it was over Roy Smalley and his buck something average and 0 dingers, hit a monster 440 ft shot to center. That brought us down 1. Sid Bream stepped in next and he pulled the ball into the right field seats to tie it up. LA wasn't done there, Steve Sax singled pinch hitting, stole second (man haven't seen that in a long time here). Randolph hit a single into right and Sax came home to put us up. Niedendfeur pitched a perfect 9^th for his 9^th save to preserve it.


Nettles has a torn thumb ligament and he's on the DL. Frank White got the start at third in the last game and Tony Phillips was recalled to take his spot on the roster. Stubbs played for Murphy who is still out and no word on his timeline either. LA also signed Steve Howe to a 2-year extension, but the 2^nd year requires vesting.


5/18 4-1 W over the Phillies
It was Rick Rhoden taking the ball for LA today and he didn't have his best stuff, but he got a lot of support. Rhoden walked 6 in 5 innings of work before being yanked after 106 pitches. LA got on the board first when Randolph scored on a Evans single. Sid Bream then doubled home 2 more. We picked up another on a Kittle sac fly. Jim Beattie finally pitched a couple good innings and Niedendfeur struck out 4 in the last 2 for his 10^th save.


It's more bad news for the Dodgers. Murphy has a broken leg and it looks like it's worse than the 6 week kind. He's going to miss most of the season. We're going to have to get it done without one of our best players. Tony Brewer who had 3 at bats last year was called up to take his place on the roster. Stubbs is expected to take his place in center field.


5/19 5-2 L to the Phillies
The Phillies got on the board in the first off of John Denny (3-2), but we answered with a couple in the 4^th to take the lead. A rain delay of nearly an hour didn't have an impact on either pitcher and Denny was rolling along easy. Bottom 6, Wayne Gross, who was 0 for life against Denny hit a 2 run homer for his first hit and put the Phils in the lead. Pedro Guerrero would add another for the Phillies. More concern for LA as Pena left in the 9^th after feeling discomfort. We couldn't take Dave Smith down this time as he shut the door on us in the 9^th.


Harold Baines hit for the cycle against the Rangers.


5/20 7-3 W over the Expos
Hey look another win against the team we can't beat in the playoffs! The Expos still have the best record in the NL. Frank Tanana (2-2) got the start today and got the help of a big 4-run first inning. Mike Scioscia doubled in Randolph to start the scoring, then later in the inning, it was Mike Marshall hitting a 3-run homer (4). We would tack on 3 more in the 4^th. Right now, including the pitcher, there are 4 starters with sub .200 averages starting and our leading home run hitter wouldn't even crack the top 3 on most teams. John Franco made his first appearance of the season, allowing 2 hits in a scoreless 9^th.


5/21 7-1 L to the Expos
Rick Reuschel (5-2), an ex Dodger, put it to us again. We only managed 3 hits, and committed 3 errors that lead to Franco, who pitched the 9^th, to allow 4 unearned runs, on 4 hits. Jim Beattie pitched a couple scoreless innings and Jerry Reuss (1-1) was mildly effective over 5. Our only run came on a Franklin Stubbs HR, his 2^nd.


The good news is that reigning MVP, Alejandro Pena is only going to miss 2 weeks with some shoulder tendinitis. Considering all the other injuries, this is good news. Young prospect, Ken Howell, is called up. Although, his 8.44 ERA in AAA is less than inspiring.


5/22 9-6 W over the Expos
Valenzuela (5-2) got the win, but allowing 11 hits and 2 homers in 6 innings wasn't awesome. He's struggled quite a bit since his great first couple of games, but the offense got going and helped him out. Ever time LA opened the game up, Montreal closed it back up again. LA got a 2-run homer from Marshall in the 5^th (5) and a solo shot from Evans (6) in the 6^th. LA also drew 7 walks against David Palmer (1-3) who was pitched out in the 5^th. LA left 13 runners on, so it could have been a much bigger score and both teams combined for 5 errors. Both of LA's were by Frank White, who is NOT a natural third basemen. Ken Howell made his ML debut going 2 innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 1. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 11 save.


5/23 8-3 W over the Mets
Rick Rhoden (6-2) pitched another quality game today, but he didn't carry the team. Today, that was Mike Scioscia, the #2 hitter in the lineup. Scioscia went 3-4, with 3 runs and 3 RBI's. One of those hits was a solo shot in the 3^rd, his 4^th. Only holding a tight 1 run lead LA erupted for 4 in the 9^th. The big hit was Franklin Stubbs, 3-run home run. Roger McDowell threw 42 pitches and couldn't get out of the 9^th. Rookie, Rick Aguileria had to finish.


5/24 9-4 L to the Mets
This Denny/Gooden matchup looked like it should have been a pitchers dual. Gooden leads the league in pretty much everything right now. Denny wouldn't hold up his end of the bargain as the Mets touched him for 6 runs in 4.2 innings. Sid Bream put us up in the 4^th with his 4^th, but the Mets answered with 2. Then in the 5^th Scioscia answered with his 5^th to cut the lead to 1, but the Mets again got another 2 to increase the lead for good. Tony Phillips got the rare start and went 2-4 for LA.


5/26 3-1 (11) L to the Mets
A pitchers dual between Frank Tanana and Jay Tibbs. Tibbs shut the Dodgers out for 8 innings then gave way to Roger McDowell. Down 1-0 in the 9^th, with 2 out and runners at the corners, Frank White legged out an infield single that scored Franklin Stubbs to tie the game. John Franco pitched 2 scoreless, before Niedenefeur (1-3) served up a 2-run homer to Kevin Mitchell (9) that ended it.


5/27 5-2 W over the Mets
At least we managed a split to the Mets. Fernando picked up his 6^th win, going 8 and striking out 6. The Mets scored in the first and the 1-0 lead held the day until the 6^th when Valenzuela, who had singled, scored on a Scioscia single. The Mets tied it up again, but LA scored in the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th. Mike Scioscia, who went 2-4, pulled up with an injury after a double. Buck Martinez filled in, and then hit a 2-run homer (2) in the 9^th to cushion the lead. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 12^th save.


Good news on Scioscia. It's just some soreness in his groin, and the team expects that he can play through it for a couple of days. We really didn't need to lose his bat right now.


5/29 4-2 (13) L to the Phillies
We used to win these kinds of games. The Phillies went up 2-0 early off of Rick Rhoden, but LA tied it up with runs in the 3^rd and 4^th and the now rare HR from Roy Smalley (2) in the 3^rd. . It stayed like that through 9 with Rhoden going all 9. After it was turned over to the bullpens LA couldn't get anything going. Ultimately, it was 2 unearned runs, thanks to a Ken Howell (0-1) error, that put the Phillies in front. Even with LA turning 4 DP's in the game, fielding cost the game.


Former 6-time Gold Glove winning center fielder, Gary Maddox was claimed off of waivers from the Mariners. Tony Brewer was sent down to make room for him. It still looks like Stubbs will keep his job for now, but that .194 batting average might cost him. Maddox hasn't seen any real playing time since he started for the A's back in '83.


5/30 7-1 L to the Phillies
It started off good for us. Willie Randolph lead off the bottom of the first with his first homerun of the year. The top of the second was horrid for John Denny (3-4) though. He would walk 4 runners, twice with the bases loaded and then allowed another on a wild pitch. He settle down until the 7^th when Keith Moreland touched him for a 3-run homer, his 5^th. Yet again, our offense is non-existent as Kevin Gross (3-7) shut us down.


5/31 9-3 W over the Expos
Good news/bad news. Good news, the offense finally got something going, and against Reuschel no less. Plus, this was against the best team in the NL and a team that's had our number. Roy Smalley went 2-4, with 3 RBI's and he smashed 2 HR to give him 4 on the year. Sid Bream had a good game too. He was 3-4 with 2 RBI's and his 17^th double. Bad news. Tanana (3-2) pitched alright, but walked 6 in the win, and allowed 8 hits in 7 innings. Willie Randolph was hit by a pitch and had to leave the game. He's got a bruised elbow and will join everyone else on the DL. Utility player Ross Jones was called up to take his place. Sax will take over 2^nd while he's out.

[PilotMan]

May Recap


LA went 14-10 in May, one of our worst months in a long while. Going 4 games above .500 isn't a failure though. It may be good enough to win the division right if we can keep that up. As it stands right now, after 2 months, LA is tied for first place with the Reds, with a 26-20 record. That's pretty far from where we were last year at this time. The Expos are riding high with the best record in the NL with a 31-16 record. The White Sox lead all of baseball with a 30-14 record. The World Champion Blue Jays are also in first in the East at 27-19.


So we have some problems. Injuries are piling up and it's causing some problems. We've got depth, and that's helped. We've got depth in the rotation....but. We're used to leading the league in pitching. Thanks to the bullpen we're 3^rd. It's the starters, 6^th, that aren't performing up to par, and losing Eck for the season blows. LA is 3^rd in runs allowed and our defense is 4^th in the NL.


Speaking of defense, having Frank White at third, and losing Dwayne Murphy in center is bringing us down. Mike Scioscia has become a wrecking ball behind the plate. He's cutting down 46.2% of base stealers.


But let's get to the real issues with this team right now, and that's the offense. LA is 7^th in the NL in average. That's a far, far cry from being the #2 offensive team last year. Those rankings just roll right down, OBP, SLG, (both 6^th), runs scored (5^th), home runs (4^th). We are worst in the NL in steals, with 13 team steals.


Sid Bream is leading the team in avg, batting .304, followed by Evans and Scioscia, .280 and .272 respectively. Evans' 6 home runs lead the team. As does his 32 RBI's. Here's the most depressing thing about our power numbers. If we look at the league leaders in homers, it's Bob Brenly (SD) AND Ron Cey (PIT) leading the league with 11. Over in the AL, Greg Brock (CLE) is 5^th with 10. Someone has to break out for us, or we're just going to waste away.


Here's another thing to think about. Looking back on the Ron Kittle deal a couple years ago, that sent away Mariano Duncan and Ted Power? Well, Kittle has 336 AB and 19 HR while playing for LA, since 1983. Duncan has broken through to start at short for the White Sox, has 400 AB, and 5 HR, along with 39 SB's. Ted Power finished 3^rd for Reliver of the Year last year and is the closer for the Reds. He's 11-6 with 39 saves since the trade in 104 IP. I'm starting to think that maybe this trade won't go down as a good one, just judging from the lack of playing time for the slugger.

None of that is going to put the ball in play. We have starters that just aren't pulling the load.


Starting with Frank White. He's hitting .175 and the hot corner is more than he can handle. Next, Mike Marshall. His .652 OPS and 5 HR are projecting to an 18 HR season. His defense is ok, but not worth that. If Bream wasn't playing so well, you could make an argument to move him to first and start Kittle in left. Roy Smalley is hitting .199 with an OPS of .575. Only 3 more years of that mil+/year contract. Graig Nettles, who was supposed to bring his old self and power? Just looks old now. He's hurt, has 3 HR, a .192 avg and .596 OPS. It goes on and on down the list. Players who we need to make an impact and who are failing mightily.


Our best players have been the standard, Scioscia (defensively he's a stud), Randolph (hurt now, but still drives the O), and Evans (playing ok, but we really need more from him like last year. A 9 HR drop in production won't get us to the promised land, nor will a team whose power hitter leads with 21 go far.


No panicking yet. We're tied for first and that's with our best players playing somewhat poorly. June is going to see the return of a few players, if they can get healthy. We need to try and stay optimistic, but it's clear that this team isn't going to run away and hide like we did last year.

[PilotMan]

6/1 3-2 W over the Expos
Valenzuela (7-2) went 7.2 before giving way to Niedenfeur who pitched the last 4 outs for his 13^th save. Robin Yount lead off the game with his 2^nd homer of the year. LA was able to answer in the bottom of the 2^nd when Frank White knocked in 2 with a double. Both he and Bream were 2-4 in action. Young Expos prospect, Andres Galarraga hit his 2^nd career homer in the 8^th to cut the lead.


6/2 7-4 L to the Expos
Jim Beattie (0-2) got his first start of the year and it did not go well. He was spotted 4 runs as LA opened up in the bottom of the first. Roy Smalley, who has been on a little hot streak, went 1-3 with 2 RBI's. It all went wrong in the 5^th with Dawson smacked a 3-run homer to tie the game, and then later in the inning young infield prospect Mike Greenwell hit his first career homer. This was another 3-run homer. That put the Expos up for good. All 7 runs were pinned on Beattie over 5 innings.


6/3 8-5 L to the Mets
The Mets abused Rick Rhoden (6-3) to the tune of 16 baserunners over 5 innings. NY built up an 8-0 lead by the 6^th inning and we slowly whittled it down, all the way until we had the tying run at the plate in the 9^th inning. Frank White just couldn't get the hit we needed to stay in it. Steve Sax lead the offense going 3-5.


6/4 3-1 L to the Mets
And the losing streak stretches to 3. June isn't starting off so hot right now. It was another Denny/Gooden matchup, and this time it was a dual. Denny won the K battle 9 to 7 in 2 less innings of work, and when you add in the 5 that John Franco got, we really did, but it didn't matter when we couldn't score off of Doc. Gooden moved to 9-2, Denny to 3-5. Steve Sax had the lone RBI and Mike Scioscia had 2 hits to pace LA. LA did get something going in the 9^th when Scioscia singled and Evans walked. That put the winning run at the plate in Stubbs, but he grounded out to end the rally.


Alejandro Pena was activated off the DL and John Franco was sent back to AAA. Franco pitched in 6 games, 8 innings, and struck out 8. He'll fill the closer role in Albuquerque again.


6/5 7-0 L to the Mets
Boooooooo. Jay Tibbs owned us again. He came within an out of a shutout, and pushed his record to 5-2. Frank Tanana (3-3), again, didn't pitch past the 5^th, allowing 6 runs. The only bright side was Pena, fresh off the DL, threw 3 shutout innings. We managed only 4 hits, 1 extra base hit, a double, from Stubbs. Not too often we hit a 4 in a row skid, but here it is. LA has dropped to third in the West, 2.5 games back.


6/7 9-6 W over the Braves
The offense woke up today. LA opened up with 3 in the first and with Valenzuela on the mound we thought it was going to hold. However, in the 2^nd inning, Frank White made 3 throwing errors and 4 unearned runs crossed the plate. LA clawed back on a Roy Smalley HR in the 5^th, and in the 6^th Dwight Evans finally hit another, his 7^th. A three run shot that would be the winning margin. Valenzuela (8-2) only went 6, walked 5, but pitched well without White's help. Ken Howell pitched the final 2 for his first career save.


6/8 4-3 L to the Braves
Tough loss. Rhoden (6-4) started against rookie Zane Smith (2-5). Smith went 8 and was large and in charge for most of the game. Atlanta peppered Dodger pitching for 9 hits. Down 4-1, LA got one back in the 8^th, and in the 9^th Frank White lead off with a solo homer (2) to cut the lead to 1. LA would get runners on first and second before Steve Sax flew out to center to end it.


Adding insult to injury, Sid Fernandez threw a 1-hitter for Seattle, striking out 10.


6/9 6-1 W over the Braves
It looked like another anemic offensive start to the game with Pascual Perez taking a no-hitter into the 5^th. But Sid Bream lead off that inning with a game tying shot to right. His 5^th. Look at this sequence for how Atlanta scored their first run. Brad Komminsk singled to lead off. He stole 2^nd, took third on a Mike Marshall error, then scored on a flyout. That's been our season in a nutshell. Stubbs added his 4^th of the year, a monster 444ft line drive to right, scoring 2, that put LA up. Meanwhile John Denny (4-5) was pitching well. He went 8 strong before leaving and Niedenfuer came in to make sure we'd take the W.


Graig Nettles has returned from the DL and Ross Jones was optioned back to AAA. That should help defensively if nothing else. Neither he, nor Frank White, are lighting the world afire with the bat.


6/10 4-3 W over the Reds
We get our first look at the best team in the West and get an opportunity to run them down. Jeff Russell kept us in check for most of the game. Tanana started, but was forced out in the 7^th after his 10^th hit allowed and having surrendered 3 runs. We had a big scare in the 4^th when Dwight Evans pulled up lame after a hit and had to leave the game. More on his condition later. Top 8, down 3-1 Andre Thornton, off the bench, hit his 2^nd homer of the year, to cut the lead. In the 9^th the Reds Keefe Cato (2-2) tried to lock it down, but he walked Stubbs to lead it off, and then Mike Marshall hit a 1-2 pitch into the left field bleachers (6) to put us up. Jerry Reuss (2-1) got the win. Niedenfeur got his 14^th save.


Dwight Evans has a tight hamstring and he'll be out for about a week. He isn't on the DL right now.


6/11 6-4 L to the Reds
Man, Jim Beattie (0-3) is really struggling. He struck out 7 in 5 hard innings of work, but he allowed 5 runs too. Eddie Milner and Danny Tartabull destroyed us. They went back to back, Milner's was an inside the park job and he scored 4 runs. A big 4^th against Jack Morris (5-4) brought us back. Sid Bream was 2-2 with 2 RBI's and we got back within 1 thanks to Stubbs solo shot (5^th) in the 6th. The Reds got an insurance run and put us away in the 8^th.


6/12 6-5 W over the Reds
We take game 3 in come from behind fashion. Valenzuela struck out 9 over 7, but served up 2 homers, one to light hitting Len Matuszek and the other to youngster Kal Daniels. He left the game with it tied at 4. Despite LA's 13 hits, again, only 1 was for extra bases. In the top of the 9^th we faced off against Ted Power. Gary Maddox got a hit, Mike Marshall reached on a Nick Esasky error, to put the go ahead run on first. Smalley singled in Maddox and Mashall took third. Sid Bream then scored Marshall on a sac fly. Sid Bream and Roy Smalley both went 2-4 with 2 RBI's. Niedenfuer pitched a 1-2-3 9^th for his 15^th save. Steve Howe (1-1) got the win.


6/13 4-2 W over the Astros
Rhoden (7-4) allowed 1 hit over 8, but got into a little trouble in the 9^th. Niedenfeur had to come on and close it out for his 16^th save. Stubbs hit a solo shot (6) in the 2^nd and Marshall hit a 2-run homer in the 6^th (7).


Willie Randolph was activated off the DL. Tony Phillips was optioned to AAA to make room. Dwight Evans is expected to be in the lineup tomorrow, so the gangs getting back together again.


6/14 6-4 W over the Astros
Big day for the offense. Randolph took his rightful place at the top of the order, and Mike Scioscia was 4-5 with 2 RBI's hitting behind him. Mike Marshall hit #8 and we made Nolan Ryan's (6-4) really hard. Tanana (4-3) went 7 and Niedenfuer got the last 8 outs for his 17^th save.


Toby Harrah came off the DL and was sent to Albuquerque for rehab.


6/15 5-2 W over the Astros
LA pulls off the sweep. John Denny (5-5) cruised through 8 innings and Ken Howell finished for his 2^nd save. The Dodgers went up in the first and never looked back. In the 5^th we saw back to back home runs from Willie Randolph (2) and Mike Scioscia (6). Randolph ended up 2-4 on the day with 2 runs scored.

[PilotMan]

6/17 5-4 (11) W over the Padres
The Padres are the new leaders in the West and this is where the new season begins. Jimmy Key and Fernando Valenzuela went pitch for pitch and the score was knotted at 3 going into the 8^th when the oddest thing happened. San Diego reliever Henry Warner, a rookie, had come and and was batting. He took the Valenzuela pitch and put it in the left field seats for his first career hit and home run. That gave the Padres the lead until the bottom of the 9^th when Mike Scioscia singled home Steve Sax who had pinch hit and singled, to tie it up. In the 11^th Stubbs walked, stole 2^nd, then was singled home on a Ron Kittle, walk-off, pinch hit to end it.


6/18 3-0 L to the Padres
Jim Beattie (0-4) had his best start of the year, but it was Bob Ojeda that shut us down instead. Beattie went 8, struck out 4 and allowed the 3 runs. Stubbs had previously been 0-11 against Ojeda, went 2-3 for our only bright spot. This snaps our 5 game win streak.


6/19 11-2 W over the Padres
Rick Rhoden (8-4) came within 1 out of a complete game, but he wasn't the highlight of the game. The offense jumped all over Tandy Charley (6-3). Sid Bream went 3-4. Both Franklin Stubbs and Roy Smalley hit their 7^th homers. We've cut the Padres lead to 1.5 games.


6/20 4-3 L to the Astros
Stubbs (8) and Bream (6) hit solo homers, and LA had the tying run on third with 1 out in the 9^th. Don Aase struck out the side in the 9^th to shut down the rally. Stubbs was 2-3 in the game, raising his average to .252, from the Mendoza line where he had been residing. John Denny (5-6) took another hard loss, but even his 7 innings wasn't good enough for us.


6/22 10-7 W over the Astros
This was a lost game. By all rights, this game was over. The score at the middle of the 5^th was 7-0, Houston. Valenzuela didn't even make it out of the 5^th. This team hasn't had an explosion like this all year long. Pena (2-2) and Niedenfeur (18^th S) pitched the last 5 scoreless while we scored 3 in the 5^th, 4 in the 6^th and another 3 in the 7^th. Dwight Evans hit number 8, Bream (7) and Nettles (4) went back to back in the 6^th. Evans had 4 RBI's.


6/23 5-3 L to the Astros
Frank Tanana went 7, struck out 11, but suffered the gopher ball curse yet again. He left with the game tied, but it was Ken Howell (0-2), the rookie, who served up a 2-run homer to Dale Murphy that cost us the game. Dwight Evans hit his 9^th homer of the year. Mike Scioscia, who has had a great June, went 2-4 in the losing effort.


Toby Harrah has finished his rehab stint. He batted .077 in 4 games. Sax, who batted .281 in 27 games was optioned back to AAA.


6/24 4-1 L to the Astos
Rick Rhoden (8-5) allowed 11 hits in 7 innings, and Doyle Alexander (7-6) allowed 5. Mike Scioscia and Dwight Evans had 2 hits each, which means that the other 7 players combined for 2 hits. Soooo, not a whole lot of offense or even danger for Houston. Back to back losses again.


6/25 5-4 L to the Padres
The first game against the first place Padres just kept our losing streak going. Jim Beattie pitched 6 innings and left losing. LA rallied to let him off the hook, but it was former Dodger Bob Brenly that hurt us today. Among the league leaders in homers, he hit his 17^th HR off of Steve Howe (2-2) to put the Padres up in the 8^th inning. We got a runner on second before Gary Lucas shut us down the rest of the way.


6/26 4-3 W over the Padres
LA built up a 4-1 lead after 2 innings thanks in part to Stubbs and his 10^h homer of the year. He's our first to double digits, and he didn't start getting playing time until Murphy went down with the injury. Mike Marshall and Toby Harrah went 3-4 and Marshall had a couple RBI's. Denny (6-6) went 8 and Niedenfeur got in trouble in the 9^th, gave up a home run and had the tying run in scoring position, but hung on for his 19^th save.


6/27 3-2 L to the Padres
We end up dropping a game in the series, which is bad news when we had dropped a couple before that already. Valenzuela (8-3) started, and went into the 8^th, but stayed in too long. Mike Scioscia had another couple hits, and has been the most dangerous hitter on the team for June. The Dodger killer, Luis Salazar is hitting .210 on the year, and has been quiet so far, but managed another home run, off of Valenzuela, that ended up tying the game at 2.


6/28 7-5 L to the Braves
We've dropped 5 of our last 6 games now. At one point we were losing 7-0. To say we got close is good, but seriously, we didn't win, so who cares. Jose Rijo (2-7) pitched probably his best game of the year, keeping us off the board for 6 innings. Frank Tanana (4-4) got the start. When Jose Rijo, and his 1 career hit, hits a bases clearing triple in the 2^nd inning and Brad Komminsk, who is hitting .156 goes 3-5, with 3 RBI and a HR, and you commit 3 errors, you're not going to win. Such is the '85 Dodgers.


6/29 12-6 W over the Braves
Man, the balls were flying out of Chavez Ravine tonight! LA scored in each of the first 6 innings to go up 12-3. Roy Smalley hit #8. Mike Marshall hit #9 and Dwight Evans had his first multi homer game of the year as he went deep with #10 and #11. Ex- Dodger Candy Maldonado also hit #7 of the year. Almost all of that offense came against Jim Deshaies in his second career start. Rhoden goes to 9-5.


6/30 6-5 W over the Braves
Beattie pitched the best game of his season going 7 allowing 2 runs. In the 8^th Ken Howell served up a 3-run home run to Braves catcher Mike Bishop that put Atlanta up 5-2. Jim Acker came on to close things out. Leadoff triple from Toby Harrah, Smalley walked. Buck Martinez became out #1. Willie Randolph doubled home Harrah. Frank White became out #2, but Smalley scored to make it 5-4. Evans singled home Randolph to tie the game. A wild pitch moved over Evans. Acker was lifted for Brian Fisher who gave up the walk off single to Stubbs that scored Evans. Nice comeback. Niedenfeur gets the win to go to 2-3. Greg Nettles came out of the game after hitting a double. Word is that he's day to day with a groin strain.

[PilotMan]

June Recap


We finished 1 game above .500 for June with a 14-13 record. Even worse than our May record. We did suffer some really big injuries that have big holes in the rotation and lineup (Beattie for Eck, and Stubbs for Murphy), so that's disappointing. As we head toward the All-Star Break and trade deadline you have to wonder if there might be a move here or there.


I have some real concerns for this team long term. The farm system isn't very strong. Once you get past a couple of pitching prospects and Steve Sax, there's is nothing there. Our AAA team in Albuquerque is one of the worst. So the idea of trading away what we do have there for a run this year is either a last gasp or else we try with what we have to make the run.


Eckersley and Murphy are both still good on the healing front. They might be back in September. I have to hope that we're still in the hunt. The good news right now, looking at the race is that we're in 3^rd, 2 games back of the Reds. Our division is the weakest of all 4, so with our 40-33 record, we are still in this thing.


The Expos are 4.5 in front of the Pirates. The Blue Jays are 3 in front of the Yankees, and in the AL West, the Mariners (with young stud, Sid Fernandez) are out front by 3.5 on the Royals (with young stud Orel Hersheiser). Bitter much? Yep.


Speaking of the All Star Game, we have 4 guys who are third in voting in their categories. Scioscia, Bream, Murphy and Randolph. Randolph had the lead, but he's dropped behind Sandberg and Whitaker now. Murphy is out, so he won't make it for sure. Good chance for Neidenfeur to go again, he's among the leaders for relievers.


Our overall numbers show that we're good, but not great.


5^th in Runs, OBP, HR and Runs against. 6^th in average. Starters ERA is 7^th and our Bullpen is #1. Defense has seen a massive drop. We lead the league last year, now we're 9^th out of 12. How much of that is White at third for so long, and losing Murphy?


Our best performers in June were Willie Randolph (.339/.414/.452) and Mike Scioscia (.341/.406/.443). Franklin Stubbs was the best power hitter (.277/.324/.505). Meanwhile, it was an awful month for Dewey (.226/.363/.452) and Marshall (.243/.282/.379). Sid Bream also fell back to earth from his big May (.240/.295/.375).


John Denny was, without a doubt, the top starter for the month (3-2, 1.95 ERA, 1.05 WHIP). Everyone else was super average, except for Beattie. He was bad ( 0-3, 5.52 ERA, 1.65 WHIP). I have no idea why he's still in the rotation at this point, when we have Pena and Reuss or hell, even Milt Wilcox, any of them would be better options. I know he won 19 games last year with a 2.61 ERA, but it looks like we spent a shit load of money on a flash in the pan pitcher. We're never going to see that level of production from him.


July might make or break us. The offense has to find a new gear, Lasorda needs to get more from his pitching staff, and the front office needs to decide what direction this team is going in as we head to the deadline. After 3 straight 100+ win seasons, we're in real danger of missing out this year.

[PilotMan]

7/1 6-1 L to the Reds
We drop game 1 against the West leader. Jack Morris (8-5) went the distance and would have had the shutout if not for Mike Marshall hitting his 10^th of the year. It was our only bright spot in an otherwise dim game. Denny (6-7) took the loss in his worst performance in a month. Pena did pitch 3 good innings in relief. Maybe there's hope he'll get to the rotation sooner than later. Randolph had 2 hits.


7/2 2-1 L to the Reds
We came so very close, but we just couldn't get that single run. Charlie Liebrandt (6-2) outdualed Valenzuela (8-4). LA only had 3 hits, Toby Harrah had 2 of em. Ex Dodger, Dave Anderson, bagged a couple of hits to help make our day miserable. Ex Dodger, Ted Power, picked up his 18^th save. This is not how we wanted to start July.


7/3 9-4 W over the Cardinals
Rick Rhoden (10-5) was on but his control wasn't. He walked 6 against 4 hits 1 out shy of a complete game. The offense showed up today though, drawing 6 walks of our own and getting a couple of big hits in the 2^nd, when Roy Smalley hit a solo shot (9) early on, and Mike Marshall getting a grand slam (11) later on. That blew the game open at that point. We had 5 unearned runs. Both Randolph and Scioscia got on base 4 times in 5 plate appearances.


7/5 4-1 L to the Cardinals
If not for a Dwight Evans solo shot (12) in the first Dave LaPoint would have carried the shutout all the way. Our batters were off balance and wasted a really good outing by Frank Tanana, one of his best of the year. He gave way to Ken Howell (0-3), the rookie, and the Cards put some hits together and broke the tie. Evans went 2-4.


7/6 4-3 L to the Cardinals
LA took a 3-1 lead in the 5^th and John Denny (6-8) had been pitching pretty good, but it all fell apart in the 6^th. Control became an issue and a Terry Pendleton (3) home run put the Cardinals in the lead. The Cards bullpen kept us in check in the last innings. Dwight Evans went 1-1 with 3 walks.


7/7 2-1 W over the Cardinals
We had to count on Valenzuela (9-4) to play the stopper yet again. He went 8 and struck out 6. But once again run support was an issue. A solo home run from Nettles gives him 5 on the year, but we could barely get any more. Niededfeur pitched the 9^th for his 20^th save. Randolph, yet again, did his thing. 2-3, 2 walks and a run. Last year Fernando was getting 4.74 RS/gm, this year it's down to 3.67.


7/8 5-4 L to the Pirates
Jim Beattie (0-5). Sid Bream hit a grand slam off of a left handed pitcher. He's been batting .236 against southpaws, and his homer gave us a 4-3 lead. Beattie probably should have been yanked then, just to keep him from blowing it, but he wasn't and he did. Beattie is not even getting 2.5 RS/G this year. Last year with the Yankees, when he won 19 games, he got over 5. That's not his fault, but perhaps it explains why he looks so bad. Mike Marshall went 3-4. Ironically, Frank White, came within 5 feet of tying the game up in the 9^th, but ended up on second. It was Willie Randolph, our most reliable weapon, who made the last out.


7/8 10-4 W over the Pirates
We split the double header and this was over well before the end. Rick Rhoden (11-5), pitching on 3 days rest took a no-hitter to the 7^th. He was gassed when it ended, but it was Ron Cey with double, then thrown out going to third that broke it up. Milt Wilcox had some sketchy relief pitching, walking 4, and giving up 2 hits on 37 pitches in 1/3 of an inning. Roy Smalley hit his 10^th, a 2-run shot and Ron Kittle, getting a rare start went 2-4, and hit his first of the year. Randolph went 3-4 with 2 RBI's.


7/9 5-4 (10) W over the Pirates
Weird game. Jose DeLeon gassed out early against our picky lineup and the Pirates ended up emptying their bullpen. Tanana had a great outing, but Niededfeur (3-3) blew it allowing a game tying homer to Dan Gladden (2). In extras the Pirates, instead of sending out a tired starter turned to veteran outfielder Ron LeFlore. He got in trouble right away loading the bases with nobody out. LA squeaked 1 run home before he struck out Randolph and forced a double play to get out pf the inning. Ken Howell pitched the 10^th for his 3^rd save.


7/10 3-0 L to the Pirates
You'd think that going against a team whose bullpen is just exhausted, who starter is going on 3 days rest, even on the road, that we'd be able to score some runs! Mike Scott (11-5) allowed 2 hits over 7 innings and I thought that once we broke into the pen, we'd open up. Nope. Didn't happen. John Denny (6-9) served up 2 homers, and took the loss. Everyone sucks.


7/11 7-6 W over the Cubs
Stubbs hit a late home run (11) in the 9^th that looked like it was just icing. Valenzuela (10-4) struck out 7, but control issues plagued him again, he did go 2-3 at the plate too. Nettles went yard for #6. Niedenfeur came on in the 9^th and struck out the first batter, but left immediately with some kind of injury. Oh boy. Ken Howell came on (4 S)and served up a gopher ball that cut the lead to 1, making Stubbs HR in the 9^th the difference.


7/12 3-0 W over the Cubs
We need to play the Cubs more often. Rick Rhoden (12-5) pitched another great game, allowing 2 hits in 8 innings without walking anyone. The Cubs sent rookie David Cone (4-5) to the hill and he walked 8 in 5.1. 113 pitches. Gary Maddox got the start in RF and had a couple hits. Our only extra base hit was Scioscia. Rhoden had another bases loaded double. With no Niedenfeur, Lasorda turned to Howell again. He struck out 2 and picked up his 5^th save.


Blue Jays pitcher Danny Darwin threw a no-hitter against the Angels. He walked 3, struck out 8.


LA dropped a press release on Niedenfeur. He's got an elbow strain and is heading to the DL. He's going to be out until September at least. Damn. This is bad news. John Franco was recalled to take his place, and looks to be taking the closer role too.


7/13 13-9 W over the Cubs
This is the biggest WTF game of the year so far. The starters were Jim Beattie and Cubs prospect Mark Vaji, who was getting his second career start. Both sucked, neither figured in the end. Beattie allowed 9 in 5.2, and Vaji 5 in 5. Dodgers walked a total of 10 times and Beattie had a game score of 10. Good grief. LA went up 2-0, Cubs get it back go up 3-2. LA goes up 5-3. Cubs answer with 6 to make it 9-5. LA goes and scored 8 unanswered the next 2 innings. Just WTF? No homers, everyone except Marshall and Beattie got a hit. Wow.


7/14 12-5 W over the Cubs
Greg Nettles was the only starter to go hitless. Frank Tanana (5-4) finally got some run support, struck out 7, but wasn't exactly stellar. Mike Marshall and Sid Bream were the big boys in this one. They combined to go 5-10 with 2 HR and 8 RBI. That was Marshall's 12^th and Bream's 8^th. Even Tanana got into the act with a single and 2 RBI's. Mr Reliable went 3-5.

[PilotMan]

The 1985 All Star Teams are finalized. Here are the current and former Dodgers represented:


Sid Fernandez – SEA – 9-8, 2.75 ERA, 1 AS
Bobby Grich – TOR - .256, 5 HR, 7 AS
Fernando Valenzuela – LA – 10-4, 3.09 ERA, 5 AS
Alejandro Pena – LA – 2-2, 2.14 ERA, 2 AS
Tom Niedenfeur – LA - 3-3, 2.18 ERA, 20 S, 3AS
Mike Scioscia – LA - .292, 6 HR, 1 AS


The Dodgers aren't well represented. Well, they are, but not compared to the last couple years anyway. Niedenfeur is out, but the rest should get some time.


The AL blows the doors off the NL 11-5.


The AL has won the last 3 Series, and now they blow the NL out again in the AS game. Cal Ripken Jr. hit 2 HR's and took home the MVP.

[PilotMan]

7/18 2-1 (15) L to the Cardinals
Rick Rhoden lost a no hitter in the 9^th inning. Frank White had given LA a 1-0 lead with a pinch hit homer in the 8^th inning and Rhoden had his chance to get the no-no. Alas, it wasn't to be. The bullpen did great, but an Andre Thornton error in the 15^th set up the Cardinals winning run.


7/19 6-4 L to the Cardinals
Tanana (5-5) and the gopher ball. He served up 2 more in his 4 innings of work, but he also allowed 12 baserunners on. Pena came on, pitched 4.2, allowed 1 hit and struck out 7. Stubbs hit his 12^th in the first inning and the top 4 in the order produced 8 of our 9 hits. It was crickets after that.


7/20 5-3 L to the Cardinals
And as quickly as we rise, we fall. Three in a row by the Cards, at home, really crushes the momentum we were building. John Denny (6-10) didn't allow a hit until the 5^th inning, and had been staked to a 3-0 lead. The Cardinals beat you with speed and defense, most of the time. They took over in the 7^th, on a bad inning for Denny. Stubbs cracked another homer. This is his 13^th now, and along with Evans and Randolph went 2-4 in the game.


7/21 5-2 W over the Cardinals
Valenzuela (11-4), our top dog, showing why he's the top dog. No hits through the first 4 innings. Struck out the first 4 batters he faced (his opponent, John Stuper walked the first 3 he faced), ended up with 10 K's in the game. LA got three long balls, first was a solo shot by Scioscia (7), later in the inning Mike Marshall hit #13, and later in the 7^th, when the Cards had crept up, it was Valenzuela himself with his first long ball of the year, second for his career. John Franco got the final 5 outs for his first career save.


7/22 5-3 W over the Pirates
Jim Beattie with another start, and you know, aside from the 2-run homer he served up to Jim Dwyer in the first inning, this was one of his better starts. He struck out 6, but was still in trouble nearly every inning. He didn't get the win though, as we were down 3-1 when he left. In the 7^th Mike Scioscia tied the game with a 2-run double. Later on, after a slew of lefty/righty swaps by Lasorda, Andre Thornton hit a pinch hit, 2-run double that put us up for good. Reuss (4-2) got the win and Franco got the last 6 outs for his 2^nd save.


7/23 3-0 W over the Pirates
We still aren't racking up the runs, but we didn't need to today. Rick Rhoden (13-5) was in charge and threw the first complete game shutout in a long, long time. He allowed 5 hits, struck out 6. LA drew 7 walks to go with their 5 hits.


7/24 9-7 W over the Pirates
Ron Cey bashed 5 hits against Dodger pitching and Jose DeLeon was well on his way to his 14^th win in the 7^th inning. Mike Marshall his a completely useless solo shot (14) that looked pointless, because it made the score 7-3. Bottom of the 8^th though, things started to happen. Frank White reached on an error, followed by a Randolph single. Buck Martinez sac flied home White, for 1 out. Dwight Evans flew out for the second out. Stubbs hit a double to left-center that moved Randolph to third, and Mike Marshall smoked the ball to the left power alley for his 15^th and that tied it up. Guante came in to face Sid Bream, who singled. Then Graig Nettles pounded the first pitch into the right field corner for his second home run of the game (7,8) and that was the difference. Reuss (5-2) had come on in relief of Tanana got the win and Franco closed for his 3^rd save. If we could keep this up....




7/25 5-2 W over the Cubs
John Denny (7-10) went 8, striking out 8. He was helped along by Mike Marshall and the 3-run home run (16) off of David Cone (4-7) in the 3^rd inning. That was enough for us. Mike Scioscia went 3-4. Ken Howell pitched the 9^th for his 6^th save. The Cubs have dropped 12 straight. I'm sure they'll get one against us.


7/26 7-2 W over the Cubs
Good outing from Valenzuela (12-4) as he pitches deep and allows our bull pen to get more rest. He struck out 8, while the bats beat up Kurt Kepshire (4-9). LA broke out 5 runs in the 3^rd inning, with the big hit belonging to Graig Nettles, who continues his July hot streak, with his 9^th home run.


7/27 4-3 L to the Cubs
See?! This was a rematch of Jim Beattie and Mark Vaji (1-2). Vaji got his first career win, he pitched 8 good innings, and we should have been able to do better than that. Beattie, shockingly, shut out the Cubs through 5 innings, allowing only 2 hits. Then he left the game with discomfort. Jerry Reuss came on and gave up runs, John Franco (0-1) came in and he served up a home run to Tony Armas, who was pinch hitting, that put the Cubs up for good.


Beattie just has some shoulder tenderness and he's only expected to miss 1 start. Not sure if this is a good thing or not.


Huge blockbuster trade, but not for LA. The Yankees have sent pitchers Mario Soto and Mark Gardner to the Royals for the aging hot corner man, Mike Schmidt. I've mentioned before that the Yankees have pitching depth. This gives them another big bat in the middle of the lineup to go with Mattingly and Keith Hernandez. The Royals lose their DH and clean up hitter, but gain a big arm. They lost Bob Welch for the season earlier. Their problem is that they can't replace that power. Carney Lansford is expected to take over at DH. The Yankees are .5 game back, and the Royals are 2 back. This could work for both of them. Or just as easily, not.


7/28 13-6 L to the Cubs
Thank god that crappy games only count as 1 loss, because this one should have counted for 3. Forget that Randolph went 2-3 or that Scioscia went 2-5 and hit a 3-run homer (8). The Dodgers committed 5 errors, Rick Rhoden (13-6) was awful, Ken Howell gave up 5 runs in relief. It was bad. Happy it's only worth 1 loss.


7/29 4-2 L to the Giants
We have now dropped 3 straight to a couple of the worst teams in baseball. The season is slipping away. We were stopped today by our old friend Floyd Bannister (7-10). Tanana (5-6) gave up 3 in the first and we played behind from the start. Frank White just punished a ball to center for his 4^th HR of the year. Brought us to 1, but that's as close as we got.


7/30 7-6 L to the Giants
John Denny (7-11) went 5, allowed 5, struck out 6. The Giants had a 5-1 lead by the time Denny was out of there. In the 7^th Sid Bream hit #10, and went 2-3 in the game, to make it 5-2. The Giants would add 2 more in the 9^th as a result of 3 errors in 1 inning. It didn't seem like much at the time, but when LA scored 3 times, on walks, 3 in a row, it got close. The tying run got on third, but they just couldn't get home. Those errors cost us. Now we've dropped 4 straight.


7/31 8-7 (13) W over the Giants
LA tied the game in the bottom of the 9^th inning when Mike Marshall his a 2-1 pitch, with 2 outs, dep to left and out. It was his second home run of the game, and his 18^th of the year. Valenzuela had started, and struck out 8, but he didn't pitch great today. The Giants bullpen tired out as the innings wore on and it was Bob Stanley (0-6) who had to carry the load. He would end up walking Dwight Evans with the bases loaded to walk us off. Pena (3-2) pitched the last 2 for the win. Mike Marshall went 4-6, with 4 RBI's.

[PilotMan]

July Recap


We're seeing a running theme here so far. LA had a record of 15-13, 2 games above .500, and the best we've had this year is 3 above .500. This team just isn't good enough to be better than that. The good news is that we're only 4 games behind the Padres. The Reds and the Padres are going back in forth, and we just need a little run to close that gap. Our current record is 55-46.


The front office didn't make any moves, one way, or the other to the team. So these are the guys that have to get us to the end. All three, Niedenfeur, Murphy and Eck are going to be back at roughly the same time, the middle of September, when we'll have 2 weeks left of the season. Now, it'll be too late if we aren't in it by then, which means that we have to do it without them. I'm much less worried about the bullpen than I am the rotation. Our starters have been really up and down all year long. We need some real consistency, and we need it now.


Rick Rhoden was our pitcher of the Month for July. He had a 4-1 record with a 1.40 ERA. He allowed 24 hits in 45 innings and each month he's gotten better. Valenzuela is doing well too, but after than neither Denny, Tanana, nor Beattie is regularly good enough to help this team get where they need to go. I wish that Lasorda would move Pena or Reuss up. Both guys are doing really well this year and should have the chance over any of the others.


Batter of the month for July was Nettles. Finally, he finally did something. Nettles' avg for July was .282 and he hit 5 HR's. Marshall found his power stroke and crushed 9 homers to take the team lead, but that .299 OBP isn't doing us any favors.


Dwight Evans had the worst month of any for his time here. Evans batted .216 and only had 1 HR for the entire month.


The team scored more runs in July and have moved up to 3^rd in runs scored, but they are still a lowly 7^th in average. 2^nd in OBP and 3^rd in HR's. The pitching has gone the other way. 6^th in runs against, and 7^th in starter ERA. The bullpen is strong at #2 and defensively, we're in 8^th.


I thought that July might be the make or break month, but we're still hanging around. August is where it'll be.


In the National League, no surprise that the Expos have the best record in baseball. They're still in a race for the division though, as the Cardinals are only 3 back, and the Mets are 5.5 back. In the AL the Yankees and world champion Blue Jays are tied for first and the Red Sox are 5 back, but it's really going to come down to the Yankees or Jays, just like last year. In the West things have gotten nuts. There are 4 teams, all of which have a better record than both the Yankees and Jays. All of which are over .600 winning percentage. Right now it's Seattle in front, with the White Sox and Royals a half game back, then the 2-time winners, the Twins 1.5 back. Even the Angels, winners of 6 in a row, are only 4.5 back. Every race is still for the taking.

[PilotMan]

8/2 3-2 W over the Reds
LA got 2 hits in the first, and one of them was Mike Marshall crushing another homer to left (19). His 3-run shot put us in front early. We'd only get 2 hits the rest of the game. Rick Rhoden (14-6) scattered 8 hits over 6 innings and the bullpen took care of the rest. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 4^th save. Dwight Evans was hurt on a defensive play in the 3^rd inning. Kittle came on to replace him. No word yet on the nature of it.


8/3 5-4 W over the Reds
I find it amusing that the final out was John Franco striking out Dave Anderson to get his 5^th save of the year. As I'm sure you know, in real life, in 1985, they were on opposite teams in a similar situation at some point. Tanana gave up a run early again, so we were playing from a hole. Evans was out, with Kittle in right in his place. We got the lead in the 4^th on a Roy Smalley, 2-run HR. His 11^th. Then we tacked on 3 more in the 6^th when we hit a bases loaded double. Smalley finished 2-2 with 4 RBI's, a HR, and 2 walks. Tanana (6-6) spread 10 hits to get the win.


Dwight Evans has a torn thumb ligament and he's on the DL. The timetable for his return is early September. Ugh. August is going to be a long month. Tony Brewer (.309/9/33, in Albuquerque) is called up to take his spot. Mike Marshall is going to slide over to right with Kittle taking over in left. The good news is that Kittle can still give us that power punch, but he can't get on base like Evans can, and we lose another big defensive weapon. Evans has a cannon.


8/4 3-2 (10) L to the Reds
Danny Tartabull hit a walk off home run (15) off of Ken Howell (0-4) to end the game. I had a bad feeling when he stepped up too. The Reds had been close all game long, and their line up is dangerous throughout. Both John Denny and Tom Browning pitched well. Roy Smalley hit another homer, this was a solo home run (12) that put us in the lead for a very short while. He went 2-3 on the day. Gary Maddox had come on as a defensive substitute, and then had to leave after he got hurt making a catch. It didn't look too serious.


8/5 3-1 W over the Braves
LA bashed out 12 hits off of Bob Walk (8-13) and Bob McClure. Four players had 2 hits in the game. Fernando Valenzuela (13-4) walked 6 in 7 innings of work. It was sloppy, but it got the job done. John Franco got the final 8 outs for his 6^th save of the year.


8/6 13-6 L to the Braves
Jim Beattie (0-6) strikes again. Seven runs allowed in 3.2 innings of work. Jerry Reuss did some crappy relief work. Sid Bream went 2-3. Ex-Dodger Candy Maldonado hit his 12^th of the year, off of Beattie. The Braves 1-4 hitters went 11-18 with 8 runs scored, 5 SB's, 1HR and 10 RBI's. That is the fearsome lineup of Milt Thompson, Brad Komminsk, Brook Jacoby, and Candy Maldonado. Sad.


8/7 8-5 W over the Braves
Neither Rhoden nor Rijo made it out of the 5^th inning. By the end of the 3^rd inning Rijo had thrown 109 pitches and had walked 10 batters. Yet LA only got 6 runs out of that. LA walked 13 times in the game. Mike Scioscia went 3-5. Both Randolph and Bream walked 3 times. Then there was Marshall, 0-6 with 4 K's. Roy Smalley tacked on another run in the 8^th when he hit his 13^th homer of the year. Alejandro Pena (4-2) got the win. Ken Howell got the last 8 outs for his 7^th save.


8/8 1-0 W over the Reds
Frank Tanana (7-6) was amazing, unstoppable, dominant. He went 8 innings, allowed 2 hits, no walks, and struck out 8. LA only got 4 hits all game, 2 from Scioscia and 2 from Randolph. Stubbs had the only RBI. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 7^th save. Roy Smalley was knocked out of the game in the 2^nd inning after a collision at 2^nd base. His condition is under review.


8/9 7-0 W over the Reds
The Big Red Machine really is hitting this year, and we just shut them out over 18 innings. That's a very good sign. Even better it was with Tanana and Denny (8-11). Denny struck out 9 in 8.1 and Lasorda wouldn't let him finish even with the comfortable 7 run lead. LA also whacked 4 home runs that accounted for all the scoring. In first it was Randolph with his 3^rd. In the 2^nd it was Bream (11). In the 3^rd it was Marshall (20) and in the 6^th it was Buck Martinez (3). Both Randolph and Martinez went 3-4. We just got production from really unlikely places, but we'll take it!


With that win LA has moved back into 2^nd place. We're 7-3 in our last 10, we've won 3 in a row, and we're only 1.5 games behind the Padres. Lets GO DODGERS!


There's some bad news again though. Roy Smalley is done for the year. He ruptured a tendon in his finger in the collision and he's out at least 3 months. He hit .222 with 13 HR and 52 RBI's for us. His slash stats were .222/.310/.346. Not awesome. Tony Phillips (.296/.397/.468 in Albuquerque) was called up to replace him and should do a commendable job. Initially it looks like Lasorda plans to platoon Phillips against righties and White against lefties, even though Phillips is a switch hitter and White is god awful at short stop.


8/10 4-3 W over the Reds
Woohoo! Valenzuela should have gotten the win. He went 7.2 innings and struck out 13, and walked only 1. He was in control to say the least and he left with a 2 run lead. John Franco (1-1) blew his 2^nd save, but in the 9^th it was the Reds Greg Harris that started by walking the bases loaded, then after a strikeout, gave up the game winning single to Mike Scioscia. Scioscia was 3-5, with 2 Rbi's. One more game to go for the sweep.


8/11 6-4 W over the Reds
Jim Beattie is still winless. He had 2 bad innings where we fell behind, but otherwise was able to go 7. It was Frank White, only playing because Nettles had left with an injury earlier in the game after a collision with the 2^nd basemen trying to break up a double play, who popped a 3-run hr off of former Dodger pitcher Joe Beckwith, that gave us the lead. It was his 5^th. Scioscia had hit a 2-run HR earlier in the 8^th (9) to put us within striking distance. Ken Howell (1-4) got the win and Steve Howe got his first save of the year in the 9^th.


8/12 4-1 W over the Braves
LA jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Stubbs (14) HR in the 4^th. Atlanta answered, but LA came right back. They got an insurance run in the 7^th. Rhoden went 8, and got the win to run his record to 15-6, while Franco pitched the 9^th for his 8^th save.


Cincinnati shut out the Padres, and with LA on a 6 game win streak, we've move into a percentage point lead for first in the West!!!!! Fuck yeah! Get going guys!


8/13 6-3 L to the Braves
There goes the win streak. Frank Tanana (7-7) takes the loss in an ugly game. LA committed 4 errors and their first hit was a Stubbs solo shot (15). Toby Harrah started at third as Nettles injury is still undetermined and looks worse every day. High spot was Reuss going 3 innings and striking out 4 in relief.


8/14 3-2 L to the Braves
LA got no offense against Larry McWilliams (9-10). Denny (8-12) allowed 3 unearned runs thanks to his own error. LA got back into it with a 2-run homer from Sid Bream (12) with 2 out in the 9^th, but it was too little, too late.


The word on Nettles is a broken thumb and he's out for 6 weeks. That puts us right at the end of the regular season for his availability. That's now 6 starters on the DL long term. Sax was recalled from AAA (.324/.383/.439) to take his roster spot. Toby Harrah is planning on taking the starting job at third.


8/15 6-3 W over the Braves
Series split was the best we could hope for tonight. Valenzuela (14-4) got the W, but barely made it 6 innings before he gassed out. LA jumped all over Bob Walk (9-14) early and gave Fernando the support he needed. LA got a 3-4 show from Ron Kittle, and 2-3 from Stubbs with 2 doubles. Franco pitched a 1-2-3 9^th for his 9^th save.

[PilotMan]

8/16 5-1 W over the Giants
If you told me that the $5.5 million dollar man, Jim Beattie, would pitch until mid August before he finally got a win, I'd hang my head and cry. Well, this was it. He finally got that W to go to 1-6. He threw 7 innings of 4 hit ball and 0 runs allowed. Toby Harrah went 2-4 and hit his first HR of the year. Poor Jim Beattie, even with this Dodger team, he's only getting 2.92 runs of support per game (he got 5.16 in his 19 win season last year). But he's only thrown 4 quality starts in 12 chances, so that's not helping himself either.


8/17 7-2 W over the Giants
Rhoden ran his record to 16-6 with 7.2 solid innings of work. Kittle grabbed a couple hits, but it was Rhoden and his 4 RBI's (2-run triple and 2 sac flies) that powered the team. LA beat up on Mark Dempsey who walked 8 in 4 innings and allowed 7 hits.


8/18 6-3 W over the Giants
Tanana (8-7) had another rough first inning. He's been getting beat up early all season long. We fought back with 2 in the 5^th and in the 6^th Stubbs hit a grand slam (16) that put us up. Reuss and Franco each pitched 2 scoreless and Franco picked up his 10^th save.


8/19 11-7 (12) L to the Phillies
LA handed the ball over to Franco with a 7-5 lead in the 8^th that got away from us. In the 12^th Alejandro Pena (4-3) served up a walk off grand slam to Dave Clark. Highlights for the Dodgers were Kittle going deep with 2 solo shots (3). He's done almost nothing up to this point of the year. He also pimped his avg to .274 with a 4-5 game. Valenzuela started and pitched like crap.


8/20 6-5 (10) L to the Phillies
This fucking Phillies team is one of the worst in baseball and now they've taken 2 extra inning games from us. We came from down 5-1 in the 9^th to tie this only to see it lost in the 10^th. Ken Howell (1-5) took the loss. Willie Randolph knocked home the tying run in the 9^th with his 2^nd hit of the game. John Denny got the start today, and it should have been enough, but another couple errors lead to unearned runs and cost us.


LA is still only a game behind the Padres at the moment. The Reds have fallen 4.5 back. In the NL East, the Expos are 6.5 up on the Cardinals. The AL has good races too. In the East, it's the Yankees 1.5 up on the Champion Blue Jays, and 3.5 up on the Red Sox. In the West, it's a tie between the Royals and Mariners, with both the White Sox and Angels 2.5 back, the Twins are 5 back. We'er hearing rumors that both Dwight Evans and Dennis Eckersley could be activated within a week. Niedenfeur and Dwayne Murphy might not be far behind, but don't count your chickens just yet.


8/21 3-2 L to the Phillies
Ouch. Just ouch. Steve Balboni hit his 22^nd HR off of Rhoden (16-7) in the 3^rd and that gave the Phils a 3-0 lead. Stubbs hit #17 in the 4^th that brought us back within 1, but we never could put that last runner across the plate. Luckily, we're still only 1 game back of SD after dropping 3 in a row.


8/23 3-2 (12) W over the Expos
Bob Knepper took a no-hitter into the 7^th inning only to have Randolph break it up, then later tie the game when he scored. LA went up in the 11 when Randolph drove in the go ahead run, but once again, Franco couldn't nail the game down and it kept going. In the 12^th, Mike Scioscia hit a go ahead, solo homer, his 10^th off of Jeff Reardon (5-2) to go on top again, and Franco closed out the 12^th for the win (2-1).


8/24 4-2 L to the Expos
LA struck first on a Toby Harrah HR (2), but the Expos would have success against Jim Beattie early. A hour plus long rain delay cost both teams starters though, and LA tied the game back up in the 4^th. The Expos had more success against Jerry Reuss (5-3) picking up runs in the 7^th and 8^th. LA brought the tying run to the plate in the 9^th, but it was no good.


8/25 3-2 L to the Expos
Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Valenzuela went 8 strong and had only allowed 2 hits, striking out 10, until Mike Greenwell tied the game with a 2-run homer in the 8^th. Then came the 9^th. After we failed to score it was on Ken Howell (1-6). He gave up a leadoff hit, then Raines stole 2^nd, so he walked the next one. Raines stole third, so Howell walked the next one to load the bases, then he walked in Raines. Not the most glorious ending to a game.


8/26 3-0 L to the Mets
Good pitchers dual between John Denny (8-13) and Ron Darling. Both pitchers went 0's until the 8^th inning. Darling got pulled and Lasorda left Denny out there to allow back to back, 2-out singles, then a 3-run bomb to Strawberry (32) and that was that. Offensive highlight of the day? Sid Bream walked 4 times. That's it. John Denny is getting 2.46 RS/G this season. That's even worse than Beattie.


8/27 1-0 L to the Mets
The Mets are winners of 8 in a row right now, and are trying to climb back into the race in the East. We've dropped 4 straight, and haven't scored a run in over 20 innings and over 8 hours. Rick Rhoden (16-8) and Walt Terrell (12-12) went 0's again for 7 full innings. In the 8^th Dykstra lead off with a single, stole second and scored on a single by Bobby Bonilla. Dodgers offensive highlight? Ron Kittle had 2 singles. Wooowooo.


The first bit of good news is trickling out of Dodgertown. Eckersley, after some enough successful side throwing sessions was activated and sent to Albuquerque for rehab. We need him back ASAP. Evans and Neidenfeur are both expected back very soon.


8/29 5-1 W over the Phillies
Both teams come in with 4 game losing streaks. LA is back home again after a rough finish to the road trip. LA breaks the scoring drought in the first inning when Stubbs drills a 2-run homer into the right field seats (18). The rest of the scoring came on a Toby Harrah 3-run home run to left-center (3). Frank Tanana (9-7) went 8 and didn't allow that killer first inning run either.


8/30 5-1 W over the Phillies
Fernando (15-4) has the best game of the year. He goes the distance, allows 3 hits, 1 walk, and strikes out 15. We didn't need much offense but we did get another big fly from Toby Harrah (4). This one a 2-run shot in the 7^th off of Ken Dixon (8-13). Valenzuela struck out the side in the 3^rd, 6^th and 7^th innings. Had a streak of 7 in a row at one point and struck out the last 2 guys to end the game. Straight dominance. His performance overshadowed another sick show from Gooden who threw another 4-hit shutout (6 on the year) and got 14 K's. It goes down as the #2 overall pitching performance of 1985 behind a Bret Saberhagen 1-hitter, but ahead of the Danny Darwin no-hitter. Between Gooden and Valenzuela they have 7 of the top 12 in all of baseball. Wow!


Eckersley went 8 innings for the win in his rehab start, striking out 7. Dwight Evans was activated and Tony Brewer was optioned to make room. Evans' return pushes Marshall to left and Kittle out of a starting job.


8/31 6-1 W over the Phillies
Always love to beat up on a struggling team. John Denny (9-13) went 6.2 innings of shut out ball before giving way, and Dwight Evans made his return known. His first at bat he tripled then scored on a Mike Marshall 2-run homer (21). Later he doubled. Frank White added 3 more with his 6^th in the 5^th. We get 1 more game against the Phills, go sweep!

[PilotMan]

August Recap


No question, that August was the best month for Dodger baseball this year. The team put together a 17-11 record to push our overall record to 72-57. We started the month 4 behind the Padres, and finish it .5 games in first place. So August was make or break, and it made us. We are still in this thing!


The returns of Evans, Neidenfeur, Eckersley and Murphy should be a very good thing. Our bullpen has managed very well without our big closer. The emergence of John Franco, even with his 4 blown saves, has been a stabilizing force. Kittle wasn't the force that we hoped he would be, so seeing Evans back in the lineup makes me happy.


The real reason we had a good month was pitching. Pitcher of the month was seriously Frank Tanana. He went 4-1 with a 2.13 ERA in 6 starts. A season best 0.99 WHIP, and 34 K's in 42 IP. John Denny was the other good one. He suffered from no support to a 2-2 record, but his 1.40 ERA was best of the best, as was his 0.96 WHIP.


There's so little good news from our lineups. The top hitter was actually hitters. No surprise it was between Scioscia (.316/.398/.429) and Randolph (.304/.454/.348). Stubbs lead the team with 5 HR, but guys like Bream (.186/.364/.314), Marshall (.180/.212/.288) and Stubbs (.216/.266/.431) really brought us down. Like I said, we really needed Evans back, and hopefully, Murphy will be close behind.


With pitching staff finding it's groove, the team is 2^nd or 3^rd in most pitching stats in the NL. Tops in strikeouts, but a god awful 7^th in defense. Seeing Frank White at short or third makes me cringe every time. Stubbs in center hasn't been great either.


On offense, the team is down to 9^th in team batting. Meanwhile, our team OBP, is 4^th in the league. We do have some patient hitters. We also have some power, as we are 3^rd in the NL in HR's, with 122, but 8^th in extra base hits.


So, the moral of the story with this team is that we really need our pitching to keep pulling us along. The offense, if it comes, will win us games, but in order for this team to go far, the pitching has to be strong. Whenever Eck comes back, that will really solifify our rotation. Beattie should go back to the pen and Tanana or Denny slide down to the #5 slot.


September is here. That means roster expansion. The team made 3 three moves overall. The only pitcher who was called up was Kelly Downs. Downs (0-1, 3.65 ERA, 12.1IP in AAA) tore his rotator cuff in his first game and just came back last week. The other players were OF Tony Brewer (.429/.429/.571 in 17 games with LA) who was just sent down 3 days ago, and IF Ross Jones (0-1 in 4 games in LA).


The rest of the league is embroiled in battles too. While we sit .5 game up on the Padres in the West, the Reds are lingering just 3 back. In the East, The Expos are solidly up 8 games over the surging Mets, who have won 11 straight. The Cards have dropped to 10 back.


In the AL West, it has been a 5 horse race, but it's getting closer to a 3 horse, as both the Angels and Twins find themselves 5 games back. Only 1 game separates the Royals, Mariners and White Sox.


And in the East, the defending champs, Toronto, are 3 games behind the Yankees. The Red Sox are now 6.5 back. In a week or so, the playoff probabilities start to come out. We have to get some W's and keep this winning way going.

[PilotMan]

9/1 5-0 W over the Phillies
We sweep and outscore the Phillies 21-3 in the 4 games. Rick Rhoden (17-8) throws 8 scoreless and Ken Howell finished. The big swing was Franklin Stubbs 19^th HR of the year. This was a 3-run shot in the 5^th off of Charles Hudson (0-4). That gave us the breathing room we needed to get the W. Scioscia, Randolph and Bream all added 2 hits, and Kittle had a pinch hit, 2-rbi single.


Niedenfeur was activated and sent to Albuquerque for rehab.


9/2 3-1 L to the Expos
Jim Beattie (1-7) went 8 and pitched well except for the 1 bad inning. Sid Bream hit a solo shot, #13, for our only run.


9/3 4-3 (10) W over the Expos
Willie Randolph went 3-3, scored 3 times, walked twice. He also scored the winning run when he tried to steal third, then went home on a throwing error. Dwight Evans hit his first dinger since his return. That was his 13^th on the year. Tanana pitched great, but John Franco blew his 5^th save when the Expos tied it up in the 8^th. Ken Howell (2-6) got the win instead.


It doesn't look like LA is going to call up Sparky Lyle. At 41, he's been playing in Albuquerque this year. In 17 games, he's thrown just under 30 innings of work, and has a 2.43 ERA.


9/4 4-3 (12) L to the Expos
Tight series, but another loss. Ugh. Wasted good start by Fernando. Tony Phillips hit his first HR of the year in the 8^th to tie the game, then Dewey threw a runner out at home to end the 9^th. Stubbs hit his 20^th HR of the year earlier. Only the 2^nd Dodger player with 20 HR's. Still, Ken Howell (2-7) couldn't keep the Expos from taking the lead. The Candyman shut us down in the bottom half easily for his 3^rd save of the year.


9/5 2-1 W over the Mets
Rhoden (18-8) and Darling (12-10) in another pitchers dual. Dewey got us on the board in the first with a solo shot, his 14^th. LA put another up in the 2^nd, then Rhoden took care of the rest. Scioscia went 2-2 and Steve Howe pitched the 9^th for his 2^nd save.


9/6 4-1 W over the Mets
Time to cool off these Mets. Mike Scioscia tied the game in the 5^th with a solo-homer, and even John Denny got in the action with an RBI single later on. Denny (10-13) kept his August run going going 7.2 allowing 1 run. John Franco got the last 4 outs for his 11^th save.


Niedenfeur got 1.1 innings and a save in a night of work in Albuquerque. After the game, and the good result he was called up to the main roster. is expected to take over the closer role from Franco, with Franco moving to the set up role. Eckersley went another 7.2 innings the night before, to less success than he had previously, but he still picked up the win. He remains in Albuquerque.


9/7 10-0 L to the Mets
Jay Tibbs (13-8) pitched a complete game, 2-hit, shut out. The Mets scored in each of the first 5 innings. Strawberry hit 2 home runs. Mitchell added another. The Mets had 7 extra base hits in total. Kelly Downs saw his first game action of the year. It didn't go well for him. Alejandro Pena struck out 5 in 2.2 innings of work.


Dave Dravecky pitched the game of the day. He threw 8 innings of no-hit ball, but allowed an unearned run in the 3^rd. The Padres couldn't get a run and he was pinch hit for in the 9^th. The Padres went on to lose 2-0 on 1 hit, a Pedro Guerrero home run (13) in the 9^th.


Eckersely was called up to the main club last night. Right now, he's slotted in as the #5 with Jim Beattie heading to the bull pen. Dwayne Murphy also was activated from the DL and sent to Albuquerque for rehab.


The Yankees have opened up a 3.5 game lead on the Blue Jays. The Royals are 2.5 up on the M's and 4.5 on the White Sox. The Twins and Angels are nearly out of it. The Expos are red hot, and have a 9 game lead on the Mets and 9.5 on the Cardinals. They are a 99% probability to clinch the East. LA is riding in first a scant 1.5 game lead on the Padres and 4 up on the Reds. First is first though.


9/10 5-3 W over the Braves
Fernando Valenzuela (16-4) struck out 10 in 8 shut out innings. Tom Niedenfeur made his first appearance since his injury and allowed 3 hits, a walk and 3 unearned runs, courtesy of a Tony Phillips error. LA got a 2-4 game from Mike Marshall and drew 5 walks on starter Jose Rijo (4-16).


9/11 5-2 L to the Braves
Rick Rhoden (18-9) was alright, but not good enough. Larry McWilliams (10-14) was in charge of the game with his only real mistake being a pitch to Mike Marshall that he took out of the park for his 22^nd home run of the year. Dwight Evans left the game early in the 8^th. No work on why he was removed.


Freaking Dwight Evans strained an oblique on a defensive play. He's back on the DL. Fuck.


9/12 6-5 L to the Braves
Losing to a bad team isn't going to get this done. John Denny (10-14) pitched like shit, although he did strike out 6 in 5.2 innings. Frank White hit his 7^th homer of the season in the losing effort. LA brought the tying run all the way to 2^nd base before the final out was made.


Keeping an eye on Dwayne Murphy in AAA. He's 1-15 in his first 4 games in rehab.


9/13 13-7 W over the Braves
Frank Tanana (10-8) missed the extra point, allowed 6 in 5 innings, and still got the win. LA hammered 16 hits and 5 home runs. Tony Phillips started the game off with his 2^nd home run of the year. Both Mike Scioscia and Franklin Stubbs cracked 2, count 'em 2 homers each. That's 13 for our catcher and 22 for our center fielder. Bream, Randolph and Stubbs had 3 hits each. Stubbs knocked in 6. I wish we could have banked some of this offense for when we needed it.


9/14 8-7 (11) L to the Reds
This game was back and forth all throughout, but lets skip to the bottom of the 8^th when a bad performance from Niedenfeur blew his first save since coming back. Jose Canseco plopped a 2-run shot to put the Reds in front. Frank White tied it back up in the 9^th with his 8^th. He was 4-5 in the best game of his year so far. LA scored again in the 10^th, but Ken Howell (2-8) blew a save when Dave Kingman hit a pinch hit homer to tie it again. The Reds took it home in the 11^th thanks to a single by former Dodger prospect Dave Anderson. Ron Kittle hit his 4^th earlier, then he left with an injury later. WTF? Brewer finished the game in left. Now we need Murphy back.


9/15 7-4 (10) W over the Reds
John Franco (3-1) blew his 6^th save of the year, but came back after Stubbs hit his 2^nd home run of the game and 24^th of the year. This was a 3-run shot that gave us the win. Franco came back and struck out the side in the 10^th. Both Valenzuela and Jack Morris went deep, but neither factored in the final decision.

[PilotMan]

9/16 2-1 L to the Padres
We needed to win so this is a tough loss. It tightens up the division. They've had our number all year long. Rick Rhoden (18-10) went 7 strong, but he was bested by Bob Ojeda (13-11) who went 1 better. Mike Marshall homered in the 7^th to tie the game up, his 23^rd of the year. He also had 2 of the team's 5 hits. We're a game up on the Padres right now.


Bad news Dodger fans. Slugger Ron Kittle is down with a shoulder injury. He's most likely done for the year. He finishes with 4 HR and a slash line of .257/.324/.375 in 152 AB. Not really what we were hoping for in the production department. But losing him takes away that depth that we had been resting on. Prospect Ralph Bryant was called up to take his place on the roster. Bryant has steadily moved up the system and has hit 24 HR in '82 in Class A ball and 26 in '83 in AA. But since then has only hit 29 between AA and AAA the last 2 years. He played sparingly this year in only 39 games, where he batted .408, hit 8 HR and 24 RBI in 98 AB. He can play all three outfield positions, but his star as a high prospect has faded considerably. Meanwhile we wait for Dwayne Murphy who is hitting .143 in Albuquerque, but does have 3 HR in 8 games.


9/17 4-2 W over the Padres
John Denny (11-14) was on form and got player of the game with 7.1 innings of work, but 11 baserunners allowed though. Niedenfuer was on form as well, getting 5 outs, 2 K's and his 21^st save. Marshall got a couple RBI's as the Dodgers took 6 free passes on Padre pitching. Now the bad news. Willie Randolph, the guy who has carried our team was hit by a pitch in the 8^th inning and had to leave the game.


Good news on Randolph. He's got a bruised knee, and is listed as day to day for a couple. I'm sure that Sax can fill in, but I've grown rather fond of both his fielding and his ability to get on base. Besides, Lasorda has been batting him 3^rd lately and I think that's been helpful to our overall run production.


Odd random note: Mark “The Bird” Fidrych was signed by LA in May, is only 31, and has been toiling in A ball Bakersfield all year, and has been just plain awful this year. He hasn't pitched in the Majors since 1980 with the Tigers. On the year he is 3-9, in 17 games, with a 9.08 ERA, a 2.29 WHIP and a 20.8 BR/9 ratio. Woof.


The Yankees dropped 3 in a row to the Blue Jays and now only lead by .5. It's nearly a coin flip, but the Yankees are still slightly favored.


The team moved IF/C Scotti Madision (.259/.332/.406 in AAA) to the main roster.


9/18 9-2 L to the Astros
Dodger pitching served up 17 hits, and 6 walks. Tanana (10-9) gave up runs in each of the first 4 innings before he was lifted. Randolph had a 2 hit day and Kelly Downs threw 3 scoreless innings in relief. You couldn't say that about the appearance Jim Beattie made. He allowed 8 baserunners and 3 runs in 2 innings of mop up.


Dwayne Murphy has been called back from his rehab. He batted .143 in 10 games with 3 HR. He will start in CF with Stubbs moving over to left. Good to have him back. Let's hope he finds his bat again.


9/19 8-0 W over the Astros
Eck (5-1) was in fine form tonight! 7 2/3 innings and 3 hits allowed, no runs. LA also welcomed back Dwayne Murphy who made his presence known in the 4^th when he broke the game open with a little grand slam. It was his 5^th. Mike Scioscia follwed with his 14^th and later Mike Marshall added number 24. It was close to the perfect game for Dodger fans.


The Expos magic number is down to 8 and every other race is separated by 1 game.


There are 16 games to play. Graig Nettles is scheduled to be back before we're all said and done.


9/20 5-3 W over the Giants
Valenzuela gets his 17^th win of the year in another 10 strike out effort. He did serve up a big 3-run homer to Chili Davis (2), but other that that he was solid. Niedenfeur got the final 4 outs for his 22^nd save. LA got the lead early on a 3-run home run from Stubbs (26). Randolph added another with his 5^th in the 6^th.


9/21 3-2 L to the Giants
LA couldn't get anything done against the Giants starter Jeff Stember, whose numbers on the year improved to 7-18 with a 5.54 ERA. Rhoden (18-11) went the distance and struck out 8 enroute to his loss. LA brought the tying run all the way to 2^nd after Stubbs doubled in 2, but Marshall struck out to end the rally. The Padres fell at home to the Braves so we stay 2 up with a magic number of 13.


9/22 4-3 W over the Giants
These wins over a 100+ loss team aren't very convincing. Mike Marshall was 1-2 with a couple RBI's and the team drew 7 walks off of Giant starter Craig Swan (1-16). John Denny went 8 innings and got the win to move to 12-14. Niedenfeur pitched another shakey 9^th. He allowed 3 hits and error by Ralph Bryant, who had come on as a defensive sub, helped the Giants pull within 1 and put the tying run in scoring position. SS Randy Kutcher knocked a single to left, and pinch runner Ivan DeJesus tried to score the tying run, but a great throw by Stubbs caught him at the plate to end it. Both the Padres and Reds won to keep pace. Magic number drops to 12.


The Blue Jays have pushed past the slumping Yankees and now lead the AL East by 2 games. Royals and M's both still just a game apart. Expos magic number down to 6.


9/23 6-4 L to the Astros
Frank Tanana (10-10) allowed 3 gopher balls, lost the lead or tie 3 times, and just generally was unreliable. Tony Brewer got the start in left and went 2-3 in addition to hitting his first career home run. The ball was traded for an autographed Valenzuela ball, but at least he got it back. Barry Larkin single handedly killed us. The rookie hit a triple in the first, then a homer (10) in the third, he doubled in the 5^th, and when he came up in the 7^th needing a single for the cycle, he hit another triple. He had 12 total bases. The Padres pick up the win and move to within a game.


9/24 5-2 L to the Astros
Eckersley drops to 5-2 surrendering 8 hits in 6.2 innings of work . A big homerun by Larry Parrish in the 7^th broke the game open and put us on the back foot. Ken Howell had another poor game in relief. Mike Scioscia went 3-3 in the losing effort. The Padres win again to pull into a tie for first.


Nettles was activated and sent on a rehab assignment.


9/25 5-2 L to the Astros
Damn. Three in a row to the lowly Astros. Tough start to the end of the season. Valenzuela (17-5) was not on his game today. The Astros beat him up for 9 hits in 6 innings. Sid Bream was the man of the match for the Dodgers. He smacked 2 solo homers to bring his total to 15 on the year. He added a single and 2 walks. Too bad we couldn't build on that. Padres lose too, but the Reds win to climb to .5 game back. Magic number is at 11.


We have 10 games left, all at home. The percentages still favor us, but they favor the Reds over the Padres. We play 2 against the Padres and 3 against the Reds. The rest are against the Braves and Giants. Gotta win those matchups, or we're done for.


Reds win on an off day and now it's a 3-way tie in the West. Ten to play, it's down to all or nothing.


9/27 10-5 W over the Giants
Had to get back to our winning ways by beating on the lowly Giants. We had 10-2 lead at one point and John Franco served up 2 homers that cut the lead down. Niedenfuer came on to finish, but he wasn't perfect either, but at least he got it done. Rhoden wins his 19^th, while Jeff Stember loses his 19^th. Rhoden went 2-3 with 3 RBI's, one a bases clearing double. He had 2 doubles in the game. Marshall, Stubbs and Bream all had 2 hits. The Padres lose in the bottom of the 9^th to the Braves and the Reds win in extras over the Astros. Magic number is 10.


9/28 7-2 W over the Giants
LA went deep 4 times with Marshall starting us off in the 4^th with a 2-run (25). Stubbs followed in the 5^th with a 2-run (27). Scioscia hit number 15 right after to go back to back. And in the 6^th it was Bream with number 16. Denny (13-14) walked 6 in 6 innings and got lucky a fair number of times. Like in the first when back to back errors by Frank White put guys on 2^nd and 3^rd with no out, and we got out of it for free. Marshall went 3-4 with 3 RBI's. Both the Reds and Padres won to keep pace. Magic number falls to 9.


9/29 3-1 L to the Giants
Eck got little help today. We met our old friend Floyd Bannister, on the verge of losing 20 games, and he held us to 1 hit through 7. He allowed 2 through 8. Bob Stanley came on and Dwayne Murphy took him deep (6). Too bad we didn't have a couple on for it. Both the Reds and Padres won. That puts us down a game to the Reds. Magic number falls to 7.


9/30 11-5 W over the Padres
The offense lit up today, just when we needed it. LA hit 2 home runs, both coming off the bat of Mike Marshall. Marshall finished 4-5, homers 26 and 27, and 6 RBI's. Dwayne Murphy went 3-5 with 3 RBI of his own. Valenzuela (18-5) was the beneficiary of the offense and he didn't have his best game, allowing 5 runs in 7 innings. Niedenfeur got the last 8 outs for his 24^th save. Toby Harrah left the game after a collision at third. Ross Jones took his place.

[PilotMan]

September Recap


This month was a hard one. We stayed in the hunt, but we didn't separate ourselves and time is running out. The team was only 14-13, bringing our record to 86-70. We are 1 game behind the Reds, and 1 game ahead of the Padres. Losing Dwight Evans, just when every one was starting to come together didn't help us and the pitching came back to earth too.


Our offense is sad. Team batting average is now 10^th in the NL at .246 and hits are there too. We are 2^nd in the NL in homers though, with 158. Even OBP dropped to 6^th. So while our pitching dropped off, our hitting did too. The team ERA is still 2^nd in the NL, and starters are 3^rd, we're 4^th in runs allowed, if we can't get the runs in we're doomed.


The pitcher of the month for September was Rick Rhoden. Rhoden was only 3-3, but his 2.45 ERA was the best among all the starters. Tanana, as if it's no surprise, was no question, the worst. His month was so bad, that people were pining for the days of Jim Beattie starts. Tanana went 1-3 with a 9.12 ERA in 25.2 innings of work over 5 starts. His 15.8 BR/9 was also worst.


The top hitter for the month was Franklin Stubbs. Stubbs rebounded from a poor August to hit .298/.405/.670. He pounded 9 HR's, his best month of the year. Mike Marshall also came around batting .303/.305/.545 and he hit 6 of his own. Dwayne Murphy came back and hit 5 HR's too, but his .197 AVG didn't produce like we would have hoped. Randolph had a solid month too, but he lacks the power to be a real game changer like either Stubbs or Marshall.


Dwight Evans should be back within a week, pending any sort of rehab assignment. However, we are still down a game. There are 3 games before the Reds series, but we can't count out the Padres either. If we drop 2 against the Reds it's going to be over. The Reds have won 7 straight and 9 of the their last 10. We have to keep pace.

Toby Harrah has a severe sprained ankle. He's done for the year. Graig Nettles was immediately recalled and will start at 3^rd.



The Expos was won the East. They will eclipse the 100 win plateau for yet another year. The Mets are in 2^nd and the Cards in third.


In the AL East, the Blue Jays, who at one time looked to be on the way out, and unable to defend are down to a number of 4. Winners of 9/10 they are 3 games ahead of the Yankees. It's not over yet, but the Jays will clinch 9/10 times.


The West is nearly settled now too. It's the Royals that have separated from the pack. Even though the M's are 2 back, the Royals have all 6 of the remaining games at home, while the M's are on the road. The Angels have 90 wins, 4 more than us, and they are not even going to sniff the post-season.


So who is the worst? It's the Giants. Losers of 107 games they are 38 games behind the Reds. The Indians, Brewers, A's and Rangers are all going to hit the 100 loss mark this year too. That's some bad baseball.


Even if we make the playoffs we stand next to no chance to do anything this year. Hopes are very low, and that's IF we win the division.


Six games remain.

[PilotMan]

10/1 2-1 (10) W over the Padres
LA lined up 6 lefties against southpaw Bob Ojeda. Mike Scioscia hit a triple in the first came home to take the lead early. Frank Tanana, coming off of the worst month of his career pulled it together and dominated to allow 2 hits over 8 innings, while striking out 5. The Padres did tie the game in the 4^th, and in the 9^th, Niedenfeur came on but got into trouble right away. With 1 out Gwynn singled, stole 2^nd and took 3^rd on a Scioscia throwing error. He got Bob Brenly to ground out weakly back to the pitcher. He walked Kruk, then struck our former Dodger prospect RJ Reynolds to keep the game tied. Bottom of the 10^th Stubbs took us home with a 407ft shot over the center field fence (28).


The Reds destroyed the Giants 14-1 to win their 8^th straight. The Giants shortstop Dave Concepcion got his 2000^th hit in the game. The magic number is down to 5. The Padres are nearly eliminated from the race.




10/2 6-1 L to the Braves
Another lefty Zane Smith (8-15) handled us with ease. Smith went 7 and was always in command. He lowered his ERA to 5.46. Damn. I mean, it's not like we shouldn't have beat him up. LA just doesn't have a good lineup against lefties at all. Graig Nettles. Fuck this guy. I hope he never plays here again. He committed 4 errors in the game today that lead to 4 unearned runs. Unreal. Rhoden (19-12) walked 5 to help his cause. Sid Bream hit an RBI triple. Wooowooo.


Tandy Charley (12-12) shut out the Reds to break their win streak. Magic number is 4. Reds up 1 on us, 2 on the Padres.


10/3 1-0 L to the Braves
John Denny (13-15) pitched a great game. He went 8 innings, allowed only 3 hits, and struck out 7. He had no backup. Thanks to another lefty. Jim Deshaies (7-6) allowed only 1 hit over 8 innings. In fact, only 1 hit the whole game. We'd have been no hit if not for the big bat of John Denny. That's right, a double from our pitcher was the only offense that we could muster. We were that close to getting no-hit in the middle of a pennant race. A Gerald Perry solo shot (15) was the only offense for either team.


The Padres won again over the Reds 6-1. So now we get to play the Reds, who have a 1 game lead on us and the Padres. The magic number is down to 3. The final 3 games are at home against the Reds. We need to win them.


Sparky Lyle finished his career in the Dodger minor league system. He announced his retirement at the age of 41. Dwight Evans was activated off the DL and will take his rightful place in right field. So that means that there's no place for our leading home run hitter, Franklin Stubbs. His 28 HR's will be coming off the bench. I kind of wish that Lasorda would consider starting him at first in lieu of Bream, who's production has fallen off.


10/4 4-3 W over the Reds
Money baby. That's 1. The Reds got on the board, but we tied it in the first. Eckersley and Jeff Russell pitched well, but Tony Phillips was our savior today. Not only did he get a 2 run single in the 7^th, that we thought would be enough, he cracked a lead off triple in the 9^th and scored the winning run. He was 3-5 overall. Niedenfeur served up a 2-run homer to Dave Parker in the 8^th for his 5^th blown save on the year. He did strike out 4 in his 2 innings of work, and improved his record to 4-3.


The Padres won again. Jimmy Key got his 20^th win on the season. Now it's a complete, 3 way tie for the division. Magic number stays at 3 with the tie. 2 games to play. The Blue Jays have clinched the AL East.


10/5 3-2 L to the Reds
Uh oh, we're on the brink. Guess what? Another lefty. Charlie Liebrandt (11-9) held us down, and Ted Power finished us off. Frank White committed his 28^th error of the year and that lead to an unearned run that might have been the won that cost us the game. Valenzuela (18-6) takes the loss and we waste an otherwise solid effort. Our sole run came from Frank White's 9^th homer of the season and Dwight Evans went 3-4 in the losing effort.


The Padres fell to the Astros 2-1. They need an LA win and a win themselves to stay in the hunt. The Royals have clinched the AL West on the second to last day of the season. They will play the Blue Jays in the ALCS. Someone will still have to play the Expos. Our must win game will be with Frank Tanana on the hill. He'll face off against Jack Morris.


10/6 3-2 W over the Reds
We live to fight another day. Frank Tanana did his thing. He didn't allow a run in the first, he pitched into the 9^th inning and made 1 really, big mistake. Top 6 Eric Davis mashed a ball 450ft (15) nearly out of the bullpen in left. Mike Marshall didn't even move when he hit it, it went so far. There was much cursing. Jack Morris kept us silent through 7 innings before turning it over to the pen. Bottom of the 8^th Willie Randolph got a single, followed by a Bream walk. Dwight Evans then put a ball into the power gap for a double that plated both guys. That saved us temporarily, but Niedenfeur (5-3) was on to pitch in the 9^th. He walked Eric Davis, who then stole 2^nd. He got Kal Daniels to ground out, but Davis went to 3^rd. Dangerous Danny Tartabull hit a ball to the warning track, but it stayed in the yard. In the bottom of the 9^th Graig Nettles sent us home with his 10^th home run of the year.


The Padres won too. They won 6-5 (11).


So now we fly to Cincinnati for a playoff game. The season is over. There's a 3 way tie for West. There's no game for the Padres, but they aren't officially eliminated either, so I'm not sure what's happening next.


10/7 5-0 L to the Reds
Another lefty. Tom Browning, but it wasn't only him. A 77 min rain delay knocked out both starters, but even after, we didn't do much. Although, we had the chances. LA left 12 runners on base, without getting anything out of it. Rick Rhoden (19-13) was the victim of another Frank White error in the 2^nd inning. That lead to an Eddie Milner 3-run homerun (13). Later Danny Tartabull would add extra runs with his 23^rd. We lost Frank White in the 4^th when he was hurt while running the bases.


The Reds then traveled to San Diego for a game against the Padres. They pulled that won out too with a 5-4 win on the road. Long season, no playoffs for LA this year. The first miss since 1980.

[PilotMan]

1985 Playoff Preview


AL


Blue Jays v. Royals


The Jays are the defending champs but they aren't the favorites to take the title. Having finished the most recent power poll at #4 they are the third best team in the playoffs. That doesn't mean they are a bad team though. The Jays finished with a 97-65 record, 4 games in front of the Yankees. They are the best hitting team in the AL, and the best in runs scored. Not only are they 2^nd in home runs, they also are 2^nd in stolen bases. The pitching staff is 5^th in the AL in ERA, but they have the best bullpen. They are also 2^nd in team defense.


The offense was powered by OF George Bell (.317/.370/.580 and 39 HR) and Jessie Barfield (.302/.389/.571 and 25 HR in 103 G). Lloyd Moseby hits leadoff, played every game, and he hit 29 HR and stole 33 bases. Every player in this lineup is dangerous from those above to Ricky Henderson (.279/.388/.457 and 48SB), Tony Fernandez (.336/.386/.446), former Dodger Bobby Grich (.281/.393/.437) and Ernie Whitt (.280/.346/.458). The pitching staff was lead by Danny Darwin (19-4, 3.07) who threw the only no-no all year. The rest of the guys aren't so special. Jim Clancy (16-11, 3.23) and Mark Thurmond (17-9, 3.69). Gene Garber with 33 saves and a 2.12 ERA anchors the bullpen. They also have old guy 42-yr old Ron Reed, who was the closer last year, in the pen.


The Royals took longer to clinch, but they are #2 in the MLB power rankings. They won 100 games against 62 losses and had to deal with the losses of ace Bob Welch (6-6 3.76) and closer Lee Smith (31S, 3.05 ERA). Neither will be back this year. The Royals are 4^th in runs scored and 5^th in team avg and HR's. So they're not as potent as the Blue Jays. The pitching staff is 4^th in team ERA, 7^th in OBA, and the defense is 11^th in the AL. On paper the Jays look stronger all around.


The Royals made 1 big move at the trade deadline and it might have been crazy at the time, but it did address the loss of Welch. The Royals had signed Mike Schmidt in the offseason and he was playing DH while George Brett played 3^rd. Schmidt was sent to NY for SP Mario Soto and a prospect. Soto had been 11-7 with a 3.31 ERA in NY, but when he came to KC he didn't fare as well. He still went 5-5, but with an ERA of 5.25. Meanwhile, Schmidt only had 12 HR and a .241 avg for the Royals, he went on to hit 19 HR with a .247 average for the Yankees. So it was a gamble. The Royals used Rod Carew to take over at DH for Schmidt.


The Royals offense is powered by George Brett (.337/.415/.567 and 27 HR), Fred Lynn (.314/.412/.533 and 26 HR's) and Carney Lansford (.290/.342/.443 and 15 HR's). But they've got power throughout too. They aquired Terry Pendleton from the Cards at the deadline, and that helped make that move to get rid of Schmidt.


The pitching staff is lead by ace Bud Black (21-10, 2.80 ERA), but also by former Dodger top prospect Orel Hersheiser (19-6, 3.18 ERA) and Mario Soto (16-12, 3.96 ERA). They're plenty deep to hang with the Jays there. The loss of Lee Smith hurt, but the team went to Vern Ruhle and he got 14 saves. For the post-season though, the team is planning on using starter Mark Gubicza (15-12, 3.70 ERA) as the closer. The rest of the pen is a bunch of unfamiliar names like Nate Snell, Bobby Castillo and Ed Olwine.


NL


Expos v. Reds


The Expos are the top ranked team in the MLB power rankings. The #1 team. No question. This team is talented, like they have been the last few years. Even though they only won 103 games, the worst for them in a while. They should be considered the favorites.


They were #2 in team batting and #1 in on base percentage. The offense was lead by MVP candidate Tim Raines. Raines lead the NL in batting with a .376, a .479 OBP. He didn't lead the NL in steals though, he was #2 with 63 steals. He is super dangerous. Of course, they also have Gary Carter (.282/.343/.485 in 106 G), Andre Dawson (.286/.332/.454) and Lou Whitaker (.279/.353/.412).


The pitching staff is 3^rd in the NL and anchored by 2 twenty-one game winners in Bryn Smith (21-7, 3.48) and Rick Reuschel (21-8, 3.35). They also have last year's 20 game winner in Bob Knepper (18-8, 3.04). The bullpen is nuts. They've not only got last year's Cy Young winner, John Candelaria (4-6, 3.24), Jeff Reardon (3.42) and Dan Quisenberry (40S, 1.67 ERA). This team should be heading to the Series.


The Reds finished at #13 in the NL power rankings, behind both the Dodgers and Padres. You know they've got an insane offense with some big power hitters. The Reds are 3^rd in team batting and offense. Second in HR and OBP. With that offense, they've also got good pitching. They are 5^th in the NL in pitching, and 5^th in team defense. Even with a record of 91-73, they've got a good team. Wish is was LA, but this was the better team.


The Reds offense is powered by Dave Parker (.286/.340/.469 and 29 HR's), Eric Davis (.254/.360/.469 and 15 HR and 39 SB in 89 games) and Danny Tartabull (.292/.358/.513 and 24 HR's). The Reds are without however, Nick Esasky, the power hitting first baseman (.246/.331/.466 and 24 HR's) He is done with a bad ankle sprain. On the bench though is Jose Canseco (.274/.367/.491 and 22 HR). The team just can't figure out a way to get all those bats in the line up together.


The Reds pitchers are ace Jack Morris (15-10 2.65 ERA), Charlie Liebrandt (11-9 3.64) and Tom Browning (15-13 4.21 ERA). The bullpen closer is former Dodger Ted Power (35S, 3.56).


All in all you have to look at these teams and wonder if the AL again, will simply overpower and blow out the NL. The AL has won the last 3 series. If the Expos take out the Reds, it'll be just the Dodgers and Expos for the NL for the last 5 years. Can the Blue Jays take out the Royals and go on to defend their title? We're about to find out.

[PilotMan]

ALCS


Royals over the Blue Jays 4-0
The Royals sweep and dominate the Jays. Fred Lynn is the ALCS MVP with 3 HR and a .412 batting average. Each and every game was close, 3-2, 5-3, 7-2, and 4-3. The Royals pitching just owned the Blue Jays. The Jays pitching couldn't handle the Royals hitters. Mark Gubicza picked up 2 saves and a win in his 3 appearances.


NLCS


Expos over the Reds 4-3
It was close right to the end. The Reds took a 3-2 series lead back to Montreal and couldn't get that last win. Tim Raines was the NLCS MVP. He batted .333 and had a .464 OBP. The Reds out homered the Expos 7-2. The key game was in game 6. The Reds went to the bottom of the 9^th ahead 4-3 with Ted Power on the mound. Vance Law lead off with a double, then he got Gary Pettis out on strikes and Tim Wallach to pop out to 2^nd base. Tim Raines walked and Mike Greenwell took the first pitch he saw and pulled it into the left field seats for a walk off 3-run HR to win it for the Expos and save them from defeat. Reds fans were crushed, and the Expos would take game 7, 6-2 behind another Greenwell HR and the pitching of LaMarr Hoyt.


It's the Royals versus the Expos in the 1985 World Series.

[PilotMan]

Game 1
Expos crush the Royals 8-1. Bob Knepper goes the distance.


Game 2
Expos walk off 1-0. Pitching dual between Bryn Smith and Orel Hersheiser.


Game 3
Expos drown the Royals 5-0. Reuschel allows 3 hits over 8.1. The Expos have allowed 1 run, unearned the entire series so far.


Game 4
Royals survive with a 3-2. Rod Carew hits a walk off HR to save the season. His first HR in over a year.


Game 5
Expos win the series in KC 3-2. Knepper goes another 8 innings and goes home with the Series MVP. He went 2-0 in 17 innings with a 1.06 ERA.


Everyone celebrates 1985 in Montreal, a year after the Blue Jays brought home the first title to Canada, the trophy stays there and the Expos follow with their first franchise World Series Championship.


That's it for this year. Awards are next.

[PilotMan]

1985 Post-season and Awards


The Dodgers pitching coach Jordan Aviles has retired along with CF Gary Maddox.


The team bought out the contract and declined the option on Frank White.

Dennis Eckersley declined his option year.


LA makes the first big move in the offseason and I hate it. As if they had any talent in the minors left, now that's completely gone. LA shipped away P Ramon Martinez, OF Jose Gonzalez, IF Cecil Espy, OF Ralph Bryant and OF Todd Brown. They're all heading to Houston for 3B Larry Parrish. That's a mighty steep price to pay for a 31-yr old, questionable fielding guy with 1 year left on his contract. Parrish was acquired by the Astros, from the Angels for Tony Bernazard. That's it. All that, for Tony Bernazard. Parrish is a 2-time all star who hit 24 HR. Is RIGHT handed, and has 193 career homers. LA didn't have a HR problem last year. Martinez and Espy were two of the top prospects in LA. The team is clearly signaling the desire to put it together next year.


AL Gold Glove Winners


P Dave Stieb – MIN
C Jim Sundberg – TEX
1B Pete O'Brien – TEX
2B Glenn Hubbard – NYY
3B Tom Brookens – TOR
SS Cal Ripken Jr – BAL
LF George Wright – TEX
CF Ricky Henderson – TOR
RF Jesse Barfield – TOR


NL Gold Glove Winners
P Bob Ojeda – SD
C Mike Bishop – ATL
1B Steve Balboni – PHI
2B Wally Backman – NYM
3B Tim Wallach – MON
SS Ozzie Smith – STL
LF Marvell Wynn – NYM
CF Eddie Milner – CIN
RF Tony Gwynn – SD


Guess who the newest Expos pitcher is? Nolan Ryan. How??? Basically for Jeff Sellers and John Dopson.


AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Bill Campbell – BOS (4-2, 7S, 1.51 ERA)


NL Rolaids Reliver of the Year
Dan Quisenberry – MON (5-2, 40S, 1.67 ERA)


AL Silver Slugger Awards


C Rich Gedman – BOS
1B Greg Walker – CHI
2B Bobby Grich – TOR
3B George Brett – KC
SS Cal Ripken Jr – BAL
LF George Bell – TOR
CF Barry Bonds – CHI
RF Jessie Barfield – TOR
DH Alvin Davis – SEA


NL Silver Slugger Awards


P Jeff Russell – CIN
C Bob Brenley – SD
1B Leon Durham – CHI
2B Ryne Sandberg – CHI
3B Kevin Mitchell – NY
SS Danny Tartabull – CIN
LF Tim Raines – MON
CF Lenny Dykstra – NYM
RF Darryl Strawberry – NYM


AL Rookie of the Year
Barry Bonds – CHI (.265/37/103 and 41 SB)

One helluva rookie season.


NL Rookie of the Year
Barry Larkin – HOU (.282/13/63 and 22 SB)


AL Manager of the Year
Dick Howser (RIP) – KC


NL Manager of the Year
Jim Fanning – MON


AL Cy Young Award Winner
Sid Fernandez – SEA (21-11, 2.65 ERA, 254 K's)

The price we paid for Willie Randolph. Granted, he's had moments where he's carried the team, and has batted at or near .300 while being #1 or #2 in the league in OBP, but it was still a steep price.


NL Cy Young Award Winner
Doc Gooden – NYM (25-6, 1.86 ERA, 296 K's)


AL MVP Winner
George Brett – KC (.337/27/96)


NL MVP Winner
Doc Gooden – NYM


Now the real drama begins. Where will our team go this offseason? We already know the youth movement isn't underway. It's all about finding that right combination. We have a lot of free agents to deal with. Who will or won't be back. There's also some really bad contracts in LA. That's going to hurt us too, but being in a big market will always help that out some.

[PilotMan]

1985 Hot Stove Notes and Updates


It's not a great start to the year. The Dodgers have brought on a total unknown pitching coach by the name of Jim Gulley. He does a better job with groundball pitchers, but overall is a total unknown.


LA has resigned a few players to 1-year deals -


Stubbs, Sax, Pena, Niedenfuer, Marshall, Kittle, and Tony Phillips are all coming back on affordable deals. They also resigned Nettles to a cheap deal. At the age of 41, you can't expect much from that deal though.


Free Agency is ugly for LA. It's a complete turnover. The team didn't extend a lot of the guys. Here's a list of the current Dodgers, who have just filed for free agency:


1B Andre Thornton, IF Toby Harrah, C Buck Martinez, P Dennis Eckersley, P Jerry Reuss, IF Frank White, P Milt Wilcox, OF Dwight Evans, 2B Willie Randolph.


That's 9 guys from the 24-man roster. Maybe someone will be back, but not before they go out into the world. Meanwhile, we have plenty of room for new blood. I expect a busy off season, except that the budget might be constrained.


LA locked up a key starting pitcher by getting Rhoden, who was going to be a free agent after this, extended for 3 more years. Rhoden has been 35-22 for LA and been the #2 guy in the rotation. Same pay as Jim Beattie, better return.


We lose Willie Randolph to the Mariners. He gets a 6-yr deal worth over a mil per.


LA's first off season signing is inning eater Allen Ripley. Ripley went 12-14 for the Tigers last year, and boasts a 58-84 career record with a 4.32 ERA. He lead the NL in losses in 1984, losing 18 for the Cubs. He did win a Gold Glove in 1983. He gets a 1 year deal.


LA's outfield situation appeared to be settled with a mix of Stubbs, Marshall, Kittle, and Murphy. However, the team wasn't satisfied with that set up. With Evans still out there the team has gone and spend 2.56M over the next 2 years for Fred Lynn. Lynn, a center fielder makes Murphy's spot on the roster questionable. Murphy has 4 years left on his contract at 1.2M per. Meaning that the team is currently spending about 2.5 M on 1 position. That's a little disheartening. Murphy didn't have a very good year last year, hitting .260 with 6 HR over 49 games. Lynn will be 34 when the season starts, but his resume is much deeper. He's a career .296 hitter with 211 HR's. He hit 26 last year while batting over .300. He's a ROY, MVP, 4-time Gold Glove, and 9-time All-Star, most recently last year.


1985 First Year Player Draft
LA picks #25 out of 27 in the first round.


Bernie Williams is the #1 overall pick, but the Giants.


First 5 rounds for LA


OF Paul Sorrento (1^st)
OF Pete Incaviglia (Sup 1^st)
OF Jerome Walton (2^nd)
OF Billy Beane (3^rd)
P Ricky Bones (4^th)
IF Hensley Meulens (5^th)


It looks like outfield was important for the team with 4 picked with the first 4 picks. There aren't any huge names in there, but there's a couple of guys who had nice careers. Not terrible, but nothing to get too excited about. There might be some trade fodder in there too as LA is known to use.


The Blue Jays made a steal of a trade with Baltimore. The Jays didn't pursue Willie Upshaw in free agency and instead sent prospects Mike Macfarlane, Willie Fraser, Chris Johnston and Alexis Marte to the Orioles for 29-year old 5-time All-Star, 2-time Silver Slugger Eddie Murray. Eight days later they sign a contract extension for 6 years with a team option to 7. Wow.


The Expos are going to repeat as champions. You'll see why later.


Dwight Evans has signed a 2 year deal with the Mariners for 1.17M per year. Reuniting with Randolph.


LA has signed 2B/3B Jim Morrison for a cheap 142k for 1 year. Morrison is a pretty good fielder and a .257 career hitter with 95 career HR's. He played 72 games for the Royals last year and batted .210.


Joe Torre becomes the only HOF inductee this year with 78.6% of the vote.


Milt Wilcox has signed a 1 year deal with the Cardinals.


Failure. Of LA's draft picks in the first 5 rounds, only Sorrento and Incaviglia sign.


Another 1 year deal for the Dodgers. This time it's 33yr old, corner infielder, Ray Knight, he will earn 304k for the year. Knight is a 1-time selection to the All Star game and Gold Glove winner. Knight is a career .281 hitter with 50 HR's. He's got limited range, but decent skills in the field. He played for Houston and Milwaukee last year and played in 107 games, batting .311.


Guess third is a sticking point for LA. They've signed another old guy. This time it's 35 yr old Doug DeCinces. DeCinces spent the last 2 years in Detroit where he hit 38 HR's. His only award was a Silver Slugger back in '82 with the Angels. He's been a regular starter, but hasn't played more than 108 games in a season the last 2 years because of injuries. He's better defensively at third than any of our other options like Knight, Smalley, Morrison or Phillips. His deal is for 3 years/2.66 M with the third year a vesting requirement based on plate appearances.


LA is going to need a nursing home for all these old guys. The newest face in LA is a 6-time All Star and for MVP and Cy Young winner, but all that was a long time ago. 36-year old Vida Blue is going to be in Dodger Blue. Seems like a perfect pairing. He gets a very affordable 1 year, 270k deal. He spent the last 2 years with his former club the A's where we went 23-20 and averaged 34 starts. He's got 223 career victories and 2312 K's in his career.


Jerry Reuss heads to Detroit for a year.


Buck Martinez and Steve Garvey end up in SoCal with the Angels for a year each.


Frank White lands a 1 year deal with the Red Sox.


LA sustains a couple significant injuries that will impact the year. The biggest is to Allen Ripley. Ripley was projected as the #5 starter initially has blown out his elbow and he is done. His contract will expire before he ever gets to the field in Dodger blue. Next, Vida Blue, who might have been in line to take his place has a strained shoulder is is going to miss all of April at least. Last, is to Tony Phillips. Phillips was looking to have short locked up, but he's sprained his thumb and is projected to be back by mid May.


That's it for this offseason. LA added some players, but I'm feeling pessimistic about the value of the guys that were brought in. The bullpen looks amazing, and the rotation looks about average. The starting lineup looks to have talent, but with these old guys, you really don't know what kind of performance you're going to get from them.




The preseason prognosticators have us predicted to win the West, but it'll be close with the Padres right on our heels. The Reds are down in 4^th. The Expos are predicted to have the best record in baseball with at least 104 wins. The big surprise though is that the Mets are also expected to have 104 wins, so that might make for a good season.


So the Expos. They're going to repeat. Their starting lineup is bonkers and the rotation isn't quite on that level the bullpen is. The lineup has 23 All Star appearances, 6 Gold Gloves, 14 Silver Sluggers, 1 MVP and 2 ROY's. The pitching staff has 20 All Star appearances, 1 Cy Young, and 2 Reliever of the Years. What does that line up look like? Well...


Young prospect Andres Gallaraga takes over at first. Second is Lou Whitaker. Third is Paul Molitor. Short is Vance Law. Left is Tim Raines. Center is Robin Yount and right is Andre Dawson. The Expos still have Reardon and Quiz in the pen with the Candy Man. The rotation added the Ryan Express. As a Dodger fan, it's a bunch of bullshit.

[PilotMan]

1986 Opening Day Roster


Starting Rotation
L Fernando Valenzuela (18-6, 3.01)
R Rick Rhoden (19-13, 2.82)
R John Denny (13-15, 3.16)
L Frank Tanana (10-10, 4.32)
R Kelly Downs (0-0, 3.68)


The top 4 are exactly the same as last year and I think that it'll be good enough provided the offense can get going. Downs would be in the pen or the minors, if we hadn't lost Ripley. Blue might get the 5 spot when he comes back in a month. Have to say it's nice not seeing Jim Beattie in there.


Bullpen
R Jim Beattie (1-7, 5.38)
L Steve Howe (2-2, 1.78)
R Alejandro Pena (4-3, 1.45)


R Ken Howell (3-8, 4.14)
R Tom Niedenfeur (5-3, 2.28, 24S)


L John Franco (3-1, 1.89, 11S)


So the pen is pretty stacked right now. No new faces. John Franco gets the closer role, while there are other 4 guys, except Beattie, who can close too. The lack of another southpaw might cause an issue down the road.


Catcher
Mike Scioscia (.295/15/60)
BJ Surhoff (.339/2/32 in rookie, A and AA last year)

Scioscia is the no question starter and former first pick Surhoff makes the big jump up from AA, but actually he was in A ball most of last year. Scioscia is still a very good defensive asset, who is a decent contact hitter. Have to think that his power output was a bit of an anomaly last year, but his average was great. Surhoff has a great guy to learn behind.


First Base
Sid Bream (.259/16/63)
Ray Knight (.311/5/33)


Bream is just about as average a player as you'll ever find. He's solid, but unspectacular everywhere. So he isn't going to jack 30 homers, or 100 RBI's, but he steady defense and good all around skills are still an asset. Knight gives us a right handed option, that is solid on defense at first, and a below average hitter.


Second Base
Jim Morrison (.210/8/31)


Where the fuck is Sax? Oh yeah, the team optioned him back to Albuquerque to start the year. Seems like he must have pissed off someone to not get on the roster. Tony Phillips is hurt, and he can play 2^nd and pretty well too. How are we going to survive with Morrison as the mainstay at second? It's a poor option. Can't believe that Sax isn't here right now. This is a major downgrade from Randolph.


Third Base
Doug DeCinces (.251/21/68)
Graig Nettles (.229/10/26)
Larry Parrish (.240/24/67)


For some reason Parrish is stuck in the same place that Thornton was in. As in, he's got no place to play and he's treated like he's not even going to play. Larry Parrish, at 32, is the young guy. Seems like this isn't that big of an upgrade either. Parrish was traded for a couple of high draft picks and now he's on the outside looking in. It's not a good look.


Shortstop
Roy Smalley (.222/13/52)


Average defender, not getting any younger. Offense has dropped each of the last 2 years. Not sure if Phillips is going to displace him or Morrison when he comes back. The team is drastically overpaying for him and his contract is for another 2 years.


Left Field
Franklin Stubbs (.246/28/84)
Ron Kittle (.257/4/14)


Similar look to last year for left. Lots of power, but not much else in the way of regular hitting. Neither guy is very good in the field, but at least we can hide them in left. Kittle just isn't going to be the regular guy for us, so it's going to be up to Stubbs to stay hot.


Center Field
Fred Lynn (.314/26/80)
Dwayne Murphy (.260/6/20)


Lynn is a new face this year. He's over 34 now, but he can still hit. He's a bit of a weak spot defensively as he just can't cover the ground in center like he should. Murphy is a defensive wiz, but his swing doesn't look like it used to. He was limited to 49 games last year, and lost his job to Lynn in the offseason. He can't play any other positions.


Right Field
Mike Marshall (.240/27/104)


Marshall was the definition of our team last year. Good power, but really struggled to get on base regularly. His OBP was under .300, despite his power. He's a good defender with a strong arm and he's got a big bat. We'll need him hitting well in the cleanup spot this year if we're going to the playoffs.


That's our roster for the start of this year. Lots upon lots of questions. Good hitting, great bullpen, so-so rotation. The expectation of the playoffs. Let's see how it goes!


It's time for Dodgers baseball! 1986!

[PilotMan]

4/7 2-0 W over the Padres
LA wins on opening day! Valenzuela (1-0) was 1 out from the shut out before being lifted for Franco who got the save. Mike Marshall was 2-4 and hit the first home run of the year. A 456-foot bomb, that had the left fielder stuck in his shoes just watching it go.


4/8 15-4 W over the Padres
The bad news is that Niedenfeur gave up 2 runs on a Rick Dempsey HR (1). But that was the bad news. LA hit 4 HR's. Two each for DeCinces (2) and Stubbs (2). They had 10 RBI's together. DeCinces had 4 hits. It was a bash fest. Jimmy Key had a game score of 3. Rhoden (1-0) went 8 for the W.


4/9 2-1 W over the Padres
LA got 8 innings from John Denny (1-0) and a great game overall to take the Dodgers home for the win. DeCinces hit his 3^rd of the year in the 6^th to break the tie, after Scioscia had gotten the team off to the start with his first homer in the 6^th. John Franco struck out the side in the 9^th to get his 3^rd save .


4/10 4-3 W over the Padres
It looked like Tanana (1-0) was going to get shelled. He struggled with control and had a high pitch count by the 5^th inning. It wasn't until LA rallied behind a Jim Morrison 3-run shot (1), that put LA in front, did he settle down. It was his 150^th career win. John Franco pitched 2 innings for his 3^rd save. A sweep to start the year.


4/11 4-3 W over the Giants
Kelly Downs spread 10 hits out over 7 innings and getting some defensive help when Lynn cut down a runner at the plate in the first. But his first win eluded him once again as he left with the score tied. In the 9^th Parrish lead off with a double, then took third on a Scioscia single. Ray Knight hit a single over the 2^nd basemen to plate Parrish. Niedenfeur (1-0) pitched 2 innings and Stubbs hit his 3^rd HR of the year to tie the game in the 5th.


4/12 4-3 W over the Giants
Doug DeCinces is on freaking fire. He goes 3-4 with 2 HR's (5) and 3 RBI's, including the go ahead HR. Valenzuela (2-0) went 8 innings and allowed 3 unearned runs, thanks to 2 Morrison errors. LA has won their first 6 to start the year. While DeCinces has 5 HR's, Fred Lynn has started the year with 1 hit so far. Just 1. Ken Howell pitched the 9^th for his first save of the year.


4/13 2-0 W over the Giants
Rick Rhoden (2-0) survived a dual with Atlee Hammaker (0-2). Rhoden allowed only 2 hits on his way to the complete game shutout. He was in command needing only 99 pitches to finish, and it's the 3^rd best pitching performance of the young season. A Fred Lynn RBI single was the difference. Rhoden went 1-3 with a run with the bat. LA sweeps the Giants to end the homestand. They head to San Diego for the next series.


4/14 6-1 L to the Padres
The run comes to an end on a day when John Denny (1-1) served up 14 hits and LA lost the mojo against lefty Dave Dravecky (1-0). LA got a couple of hits from Sid Bream, but the most exciting thing was the major league debut of top LA prospect BJ Surhoff. Surhoff started at catcher and got his first major league hit, a triple, high off the wall in right. He was score LA's only run.


4/15 4-3 (10) L to the Padres
Neither Tanana nor Dennis Leonard figured in the final, but both pitched well enough. LA played catch up all game long after a Gwynn 2-run homer in the first. Leonard kept LA off the bases until a Morrison single was followed by a Stubbs home run. His 4^th. Mike Scioscia tied the game in the 8^th. Ken Howell (0-1) served up a Kevin McReynolds, walk off, home run in the 10^th to end it. The wheels are now falling off the season.

[Balldog]

heck of a start to the season!

[PilotMan]

4/16 4-2 L to the Padres
One good sweep deserves another as we get taken to loser town again. Kelly Downs (0-1) goes 6 solid, which is all we expect from our #5 guy, and the offense takes a dive against young lefty, Greg Mathews (1-1) who gets his first career win. Roy Smalley and Mike Scioscia each had 2 hits, and Doug DeCinces stayed hot hitting #6 for the month of April. Ozzie Guillen torched us for 4 hits and 7 total bases.


4/17 12-1 L to the Braves
Zane Smith (2-0) had to feel pretty good staked to a 12-0 lead after 3 innings, but after that LA outscored the Braves 1-0. So there's that. Valenzuela (2-1) was pummeled and Jim Beattie who came on fared even worse. Fred Lynn had 2 hits to bring his season total to 4, and Doug DeCinces nearly matched his season total with 3 hits of his own.


4/18 7-6 (11) L to the Braves
Alright, this shit is getting ridiculous. LA got back to back blasts from Bream (1) and DeCinces (7) to take a lead. The Braves came back on Rhoden, but LA answered with 4 in the 7^th, helped by Marshall's 2^nd home run. The pen couldn't hold the lead though, and Atlanta stole it back in the 8^th, then won it off of Niedenfeur (1-1) in the 11^th. Sid Bream went 3-5.


4/19 11-6 W over the Braves
Hey! We are going to win again! I don't think we'd had a 5 game losing streak in any of the other playoff years so that doesn't bode well. John Denny wasn't good, and after his 6 innings, and the tired bullpen we were down 5-1 and it looked like another sweep was upon us. Enter Doug DeCinces. Top 7 he hits a grand slam (8) and we are tied. Just like that. Top of the 8^th Franklin Stubbs hits a 3-run shot (5) and then Mike Marshall added a 2-run shot (3) and then we were up. Steve Howe (1-0) got the win, and Jim Beattie pitched a scoreless 9^th to lower his ERA to 27.00. Oh, and Fred Lynn, who had 2 whole hits in the game left with an injury after a defensive play.


Jim Morrison was placed on waivers and designated for assignment. Steve Sax was called up to take his roster spot.


4/20 7-4 L to the Giants
I'm seeing a new trend. Starting pitching unable to keep the other team down. After a great start, our pitching has just given up. We've given up 4 or more runs 6 games in a row now. Tanana (1-1) takes the loss, raising his ERA to 4.50. Stubbs went 2-4 in the losing effort.


Fred Lynn has gone to the DL with shoulder tendinitis. He's expected to be out until mid May. 28-yr old Dodger minor league vet, Tom Beyers, has been called up for his first major league action. Beyers batted .284 with 9 HR and 91 RBI in Albuquerque last year. Dwayne Murphy is expected back in center with Lynn out.


4/21 2-0 L to the Giants
Kelly Downs (0-2) struck out 7, but his first career win eluded him. It was a Chili Davis double that put 2 on and no outs. Both would score. LA could only manage 4 hits off of Giant pitching and Jeff Stember (1-0) went 8 and only allowed 3.


4/22 2-1 L to the Giants
Atlee Hammaker (2-2) took a no-hitter into the 9^th inning. Ray Knight pinch hit for Fernando Valenzuela (2-2) and hit a triple over the right fielders head. That was that. He'd score on a wild pitch, but that was all we'd get. One hit. Valenzuela went the distance in the loss. What an end to a disastrous road trip. We got 1 win. Just 1.


4/23 6-0 W over the Braves
Home is a wonderful place. Rhoden (3-0) gives us just what we need. A complete game shut out. Helped along by a Stubbs 2-run homer (6), LA finally got a solid output of offense. Ok, so as crazy bad as we've been, we're tied for first with a 9-8 record.


4/24 5-2 L to the Braves
John Denny (1-2) got beat up good again. He allowed 10 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings of work. Steve Sax missed a bunt attempt then belted a lead off home run. His first and first hit of the year. Doug DeCinces added number 9 in the 4^th to keep it close, but it really wasn't.


4/25 6-0 W over the Braves
Frank Tanana (2-1) just pitched the best game of his career. At home against the Braves he surrendered a lead off double to Milt Thompson and then wouldn't allow another hit the entire game. He walked only 1. Both Dwayne Murphy and Steve Sax went 3-4, and Sax added 3 RBI's. His game is the top pitching performance in MLB to date this year.


4/26 8-3 W over the Braves
Well Kelly Downs finally has his first career win in 3 years of professional baseball. Almost 120 innings pitched in that time. Steve Sax scored a couple runs and got on base 3 out of 4 plate appearances and stole the teams league worst 3^rd base of the year. Doug DeCinces became the first player to 10 home runs, and the month isn't over yet. We're still in a tie for first, which sounds crazy, because it doesn't feel like it.


4/27 1-0 (15) L to the Pirates
What a fucked up game. The Pirates started Gene Garber, who being a reliever, you'd think wouldn't fare all that well. Except, LA was swinging at everything. Garber threw 72 pitched in 7.2 innings of work and allowed 9 hits. Valenzuela threw 9 shutout innings. Twice LA had the bases loaded in extra innings with 1 out and failed to score. LA left 14 runners on the Pirates 13. Niedefeur (1-2) took the loss although he pitched well. Dwayne Murphy popped 3 hits. Suckage.


Jim Morrison was claimed off of waivers by the Padres.


LA claimed OF Mike Fuentes off of waivers from the Giants and optioned Beyers and his Major League Dream back to AAA. Fuentes has played for the Expos and Giants. He's a 27 yr old, right handed bat with a career .229 avg and 29 career HR's. He plays all the outfield positions, but none of them very well and his best attribute is that you could say he's patient at the plate.


4/28 6-1 W over the Pirates
Rick Rhoden (4-0) stays perfect and lowers his ERA to 1.54, going the distance tonight. LA was powered, once again, by the longball. Tonight it was Roy Smalley hitting his first of the year, and Franklin Stubbs providing the cushion with his 8^th. LA is one of the worst hitting teams in the NL, yet they lead the league in homers.


4/29 2-0 W over the Cubs
John Denny (2-2) throws 8 innings of 1 hit ball tonight and looks like he was back in his old form after a few horrendous starts. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 4^th save. LA lost Steve Sax after he appeared to hurt himself after he threw the ball. He complained of tightness in his back. He might be rested until it heals, as he is day to day.


4/30 1-0 W over the Cubs
Frank Tanana (3-1) has just done that only a very small handfull of pitchers have every done. That is, throw back-to-back 1 hitters. Tonight, he once again, had his stuff working. He struck out 9 and again, the only hit he allowed was in the first. This time to the 2^nd batter, Ryne Sandberg. His game score was even better than his last one, giving him now, both the top 2 pitching performances of 1986. Doug DeCinces got the RBI when he knocked in Sax. Great way to finish the month.

[PilotMan]

5/2 10-1 W over the Cardinals
Hey! Kelly Downs (2-2) wins again! He did have a little bit of help though. No need to do all the heavy lifting. LA crushed 4 more home runs. DeCinces picked right up with a 3-run homer in the first to get us going (11). Roy Smalley got #2 in the 3^rd. Then Stubbs (8) and Marshall (3) went back to back in the 5^th. Floyd Bannister (2-2) never knew what hit him. Well, that's not totally fair. Bannister gave up the first 2, and Ex-Dodger, Milt Wilcox gave up the back to back shots. Both Marshall and DeCinces went 3-5.


Vida Blue was activated and sent to Albuquerque for rehab.


5/3 3-2 W over the Cardinals
Two out in the 9^th, down by 1, LA got 4 singles and a hit batsman and won the game. Both Ron Kittle and Larry Parrish had pinch hit singles to put LA over the top. Valenzuela struck out 10 in 8 innings, and John Franco (1-0) picked up the win. LA had 0 extra base hits.


5/4 4-2 W over the Cardinals
Graig Nettles, playing 2^nd base, goes 4-5 in an odd role leading off. It worked out. Roy Smalley cleared the bases with a double in the 7^th inning. The Cards Mike Smithson pitched the best game of his life. For his career he averages about 5 K's per 9 innings. He struck out 10 in 6.2 innings today. Rhoden (5-0) lowered his ERA to 1.47 as he got his 5^th win. Franco served up a dinger, but got his 5^th save.


5/6 9-3 (8) W over the Cubs
A rain shortened win for LA tonight. Both Mike Marshall and Doug DeCinces had 3 hits . Marshall hit his 5^th homer, and Dwayne Murphy hit his first of the year. John Denny (3-2) went 7 and allowed 3 in a qualtiy start.


5/7 7-1 W over the Cubs
Frank Tanana (4-1) pitched his 3^rd straight complete game, and came thiiiiiis close to extending his scoreless inning streak to 27 innings. As it was, it ended at 24. Mike Scioscia hit a bases loaded double to clear the bases and break the game open. Steve Sax got on base 4 times in 5 plate apprearances. LA has won 8 straight games.


5/8 4-3 W over the Cubs
That's 9 in a row now. This is a fun run. Valenzuela (3-2) worked an efficient 8 innings of work, but wasn't overpowering. We were down 3-1 going into the 8^th when Roy Smalley blased a 2-run shot (3) to tied the game, and in the 9^th it was another blast by Sid Bream (2) that gave us the winning run. John Franco pitched another great 9^th for his 6^th save.


Vida Blue has been called back from his rehab assignment. He had 1 start where he went 7.1 for the win. He struck out 8 and walked 7. Kelly Downs was optioned back to Albuquerque.


5/9 3-1 L to the Expos
Of course, it's a road game against the Expos that cools us off. Rick Reuschel (3-2) handles us with ease. Rick Rhoden (5-1) takes his first loss, but had to spread out 10 hits just to keep it close. Sax went 2-4.


Fred Lynn was activated from the DL. He was placed on the main roster. To make room, Mike Fuentes was placed on waivers and designated. (1-5, 3G).


5/10 4-3 (14) W over the Expos
Two out in the 9^th and Dwayne Murphy put a ball into the center field seats (2) off of Jeff Reardon. It was Reardon's first blown save in 11 chances this year. Vida Blue and Nolan Ryan started and combined for 16 K's over 13.2 innings. After that it was a battle of the bullpens. BJ Surhoff singled, took 2^nd on a Sax sac bunt, then scored on a Fred Lynn single through the middle to give us the go ahead run. Lynn was 2-6 with an RBI. Ken Howell (1-1) got the win.


5/11 10-1 L to the Expos
This game was over in the first inning. LA got the bases loaded with no outs and David Palmer got out of it with 2 strikeouts and a groundout. John Denny (3-3) got in the same position and ended up giving up 8 runs, including a grand slam to Paul Molitor. Could have called the game right there. Steve Sax went 4-4.


Tony Phillips was activated off the DL and sent to Albuquerque for rehab.


5/13 4-3 L to the Cardinals
LA got Fernando (3-3) a 3-1 lead and he couldn't hold it. Doug DeCinces has been just as cold as he was hot, but he cracked his league leading 12^th HR. Roy Smalley hit number 4. Otherwise, that's all the O that we could manage.


5/14 6-2 W over the Cardinals
Steve Sax is hot. He went 3-5 and knocked in 2 in the win. Stubbs went 3-4 and hit number 9, a solo shot, in the 8^th to pile on. Rhoden (6-1) worked hard through 6 and the Howell and Franco kept the Cards from making a comeback.


Mike Fuentes was claimed by the A's. His 3^rd team this year.

[PilotMan]

/16 2-1 W over the Mets
Not really sure where Tanana has found his good stuff, but he's got it right now. Tanana (5-1) goes 7.1, and Franco came on in a high leverage situation to get out of trouble. LA didn't get a hit until the 6^th inning. In the 7^th, down 1-0, Stubbs hit a 2-run homer (10) to give us the winning margin. Franco got his 7^th save.


Tony Phillips was recalled from his rehab stint. To make room, Graig Nettles was placed on waivers and designated for assignment.


5/17 9-8 W over the Mets
LA lead 6-0 after 2 innings. Fred Lynn finally hit his first HR of the year. It's about goddamn time. Mike Marshall hit a grand slam in the 2^nd inning. That was his 6^th. So it was blown open, however...John Denny was pitching. He got hurt in the 5^th and was taken out. Jim Beattie lraised his ERA to 11.57 by allowing 3 in 2 innings. The Mets came back with 3 in the 7^th, another 2 in the 8^th and another in the 9^th as the bullpen just sucked. In the bottom of the 9^th the Mets brought on Roger McDowell. He's been perfect all year long, until now. He allowed 3 hits and 3 walks in an incredible show of offense by LA on the ropes. We had to score 3 to win, and the win came on a bases loaded walk. Tony Phillips' first game back he went 3-4.


Denny will be alright. It's a slight abdominal strain and he isn't expected to miss any time.


5/18 7-3 W over the Mets
Fred Lynn is starting to wake up. He went 2-3 with a 3-run homer (2) and 4 RBI's today. Stubbs added #11 an inning later. Valenzuela (4-3) went 8.1, striking out 8 and walking 5. He was doing better until he served up a Kevin Mitchell 2-run shot (12) in the 8^th inning. The Dodgers drew 5 walks off of Walt Terrell (2-4) including 3 in the first to load the bases.


5/20 5-0 W over the Expos
Well pitched game from Rhoden as he wins his league leading 7^th game to go to 7-1. He walked none, gave up 8 hits and struck out 8. LA was able to do all the damage on Rick Reuschel (3-3) in the first 4 innings. Mike Marshall earned player of the game, going 3-4 with his 7^th HR of the game. Tony Phillips hit a 2-run shot, that was his first of the year. Rhoden lowered his ERA to 1.68 and Franco pitched a scoreless 9^th to lower his to 0.47.


Graig Nettles was claimed by the Reds. So he is gone. He went 4-8 this year coming off the bench for us.


5/21 3-2 W over the Expos
Just like last time, Ryan Express (3-3) and Frank Tanana (6-1) went toe to toe. Both pitchers went 8 innings and combined for 14 strikeouts this time. Tanana got the better end of the day however. LA only managed 6 baserunners the entire game, but made the most of what they did have. Doug DeCinces hit his 13^th, a solo shot in the 3^rd. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 8^th save.


Jim Morrison has been on fire for the Padres. Since he was let go on waivers he is batting .355 in 23 games, with 4 HR's, a .380 OPB, and .527 SLG. He's starting at third for the Padres.


5/22 2-0 L to the Expos
Charlie Liebrandt (3-1) shuts us down again. This offseason we just didn't overcome that weakness to lefties. Even so-so lefties. Liebrandt is better than so-so, but he looks way better when he's playing against us. LA left 8 guys on base tonight, and only Tony Phillips got more than 1 hit. It was a good start for John Denny (3-4), but with no offense how are we supposed to win?


5/23 10-3 L to the Phillies
Philly put up 8 runs on Valenzuela (4-4) in the 6^th inning and the game was over. He just couldn't get out of the inning as the hits and walks just kept coming. All in all Fernando allowed 11 hits and 3 walks in 5.1 innings of work. One of his shortest outings of the year. Mike Marshall hit a solo-homer (8) in the 4^th to top a 2-3 day.


5/24 4-1 L to the Phillies
One thing should be said. The Phillies are the worst team in the NL East. Having said that, how can we play like this against a team like that? The Phillies sent Rodger Cole (1-0) to the mound today. He was making his major league debut, and boy did he have a good day. He only needed to go 5.1 before he was lifted, but he struck out Sax to start the game. Then he not only got a hit in his first career at bat, he got another in his second. He also got his first career RBI. What could we hope to do against a guy with a 30-34 record and a 5.95 ERA in AAA? Vida Blue (0-1) took the loss and looked every bit a 5 starter. Mike Marshall went 3-4 to power our non-existent offense.


5/25 5-1 W over the Phillies
Rhoden (8-1) had 9 strikeouts in 7.1 innings of work and kept his ERA below 2. Doug DeCinces went 2-3 and Franklin Stubbs hit a massive 3-run homer that put LA up in the first inning. It was Stubbs 12^th home run of the year.


5/27 4-1 W over the Mets
No idea what's gotten into Frank Tanana but I like it. Tanana had another shot at a shutout, but it got away in the 9^th. He gets the win and runs his record to 7-1 on the year and his ERA to 1.91. Steve Sax went 4-5 and DeCinces hit his 14^th HR, another solo homer, in the 4^th. Franco came on to lock the game down for his 9^th save on the year.


5/28 3-1 (11) W over the Mets
Ron Darling owned LA today, striking out 8 in 8 innings of work. Valenzuela nearly matched him pitch for pitch except for 7 walked, including walking in the go ahead run. The Mets turned it over to Roger McDowell and we got to him right away. Back to back doubles by Smalley and Bream tied it up. In the 11^th Steve Sax had a 2-out single off of Orosco (0-3) to plate 2 and then John Franco came in again and locked it down for the 10^th time.


5/29 14-5 L to the Mets
The Mets are the most explosive team in baseball, and if they can find some pitching could really challenge the Expos and I'm not saying that lightly. Strawberry smacked 2 HR's for his league leading 16^th homer. They've got a very talented and very young team. Marshall and Sax went 2-5 each, and John Denny (3-5) did his best Jim Beattie impression allowing 7 in 3 innings of work. John Denny said after the game, “Blame it on the rain, that was fallin', fallin'.”


5/30 6-5 L to the Pirates
What a wacky game. Rick Rhoden took a no-hitter into the 6^th. Rhoden was clinging to a 1-0 lead in the 8^th when the Pirates erupted for 4 runs to take the lead. Tom Henke came on and with 2 outs, LA put together 4 straight hits, that ended with a Dwayne Murphy 3-run HR to give us the lead again, 5-4. Franco (1-1) came on in the 9^th and gave up a couple hits and a walk. The Pirates tied the game then loaded the bases, Franco then struck out 2, and with 2 out, he walked in the winning run.


5/31 4-2 L to the Pirates
Vida Blue (0-2) pitched better than his last time out, going 7 innings, but he got bit by the gopher ball, first to Dave Hengel, who's first career hit, happened to be that dinger, and then by Johnny Grub, a 3-run shot that gave the Pirates the winning margin. LA threatened in the 9^th, but couldn't break through on Gene Garber.

[PilotMan]

May Recap


This was a great month. The best month that we've had in a long time. The team turned in a 17-9 record , pushing us to 30-19 on the year. That's good enough for first place by 1.5 over the Astros, for now. It could've been even better if we hadn't dropped our last 3 games.


This team has been a strange one. Our record at home is 22-5, while our road record is 8-14. We're pretty much as good against lefties as righties. I'm not really sure how our season is turning out right now, but I have a theory.


Every team in the NL West is .500 or better. The last place Braves are only 5.5 games behind us, so a bad run and we could be looking up very, very far. I think we did well this month because we played a lot of teams from the weaker East. We beat up on them, and we took a break on the West teams. We might not be as good as we thought we were.


The strength of this team right now is on the mound. Up until the last couple days, we were first in every single pitching metric in the NL. The only one's that we are in 2^nd in right now are starters ERA, and hits allowed. Oh, and we're 3^rd in K's. Everything else is tits.


Then there's the field. Goodness. This is a power team. All power, all homeruns, all the time, and we play in a pitchers park. LA is 2^nd in the NL for HR's powered by DeCinces and Stubbs. We got guys back who had been hurt and I think that helped too. The glaring shortcoming though is that this team is the worst team in avg, and we're 11^th in nearly every other hitting stat. It's really incredible that we are even having any success at all. Thank god for pitchers. If they stop performing we're going to really be screwed. We're still the best defensive team in the NL.


May was the month for both Steve Sax and Mike Marshall. These guys were the best players. Sax roared up from the minors to hit .330/.405/.379. He added 14 stolen bases and is the only real speed threat on the team. He is really helping us to forget Randolph. If he can keep this kind of performance. If Sax set the table, Marshall did the heavy lifting. For May, Marshall was .352/.379/.565 with 5 HR's and 18 RBI's. It's a nice rebound from his crappy April. On the downside, we've got a ton of guys who are really not pulling any weight at all. From Scioscia (.155/.268/.226), to Bream (.167/.237/.226), to Fred Lynn (.246/.324/.361). Even Doug DeCinces crashed out in May (.240/.307/.375 and 4 HR's).


You know the pitching staff had a good month. None better than Tanana. Tanana won the NL Pitcher of the Month. He was 5-0 with an ERA of 1.08 in his 5 starts. The best month of his career. I hope he never slows down. John Denny might have had the worst. Denny went 1-3 with an 8.25 ERA in 5 starts. In the pen it was Alejandro Pena who wasn't doing so well. In 5 games, he allowed 3 HR's, the same number of strikeouts, and posted a 7.27 ERA.


As we turn toward June, the team has to decide if the starters that aren't performing are worth keeping on, or if it's time to move on. Scioscia's only saving grace is his arm. He was great last year, and he's terrible with the bat this year. BJ Surhoff is getting regular playing time, but it's clear that pitchers like Scioscia better. There's really nobody in the minors who might be getting called up, based on performance. There's not a lot of high level talent down there and the talent that is there is in the outfield, which as we can see, isn't short of talent. So that means that maybe there's some trades on the horizon. LA has the 3^rd highest payroll and a few million to spare even now. There's room for more, at the moment. I'm sure the GM is just itching to move the rest of those 2 star prospects.

[BYU 14]

Tanana has had a real rebirth this season and just crazy you technically have three closers in the bullpen, you should never give up a lead after 7.

[PilotMan]

Tanana has had a real rebirth this season and just crazy you technically have three closers in the bullpen, you should never give up a lead after 7.

If we could only have guys on base when all these homers are flying out we'd win all the time! But....these guys can't hit, except homers.

[PilotMan]

6/1 7-6 (10) L to the Pirates
LA and Tanana wasted a 6-1 lead. Lasorda left Tanana in too long, when he should have gone to his big bullpen and it cost us the game. Niedenfeur (2-3) was victimized by a Tony Phillips error in the 10^th that gave the Pirates the life they needed. DeCinces hit number 15. Tough to get swept on the road by the worst team in the NL East.


6/2 6-5 L to the Phillies
Another disheartening loss. Valenzuela was rolling and we were on our way. Fred Lynn and DeCinces went back to back with solo home runs, #3 and #16 respectively. The Phills grabbed one back in the 7^th and came on in the 8^th. Ken Howell was brought in and gave up runs that put the Phillies ahead. LA tied it up in the 9^th, but it was the bat of Rudy Law, in the bottom of the 9^th. Yes, Rudy Law, 12 career HR's, who put it over the left field fence to walk off for the Phillies. Unreal.


6/3 5-3 W over the Phillies
I'm glad we didn't drop a 6^th straight to a lowly team. John Denny (4-5) went 7 to get the win. Franco pitched the last 2 innings for his 11^th save. LA got a good game from Marshall, who was 3-4 and Phillips who was 2-4.


6/4 10-2 W over the Phillies
We bashed out 18 hits against Phillies pitching. Think about this, our 3-4 hitters combined for 2-10. Everyone else got in the game. Sax had 4, Phillips and Scioscia had 3 each. Bream scored 3 times. Scioscia had 3 RBI's. Tony Phillips hit his 2^nd HR of the year, in the 4^th inning. Rhoden goes 7.2 and gets his 9^th win (9-1).


6/5 9-6 L to the Astros
Houston pounded out 21 hits and the 2 teams combined for 33 hits in the game. No way this game took under 3 hours, it felt like 4.5. Vida Blue (0-3) takes the loss and allowed 13 hits and 7 runs in 4 innings of work. Jim Beattie came in and kept that run going, allowing another 5 in 2.2. LA went yard back to back again. This time it was a Stubbs 2-run homer (13) followed by a Bream (3) solo shot. Vida Blue's game score was 7.


6/6 7-5 W over the Astros
Tanana went 8, but revisited his old issue, gopher balls in the first. Benito Santiago touched him for 3, and we were behind all day. It wasn't until the bottom of the 6^th that we pulled back in front. Sid Bream hit a triple to tie it. Later it was BJ Surhoff with a 2-run single. He was 3-4 for the day. Tanana goes to 8-1, and Franco gets his 12^th save.


Vida Blue was put on waivers and designated for assignment. Kelly Downs was recalled to take his place. That didn't take long.


6/7 3-2 W over the Astros
Valenzuela (5-4) struck out 8 in 7 innings, but had to scatter 9 hits. LA fell behind 2-0 early on, but a Lynn HR (4) and a Bream 2-run shot (4) gave us all the runs we needed. Ken Howell pitched the 9^th for his 2^nd save.


6/8 3-0 (13) L to the Astros
John Denny and Jeff Sellers threw over 18 innings of shut out ball. LA only had 6 hits the entire game and Mike Marshall had 2 of them. One of his hits was the only extra base hit for LA too. LA turned 4 double plays, 2 of them with a runner on third to get out of an inning. It was lucky that we held on that long. Niedenfeur (2-4) took the loss when the Astros got to him.


23yr old, Ex-Dodgers prospect, Sid Fernandez threw a no-hitter against the Rangers. He's 8-2, with a 2.36 ERA this year. So Cy Young, no now hitter for Fernandez.


Former Dodgers, Bobby Grich and Tony Bernazard are 1-2 for 2^nd base AL All Star voting. Also, both Sid Fernandez and Orel Hersheiser are among top vote getters.


6/9 7-5 L to the Reds
Fred Lynn hit 2 HR's, one outside the park and one inside the park. Let me say, it was impressive for a 34 yr old outfielder. Rick Rhoden (9-2) took the loss and served up 3 HR's in his 5 innings of work, 2 to Eric Davis (15) and one to former Dodger Dave Anderson (3). Steve Sax also went deep for LA (2). By the end of the third, LA had come back from being down 5-1 to tie the game, but the Reds would score in the 5^th (Davis HR) and Beattie gave up another in the 8^th to secure it for Cincinnati.


Vida Blue didn't have to travel far. He was claimed by the Reds off of waivers.


6/10 4-2 L to the Reds
Fred Lynn went 3-4 with another HR, his 7^th of the year. The rest of the team only had 3 hits all together. Kelly Downs took the loss (2-3), but he didn't pitch poorly. The offense just didn't pick him up.


6/11 10-4 W over the Reds
It didn't take long to see Vida Blue in a new uni. He pitched today, and was really good, for 5 innings. In the 6^th, down 2-1, the Dodgers put on a hit parade and posted 6 runs to take the lead. Tanana (9-1) once again, would get good run support, even if he didn't dominate. He struck out 8 in 7.1, but allowed another 3 HR's. Sid Bream had LA's only homer, his 5^th in the 2^nd inning off of Blue. Both Bream and Dwayne Murphy went 2-4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI's. It would have been really, really embarrassing if Blue would have beaten us today.


6/13 5-4 L to the Padres
LA, behind Valenzuela had a 4-2 lead, but Lasorda stuck with his ace a little too long and it cost him. The Padres tied the game up in the 7^th and the Dodger bullpen, as good as they are, couldn't hold it. Ken Howell pitched the 9^th and needed a cannon from Mike Marshall in right to nail Ozzie Guillen at third. With a runner on first, and 2 out, Tony Gwynn hit one to the gap, that rolled to the wall and scored the winning run. Booo. Howell, falls to 1-3.


6/14 5-3 W over the Padres
The top of the order went 7-15, we pounded out 11 hits off of Jimmy Key. Meanwhile, Rick Rhoden went 7 strong to get his 10^th win of the year. Ron Kittle finally hit his first homer of the year. It was only his 3^rd hit, and it was his first pinch hit. John Franco pitched the final 2 for his 13^th save.




6/15 3-2 (11) L to the Padres
I'm starting to think that when Ken Howell (1-4) comes in to pitch that we will lose. John Denny with another not so shitty start. LA needed HR's by Fred Lynn (8) and Tony Phillips (4) to tie the game. Howell gave up the walk off single to Tony Gwynn.

[PilotMan]

Fred Lynn picked up the player of the week award in the NL with 4 HR's in a week and a .526 avg.


6/17 5-4 L to the Braves
Man, these one run losses are really piling up. This is the 3^rd in 4 games. The last few years these have been our wins. It also looks like my theory on this team is starting to hold true. The NL West is stronger, and we do well beating up on the East teams, but back in the 'hood, we struggle. Old friend, Candy Maldonado hit an 8^th inning HR off of Frank Tanana (9-2) that put the Braves up for good. It had looked like LA was going to win on the backs of a Mike Marshall 2-run HR (9) and another Tony Phillips solo homer (5). Tanana gave up 3 more HR's. That's 15 on the year, in just over 100 innings of work. Braves rookie thirdbasemen, Criag Worthington got his first career HR today. It raised his season avg to .087.


6/18 4-0 W over the Braves
Valenzuela (6-4) went 8.2 and was yanked an out prior to his shutout. Valenzuela got some good defensive support, including a big throw from Marshall to the plate. Fred Lynn knocked his 9^th HR of the year, a 3-run blast that opened the game up. Sid Bream went 2-4.


6/19 4-2 W over the Braves
Stubbs smashed a 400+ft, 2-run HR in the 6^th inning that gave the Dodgers the lead, and Mike Marshall went 2-4 in the winning effort. Rick Rhoden pitched 7 and moved his record to 11-2, while John Franco pitched the final 2 innings again for his 14^th save of the year. The Braves Jim Deshaies left the game in the 2^nd inning with an injury and the Braves had to rely on 5 guys from the pen to keep it close.


Bit of a surprise move in LA. Sid Bream is optioned to Albuquerque, and getting the call up is last years #2 pick (first round sup), Pete Incaviglia. Incaviglia started the year in AA, San Antonia, and has only played 16 games in AAA. Combined, he's hitting .314/.410/.545. He's hit 9 HR's, but only 1 in AAA. We'll see if that translates to the majors, if he gets any playing time. He doesn't play first base, so this is a bit of a strange move, but both Stubbs and Marshall can pick up time there.


6/20 3-2 (10) L to the Padres
Wasted a great game by Denny. He went 8, and struck out 6, only allowing 1 run. In the 9^th Lasorda went to Ken Howell. Howell walked RJ Reynolds (this whole Padres team is Ex Dodgers), Bob Brenly (see?) bunted him over, Jim Morrison (yep!) struck out, then Lance Johnson singled Reynolds home to blow the save. Howell would face 1 batter in the 10^th, getting Wiggins to fly out, then left the game with some kind of injury. I honestly breathed a sigh of relief when Neidenfeur came in. Next batter, first pitch, Cecil Cooper drove the ball into the right field pavilion. This game also saw the Major League debut of Pete Incaviglia. He singled in his first at bat, doubled in his second and got his first RBI. He started in left, with Stubbs shifted around to right. Marshall sat. Lasorda started Roy Smalley at first tonight. Doug DeCinces smacked #18 in the first. I thought it was going to be a good night, but our top rated bullpen failed.


6/21 4-1 W over the Padres
Kelly Downs (3-3) took all the pressure off the pen by throwing all 9 innings for his first complete game. Mike Scioscia, who has been completely absent this year, found something and went 3-4, with a double.


Our AAA franchise, Albuquerque is so bad, that our team ERA leader, Michael Cunningham has a 6.61 ERA. He's tied with the team lead in wins, with 3. His record is 3-9. The team is 16 games under .500, and 20.5 back. This does not look good for our future.


6/22 5-2 W over the Padres
Starting pitching FTW! Frank Tanana (10-2) goes the distance and only allowed 1 gopher ball. Ex Dodger Bob Brenly went deep on him in the 2^nd. LA brought it's own power though as Pete Incaviglia hit his first career dinger, a 345-ft shot to left field that plated 2. Doug DeCinces also got in on the act with his own in the 3^rd (19). Ray Knight has taken the starting job at first and went 2-4 batting in the 2 hole.


Brewers centerfielder, Mickey Brantley in an 11-5 loss to the Tigers. He hit his HR in the 9^th inning off of Doug Bair. Brantley is a .249 hitter this year with 9 HR's.


Incaviglia was optioned back to Albuquerque and Bream was recalled. Bummer. Looked like that was a positive move to be made. Bream hasn't done shit this year.


6/23 5-2 L to the Braves
What a waste!!!! Valenzuela pitched the game of the year and we lose?!?!?! Fernando pitched 8 and struck out 15 Braves batters. He left with the game tied at 2. John Franco (1-2) came on in relief. The leadoff hitter reached on a Tony Phillips error, then he walked the next batter. The third batter, Dave Meijer smacked the ball into the right field pavilion (3) to give the Braves the lead for good. So sad. Valenzuela had struck out 10 through 5. He was really something today.


6/24 3-1 W over the Braves
Steve Sax went 3-4 with 2 RBI's, his 3^rd HR and 22^nd stolen base. He supports Rick Rhoden who pitched 6.2 and struck out 7 while allowing 9 hits. Rhoden raises his record to 12-2 and lowers his ERA to 2.21. Both Ken Howell and Tom Niedenfeur pitched and we didn't lose! Alejandro Pena pitched the 9^th for his first save of the year.


6/25 1-0 L to the Braves
John Denny and Braves rookie John Mitchell (2-5) went toe to toe in this dual. Denny was pulled after 7 shutout innings and Mitchell pitched 8. LA could only muster 2 hits all game. Atlanta scored in the top of the 9^th inning off of Tom Niedenfeur (2-6). With 2 outs, Milt Thompson beat out a ground ball and got on first. Then Gerald Perry took a ball deep to the fence and the speedy Thompson scored. Another 1 run loss on the bullpen. Woof.


6/27 4-1 W over the Astros
Frank Tanana's All-Star season continues as he goes 8 and allows only 4 hits. Of course, 1 of those was a Bill Madlock HR (4), but he did lower his ERA to 2.73. LA had 2 of their own, of course, because we can't score any other way. This a Mike Scioscia 3-run homer (3) in the 2^nd and Sid Bream solo shot (6) in the 6^th.


6/28 8-5 L to the Astros
Fernando (6-5) got rocked early and took an early shower during the 5^th. He allowed 11 hits, and was on the hook for 7 of the runs. We hit Tom Candiotti (9-6), sort of. I mean, he threw a few wild pitches and we scored 4 on 3 hits. Steve Sax and Doug DeCinces both went 2-4 and DeCinces hit #20, a solo shot, because of course it was.


6/29 10-3 L to the Astros
Rick Rhoden (12-3) was off his game. He was touched for 10 hits in 4 innings and we had to experience Jim Beattie and and Alejandro Pena. Dale Murphy went deep twice (12,13) and Rick Sutcliffe (3-7) allowed 11 baserunners, but we just couldn't get anything in. Stubbs went deep in the 4^th for number 15, another solo shot.


6/30 7-3 W over the Reds
John Denny (5-5) went the distance with 7 strikeouts. We went against Vida Blue (1-5) again and again we got the better of him. Both Stubbs (16) and Marshall (10) hit solo home runs (dang this is a real problem). They also carried the team going 6-9 with 4 runs and 4 RBI's. The Reds have hit 20 more HR's than we have and have scored over 400 to our 300 runs this year. Their offense is just head and shoulders over ours.

[PilotMan]

June Recap


As good as May was June was the worst. Simply the worst. LA went 13-14, putting together the worst record for a month in a couple years. Our overall record stands at 43-33, and the lead that we had a month ago is gone and we're a game behind the Reds. No idea how, after this month, how we are only a game back. Just like last year, we're still in this as we head to the break.


The West is a little more open now than it was, but the race at the top is tight. The Dodgers, Reds, Astros and Padres have all been swapping out and only 2 games separate them. The Giants have fallen back and the Braves 10. The Expos have ceded the lead to the Mets in the East. In the AL it's the Blue Jays on top of the Red Sox and the West has the best team in baseball in the Angels. They're 6 up on the Mariners in the most comfortable lead in baseball.


Top pitcher for the month, was John Denny. Holy Crap. John Denny, coming off of the worst month of his career, he rebounded with a 2-0 record in 6 starts. His 1.34 ERA and 0.96 WHIP were the best. The worst of the month doesn't belong to one person, it belongs to our bullpen. The entire bullpen. The pen had a combined record of 0-8 with 7 saves. Maybe you can blame the offense for some of that, but 0-8? There's plenty of fail to go around.


The best hitter for June was Fred Lynn. Lynn wasn't lighting the world on fire, but his numbers were better than anyone else. For June Lynn batted .293/.363/.565. He hit 7 HR's, but only with 13 RBI's. His season average is up to .242 now and he has 9 HR's on the year. Sid Bream also rebounded from his demotion to post some solid numbers. His slash line was .298/.355/.583 with 5 HR's. There are too many guys who aren't performing up to par. June was no different, but we're really in a pickle the longer that Scioscia stays in there. Something has to be wrong with him. He's hitting nearly 130 points lower than he was last year, 130 less OBP than last year, and almost 180 points lower slugging. For June his slash line was .167/.244/.244. He had 13 hits all month, 4 for extra bases. It's bad right now. The hitting is so poor that our offense and overall record are taking a beating. Why did we waste a trade for Larry Parrish, who hit 24 HR's last year, and cost us 5 prospects, including our top pitching prospect if we aren't going to play him? He's in the last year of his deal. He's not coming back. Why?


Our team offense is still worst in avg with a team avg of .237. We're last in hits, next to last in OBP, and OPS, 9^th in SLG and Runs, and 2^nd HR's (behind Cincy). The pitching staff isn't as dominant as it was last month. We're 1^st in team ERA and runs allowed, while we're 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th in just about everything else. The team is the 3^rd best defensively in the NL. The bones are there for a winning team, but unless we can figure out how to get on base and score we're not going very far.


July we'll have to stay good. We should have a couple guys in the All-Star game, and the trade deadline will loom. I wonder if the front office will shake things up at all? With little to no prospects in the pipeline, what tools do they have to bargain with?

[PilotMan]

7/1 9-2 W over the Reds
Another good road win against the leading Reds. LA punished Bruce Berenyi for 5 in the first and 3 in the second. Mike Marshall homered in both innings (11,12). Sid Bream hit his 7^th in the second too. Tony Phillips was 3-5, and even Kelly Downs went 2-4. For his own part, he went 8.1 and Ken Howell came on to finish. We are tied for first.


7/2 6-5 L to the Reds
Should have completed the sweep. No question. Good Frank Tanana showed up today and went 8 innings, striking out 7 and allowing 1 earned run (2 total). LA opened the game up to a 3-0 lead in the 2^nd when Scioscia went deep for 2. His 4^th of the year. LA added another in the 4^th and 5^th, but Cincy clawed one back in the 8^th. We headed home with a 5-2 lead, and John Franco coming in. Franco gets Esasky to strikeout to start the inning, then allows a double to Danny Tartabull, followed by a walk to Bob Horner. Mike Stanley then came up and cracked a line drive over Tony Phillips head that scored Tartabull. Dave Valle was next and he hit a 1-1 pitch 403ft to left-center that sent the fans home happy. Terrible. Franco's ERA doubled to 2.60 with this outing.


7/3 7-4 (11) W over the Pirates
LA jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on a pair of HR's. One by Lynn (10), one by Stubbs (17). With Valenzuela up, the Pirates cut the lead to 1 on a Leon Durham 2-run homer in the 6^th. The Pirates tied it in the 7^th and Lasorda turned it over to the pen. Dwayne Murphy answered right away with a pinch hit blast (solo-homer) that put us back on top. In the 8^th LA loaded the bases and had John Franco come to bat, rather than replace him for the 9^th. He got out, we didn't get more runs. In the 9^th, Franco blew his 3^rd save of the year, and 2^nd in a row. He was replaced by Niedenfeur (3-6) who pitched the final 2 innings. In the bottom of the 11^th LA put 2 on and it was Fred Lynn again, putting the ball out of the park (11) to let us walk off and go home.


7/4 1-0 L to the Pirates
Mike Scott (6-9) threw a 3-hit shutout over the Dodgers. Sid Bream had 2 singles and Doug DeCinces had a double. Scott struck out 11 and walked 0. Rick Rhoden (12-4) takes the loss, but the only run was because of a Doug DeCinces error in the 8^th. He was right there throwing pills all game too.


7/5 4-2 L to the Pirates
John Denny pitched a complete game, striking out 7, but he was undone by the Pirate pitching yet again. Denny himself hit a triple and scored a run, and Lynn added 2 hits, but the Pirates did a better job of executing and making their hits count. LA was never really as close as the score tells. They were overmatched today.


7/6 4-3 L to the Pirates
And we drop 3 straight to the 5^th place team in the East. Unreal. The Pirates throw Cecilio Guante (3-1) on the mound to start and he goes 5 and we score 3. Then the rest of the pen came in. Downs (4-4) took the loss, didn't earn the quality start. Phillips and Lynn each went 2-4. This run is starting to fall off.


7/7 3-0 W over the Cardinals
We turned to Tanana (12-2) once again to stop the bleeding and once again, he delivered. Tanana pitched 7.2 innings of shut out baseball and struck out 9. Stubbs and Lynn both went 2-4 as we found out how to win without hitting a dinger. Niedenfeur came on in the 8^th inning and got 4 outs for his 1^st save of the year.


7/8 5-1 W over the Cardinals
LA put up 2 in the first helped by Tony Phillips and his 6^th HR of the year. Fred Lynn had a good day with a double in the first and an 8^th inning HR (solo) (12). Valenzuela (7-5) was an out from a shutout, but things fell apart in the 9^th. He still pitched a great game, with 7 K's. It's the kind of game that we need to see more of.


7/9 9-4 L to the Cardinals
Rick Rhoden is not on a good streak. He was hit 13 times in his 6 innings of work, and lucky for him, left with the game tied at 4. LA stayed close throughout thanks to a solo homer by Rhoden (1) himself. Too bad there wasn't anyone on base. Ron Kittle got the rare start and clocked his own solo homer in the 5^th (2). The wheels fell off late in the game when Niedenfeur and Franco combined for 5 runs allowed in 2 innings. Franco was completely useless again and his ERA is now up over 3.


7/10 3-1 (10) L to the Cubs
Young Cubs prospect David Cone is having an awful year and might need to go back to AAA, but the Cubs are also awful so it doesn't really matter. Today, he allowed 2 hits over 6 shut out innings. John Denny also threw zeros on the board for 6.2, before giving way to Ken Howell. In the 7^th, Howell served up a Mike Pagliarulo blast (15) that put the Cubs up. LA answered in the bottom with Sax coming around to score and it stayed like that. In the 10^th LA had John Franco (1-4) on the mound and with a runner on and 1 out, pinch hitter and prospect, Shane Mack came up and cleared the bases for his 2^nd career homerun. Franco is really having a rough go of it. It may cost him an All-Star spot.


7/11 5-4 W over the Cubs
Phillips, DeCinces and Marshall, the 2,3,4 went 6-11 with 3 RBI's in the winning effort. LA scored 3 in the first, the Cubs answered in the 2^nd, and LA scored again in the 3^rd. It looked like Kelly Downs was going to get the win until the Cubs tied it up in the 7^th. Alejandro Pena (2-0) came on and dominated. He struck out 4 in his 2 innings. Roy Smalley walked and took 2^nd on a wild pitch. Steve Sax hit the ball to the fence and Smalley scored to end the game.


7/12 3-2 W over the Cubs
It was Frank Tanana day in LA today. But at first it was old Frank who was back. He allowed 1 in the first, partially due to a Tony Phillips error. LA would answer in the bottom of the inning and push out to a 2-1 lead. The Cubs sent rookie starter Roberty Kennedy to the mound and his near 9 ERA. LA could only manage 5 hits all day off of him. Tanana did his job, until that is, he left the game in the 4^th with an injury. The crowed quieted and politely applauded, but you could just tell. Jim Beattie came on and pitched 3 shut out innings, then gave way to Ken Howell (2-4), who served up a HR to Joe Carter and blew another save, but he did end up getting the win when he was bailed out by a Kittle, pinch hit, solo homer to give us the winning edge. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 2^nd save. There's big concern for Tanana. Big concern.


The Pirates Leon Durham hit for the cycle in a 6-2 in over the Giants.


1986 All Star Rosters have been announced. Here are the current and former Dodgers who have made this years team:


AL
Dennis Eckersley – MN – 9-4, 2.45 2 AS
Sid Fernandez – SEA – 11-2, 2.78 2 AS
Jerry Reuss – DET – 2-1, 2.14 4 AS
Bobby Grich – TOR - .272/.368/.413 7 HR 8 AS


NL
Rick Rhoden – LA- 12-4, 2.57 2 AS (first in 10 years)
Fernando Valenzuela – LA - 7-5, 3.26 6 AS
Tom Neidenfeur – LA - 3-7, 2.58 4 AS
Doug DeCinces – LA - .271/.340/.498 20 HR 1 AS


Notable absences


John Franco – 1-4, 3.40, 15S – He was among the top 5 in votes for relievers. His horrible last few outings had to have kept him off the team.


Frank Tanana – 12-2, 2.42 – Straight up deserved this. It had been since 1978 since he's gone, and he earned this, but was shafted. The MRI on his shoulder was negative, so that was a huge relief. He's on the 15 day DL, but not expected to miss more than that. Very good news for us.


With Tanana heading to the DL, Lasorda said to expect Jim Beattie to get the spot in the rotation. To fill his spot in the bullpen, 2-time minor league, all star, and former A's prospect, Charlie Kerfeld was called up. Kerfeld is 0-2, with 9 saves in Albuquerque. His 6.33 ERA would be good for #2 on the team if he had enough innings. He's still young. At 22, the jury is still out on his future.


7/13 5-0 L to the Cubs
The Cubs just combined to 2-hit the Dodgers. This might be a new low. The Cubs have the worst record in the NL. They have a pitching staff that looks like it's straight from AAA and their team ERA is over 6. The pitchers they used were, Mark Vaji (6-9, 6.22), who walked 6. Rene German (1-2, 6.70), Doug Jones (0-0, 2.08), and Sixto DeLaCruz (0-0, 5.97). This group 2-hit us. Fernando (7-6) was doing alright. He was in solid control until the 8^th inning when the Cubbies got 4, somehow. Valenzuela would finish the game and strike out 8.


7/15 7-2 AL All Stars defeat the NL
Don Mattingly was the MVP going 4-4 including a HR. Rhoden threw 6 pitches to get his inning out. He even allowed a hit. Valenzuela struck out the side on 18 pitches. DeCinces went 1-3 with an RBI and started at 3^rd.

[PilotMan]

7/17 5-4 L to the Cardinals
Lasorda just loves to leave his starters in there as long as he can. LA had a 4-1 lead at one point. We scored first with back to back solo home runs in the 2^nd from Stubbs (18) and Bream (8). Andy Van Slyke (9) answered with his own solo shot in the 3^rd. LA put up 2 more in the 6^th, but Denny couldn't keep the Cards from answering in the bottom thanks to Willie McGee (4). The Cards got another in the 7^th and things just didn't feel right when Denny came out in the 8^th. McGee lead off with a big double, and Will Clark followed with a HR to right (19). LA had nothing in the 9^th to drop another 1 run game. Denny went the distance and allowed 10 hits and all 5 runs.


7/18 5-2 L to the Cardinals
Steve Sax lead the way going 3-5 with an RBI. Kelly Downs got the start and he pitched well, but there was a rain delay in the 5^th and he got yanked afterward. Things kind of went downhill from there. Charlie Kerfeld (0-1) got his first ML appearance. On his 2^nd pitch, Curt Ford, who had just replaced an injured RJ Reynolds (recently acquired from the Padres), hit a ball deep to right. It took a funny hop and Ford was able to complete the inside the park home run. Quite the debut for Kerfeld. He was also victimized by a Fred Lynn error that allowed 2 more to score in the inning. He took the loss, and got his first blown save! But it gets better! After 27 pitches, he complained of an injury and had to be replaced! Now that's a full blown, shitty, debut!


Former Dodger backup catcher Buck Martinez has announced that he is retiring. He's still in SoCal with the Angels.


The first blockbuster trade of the season is here. The Cubs and White Sox fashioned a cross town swap that sent Joe Carter to the White Sox (joining Bonds and Baines) in exchange for the #14 prospect in baseball, P Scott Bankhead and reliable veteran reliever Kevin Saucier. Carter his 40 HR's last year. The White Sox have been hit hard with injuries this year, and their pitching staff is now much more maligned without those 2. Only the future will judge this trade.


Kerfeld only has some wrist soreness, and he's not on the DL and is day to day.


7/19 5-3 (14) W over the Cardinals
Would you believe that John Franco blew his 3^rd straight save? Guy has gone from being unhittable to untrustworthy. Would you also believe that Jim Beattie started? Went 8? Allowed only 2 hits? Me either. Tied at 2 heading to the 9^th LA put the go ahead run on the board when Tony Phillips singled home DeCinces. Franco came on and walked Dave Winfield, walked Ozzie Smith, served up a single to Bo Diaz and Winfield came in to score. At least he didn't lose it for us. Top of the 14^th Stubbs lead off with a double and Bream doubled him in. Ken Howell picked up the win to go to 3-4.


7/20 3-2 W over the Cardinals
Rick Rhoden (13-2) pitched very well today. He threw 8 shut out innings allowing only 2 hits. John Franco almost happened again. Sax went 3-5 to lead the charge on offense and we were rolling. Franco's 9^th went down like this: Walk, Single, Out, Walk, Out/Tag/Score, Single, Single/Score, Out. The Cards had bases loaded and Tom Herr and he could've killed it for us. His ERA is up to 3.80 and it's his 16^th save.


7/22 5-3 L to the Pirates
Two errors by Tony Phillips at short cost us the game today as it lead to 3 unearned runs. Valenzuela (7-7) threw 130 pitches in 7.1 innings and again, it was that 7^th inning that cost us. LA had put up 3 in the 3^rd on a double by Lynn and a 2 run single by Stubbs. From there it was Fernando, until the Pirates came up with 2 in the 7^th and forged ahead. Without the Phillips error, we'd have been out of there, but that breathed life into the Pirates and Leon Durham punched them both in on a single. We're going to rue losses like this later on.


7/23 10-4 W over the Pirates
We need to bank some of this O. Eighteen hits, 10 runs, Stubbs went 3-4, with 5 RBI's and his 19^th HR of the year. Sid Bream bashed his 9^th late, and Fred Lynn hit #13. Even John Denny (6-7) got in on the action with a 2-4 game and 2 RBI's. Denny pitched 8 innings to get the win.


7/24 6-1 W over the Pirates
Kelly Downs (5-4) pitched 7 innings, only threw 92 pitches, and got plenty of support today. Mike Scioscia knocked in 2 in the 2^nd that would've been enough, but Downs picked up 2 on his own single later on.


7/25 3-2 L to the Cubs
The Cubs got on the board first, but LA took the lead on a massive Stubbs 2-run HR (20). The Cubbies answered right away when Rhoden (13-5) got tagged by by Tony Armas' 4^th HR of the year. Cubs newly acquired rookie Scott Bankhead (3-1) struck out 9 over 8 innings.


7/26 6-4 W over the Cubs
The big news in this one was the great game and luck that Jim Beattie played today. Beattie (1-0) picked up his first win of the year by spreading out 11 hits and not allowing any runs. He gave way to Niedenfeur in the 9^th, and he couldn't get out of the inning until 4 runs were in and Franco had to come in to get the last out, his 17^th save. The last time LA saw Mark Vaji he put us down, but we got to him early, and rode that 3-0 lead until the 9^th, when we were able to add another 3. If not for those runs, the Cubs might have come back to take this one.


7/27 2-0 (12) W over the Cubs
Valenzuela pitched 10 shut out innings against the Cubs, and LA couldn't get anything going against David Cone and his 7 ERA. Cone again kept us quiet and ultimately it was the failing of the bullpen of the Cubs that we scored. Sax went 3-6 and got the single that plated 2 in the 12^th. Marshall and Stubbs struck out 7 times. Franco picked up the win (2-4) and Howell got his 3^rd save.


7/28 4-2 L to the Giants
Mike Marshall went 2-4 then left the game after pulling up lame while running the bases. Frank Tanana (12-3) made his return from the DL and took his first loss of the season, at home. He allowed 4 in his 7 innings of work today. He could've had the win with some support, but it's one of his worst outings of the year.


7/29 6-4 L to the Giants
Down 4-1 in the bottom of the 8^th LA found a way to tie the game off of Bob Stanley. A 2-run triple by Mike Scioscia and a sac fly by Roy Smalley tied it up. LA brought in John Franco (2-5) for another shockingly bad performance. Franco allowed 2 hits and 2 walks, and 2 runs. LA couldn't get anything going in the 9^th and basically gave this one away.


7/30 5-2 W over the Giants
Bream went 3-4, along with Phillips. Rhoden (14-5) went 8 and won his league leading 14^th game, striking out 8. Coincidentally, we failed to his a HR in another game. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 3^rd save of the year.

[PilotMan]

July Recap


Bad News, Good News. On the downside, a month of 13-13 baseball doesn't inspire hope and optimism for the rest of the season. In a month where we played a lot of teams from the East, we just couldn't make headway at all. On the bright side though...we are .5 game out of first place. How? Fuck if I know. Only 5 games separate the top 5 teams. It's really anyone's division.


Our record on the year is 56-46. In the last 2 months we are a game below .500. We are the #2 team in the NL in HR's and 8^th in extra base hits. But, like every other month, we're 12^th in team average with a .242. 11^th in OPB, runs and hits. And 10^th in OPS. We've gone from being a feared hitting team to a team that can easily be pitched around. Rookies have dominated us and there's no help coming.


The team elected to not make any moves at the deadline, meaning that our prospects are in tact, but also that our team is pretty much going to stay where it is. This looks a lot like last year. We might win, or we might not, and even if we do, we'll be huge underdogs against the Expos or Mets.


One area that we should be killing it in is close games. Our bullpen is very strong, yet our team record in 1-run and extra inning games is 3 games under .500 for both. If that was just 3 games above, we'd be looking at a 6 game swing in our overall record. 62-40, would be whole lot better than our 56-46.


Fred Lynn was the no doubt, player of the month. In fact, outside of Scioscia actually having a 'normal' month, everyone else just sucked. Lynn batted .302/.358/.570 and hit 4 HR's for the month. He's still under performing the season, and well on his way to his worst season in 3 years. Doug DeCinces fell off a cliff. He hit 1 HR and had a slash line of .220/.269/.350. That was the guy we had hitting cleanup. No wonder we can't score runs. Between Lynn early on, and DeCinces now, or really anyone else now, we simply can't get anything going.


With the hitting doing so bad, you'd have to think that it wouldn't matter how good these guys are doing. Can't win throwing a shutout if you never score, right? Starting pitching was lights fucking out. Top pitcher for the month was Tanana, except he was hurt. He still went 1-1, with a 1.73 ERA and 0.92 WHIP. Where he served up 11 HR's in June, he allowed 1 in July. We're not done. Valenzuela went 1-2, and had a 1.70 ERA! Losing record with a 1.70 ERA! His WHIP was slightly higher at 1.04. I don't think it's a secret as to who the worst of the worst was for July. Our closer, John Franco had one, historically bad, month. Franco pitched in 11 games, went 1-3 with 2 S and 3 BS. More blown saves, than actual saves. His ERA was a sad 10.64. His WHIP was 2.27. Rookie. He cost us plenty in July.


August will separate the men from the boys. Where will we fall? We're in the thick of it right now, can we hang on or go on a run? We start the month with a 3 game series at home against the first place Reds.

[PilotMan]

8/1 4-1 W over the Reds
Fernando Valenzuela (8-7) was in old form today. He went the distance, struck out 9 while allowing only 4 hits. LA scored everything in the first 2 innings and relied on Valenzuela's arm after that. Sax had a 2 run single in the 2^nd to open the game up.


I always love the cup of coffee player. The guys that bust their asses for years just to get that moment they can hold onto for life. Once such real life player was a guy with one of the most unique names was Razor Shines. I must have 50 of his baseball cards. Well, seems like 50 anyway. Real life he had 81 career at bats, and a .185 avg. He had 15 career hits, 1 extra base, no HR's. So, Razor just got his first call up to the majors. He just turned 30. He's been hitting .332 at AAA and he has 74 career minor league home runs. He just got his first major league hit, in his second game starting at catcher for the Expos. Leading off against Ron Darling he hit a 368ft, 1-0 pitch to left field for a HR as his first ML hit. You go Razor.


8/2 7-3 W over the Reds
Two guys did it all, well 3. Tanana (13-3) did it on the mound yet again. He went another 8 innings with 0 walks and 7 K's. He allowed all 3 runs, but only 1 was earned. A gopher ball. The other 2? Stubbs went 2-4, with 3 RBI's and the other was Sid Bream, who went 1-1 with 3 walks, and a 3-run homer (10). Breams homer put LA on top, after the Reds had taken the lead in the 5^th. Franco got work in the 9^th and put them down in order.


8/3 5-3 W over the Reds
LA completes the sweep of the former first place Reds. John Denny (7-7) got the start and looked rough early. He allowed a 2-run homer to Danny Tartabull (19) in the first, and we went down 3-0 early. But LA rallied for 2 in the bottom off of Vida Blue (3-9). Bream put LA in front in the 4^th on a 2-run homer (11) and Ron Kittle added a pinch hit homer in the 8^th (4). John Franco pitched a good 9^th for his 18^th save.


8/4 3-2 (10) L to the Astros
Rick Rhoden pitched 8 innings, 0 walks, and 7 K's, but it was wasted. Tony Phillips went 4-5 and hit his 7^th HR of the year to put LA up 2-0 early. The game ended in the 10^th when Astros rookie catcher Benito Santiago hit for the pitcher and cracked his 4^th HR off of Niedenfeur (3-8). Tough loss.


8/5 5-3 W over the Astros
Kelly Downs (6-4) started today and the Astros scored first in the first. Bottom of the 2^nd Stubbs tied it up with HR number 21, a solo shot. Bottom of the 3^rd LA put a 4 spot on the board, with 3 of them coming from a big Sid Bream bomb (12). Franco pitched the 9^th for his 19^th save.


8/6 5-4 (10) W over the Astros
Valenzuela pitched great through 5. We held onto a 1 run lead until the 6^th when 3 extra base hits by the Astros resulted in 3 runs and put Houston on top. In the bottom of the 6^th LA got one back when Stubbs went deep again (22), then in the 7^th, for the second game in a row, Bream blasted a HR (13) and tied the game. Fred Lynn also went deep, for his 14^th. John Franco (3-5) pitched 2 scoreless for the win.


8/7 9-8 W over the Reds
Tanana pitched 6.1 and allowed 3 HR's today. The Reds scored in the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th. That was after we put up 3 in the first and 2 in the 3^rd (courtesy DeCinces's 22^nd). By the 8^th inning LA put up 3 in the top to take the lead again. Franco came in to pitch the 8^th and it looked like his 3^rd game in a row. He blew his 5^th save of the year. In the 9^th a pinch hitting Ron Kittle cracked his 4^th pinch hit HR of the year . Franco came back in the 9^th and survived, yep, survived. He runs his record to 4-5.


8/9 9-1 W over the Reds
Rhoden and Blue (3-10) got the start and after 1 it was tied at 1. Neither pitcher would give anything up. Mike Scioscia went 3-4 tonight, and for the first time all year, his batting average is .200. In the 8^th LA went nuts, scoring 8 in the 8^th and burying the Reds. Ken Howell (4-4) got the win to even his record.


8/10 9-2 W over the Reds
Holy offensive explosion Batman! Three straight games against the Reds scoring 9 runs?!?!?! Sid Bream is a man on a mission. He homered again (14) and went 4-5. The Reds scored first in the first off of starter Denny (8-7), but he would lock it down and pitch 7. In the 3^rd, Lynn homered to put LA on top (15). The horses were off then, with runs in the 4^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th. Jim Beattie and Steve Howe pitched scoreless innings to close it out.


8/11 3-1 W over the Astros
Stubbs put us on the board in the 2^nd with his 23^rd of the year. We added 2 more on a Scioscia 2-run single in the 7^th. Fernando did the rest going 8 and allowing 1 run, a pinch hit, gopher ball to Barry Larkin. He improves to 9-7, while Franco came in to pitch the 9^th and made it interesting again. He allowed a walk and a single before forcing a game ending double play for his 20^th save.


8/12 7-6 (10) L to the Astros
Fred Lynn homered in his first 2 at bats and LA went up 2-0, but in the bottom of the 5^th our luck ran out and Kelly Downs was chased after allowing 5 runs. In the 7^th LA got 2 back on a Marshall HR (13). Houston pulled ahead again in the bottom, but LA got 2 in the 8^th to tie the game up again. In the 10^th it was Franco (4-6) who came on and 2 walks, a K, and 2 hits later it was over. Sid Bream has a 15 game hitting streak, and our 5-game win streak is done.


8/13 6-5 (11) L to the Astros
LA put up a 3 spot in the first thanks to 2 HR's. One by Marshall (14) and one by DeCinces (23). That couldn't save LA from old school Frank Tanana. Tanana gave it all right back on 2 HR's of his own in the 1^st and 2^nd. By the 7^th the Astros had pushed the lead to 5-3 and LA was deep into the pen. Tired from all the extra work over the last few days the options were few. In the 9^th, on an 0-2 count with 2 outs, Mike Marshall tied the game with a single, scoring Phillips. We had to turn to Beattie (1-1) in the 11^th and like Franco, 2 hits, a K and 2 walks and it was over. Bream went 0-5.


Three time All Star Steve Rogers was signed by the team to a major league contract. Rogers has 170 career wins and a 3.30 ERA. He's just a handful of days prior to his 37^th birthday and was cut from the Yankees about a month ago. He's 1-0 on the year with a 3.67 ERA in 27 innings of relief. He is clearly on the backside of his career right now.


8/14 6-2 W over the Astros
Rick Rhoden (15-5) gave the bullpen a huge break. The big man went the distance and struck out 7. He was helped along by Sid Bream, who really only took 1 game off. Bream earned POG status going 2-3 with a massive 7^th inning 3-run shot (15). Mike Marshall also cracked his 15^th and went 2-5. Fred Lynn shocked the world with his 3^rd stolen base. Steve Sax missed the game with a stomach bug. He's day to day.


8/15 10-2 W over the Giants
Steve Sax missed his 2^nd game and it was Larry Parrish getting the start. He might have cost us with a couple of errors in the field, with the bat, he was dangerous. Parrish went 3-6 with 4 RBI's and his first HR of the year. John Denny started and pitched into the 8^th, but it was his bat that was shocking. Denny went 3-4 with a double. Crazy. Fred Lynn left the game in the first after a busted play in the field. No word on the severity.

[PilotMan]

8/16 2-1 W over the Giants
Valenzuela (10-7) scattered 8 hits and only had 1 K in a hard working effort. A Mike Scioscia (up to .206 now) single plated 2 in the 2^nd, and that was all we would get. Larry Parrish started his 3^rd straight at 2^nd and went 2-4. Franco pitched the 9^th, but the Giants got the winning run all the way to 2^nd before Franco got the final out for save number 21. This was Fernando's 100^th career victory.


8/17 7-1 W over the Giants
Kelly Downs on the hill, and wins again, moving his record to 7-4. Not too shabby for our 5 starter. He pitched into the 8^th before Niedenfeur came on. The only run was unearned and his ERA dropped to 3.34. Even though the Giants scored first LA tied it on a Sax double that scored Scioscia. Scioscia was 2-3 (avg up to .210) and Downs had 2 RBI's too. LA drew 7 walks, which isn't very common without Evans and Randolph in the linup. The score could have been even higher as we left 11 runners on base.


Still no info on how long Lynn is going to be out. It's not looking good at all.


8/18 7-2 L to the Mets
Old Tanana back once again. Well, that's not entirely fair. It would be fair to say that the Mets are a very good team, and that the top of their order killed us. Backman 2-5, Bonilla 3-4, Strawberry 2-4, Mitchell 2-4, 2HR and 6 RBI. Or you could simply say that Mitchell killed us. All would be fair. Tanana (13-4) left in the 5^th after the 2^nd 3-run shot from Mitchell. The best from LA was Dwayne Murphy going 2-2 with a walk. The LA mopup crew of Beattie and Howe kept the Mets scoreless. Beattie had 4 K's in 2.2 IP.


Finally have word on Lynn. Lasorda reported after the game that Lynn's injury isn't as serious as thought. He's got a cracked rib, and is on the DL, but he'll be back before the end of the season. Pete Incaviglia (.331/8/34 in Albuquerque) is called up to take his spot.


8/19 9-1 W over the Mets
Fair is fair. Rick Rhoden allowed 8 hits and walked 4 in 7.2 IP, but the key stat was only 1 run scored. His opposite, triple crown winning and leading, Doc Gooden didn't fare as good. He was chased after allowing 5 in 5.1 IP. It was immediately after Ray Knight got his 1000^th career hit, a 3-run HR to left. Sid Bream went 3-5 and both Stubbs and Sax had a couple of RBI's.


8/20 7-0 W over the Mets
Denny (10-7) goes 7 scoreless, but can't finish because he walked 6 and wore himself out. He bailed himself out of bad situations with doubleplays and K's. Everything went right. Mets catcher, Alan Ashby had a bad day, he had 2 throwing errors that lead to runs. Lasorda has moved quick on Incaviglia, starting him in left and moving Marshall to the bench, with Stubbs sliding into right. That can't make Marshall feel very good. Inky had a 2-run single early as part of a 3 run 3^rd. Dwayne Murphy his #4 in the 4^th, and DeCinces hit #24 in the 7^th. Both were solo homers. It was Sax and Bream at the top, both going 2-4 that provide the punch in the scoring.


8/22 6-1 L to the Expos
Hard to look at that score and know that Valenzuela (10-8) took a no-hitter into the 8^th. With 1 out, Dawson doubled off the wall to end it. Then with 2 out, they got 3 more to put 4 on the board. Franco served up a 2-run homer to Carter (14) in the 9^th and that functionally ended it. Our offense did nothing against Rick Reuschel (13-6). Wish that he'd pitched this well in a Dodger uni. At 37, he's having a resurgence. He's a win away from #200, and is coming off of back to back titles. One with the Jays when he won 19, and last year with the Expos when he won 21. He's already having a better year than either one of those.


A Paul Zuvella single in the 8^th was all that came between Mike Scott and an 11-K no hitter against the Braves.


Well, the Steve Rogers experiment has ended. He wouldn't be assigned to Albuquerque so after sitting in the pile for 10 days, and picking up a check, he's a free man. Between the Yankees and Dodgers, he's made over 800k, which is more than any year with the Expos.


8/23 10-5 L to the Expos
I feel like we just went 10 rounds with a heavyweight. We are beat up. Before we get to the game, I just want to say that we got to see Razor Shines start at catcher. He went 0-5 and still only has 1 career hit, the home run, in 17 at bats. Ok, that's done. Tanana (13-5) was obliterated. Eight runs, 5 earned, 2 HR's in 1.1 innings of work. This was never a close game. We committed 3 errors, Galarraga had 6 RBI's. It was a mess. Belive it or not, Jim Beattie did some nice work for us. He allowed 2 unearend runs, but otherwise, a nice 3.2 innings in relief. His ERA is down to 2.96 on the year. Now for the bad new. Like huh? Yeah, both Murphy and Incaviglia are out for a few days. Murphy strained something running and Inky was hit by a pitch. The next few games might be interesting.


The team is going to carry Murphy and his injury. Incaviglia is heading to the DL, and Tom Beyers (.361/12/81 in AAA) is coming back to the team.


8/24 9-3 W over the Expos
We salvage one!! Stubbs and Sax each had 3 hits. Sax had a 2-run triple and even Sciosica had 2 hits (creeping up to .212 now). No wait...even Rick Rhoden had 2 hits. Yeah, that's the kind of game we had. Nolan Ryan had a rough 8 run, 10 hit, 5 walk, 3.1 innings of work against us. That's a game score of 3. Rhoden improves to 17-5 and lowers his ERA to 2.36.


8/25 3-0 W over the Phillies
The pitching staff held the Phillies to only 2 hits, and 4 baserunners total. John Denny (11-7) got the start, but left in the 6^th with some sort of pitching discomfort. We've already breathed a sigh of relief, as we've been told it's not serious, so that's a dodged bullet. Pena and Franco pitch 4 innings of no-hit ball to close it out. Franco get's his 22^nd save. Now, for some reason Larry Parrish is starting in CF, not Stubbs, but whatever. Parrish got tossed in the 4^th inning on a called 3^rd strike, and Lasorda was down to his 4^th CF'er when Ron Kittle came in. That's not helpful. Mike Marshall made the most of his game time, blasting a 2-run shot (17) in the 4^th that got us on the board.


8/26 7-2 L to the Phillies
LA could only manage 2 hits in this one. One of them just happened to be a 2-run homer by Stubbs (25). Kelly Downs (7-5) took the loss, but he struck out 10 in 6.2 innings of work. He tired and was mismanaged, then Ken Howell came in and gave up 2 HR's and it was lost. Jim Beattie walked 4 in 1.2 IP, but didn't give up a run.


8/27 7-4 L to the Phillies
So, about that 4^th inning, when Valenzuela allowed 3 HR's....yeah, it wasn't good. His record goes to 10-9. He would strike out 7, but in the 7^th Guerrero, yeah, that one, would get his 2^nd of the game, 10^th on the year (he's been injured) and that would finally do in Fernando. Larry Parrish hit his 2^nd in the 2^nd. Missed opportunity here. Should have done better against Kevin Gross (8-15) who hit his own 2-run HR off of Valenzuela. Just not a pretty game for the southpaw.


It's not even September and both Frank Viola (20-4) and Mike Witt (20-5) have become 20 game winners on the same day.


8/29 9-4 W over the Mets
Rick Rhoden (18-5) went head to head with Doc again, and it's hard to believe that we made the reigning triple crown winner look that bad again. Rhoden allowed 10 base runners in 7 innings where he allowed 4 runs. He was pretty lucky, as we came to hit. Sax went 3-4. Bream went 2-5, and hit #16. DeCinces went 2-5 and hit #25, and Stubbs went 3-5 and hit #26. Even Rhoden narrowly missed his own HR and settled for a 2-run double. Rhoden walked 5 and struck out 0. He was lucky today. Lucky that he had that much support.


8/30 3-0 W over the Mets
Denny (12-7) is in the groove. He pitched 7 more shut out innings and hit an RBI double in the 3^rd. Sid Bream's incredible August continued. He went 3-4 and hit his 17^th HR of the year, a solo shot. Ken Howell pitched the 9^th for his 4^th save. LA left 13 on, while the Mets had 9 hits and still couldn't score.


8/31 Rain out, rescheduled

[PilotMan]

August Recap


Like the August run a couple of years ago, this one sets the team up for a strong shot at the playoffs. Our August was the best month that this team has had all year long. We started the month just a little back of the first place Reds, and we finish the month with a 5 game lead over the Padres. Our record of 19-8 has pushed us to 21 games over .500 and is the best month since 1984.


How was it that we made this push? Well, our hitting became better, and our pitching stayed strong. We saw starters go deep into games and we had a couple of players really, really step up play and lead the team. The team is still last in team average, but we've managed to crawl out of the cellar to 6^th and 7^th in SLG and OPS. With 136 HR's we are #2 in the league, even if our OBP flags at 10^th.


The pitching staff is strong. First in team ERA with a 3.04, and first in both starter and bullpen ERA. We're either 2^nd or 3^rd in every other pitching category except walks where we are 4^th. Defensive efficiency is 3^rd in the NL.


It's not hard to find the August pitcher of the month for the Dodgers, he won the NL pitcher of the month award. After one of the worst months for any pitcher, John Denny raised his game to dominate the league. His record of 6-0 and his ERA of 1.35 (but a high WHIP of 1.35) lead the way, and it didn't help that he got 5.67 RS/G for the month either. Rick Rhoden had another good month too, going 4-0 with a sub 2.50 ERA.


On the flip side though, was Frank Tanana. In a complete role reversal his starts were disastrous. He went 1-2 with a 7.27 ERA. He allowed 10 HR's in his 28.1 innings of work.


The top batter in August was Sid Bream. After most of the season questions dogged him and how long he would hold down first base. Ray Knight was getting more looks and it looked like he would get the chance. No chance now. Bream slaughtered pitchers in August. His slash line was .357/.418/.663. He hit a team leading 8 HR's and knocked in another team leading 25 runs. He's now got 18 on the year and batting .277. Along with his solid defensive play at first base he is a solid starter.


If we have to pick on someone we'll pick on Stubbs. While he has hit his fair share of dingers his wild inconsistency often leaves the team with big holes in productivity. His slash line for the month is .234/.284/.449, even though his 6 HR's and 20 RBI's were good enough for 2^nd best.


As we hit the end of August it's time to look at the races in MLB. I've already said that LA lies 5 games up on the Padres. The Reds fell all the way back from first to 6.5 games off the pace. The rest of the West is falling behind with neither the Astros, Giants or Braves likely to make any kind of challenge.


In the NL East, the Expos are back on top. They've put a little distance between themselves and the Mets, building a 4.5 game lead. Those 2 teams will fight until the finish. The Phillies lie in 3^rd, but a far 13 games off the pace. The Cubs are the worst team in the NL, 28 games back and 30 games under .500.


Over in the American League West, it's the California Angels on top of the division. It's still a dogfight of a division though as a number of teams can make the run, but will they? The Mariners are in 2^nd, 3 games back, and the Twins and Royals lie 6 and 7 back respectively. Even the White Sox are only 7.5 behind. It's not over for them, but the window is closing.

The AL East is starting to look like a runaway. It's by far the most separated division in baseball, and no surprise, it's the Blue Jays on top of the division. The Red Sox lie a distant 9.5 games back in 2^nd place. The sad Brewers, the worst team in baseball, are 41 games back and 50 games below .500. They, along with the Orioles have already been eliminated and are playing for nothing. The Brewers have one of the worst pitching staff's I've ever seen on a Major League team. The starters ERA is 5.79 and the ace (?) is waiver claimee, and one time, Pirates prospect, Mike Bielecki. If they have any bright spot it's the rise of young prospect, Rafael Palmeiro, and his play in left field.


LA needs to stay hot and put this season away. They'll get Lynn back healthy sometime around the middle of the month, and in the meantime will have rookie Pete Incaviglia coming back from the DL. If they keep pace, they'll easily put it away. Or we could collapse. Not sure that a .500 record will be good enough to keep the Reds or Padres at bay.


The end of August also means call ups and roster expansion. Here are the guys who are up and how they might fit in with the team:


IF Ty Dabney (.225/1/8 in AAA) - 5^th round pick in '84, he started the year in AA, but most recently rose to AAA. His numbers were better in AA, but it's not like he lit the world on fire.


IF Ross Jones (.269/4/53 in AAA) – Getting his second cup of coffee with the team. Jones is a capable defender, with some speed off the bench. He's been a farm hand for 6 years.


IF/C Jack Fimple (.285/2/25 in AAA) – Fimple has spent the last 4 years in Albuquerque and this is his first ML call up. He hit .332 last year for the team, but has dropped off some. Nearing 28, it's getting close to make or break time for him.


IF/OF/C Scotti Madison (.251/11/65 in AAA) – Madison has seen playing time each of the last 2 years and now this will burn his option for this year, meaning either he sticks or goes through waivers. He's the ultimate utility player, but doesn't stand out in any area.


OF Tony Brewer (.248/4/29 in AAA) – Perhaps missing his window, he's now nearly 29 and in the last option year. This is his last shot with the team in all likelihood. Brewer has average bat skills and average speed.


RP Charlie Kerfeld (2-4, 15S, 6.87 ERA in AAA) – One of the teams top pitching prospects probably isn't saying much. Kerfeld pitched 1 game for LA earlier in the season. This is his first option year.

[PilotMan]

9/1 7-5 W over the Expos
Valenzuela (11-9) got the win, but he was far from his best today. He was just lucky. LA got to Reuschel to the tune of 9 hits and 6 runs in 5 innings. LA got the rare Scioscia HR (5) in the 4^th and we had a 6-0 lead halfway home. The Expos got 3 back in the bottom of the 5^th. LA would tack on an extra run in the 8^th, and Franco came on to pitch the 9^th for his 23^rd save. Steve Sax left the game in the 2^nd while rounding the bases. Ty Dabney made his ML debut. He ended up 2-3 with an RBI. Stubbs went 3-4 on the day. In the game, Robin Yount got his 2000 career hit. The game was held up for the ceremony and both teams congratulated him.


Sax has a knee bruise and will miss a few days, but isn't heading to the DL.


9/2 2-0 L to the Expos
Bryn Smith (14-6) is well on his way to another 20 game season. He kept the bums quiet all game long. Scioscia had a couple of hits, and LA wasted a CG by Tanana. Tanana (13-6) allowed 5 hits, and it was Galarraga that knocked both runs in off of him. LA wasted 8 hits, and grounded into 3 double plays.


9/3 3-1 (11) W over the Expos
We even the season series with the tough road win in Montreal. Nolan Ryan started, didn't allow a hit until the 7^th inning, but Rick Rhoden was equal to the task. LA scored in the 7^th on a Rhoden Rbi single, but the Expos got it right back and that's how it stayed until extras. In the 11^th Ron Kittle and BJ Surhoff, both got RBI singles off of Jeff Reardon (2-9). Niedenfeur gets the win (4-8) and Franco pitched the 9^th for his 24^th save.


9/4 2-1 W over the Mets (makeup)
Denny (13-7) picked right up in September where he left of at in August. He pitched 8 strong allowing 1 run, and lowering his ERA to 3.08. Denny even got an RBI single to put LA on the board in the 7^th. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 25^th save.


9/5 1-0 W over the Phillies
Charles Hudson (12-9) and Kelly Downs (8-5) went toe to toe for the whole game. It was tied at 0 heading into the 9^th. Hudson had DeCinces on a 1-2 count when our third basemen hammered the ball 391ft to left-center (26) to put us up. Niedenfeur came on for the 9^th for his 4^th save of the year.


9/6 5-3 W over the Phillies
LA gets the 4^th win in a row with nary an extra base hit in the game. LA put a string of hits together off of Kevin Gross (8-16) and scored 3 in the first. With that Valenzuela (12-9) was able to cruise along. They added 2 more in the 6^th to pad the lead and that ended up being enough to hold on. Ken Howell pitched the 9^th for his 5^th save of the year. That's 3 different closers in 3 days. We saw former Dodger first round pick Kurt Stillwell playing for the Phillies. We also saw the the ML debut of Oswaldo Peraza who pitched a little over an inning, and got a hit in his first ML at bat.


Former Dodger pitcher Rick Reuschel got his 200^th career win.


9/7 5-4 L to the Phillies
Frank Tanana (13-7) and the case of the missing baseball. Missing because it's flying out of the ballpark. He only lasted 4 innings this outing, serving up 2 gopher balls to Steve Balboni (32). LA had a couple of homers of their own, with DeCinces getting us started in the first (27). LA fell behind 5-1 and nearly clawed it all back. Roy Smalley hit his 5^th in the 7^th. We nearly came back, but the Phillies pen shut us down.


There's a major award race going on in the NL, and it's for who will become the first player to reach the 40/40 club. It's seems a nearly foregone conclusion that both men will reach it, but who will get there first? Darryl Strawberry leads the NL with 35 HR's and 46 SB, while Eric Davis is 2^nd with 34 HR's and 49 SB. Strawberry is hitting .323, while Davis .333. Imagine if at some point these two titans were ever on the same team?! That team would be nearly unbeatable! (note: yes, this is a reference to Dodger fans.) One of them WILL win the MVP this year.


9/8 8-3 L to the Braves
So the worst team in the West, with a 7 game losing streak knocks us off again. Yippee. Rhoden (18-6) on the mound. Big Franklin Stubbs 2-run HR (27) in the first, and we should have rolled. Nope. Four errors, 2 wild pitches, contributed to an embarrassing loss at home. Stubbs did all the damage going 2-4. Rookie pitcher, Charlie Kerfeld saw his 2^nd pro game, going 2.1 scoreless and striking out 3.


LA committed to first base overnight by finalizing a 4-year contract extension for first basemen Sid Bream. Bream, 26, took over the starting job last year and has held it down all year long. He's coming off the best month of his career. His contract is valued at a very affordable 1.1M over 4 years. That's nearly reserve pay for a guy just coming into his prime. Good deal for the team.


9/9 3-2 (10) L to the Braves
All of LA's scoring was thanks to Dwayne Murphy hitting a 2-run homer (6) in the 5^th. That gave Denny the lead and it looked like it was going to hold. The Braves got one back in the 6^th when former Dodger Candy Maldonado hit his 16^th and then Brook Jacoby tied it in the 7^th. It came down to the bullpens and once again, John Franco (4-7) would be the one that let us down, but it was unearned, but it was his error. Double boo.


9/10 4-1 L to the Astros
LA drops it's 4^th straight. Kelly Downs (8-6) threw 7 innings, allowed 2 runs, but it wasn't good enough LA to overcome. They were helpless against McCaskill (9-15). Dwayne Murphy hit an RBI triple for our only run. Houston put up 2 more in the 9^th off of Pena to lock the game up.


9/11 2-0 L to the Astros
Uh Oh. This makes 5 straight losses and August is being undone. Our offense has disappeared and the standings are closing up fast. Valenzuela (12-10) pitched hard, struck out 8, 1 out shy of a complete game, and yet the bats were silent in his support. Tony Phillips lead off and he went 4-5. LA had 0 extra base hits, left 11 on and had 10 singles. It was a completely wasted effort.


9/12 5-4 (14) L to the Reds
LA had to rally for 3 in the bottom of the 9^th off of Dennis Lamp to send it to extras. In extras John Franco walked the bases loaded only to work his way out of it for no damage. No, the ruler of the day was Danny Tartabull. The Reds right fielder homered in the 1^st off of Tanana, then homered again in the 14^th off of Ken Howell, that gave the Reds the winning margin. Tanana allowed 10 hits and 2 more homers in the game. Tony Phillips again had the only offense for LA, as Phillips homered for his 8^th time during his 2 hit game.


While LA has lossed 6 in a row, the Padres have won 6 in a row. We are now .5 game behind them in the race for 2^nd.


9/13 4-3 W over the Reds
Larry Parrish and his 2-run HR (3) in the bottom of the 7^th broke a 2-2 tie. Rhoden won his 19^th game of the year and struck out 6. The Reds sent Vida Blue to the mound and he struck out 8 guys enroute to his loss. Jim Beattie pitched the 9^th as yet another different pitcher saved a game for us. His first of the year. Thank god we got a win, finally.


Tom “Terrific” Seaver won his 300^th game last night while pitching for the Blue Jays.


9/14 10-3 W over the Reds
10 runs, 15 hits. The 9 of those hits for extra bases. The Reds have great offense, but damn, their pitching gets ripped up by our hitters. Top hitter, was.....Mike Scioscia. No seriously, dude went 4-5, 5 RBI's and 3 doubles. Pete Incaviglia hit his 2^nd HR of the season. He also had 2 doubles. John Denny (14-7) went 8.


Fred Lynn and Steve Sax were both activated from the DL, and should be back in the lineup.

[PilotMan]

9/16 16-7 W over the Braves
16 hits, 7 walks, and 3 dingers. Valenzuela (13-10) threw 6 shutout innings, then lost all control. He set a LA Dodger record with 9 walks and the Braves put up 6 in the 7^th. No matter, we already had 14 runs across the plate by that time. Fred Lynn's return was a good one. He went 2-5, hit a big 3-run homer (18) and had 6 RBI's. Bream scored 4 runs and went 3-6. Bream hit number 18 and Stubbs hit number 28 in our offensive blood bath. The most interesting news in the game though was the ML debut of top Braves prospect, Randy Johnson. The former #1 Braves pick could only manage 2/3 of an inning before getting yanked. He walked 2 and allowed 2 hits, but was also hurt by 2 errors in his 27 pitches of work. LA still managed to leave 9 on base, so this could have been much worse.


9/17 12-11 W over the Braves
We sure are making them look good. LA had an 11-5 lead going into the 8^th. Then Jim Beattie got, shall we say, completely torched. Franco came on with 2 outs, and proceeded to allow all inherited runners, plus 2 of his own and blew yet another, incredible save as Atlanta put up 6 in the bottom of the inning. It took Sax hitting a single with 2 out in the 9^th to plate Fred Lynn who lead off with a single to give us the win. Frank Tanana started, could only manage 4 innings and 4 runs allowed. Franco (5-7) blows his 6^th save of the year. Steve Howe allowed his first run against since June. He raised his ERA to 1.20 even though he's only pitched 30 innings this year.


It's really a race in the West right now. We're back to our winning ways, but we're still a half game behind the Padres. How is that possible? Well the Padres went 18-11 in August, but in September? They are a ridiculous 14-1. They could be running away with this, that's insane. How can we keep up with that? We'll see them 4 games, starting next week for 2, 2 game series.


9/18 9-2 W over the Braves
Why haven't we been killing this team all year like this? 37 Runs scored in 3 games. Rick Rhoden became the first 20 game winner in the NL, pushing his record to 20-6. For the most part, he pitched well. Pitching into the 8^th, but walking 4 and allowing 5 hits. Today's game belonged to rookie power hitter Pete Incaviglia. Inky went 4-4 with 3 runs scored, a walk and his 4^th HR of the year. LA forced Bob Walk (7-13) from the game in the 3^rd after we'd piled on 8 runs and 12 hits. Doug DeCinces also went deep for his 28^th of the year. Mike Scioscia went 3-4, with 3 RBI's (avg up to .223) and Steve Sax went 3-5. Hard to believe, but Bream and Lynn went a combined 0-10 today.


9/19 4-3 L to the Reds
LA went up 2-0 early on, but John Denny (14-8) couldn't hold it and lost his first game since June. LA came back and tied it up on an Steve Sax, solo home run (4), but Denny gave it right back in the bottom of the inning. LA squandered more chances before it was over. Sax went 3-5, but also left 4 guys on base.

The Padres have now won 11 in a row.


9/20 16-1 W over the Reds
Wow, imagine if we could score like this every time? Kelly Downs (9-6) struck out 7 over 6.2 IP, but who cares? DeCinces went 3-4 with 7 RBI and his 29^th HR. Stubbs went 3-5 with 3 RBI and his 29^th HR. Bream went 4-6 with 5 runs scored and 2 doubles. Tony Phillips went 2-5 with 4 RBI's. LA piled on 8 runs in the 8^th and 9^th innings to make the game go from blow out to ludicrous mode.


The Astros blew the 9^th at home, came back, tied the game to send it to extras, blew the 10^th, then came back again to win over the Padres and hand them their 2^nd loss of the month.


9/21 10-6 W over the Reds
A walk, a single and a 3-run HR by Fred Lynn (19) opened the game for LA. However, Fernando (14-10) wasn't on his game today. The Reds came back and by the 4^th they had taken the lead. Valenzuela only pitched 5 innings, walked 5 and allowed 5 runs. Danny Tartabull hit 2 HR's off of him too (24,25). LA added 2 in the 5^th and another 4 in the 6^th. Sid Bream went 4-5 and scored 3 more times. This was not a good day for pitchers. The offense is really hitting on all cylinders right now. Wonder how long it'll last?


9/22 2-1 (11) L to the Astros
Not long. I must have jinxed em. LA scored right away in the first when Sax came home on a DeCinces double, and then nothing else would happen. Frank Tanana pitched 9 innings of 1 run ball, his best game in weeks and weeks. Niedenfeur (4-9) took the loss after a couple walks and a hit. Ken Howell ended up serving up the walk off hit to Dale Murphy with the bases loaded and 1 out. The Padres lost again so we keep pace.


9/23 9-6 W over the Astros
The Astros scored first, then LA poured on the next 8 runs. LA had a comfortable lead until the young rookie prospect Fred McGriff put a 3-run homer in the right field seats. In the 9^th Charlie Kerfeld ended up with the bases loaded and John Franco actually had to come in, in a save situation to quell the rally. He did that for save #26, and we held on. Rhoden allowed 10 hits in 7.2, and because of 9 runs of support, got his 21^st win of the year. Pete Incaviglia went 3-4 with 4 runs scored.


9/24 4-1 W over the Padres
We take the first of the 4 games we have with them this month. We have 2 guys who can take responsibility for this win. First off, John Denny. Denny (15-8) takes a shut out into the 9^th inning then gives up a homer to Kevin McReynolds (24) and that's that. In the meantime he allows 6 hits and strikes out 7. The next is Franklin Stubbs. Against lefties all year, Stubbs had 4 home runs. Facing Bob Ojeda (16-9) he hit a solo shot in the 2^nd (30) and in the 4^th with 2 on he hit another (31) to give us all the runs. He was 3-3 on the day.


The races are winding down. Except for ours. We've cracked open a tight 1 game lead on the Padres with that win. Our magic number is 10. The Reds have fallen very far away. They lie 9 back on the verge of mathematical elimination. In the East, it's the Expos, once again, with a magic number of 4 and a 7 game lead on the Mets.


Over in the AL, not much has changed. The Angels lead the West with the best record and a magic number of 7 over both the M's and Royals. In the East, it's still the Blue Jays holding onto a shrinking 7 game lead over the Yankees.


9/25 5-2 L to the Padres
That's one missed chance to break out of this race. LA had exactly 1 really shitty inning. That was the 4^th. Downs had not allowed a hit all game until then. Then he allowed 6 hits in a row. In.A.Row. The Padres put all the runs on the board and then did nothing else. In fact, Niedenfeur and Pena combined for 4 more no-hit innings and 8 K's the rest of the way. Incaviglia homerd for the 6^th time and lead the offense going 3-4.


9/26 11-1 W over the Giants
A 4-run 3^rd inning that featured Fred Lynn's 20^th HR of the year set the stage for the big blowout. LA had 14 hits. Of those, 4 were doubles, 2 were triples, and 2 were HR's. Stubbs hit #32 in the 5^th and we still left 8 guys on base. Fernando Valenzuela (15-10) went the distance for the win. The Padres lost to the Reds dropping the magic number to 8.


The Brewers and Orioles are in a fight for worst record. The Brewers lead with 106 losses and Baltimore is right behind with 104. There are 8 games to play.


Oh, remember that race between Strawberry and Davis? Yeah, Strawberry won. He's leading the NL with 43 HR's, while Davis is stuck at 35.


9/27 6-3 W over the Giants
Frank Tanana (14-7) was his usual gopher ball allowing self and/or early run allowing self, but the O bailed him out. The Giants scored in the first, but Pete Incaviglia answered with a mammoth HR in the 2^nd (7). That's 27 games, 106 AB and 7 HR. Stubbs, who leads the team is HR's is averaging one every 17.78 AB, while Inky is currently at 1 every 15.14 AB. Where has this guy been all year? Oh yeah, the minors behind Larry Parrish, Ron Kittle, Mike Marshall, and Dwayne Murphy. LA added 2 more in the 4^th on a Tony Phillips 2-run triple and we started walking away. Tanana surrendered his gopher ball to the Giants pitcher, Jeff Stember. It was his 1^st career HR. Gregg Jefferies homered in the 7^th, again off of Tanana. That's 34 HR's allowed for him this year. The Padres won, but the magic number shrinks to 7. Sax has a 15 game hitting streak.


Both the Blue Jays and Expos have clinched their respective divisions. So if we can hold on here these last 4 games it'll be another Expos series. The Angels still have the best record, but their only 2.5 ahead of the Royals and at 4.5 back the M's are almost out of it.

9/28 3-2 W over the Giants
Rick Rhoden (22-6) struck out 9 in 7.2 innings of work and Giants rookier starter Glenn Barling (1-10) didn't allow a hit until a 6^th inning blast from Incaviglia cleared the fence (8). Rhoden added an RBI double in the 7^th and that was the winning margin. Ken Howell pitched the 9^th for his 6^th save of the year. Old Man Doug DeCinces was the major casualty of the game. He pulled an abdominal muscle running the bases and scoring. He's out indefinitely. So the guy who is probably the most important piece of the puzzle for the team is out and done for the year (most likely). Boooooo. Hiiiiiissss. The good news is that the Padres lost again to the Reds. This drops the magic number to 5, with 6 games to play. Up next is the final 2 game series against the Padres. We just need to split the series, and not lose them both.


DeCinces is done. He's on the 60 day DL and Chuck Jackson was brought up from Albuquerque. Jackson is a middle infielder, corner outfielder. His slash line is .298/.390/.419 and he has 10 HR, 63 RBI's and 38 SB. He was the 43^rd overall pick in 1983. 33yr old Ray Knight, who played in 67 games but only had 112 AB's will take over the hot corner.


9/29 6-4 W over the Padres
This was a big, big, big win. If the not biggest this year so far. LA committed 4 errors, it was awful. The Padres and Dodgers traded runs and after the 4^th it was tied at 3. The Padres took the lead in the 5^th, and it wasn't until the 8^th when LA tied it up, and in the 9^th a 2-run single by Fred Lynn, off the bench gave us the win. Now, Ray Knight, played his ass off. He batted cleanup, went 3-4 and hit a HR (2) in his first at bat. Ron Kittle also homered (6) and went 2-4. John Denny (16-8) pitched 8 and John Franco got his 29^th save of the year. The magic number is down to 3 with 5 to play.


Twins reliever Goose Gossage got his 300^th career save. The Expos are burying the Mets. They've won 9 in a row and lead by 10.


9/30 3-2 W over the Padres
That might just do it! The team was held in check by Dennis Leonard for 7 innings. Kelly Downs had held the Padres to 2 runs, but we hadn't put any on the board. In the top of the 8^th, Mike Marshall smacked a line drive HR that put 1 back on the board for us. Then.....in the 9^th....it was Ray Knight. The hero. After a Kittle pinch hit single, Knight hit an opposite field HR (3), that gave us the 3-2 lead. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 30^th save of the season.


The California Angels win their 99^th game of the year and seize the AL West crown. It's only us left. And we only need 1 win, or 1 San Diego loss.

[PilotMan]

September Recap


So September is for call ups. Boy did one man make a difference. The team just put the finishing touches on a 19-10 record. After that brutal start where they lost 6 games in a row, the team rebounded by losing only 3 after the 12^th. Those 3 losses by a total of 5 runs. The team was very, very good. For the season we are 94-64 and 4 full games up on the Padres with 4 games to play. The Padres, as I said earlier, the Padres started 14-1 and ended up 19-8. What are the chances that they would start the month 5 games back, play like that, and end up 4 games back.


The team is only 1 game away from the West title and another date with the Expos. With no Doug DeCinces.


September saw a big surge in offense and our team finally climbed out of the cellar, all the way to 11^th in team average. It's better than that. We're now 4^th in runs, 8^th in OBP, and 2^nd in HR's. We've hit 168 HR's this season. The pitching stayed near the top. Not the top, but near the top. 2^nd in runs against, ERA and defensive efficiency. The bullpen is the top in the NL. We're 1 game from the playoffs, and we're talented enough to make it further.


There were a few good performances in August, but there was 1 outstanding performance. Good enough that he won the NL Rookie of the Month. Pete Incaviglia nearly won a roster spot out of spring training, but he spent the year in AAA. Incaviglia's month was .326/.400/.652 and 7 HR's and 16 RBIs.
After lighting the world on fire in August, Sid Bream fell back to Earth in September. Bream only hit 2 HR's in the month and batted .224 with a .274 OBP , along with 22K's, way more than any other month.


The starters in all, did very well all month long, but the tops for the month was the return of the quality in the bullpen. Tops in the pen was Niedenfeur. He was straight dominant over 14 games, a 1.42 ERA, and a 0.63 WHIP. Eighteen K's in 12.1 IP. John Franco also found his way back to respectability with 8 saves and a 1.76 ERA in 13 games. Frank Tanana was again, the worst of the bunch, but he did get better. A 1-2 record with a 4.42 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. We'll always have May.


The playoffs, except for the final dotted “i” in the contract, are set. More after the season finishes. We need to stay healthy. LA can't afford to lose anymore big names. DeCinces could be enough to hurt us, the answers will come in time. It would be our 4^th title in 5 years.

[PilotMan]

10/1 3-0 W over the Padres
The Dodgers win the west! The Dodgers win the west! The Dodgers win the west! Lasorda gave the ball to Valenzuela (16-10) and he delivered! He pitched 8.2 innings and was 1 out from the shutout. He struck out 6. LA pounded out 13 hits and left 15 runners on base. Should have won this one going away. Incaviglia went 3-5, Sax 2-3 and even Valenzuela went 2-5 with 2 RBI's. Ken Howell got the final out for his 7^th save on the year.


10/3 5-2 W over the Giants
Rick Rhoden (23-6) threw 7 shut out innings picked up his NL leading 23^rd win of the year. Franco pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 31^st save. LA opened up the scoring on a Sax, 2-run single in the 3^rd. Stubbs his career HR #101 (33) in the 4^th. Sax went 3-4, Tony Phillips went 3-3. We've won 7 in a row and 9 of our last 10. We are the hottest team in baseball.


Darryl Strawberry has put all doubters to rest this year on who is better, Eric Davis or him. Strawberry had 14 HR's in September and now has 48 on the year, to go with 49 steals. No player has ever been 40/40 until this year, and Strawberry has a legit chance at a mind crushing 50/50 season.


10/4 10-4 W over the Giants
Ray Knight went 2-4 with 5 RBI's and hit a 3-run HR (4). He's been quite the fill in for DeCinces since he's been starting. The Giants pitching walked LA 12 times in the game, but they were using a pile of rookie pitchers. John Denny went the distance to run his record to 17-8 for the year.


LA is only 1 game behind the Expos for homefield in the playoffs. Wow. Considering everything this season. Wow.


10/6 3-0 W over the Giants
Quite the finish to the regular season for LA. We end on a 9 game win streak. Today, Valenzuela (17-10) took a no-hitter into the 7^th inning and left after 8 innings of 1 hit ball. He struck out 11. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 32^nd save. LA scored first on Ray Knight's 5^th HR of the year. In the 6^th it was a 2-run single by Incaviglia that completed the scoring. LA wins the final 9 games of the season and 18-3 over the final 21 games.


Oh, one last thing. Strawberry didn't steal a base during the last 2 weeks of the year, but he was caught. He hit 2 HR's in the season finale and ended with 50 HR's and 49 SB's. So close, but wow, what a season.

[PilotMan]

So I totally just realized that there are independent minor league teams and now I'm completely enthralled. It's like a fringe players wet dream. Guys who are too old or lack enough skill and are trying to stick around are playing on independent teams in A and rookie ball in the hopes of resurrecting their careers and putting up some amazing statistical seasons. These teams are winning and winning and winning and it's such an oddity.


Here's just one example. In the Carolina League, an A level division, exists a new independent team called the Kingston Eagles. The Eagles just finished their first season with a record of 111-29. They lead the league in runs scored 872 to the 2^nd place team's 771. Lead the league in runs allowed, 448 to the 2^nd place teams 635. Hit .284 as a team 19 points higher than the Durham Bulls and hit 144 HR's 18 more than 2^nd place and 54 more than 3^rd.


Leading the team with a 7.4 WAR and 276 TB's is young Scott Lusader. The team's CF, Lusader is only 22. He was drafted in 1984 by the Phillies in the 3^rd round, with the 89^th overall pick. He signed for 71K , then was released after training camp. He was picked up by another independent team, the Gastonia Jets where he lead the team to a title, won series MVP honors, and finished 2^nd for the league MVP. He signed for Kingston in the offseason. Once again, lead Kingston to a title, won a Gold Glove, and finished 2^nd in league MVP voting. His slash line this season was .327/.416/.498. He hit 14 HR's and had 85 RBI's. He stole 25 bases and scored 125 runs.


The muscle on the team was Paul Klimas. Klimas, 30, was a White Sox farmhand from 1976 when he was 20. He worked his way up the league and got a cup of coffee in '83 and '84. He batted .255 in 50 career plate appearances, with 1 career HR. He became a free agent and went to play for another top level independent, the San Jose Bees, before coming to Kingston. This season he batted .281/.388/.491, hit 25 HR's and had 103 RBI's. He was able to parlay that success back into a contract with the Oakland A's, who brought him up to the ML roster a couple weeks ago, but he hasn't gotten into a game yet.

The Kingston ace is 31yr old, long time Oakland A's starter, Matt Keough. Keough was last in the majors last season with the O's. His career record of 56-87 go with his 4.38 ERA. He put 4 straight negative WAR seasons together to see his exit from ML baseball. He signed on with Kingston in February last year and went on to win both the minor league Cy Young, and MVP. This season, in 29 starts, Keough went 21-1, with a 2.43 ERA. He struck out 202 guys in 233.2 innings pitched and posted a 5.7 WAR. So far no new team has come calling, so we may see him in Kingston for another season.


There are a few teams like these, the Bees are also very interesting. They have scored 1231 runs this year while allowing 616. How they lost 39 games (won 123) I have no idea. Here are some of the freaks from this season. Billy Sample hit .403. Bob Boone batted .390. Chris Welsh went 29-5, with a 2.62 ERA and threw 20 complete games! Ron Romanick went 28-2 with a 2.49 ERA, and 20 complete games! He was involved in a deal that sent Dave Stewart from the Mets to California. He was traded along with Rick Aguilera. Aguilera is in the majors and Romanick is toiling in the minors. Even former Dodger, Ray Burris is here, but he lead the team in losses going 12-8 with a 3.38 ERA. Other recognizable names on this team: Rodney Scott (former Expos IF), Dave Bergman, Kevin Elster, and Bobby Castillo.


Makes for some interesting side stories to the big names playing in the big parks at the very least.

[PilotMan]

1986 Playoff Preview


AL


Toronto Blue Jays v. California Angels


The Blue Jays are the heavies. They are making their 3^rd straight appearance in the ALCS having won it all in 1984. The Blue Jays won the East with a record of 98-64 and finished 8 games ahead of the Red Sox. They have the #2 offense in the AL and lead the league in HR's with 189 and were 2^nd in SB's with 178. They have speed and power. Their pitching isn't half bad either as they are 4^th in team ERA, with the top bullpen in the AL. They did allow a lot of HR's but their offense was better.


They had 3 guys with over 20 HR's. George Bell lead all with 33, then it's rookie 3B, Cory Snyder with 23 and last is Lloyd Moseby with 20. They had 4 guys with over 20 SB's. They are Ricky Henderson (54), Tony Fernandez (35), Lloyd Moseby (29) and Mich Webster (24). The team lost middle of the lineup hitter Jessie Barfield in April, then for the season in June. Barfield still hit 9 HR's in 32 games and he's getting closer to coming back. Word is that he could be back in a week or so, depending on how this series goes.


The Jays ace this year has been Jim Clancy. Clancy (18-12, 2.94) pitched a team high 263 innings with a team leading 1.11 WHIP. Number 2 in the rotation has been Danny Darwin (15-11, 4.53, 238). Tom Seaver, in an amazing rebound year where he won his 300^th career game, thew more innings (228.2) than he had since 1978. Seaver went 16-8 with a 4.05 ERA. In the bullpen it's been Dave Smith holding down the back end. The former Phillies closer was acquired during the Winter Meetings for 3 high level prospects and a player to be named later. This year he saved 35 out of 40 chances to lead the AL. He also had a 2.40 ERA, his career best since he was a rookie in 1980. Setting him up has been Tom Ubiera (4-5, 4 S, 3.53 ERA 51G) and Randy St Claire (9-7, 4S, 3.84 ERA, 64G).


The California Angels finished with the best record in all of baseball. Their record of 103-59 saw them as the only 100 game winners this season. They did it mostly with pitching, leading the AL in opponent average and hits allowed, while being 2^nd in team ERA. The bullpen is a weak spot though as they were the 10^th best in the AL. Defensively, the Angels were the best in the AL. On offense, the team was a pedestrian 9^th in team average, 11^th in hits, 2^nd in HR's and 7^th in runs scored. They're not built to dissimilar to the Dodgers.


This is only the 2^nd AL West crown for the Angels in the franchise history. They last made the playoffs in 1979 and last year finished 3^rd, albeit with 94 wins.


This year the team had 4 players with over 20 HR's. They are lead by Tim Wallach and his 30. Many said that when Wallach left the Expos last off season that he would miss the days with the juggernaut Expos, but he stood on his own this year with a .276/.327/.477 line, along with 92 RBI's. Along with him are Mike Young (24), Ken Phelps (23) and Dave Henderson (21). Young was another offseason signing from the Orioles. Phelps got hurt in mid August and is done for the year. He was only batting .195 before he got hurt. The absolute biggest weapon on the team has been totally unheralded Dick Schofield. The 23yr old shortstop is one of the best defensive short stops in the league, and before now his best years saw 13 HR's and .257 avg in '84. This year he has really come through. Batting .301 at the top of the order and stealing 28 bases to go with 15 HR's and 93 RBI's he is a real double threat and hard to pitch around. He might be one of the most underrated players in the game. There are a couple of ex Dodgers on this team too. Old guy Steve Garvey took over at first after Phelps was lost, but he's only hit .226 with 13 HR's. Tony Bernazard starts at 2^nd and hit 15 HR's and batted .267.


The Angels staff is deep, and was deeper. In fact, this team has been beset with a myriad of injuries, major injuries. Brett Saberhagen, an All Star, was lost for the year with a finger ligament injury. He had been 14-9 and won the ERA crown with a 2.35 ERA. He also lead the league in WHIP with a 1.00. Saberhagen isn't easily replaced. If that wasn't bad, they also lost long man, and spot starter Shane Rawley (3-0, 4.05) and former Orioles closer Tippy Martinez (0-0, 8.44 ERA). So who's left that they are still the best with those losses?


Well, Mike Witt put together a Cy Young type season and lead the league in wins with a 23-9 record. He was on pace to get close to 28 at one point. Witt posted a 2.82 ERA and struck out 211 in 261 IP. Behind Witt is veteran hurler Bert Blyleven. Blyleven (16-13, 3.99) had one of his worst season's of record. He lead the league by allowing 48 HR's, making Tanana look squared away. But he still can dominate a game. Behind him is journeyman Rich Dotson (15-12, 4.20) who still threw 222 innings. The bullpen has 2 guys who have been in charge there. One time closer Stu Cliburn is now the primary set up man, but before that, he had 31 saves (4 blown) in 60 games with a 3.13 ERA. The new closer is Dave Stewart. Stewart came back to SoCal last year in a trade with the Mets and played set up last year. Injuries forced him into a hybrid role where he closed during the year and made spot starts at the end of the season. His 7-4 record, and 18 saves aren't earth shattering, his 3.79 ERA isn't scaring anyone, but he is very reliable for the most part.


NL


Montreal Expos v. Los Angeles Dodgers


Stop me if you've heard this one before. You know these teams. This is the 6^th straight East title for the Expos with last season being the first title for the franchise. They aren't as much of a sure thing this season, but they did end up on top after that battle with the upstart Mets. The team was 2^nd or 3^rd in most offensive categories, but they were down in 8^th in HR's. The team was 2^nd in the NL in pitching with the bullpen in 6^th. In contrast, they were 1^st in the league in HR's allowed and walks.


The team is still an All Star fan fest. They will be without stalwart Andre Dawson (.295/.336/.523 and 25 HR's) for the entire NLCS. He's dealing with a shoulder injury suffered in late September and the team will be missing CF'er Robin Yount (.276/.343/.443 and 11 HR's) for at least the start of the series. Yount had a severe ankle sprain. Dawson was the only player with more than 20 HR's. The rest of the power in Montreal came from Gary Carter (17) and Andres Gallaraga (16). Tim Raines is probably the most dynamic weapon the team. He batted .342 and stole 72 bases to go with 93 RBI's. This team still features Lou Whitaker (.262/12/68) and Paul Molitor (.311/10/83) in the lineup. Mike Greenwell is filling in for Dawson in right.


The pitching staff was anchored by Rick Reuschel (18-8, 2.72), David Palmer (16-5, 2.51), Charlie Liebrandt (15-8, 3.02) and Bryn Smith (17-7, 3.21). There's no weak spot in that rotation. Each and every one of them can take over a game and they all had fantastic seasons. Probably the deepest rotation in the playoffs. Coming out of the bullpen is Dan Quisenberry (9-7, 3.11 and 28 saves), Jeff Reardon (3-11, 3.83, 10 S) and Larry Andersen (via trade with the Tigers, 3-6, 3.45 and 25 S). They also sport Nolan Ryan (13-9, 3.59) and John Candelaria (4-2, 5.34). The team is flush deep with talent.


Like I said, this team is stocked. You know it, we know it, they are a tough game every time.


LA finished the year 11^th in the NL in team avg, but 4^th in runs scored. They were 11^th in hits, and 2^nd in HR's. First in walks, and last in stolen bases. The team strategy there seems obvious. You've seen it in play all year long. LA also boasts the top pitching staff in the NL, and the top bullpen. They finished the year as the hottest team in baseball and spent the last few weeks just winning all over. It was quite a change from the earlier part of the season where we were nothing more than a .500 team.


Doug DeCinces was LA's top producer on offense and he is lost for the year. That should make a difference, but other players have been stepping up in his absence. Both Ray Knight and Pete Incaviglia have made a difference with their bats, with DeCinces being gone. The team will rely on slugger Franklin Stubbs to do some of the heavy lifting. Stubbs lead the team in homers with 33 and RBI's with 111. Aside from DeCinces, only Fred Lynn had 20 or more HR's. Part of that was due to the constant merry go round in the outfield. Steve Sax will be critical in the playoffs. His batting average over Sept/Oct was .385 and he lead the team in OBP for the season with a .353 OBP. He also provides the only speed on the bases. He had 43 steals this year. He has to get on in order for LA to score runs and keep innings going. If he doesn't, the next man up is Phillips and his .351 OPB. However, the #3 leader in avg was Mike Marshall and his .269. If he doesn't play, it's Sid Bream at .260. Those are not good numbers.


That means that the pitching staff will have all the pressure to keep the game close. The top pitcher this year has been Rick Rhoden (23-6, 2.49, 28/35 QS). His 4.71 RS/G was the best of his career. Behind him is El Toro, Fernando Valenzuela (17-10, 3.00, 25/36 QS) he got only 3.53 RS/G, the lowest since '82. If he get's Rhoden support that record is different. Behind Valenzuela is John Denny, the hottest pitcher on the team. Denny (17-8, 3.03, 24/34 QS and 3.97 RS/G), had both the worst month and best month for LA. They will hope the good Denny shows up. In the similar vein, Frank Tanana (14-7, 3.48, 17/30 QS and 3.87 RS/G) gave up 34 HR's and a bunch of first inning runs. He threw back to back 1 hitters and won NL Pitcher of the Month in May. It's a good rotation and a healthy rotation.


The bullpen is the best in the NL. John Franco (32S/6BS) held the back end down all year, but his 3.20 ERA wasn't tops on the team and his WHIP of 1.38 makes him vulnerable. Former closer Tom Niedenfeur only got 4 saves, but was a better pitcher than Franco. His WHIP was only 0.85. He did lose 9 games for us. The other heavily used back end pitcher was Ken Howell. Howell pitched in 54 games in his 2^nd full season and posted a 2.77 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. Starter Kelly Downs (9-7, 3.28) will fill in the long relief role out of the pen.


This took entirely too long to write. I'm pretty sure that it's because I don't want to lose to the Expos and I'm feeling very pessimistic.

[PilotMan]

One more thing about the Blue Jays. In December of last year the Blue Jays acquired Steady Eddie Murray for 4 prospects, the best being catcher Mike Macfarlane. Remember?

Yeah, so Eddie played 72 games at first, hitting 14 HR's and batted .285 before he was knocked out by a severely broken ankle. That put an end to the season, but that wasn't all. On the last day of the season Murray had a press conference and announced that he was retiring due to complications from the injury. Murray finishes with a .298 career average, 1675 hits and 291 home runs.

At 30, Murray is done. Probably not going into the hall now. :(

The Blue Jays are now trying to "Win one for the gimper."

Oh yeah....

[PilotMan]

Game #1
Rick Rhoden v. David Palmer
5-3 W over the Expos
LA takes a 1 game lead on a 4 run 2^nd inning on a Mike Scioscia single and a Steve Sax triple. It would stay like that with Rhoden pitching his shutout into the 8^th inning. With 2 out Incaviglia committed an error that kept the inning going. From there Ken Howell gave up a single. He gave way to Niedenfeur, who gave up a hit, who gave way to Howe, who gave up a hit and suddenly it was 4-3. Pena came on and struck out Gary Carter to finally end it. In the 9^th, Quiz came on for the Expos. He walks Scioscia, who is moved over on a Smalley ground out. Steve Sax doubles him in to give us an insurance run. John Franco pitches a 1-2-3 9^th to give us homefield and a 1-0 lead. Ray Knight went 3-4 and Sax went 2-5 with 3 RBI's.


Game #2
John Denny v. Charlie Liebrandt
2-0 L to the Expos
Liebrandt pitched a perfect game through 5 and a no hitter through 6. LA could only manage 2 hits the entire game. John Denny walked 5, and pitched 5. His night was cut short by a high pitch count. Niedenfeur served up a HR to Gary Carter in the 8^th. Liebrandt would go the distance for the 2 hit shutout.


The Blue Jays took game 1 over the Angels 6-1.


The Angels took game 2 6-4, thanks to home runs by Garvey, Dave Henderson, Darryl Porter and Dick Schofield.


Game #3
Fernando Valenzuela v. Rick Reuschel
4-2 L to the Expos
And now we're in a hole. LA's bats went silent for another 6 innings. Montreal got started when Andres Galarraga hit a 2-run shot in the first inning to put the Expos up right away. Lou Whitaker would add another 2-run shot in the 3^rd to give them the winning margin. Valenzuela with both parts hot and cold, which is to say he was a hot mess. He pitched 6 and allowed 5 hits, 4 runs, 5 walks and 7 K's. He was all over. The bats didn't do anything until the 7^th when they got 2, but easily could have gotten more. Bream and Incaviglia would score on a pop fly by Lynn and a single by Stubbs. Bream and Ray Knight went 2-4. The Dodger bullpen pitched well, with Beattie going 2 scoreless and Niedenfeur 1 scoreless. The Expos lead 2-1.


Game #4
Frank Tanana v. Bryn Smith
6-3 W over the Expos
Frank Tanana did his thing today and by did his thing I mean he served up a HR in the first inning. Because today it was Galarraga, who went 4-4 and hit another HR. With the Expos up 2-0, they went up another in the 3^rd on another Galarraga hit. Down 3-0 and without a hit, things were feeling grim, when LA found some life and put a run on the board. They would get another in the 4^th on a Fred Lynn HR cutting the lead to 3-2. In the 5^th though, it looked like old school Dodgers. With 2 outs Inky singled, Lynn singled, Knight singled scoring 1. Tony Phillips opened the game up with a 2 run double.
Tanana ended up going 7 and striking out 8, while Franco got the final 6 outs for the save. The Series is tied 2-2.


Toronto goes up 2-1 on a 3-2 win at home.


Game #5
Rick Rhoden v. David Palmer
10-2 L to the Expos
So.....the good news? Stubbs went 3-4 and had 2 RBI's? Sax who went 3-4? That's about it. We scored 2 in the first after Sax bunted for a hit, stole 2^nd, stole 3^rd. Lynn walked and Stubbs singled home them both. That's the way it started, and it was good. The Expos got one back in the 3^rd, then in the 6^th it started to unravel. Tim Raines hit a 1-0 pitch to left field 348 feet, putting the Expos up by 1. It was still close until the 8^th. With Rhoden still in there, Pettis lead off with a single, and Raines hit an 0-1 pitch 382 ft into the Dodgers bullpen. After that it only went down hill. Let's just say that it ended with a Mike Greenwell grand slam in the 9^th. So the Expos scored 7 runs in the 8^th and 8^th innings. It really was only 3-2 until that. Raines and Greenwell combined to go 5-10 with 4 runs, 9 RBI's and 3 HR's. Damn.


The dark reality that we are going to fall short once again is setting in. The hottest team in baseball is going to fall to the biggest juggernaut dynasty in baseball. We will need to win 2 in a row on the road against the team with the best record in the NL. Good luck to us.


Toronto beats the Angels one more time, 6-3, to take a commanding 3-1 lead. Looking like another all Canada final right now.


And it is Toronto....a 3-0 win behind 6.1 scoreless, 2 hit innings, by Len Barker gives the Blue Jays the AL Pennant. This is the 3^rd straight World Series for the Blue Jays.


Game #6
John Denny v. Charlie Liebrandt
8-7 L to the Expos
That's it for this year. We had this in the bag and Lasorda left Denny in there far too long. LA was up 4-0 after 2. That should have been plenty. That should have given us the win. We gave back 2 in the 3^rd, but got them both back in the 6^th. Up 6-2 heading into the 6^th Denny was victimized by 2 Dodger errors and the Expos scored 4 times to tie it up. LA would go up in the 8^th with a run, and we were 6 out from the W and seeing game 7. Denny again, started the inning and after an out, a double and a walk, Franco came in. Vance Law reached on an error and the bases were loaded, only 1 out. Gorman Thomas walked to tie it up, then Gary Pettis flew out and scored Molitor to put the Expos up by 1. In the 9^th, Roy Smalley worked the count and fought to get a single. Sax came up and Quiz got him to ground out into a double play. The air was gone. Tony Phillips struck out to end it.


What a disgusting loss after all those wins at the end of the year.


The World Series will be the Blue Jays v. the Expos in the All-Canada Bowl.

[PilotMan]

1986 World Series


Canada will reign again, for the 3^rd straight year, no matter what.


Game 1...Toronto takes a lead on a 3-0 win. Danny Darwin allows 2 hits, strikes out 10.


Game 2...Expos tie it up on a 4-3 win. Galarraga ties the game in the 8^th, Expos win in the 9^th.


Game 3...Toronto wins 12-9 in a slugfest. It was 11-3 after 4, Montreal nearly came back.


Game 4...Toronto is on the precipice of victory. The game went to extras tied at 4. The Expos score 2 in the top of the 13^th to take the lead. Nolan Ryan was on and the Blue Jays scored 3 to walk off with the win. Toronto leads 3-1, heading to Montreal.


Game 5...Blue Jays blast Reuschel for 6 in the 2^nd inning and pull ahead with a 10-7 win over the Expos to win the World Series. This 4-1 win for the Blue Jays is similar to 1984, when they won 4-0 over the Dodgers.


Tony Fernandez was the MVP of the Series. In 5 games he batted a team leading .524, with a .583 OBP. He went 11-21 batting.


One last note for the Dodgers before the official end of the season. The team came to terms with Larry Parrish (.257/.321/.419, 3HR, 13 RBI) on a 2yr/1.58M contract extension that will keep him with the team through 1988. How will they use him? Will it be different than he was used, or barely used this year? Who knows. I'm shocked that he wanted to come back, in all honesty.


That's it for 1986. Another year of crushing disappointment in LA, and another title for Canada. Offeseason awards are next.

[PilotMan]

1986 Post Season and Awards


A few front office moves see the team trainer and pitching coach re-signed. Our pitching coach Jim Gulley is still not good, but our guys did well with him. Our bench coach Alex Whitehead is leaving the team in pursuit of a manager position. He's well regarded and should find good footing wherever he ends up.


In bigger news, team GM, Frank Santagelo has retired, leaving a gaping hole in the front office. Whoever they sign will have a critical impact on the future of the club.


Frank Tanana has executed his option year in his contract and will be back with the team.


Steve Howe didn't reach his vesting requirement of 20 games finished for this year, so he will be a free agent.


LA avoids arbitration with Kittle, Niedenfeur, Pena, Phillips, Sax and Stubbs. They all sign 1 yr deals to come back with the team. They all get nice pay raises.


AL Gold Glove Winners


P Scott Munninghof (1) – DET
C Ernie Whitt (1) – TOR
1B Don Mattingly (1) – NYY
2B Terry Pendleton (1) – KC
3B Steve Buechele (1) – CLE
SS Alan Trammell (3) – DET
LF Larry Herndon (1) – DET
CF Barry Bonds (1) – CWS
RF Mike Davis (2) – OAK


NL Gold Glove Winners


P Rick Reuschel (1) – MON
C Mike Scioscia (1) – LA
1B Tom O'Malley (1) – SF
2B Robby Thompson (1) – NYM
3B Doug DeCinces (1) – LA
SS Ozzie Smith (5) – STL
LF Franklin Stubbs (1) – LA
CF Lenny Dykstra (1) – NYM
RF Tony Gwynn (4) – SD


AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Dave Smith – TOR (7-5, 2.35, 35 S)


Ex Dodger Jerry Reuss (DET) finished 3^rd


NL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Ken Dayley – SD (4-3, 1.94, 35S)


Tom Niedenfuer finished 3^rd in voting.


AL Silver Slugger Awards


C Lance Parrish (3) – KC
1B Tony Hrbek (2) – MIN
2B Randy Ready (1) – MIL
3B Jim Presley (1) – SEA
SS Alan Trammell (1) – DET
LF Phil Bradley (1) – SEA
CF Barry Bonds (2) – CHI
RF Dwight Evans (3) – SEA
DH George Brett (4) – KC


NL Silver Slugger Awards


P Greg Mathews (1) – SD
C Dave Valle (1) – CIN
1B Will Clark (1) – STL
2B Ryne Sandberg (2) – CHI
3B Doug DeCinces (2) – LA
SS Julio Franco (1) – PHI
LF Tim Raines (3) – MON
CF Eric Davis (1) – CIN
RF Daryl Strawberry (2) – NYM


AL Rookie of the Year
Rafael Palmerio (MIL) - (.280/24/125, 2.2 WAR)


NL Rookie of the Year
Gregg Jefferies (SF) - (.238/9/43, 52SB, 3.1 WAR)


AL Manager of the Year
Bobby Cox – TOR (2)


NL Manager of the Year
Tommy Lasorda – LA (3)


AL Cy Young Award
Mike Witt – CAL (1) (23-9, 2.82, 211 K's, 7 CG, 3 SHO)


NL Cy Young Award
Doc Gooden – NY (2) (19-10, 2.01, 265K's, 6 CG, 1 SHO)


Rick Rhoden finished 2^nd in voting.


AL MVP Award
Barry Bonds – CHI (1) (.270/34/105, 50 SB, 9.3 WAR)


NL MVP Award
Darryl Strawberry – NYM (1) (.331/50/135, 49SB, 10.1 WAR)


Gooden finished 3^rd, behind Eric Davis


Heading into the offseason the team is fairly well positioned. We have a decent sized budget to be able to go out and get some guys, we still have a deep squad and very little in the way of major free agents . We have a winning squad, just not a WINNING squad. It's frustrating that we can't find a way to bridge that gap. I wonder what is in store for our beloved boys in blue?

[PilotMan]

1986 Hot Stove Notes


LA has brought on Alex Barajas as the new bench coach. He's unlikely to really have an impact on the team except that he's a fiery personality on the bench and he's got a good reputation.


Thinking about Steve Howe and what his potential loss means to the team. He's 28 right now, and will be 29 when the '87 season starts. He has 110 career saves, against 7 blown saves, and a 2.14 career ERA. Four of the past 5 seasons he's posted a sub 2 ERA. He's a 3 time all star and 2 time reliever of the year. He's a big part of why this bullpen has lead or been close to the top of the league. If we don't bring him back it'll be a big loss.


In before the deadline, the team signs the only other player on the main roster looking to go free. Ray Knight signs a 2yr/528k contract to stay in LA. Knight batted .281, with 5 HR's in 135 at bats.


The team makes a bit of a surprise move in refusing arbitration to RF Mike Marshall. Marshall, 26, has 97 career HR's and a .269 average. His best season was '83, when he batted .310 with 25 HR's, but since then his productivity has fallen. Last year he finished with 18 HR's and 69 RBI's. He's now a free agent.


LA has a new General Manager. His name is Ramon Ramirez and he's been the GM for the Astros and Padres. So he's not new to the job. He's got an excellent reputation and he is fairly well rounded, with the exception of liking power hitters. He's known for not being especially frequent in trading, and not overly aggressive either. He is also known for having absolutely no loyalty to players, which is good and bad I suppose. Personally, I always have a soft spot, to it's probably for the best they get someone in there who is all business. He didn't make the playoffs in any of those years, but he has won 89 games 4 of the last 5 seasons.


LA locks up Niedenfuer for 3 years at 1.56M. As part of the contract he's been told that he's going to be the closer, which should be interesting, since Franco was the closer last year, and he's got plenty of years left.


1986 Draft
LA Dodgers Top Picks


P Butch Henry; First Round, Pick 30
C Bill Haselman; 2^nd, Pick 18
P Scott Scudder; 2^nd, Pick 28
3B Hensley Mulens, 3^rd, Pick 17
3B Matt Franco, 3^rd, Pick 27
C Matt Walbeck 4^th, Pick 24
OF Kevin Belcher 5^th, Pick 24


Henry is an intersting prospect. He just turned 18 and is a southpaw. Not a top shelf prospect, but he's got some ML potential. None of the rest of them look like big deals for us. We'll have to see though, but all these later picks, year after year, a keeping the best amateur talent out of LA.


Well, well, well, LA finally lands a game changing player, and they do it for more than a year. Our first catch of the offseason and the newest, highest paid player on the team. Our newest player is a 4-time Gold Glove winning Center Fielder. He's a 3-time All Star and a 2-time Silver Slugger winner. He is “The Man of Steal” Ricky Henderson. It's a 5yr/7.5M deal, with one humongous caveat, Henderson can opt out after the second season, or stick around for the remaining 3 years. He's a week shy of his 28^th birthday. He has a career slash line of .297/.403/.439 with 83 HR's and 479 career stolen bases.


Five of the first 7 picks have been signed. All except Haselman and Belcher.


Lou Brock is the only player inducted into the HOF for this year.


Haselman and Belcher don't sign with the team.


The Dodgers new GM is living up to his reputation. After Mike Marshall was shown the door with no arbitration offered, the team has now dealt last years team leader in HR's, Franklin Stubbs. Stubbs and his 101 HR's over his 4 year Dodgers career is now heading to the World Champion Blue Jays roster. The Jays send IF Tom Brookens to LA. Brookens has 2-series rings with Toronto and a Gold Glove at 3B. At 33, his best playing days might be behind him. He's a career .255/.301/.376 batter. LA trades power for fielding, and a wash in OBP. I don't really like it. LA is weak in the IF, but Brookens doesn't look to make that much better on the surface.


Mike Marshall signs with the Red Sox for 1yr/228k.


Steve Howe signs a 2yr deal with the Angels for 1.28M. Boooo.


Neither Matt Walbeck, Matt Franco, nor Hensley Meulens make the team and are released. That's quite a waste of some draft picks. Only Butch Henry and Scott Scudder remain from this years draft.


LA has added some RH depth to the bullpen by the name of Don Robinson. Robinson, 29, saved 23 games for the Braves last year and had a 3.92 ERA. In '84, he saved 34 for the Pirates, and before that he was a starter who won 15 games in '83, his only All Star season. His contract is 2yr/1.39M.


The first casualty from of spring training is Jim Beattie. He tore his labrum on his throwing shoulder and will miss the entire season. He was slated to be the long guy in the bullpen and spot starter. He is still under contract for 3 seasons after this year.


It was always going to be a longshot, but C/IF/OF Scotti Madison and OF Tony Brewer were both designated and placed on waivers. The team still had room on the 40-man, but both men were out of options.


That's it for the hot stove. Let 1987 begin.

[PilotMan]

1987 Opening Day Roster


Starting Rotation
Fernando Valenzuela (17-10, 3.00)
Rick Rhoden (23-6, 2.49)
Frank Tanana (14-7, 3.48)
Kelly Downs (9-7, 3.28)
John Denny (17-8, 3.03)


Same 5 guys for 1987, as we had for almost all of 1986. Every one of them had a good year last year, and it's setting up expectations for good years from all of them this year.


Bullpen
Ken Howell (4-5, 7S, 2.77)
Alejandro Pena (2-0, 1S, 3.06)
Brian Holton (4-3, 9S, 5.43 in AAA, Albuquerque)


Tom Niedenfuer (5-9, 4S, 2.45)
Don Robinson (6-8, 23S, 3.92 for Atlanta)


John Franco (5-7, 32S, 3.20)


The loss of Steve Howe to free agency caused a hole in the bullpen. Even though Howe was used sparingly last year, he was still very effective, and he was a lefty. The team has replaced him with Atlanta closer Don Robinson, who hasn't been nearly as effective over his career, and is a righty. Jim Beattie was lost for the season during spring training, and his roster spot was won by 27yr old rookie, Brian Holton. Holton has been bumping around the Dodgers system for 8 years. He started early on and then has moved to the pen. He was a Rule 5 pick by the Brewers once, but was returned to the team before the season started. Niedenfuer might have been promised a closer role to sign the extension he did, but he was promised that last year too. The team has 1 southpaw, Franco, that seems like a hole in the plan, at the moment.


Catcher
Mike Scioscia (.218/5/60)
BJ Surhoff (.246/0/7)


Scioscia still holds the position even though he had a bad year with the bat. He did win the Gold Glove, and his handling of the staff is great. Surhoff is still developing and will get some playing time, even though he wants his shot now. Scioscia still has 4 years left on his deal, so Surhoff will have to take it from him if he wants it.


First Base
Ray Knight (.281/5/25)
Larry Parrish (.257/3/13)


Sid Bream starts the year on the DL. He'll be out for a couple weeks longer, and in the meantime it'll be Knight that starts. Parrish is being handled so oddly. He's capable of so much more and yet he's relegated to this odd pinch hitter role. Why he signed a 2 year deal I'll never know.


Second Base
Steve Sax (.290/4/53)
Tom Brookens (.265/3/18)


Sax started a lot of games off right last year by getting on and using his speed to advance. His 43 steals lead the team, but he's not expected to lead this year. Defensively he could be better, but he's still average. Brookens will also back up at short and possibly third. He is very good defensively and a leader in the clubhouse. He won't win games with his bat, but he might with his glove.


Shortstop
Tony Phillips (.239/8/46)
Roy Smalley (.202/5/29)


Phillips won't hurt you in the field, but again, he's not an offensive weapon either. Clearly an area that the team could upgrade, but they are hindered by the awful contract that Roy Smalley has. He still has 2 years remaining on a 6 year deal where he is making as much as Fred Lynn. He's not anywhere near the production that he was back in the day and his contract has wasted a lot of money. At 34, he's not getting any younger either.


Left Field
Fred Lynn (.263/20/56)
Ron Kittle (.266/6/11)


Stubbs was traded and with the new face in center, Lynn slides to left to start now. He's 35, so this is a better move for him anyway. He was hurt too much last season and many of his HR's came with the bases empty. The team will be hoping he can bounce back to his '84-'85 form with the Royals. Kittle hangs on and remains a bench player. He's a big bat off the bench that can clear the bases with 1 swing, but he struggles with pitch recognition and strikes out a lot. He has 15 HR's in the last 3 years, when he had 14 with LA back in '83, the year he got here. Last year was the least playing time he's had. With the team only carrying 5 OF's right now, and Stubbs and Marshall gone, he should get more.


Center Field
Ricky Henderson (.299/15/62)
Dwayne Murphy (.243/6/23)


The former Oakland A's teammates are reunited in LA, but this time, not playing together. Henderson is fully locked into center. He might be the best leadoff hitter in baseball, and his speed and defense make him a challenger to the best player on the team. There is certainly a lot of excitement this year to see what he can do with this Dodger team that is packed with power, and who last season, really suffered from not having guys get on base enough. Henderson will do just that. Murphy is a capable backup for him, who will also back up right field too.


Right Field
Pete Incaviglia (.313/8/23)


Last years first round pick made his way to the majors and had a big impact on the club. So much so that they parted ways with 2 of the teams slugging outfielders. Inky moves to right, and while his range isn't great, his arm is outstanding. He's got big power and will be featured in the middle of the lineup. Only in his 2^nd season though, the questions will remain. If he gets hurt of fails to perform Murphy will take his place. It's a gamble for such a young player, but the team really liked what they saw.


The close but not quite brigade


RP Charlie Kerfeld (0-1, 2.84)


Called up last season he pitched sparingly. The team didn't feel confident enough with his stuff and signed Robinson. He was bypassed by Holton when Beattie went down. He starts the year in AAA and is probably the first call up for the pen if they need it.


OF Tom Beyers (.361/12/81 in AAA)
Beyers made the team for the first time last fall after a really good year in AAA. With Stubbs, Marshall and Brewer gone his prospects are good if something happens to anyone right now. He has to be the first choice guy to move up. He's nearly 29 though, and his might be the last chance he has to prove himself.


LHP Rich Rodas (1-2, 4.60 in AAA)
LHP Ricky Wright (0-3, 5.83 in AAA)
LHP Shayne Hammond (2-0, 2S, 2.61 in AAA)


These are the guys who might get called up if the team needs another lefty in the pen. None of them are high prospects. Hammond started last year in AA. Wright was last with the team in '84. Since then he hasn't been able to get it together enough to get called back. Things could get interesting if one of these guys needs to be depended on.


Down on the Farm


Overall, LA's farm system ranks 24^th out of 26 teams. That's awful. We have 1 prospect in the top 100. LA is the worst in the NL and only ahead of the Royals and Yankees. On the flip side the Braves have the #1, with 5 guys in the top 20. If you're curious those prospects are Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Allan Anderson, Tom Glavine and Ramon Martinez.


Here are the LA's top prospects.


#1 OF Paul Sorrento – Former first round pick in 1985 - Started last season in rookie ball and moved up to AA by the end of the season. Most of his time was in A ball where he batted .328/.440/.473 with 6 HR's and 28 RBI's. A bit of a free swinger, he has good power potential, but limited speed. Starts the year in AA.


#2 P Butch Henry – First round pick 1986 – Starts the year in rookie ball. Only 18, will take time to develop. High 80's fastball, with good movement. Throws 4 pitches, but the sinker is his best. Arm problems might be an issue.


#3 OF Doug Jennings – First round pick 1983 – Have gradually moved up from rookie ball to AAA. Spent last year in AA, where he had his best year so far. Was the All Star, Gold Glove (CF) and MVP of the Texas League. Batted .324/.423/.499 with 12 HR's and 78 RBI's. Also stole 24 bases. Free swinger, but also draws fair number of walks. Ok in the field and decent speed. Should develop more power.


#4 IF/OF Chuck Jackson – First round pick 1983 – Cracked the ML club late last year after playing AAA for the whole year. Batted .298/.390/.419 with 10 HR's and 63 RBI's. Also stole 38 bases. Was selected to the PCL All Star Game. A good fielder, can play multiple positions. Good eye, more gap power than fence power. Starts the year in AAA.


#5 P Scott Scudder - 2^nd round pick 1986 – 19 years old, starts the year in rookie ball. Low 90's fastball, coupled with a heavy sinker. Gets good movement on his pitches, but struggles with control. Big frame with good mechanics should be able to hold up to heavy use.


And with that we're done. Are you ready....for Dodgers baseball!?!?!

[PilotMan]

4/6 4-3 (11) L to the Astros
Road loss when Fred McGriff homered off of Rhoden in the 8^th. In the 11^th, Dale Murphy homered off of Don Robinson (0-1) to end it. Other than the homer, Rhoden pitched great. Franco threw 2 scoreless. Scioscia went 2-4 to lead the offense. Tom Candiotti threw 149 pitches for the Astros in his start.


4/7 3-2 L to the Astros
LA spotted the Astros 2 in the first on a Benito Santiago single that scored Pettis and Doran. Valenzuela (0-1) wouldn't allow any more and pitched into the 9^th. Ray Knight tied the game in the 7^th with a 2-run HR (1). Kirk McCaskill struck out 12. In the 9^th the Astros got a hit, then another with 1 out. With first open he walked Pettis to load them up then Don Robinson came in. He threw 1 pitch and Scioscia missed it and allowed Cecil Espy to score.


4/8 2-1 (10) L to the Astros
Oh man, not the way to start the year at all. A sweep by the Astros. Two extra inning games, and every one of them one run losses. That suuuuuucks. Greg Swindell and John Denny went toe to toe and left it in the hands of the bullpens. John Franco (0-1) gave up 3 hits and a sac fly in the 10^th to hand the win to the Astros.


4/9 7-5 L to the Giants
I don't think 0-4 is the way we wanted to start. DeCinces goes 2-3, both Sax and Henderson go 2-4 and that's about it. Downs started and struggled hard. He gave up 11 hits and 6 runs in 6 innings. It wasn't pretty. Giants rookie Stan Jefferson hit his first career HR. LA was down 7-2, and managed to put the tying run at the plate in the 9^th, but Plesac struck out Kittle to end it.


4/10 6-2 W over the Giants
YAY! We WIN 1 game!! WOOOWOOOWOOO! It kind of feels like that. Tanana (1-0) get the POG. He went the distance, stopped the streak, stuck out 6. He, of course, was helped by Pete Incaviglia, who had 1 hit coming into the game. Inky homered 2 times, both solo shots. Tony Phillips also went 2-3. Nice to finally get that first win out of the way.


4/11 11-1 W over the Giants
See?! This is more of what I had in mind for this season! Top of the order set the table, and Pete Incaviglia cleaned it up. Rick Rhoden (1-0) went the distance and struck out 6. LA did it all with Ray Knight (2-4, 3 RBI), Ricky Henderson (1-2, 2 BB, 3 runs, SB) and Pete Incaviglia (3-4, 2 HR, 7 RBI).
That gives Inky 4 HR's in the last 2 games.


4/12 4-1 W over the Giants
Incaviglia goes deep for the 3^rd straight game (5) along with Fred Lynn's first of the year. Valenzuela (1-1) allows a lead off homer to Gregg Jefferies, but only allows 2 hits the rest of the way, striking out 7. Franco comes on with 1 out in the 9^th and proceeds to load the bases before getting the final out and preserving the win.


4/13 2-1 W over the Astros
John Denny (1-0) needed his best stuff to take out the Astros and their rookie pitcher Greg Swindell. Swindell was a late season call up and one of the team's top prospects. He went the distance in the loss. Inky didn't homer, but he did get a sac fly in the first that put us up. Later it was a Tony Phillips double that scored Scioscia to give us the lead for good. Franco pitched the 9^th and gave up a leadoff single. Bob Horner then hit the ball to the wall in center before Henderson got to it. Then he finished off the Astros for his first save of the season.


It's a sad day in Boston when the Red Sox put Jim Rice on waivers and he was claimed by the Phillies. Nice way to end your 13 year , 310 HR, stay in a town.


4/14 3-1 W over the Astros
The Dodgers got 8 innings from Kelly Downs (1-1) who struck out 7. LA got 2 hits from Knight, Inky and Scioscia. Don Robinson struck out the side in the 9^th to get his first save of the season. This is a nice rebound from our shitty start. Being home rocks.


4/15 9-1 L to the Astros
Tanana (1-1) got pounded for 8 runs in the 2^nd inning. That's all that Dave Stewart (2-0) would need. He went the distance and wasn't threatened all game. Ray Knight and Fred Lynn had 2 hits each. Things got a little tense in the 7^th inning when Ken Howell hit Stewart, while we were down 8 runs. There was a lot of yelling from the benches, but Stewart wasn't hurt and stayed in to finish.

[PilotMan]

4/16 13-4 L to the Padres
ooof. The Padres plaster us for 4 HR's. Rhoden (1-1) came out in the 4^th, after allowing 8 runs. Padres first round pick, and center fielder, and Raiders running back, Bo Jackson, hit his first and second career HR's. He also walked twice and scored 4 times. LA got a couple hits from Sax, Henderson and Incaviglia. Bob Ojeda (1-2) pitched 9 and struck out 11.


4/17 9-1 W over the Padres
El Toro strikes out 7 in a complete game win to go to 2-1. LA got plenty of offense with Knight extending his hit streak to 14 games, going 3-5. Ricky went 3-4, and hit his first HR of the year. Tom Brookens went 3-5, and he and Fred Lynn went back to back in the 8^th inning. The first for Bookens and 2^nd for Lynn. Mike Scioscia went 3-5.


4/18 1-0 W over the Paders
Tony Phillips doubled in the 8^th and Dwayne Murphy singled him home for the only run of the game. John Denny (2-0) threw a complete game, 4-hitter, striking out 6. Rick Sutcliffe (0-2) also threw the complete game, but came out on the losing end.


4/19 6-2 W over the Padres
LA gets another deep pitching performance, this one from Kelly Downs (2-1), who goes 8. He did the heavy lifting too, as his 2-run single in the 6^th gave the Dodgers the lead for good. Ray Knight continues his hot streak going 3-5 and hitting his 2^nd HR of the year. His hitting streak goes to 16 and he's closing in on his hit total from last season. Doug DeCinces has been completely absent from the team, hit hist first dinger of the season.


4/20 1-0 W over the Giants
Frank Tanana (2-1) throws 8 shutout innings then gives way to John Franco for the 9^th. Franco gets his 2^nd save of the season. LA scored the only run in the 4^th when Sax scored on a Fred Lynn double. The Giants never really threatened. Sax went 2-4.


4/21 19-1 W over the Giants
Soooo. Wow. If this team can produce this kind of game, albeit against one of the worst pitching staffs in the NL, but this is something. Rhoden (2-1) recovered from his last start to throw the entire game and get the win. He got a little bit of support though. Where to begin? LA hit 4 HR's. Tony Phillips (1), Fred Lynn hit 2 (4) and Pete Incaviglia smoked a grand slam (6). Incaviglia got player of the game with a 2-3 game, 4 runs and 5 RBI's. Lynn also had 5 RBI's. Knight kept his hitting streak alive.


4/22 6-1 W over the Giants
El Toro (3-1) gets the player of the game with another complete game. The Giants only managed 3 hits, one a solo homer by Rob Deer (4). LA scored 3 to start the game as Sax and Knight singled and Inky hit #7, a 3-run shot. Tom Brookens added his 2^nd HR of the year in the 8^th to ice it. Ray Knight stayed hot going 3-4. Sid Bream was activated off the DL after the game and sent to AAA for rehab.


4/23 5-2 L to the Padres
A John Kruk HR in the first put 3 runs on the board and LA never caught back up. John Denny (2-1) had the worst start of his young season. He walked 5 in his 8 innings of work. By the 5^th LA had closed it to 3-2, but a Ted Simmons, pinch hit, 2-run single in the 8^th opened it up. Tony Phillips went 3-3 and hit his 2^nd HR of the year.


4/24 7-4 L to the Padres
LA shouldn't have let it get away, but in the meantime, they also loaded the bases in the 9^th, with 1 out and the heart of the order up and only got 1 run out of it. It looked like it was going to be a big rally, but Ken Daley had to go and crap all over it. Steve Sax went 3-4 and his 9^th SB. Downs (2-2) was ineffective. Don Robinson failed to impress yet again, with 1.1 innings worked 2 hits and 3 walks. He doesn't allow those 2 runs, it's much closer at the end. Knight saw his 20 game hit streak come to an end.


4/25 6-4 W over the Padres
At least we got 1 back. Pete Incaviglia fell a double shy of the cycle. He went 3-4, with 3 RBI's and his 8^th HR of the year. It's been quite an April for the young slugger. The Padres hung around all game, and even took the lead in the 5^th. LA was able to answer in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead for good. Ray Knight was back to his torrid ways, going 3-4, and hitting his 3^rd HR in the first inning. Rick Rhoden (3-1) pitched 8 and struck out 7.


Sid Bream has been called back from his rehab assignment. He went 3-15 with an RBI. To make room the Dodgers put Tom Brookens (.241/2/4) on waivers and designated him. I believe that Lasorda has plans to insert Bream right back at first base. Knight will get time at the corners providing rest, but he's currently 2^nd in the NL in average, and leading in hits. He's also 4^th in total bases. He had 38 hits all last year, he's got 31 right now. The idea of benching him right now is a hard one.


4/28 4-1 W over the Pirates
Valenzuela (4-1) pitched 8 solid innings, while striking out 8. He gave up a run early and Mike Scott took a no-hitter into the 5^th, before LA got the hit, a Scioscia 3-run HR (1) and the lead. Scott struck out 10 Dodgers, but LA played better. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 4^th save of the year.


4/29 6-2 L to the Pirates
A Brian Dayett 3-run HR (1) in the 5^th off of John Denny (2-2) put the Pirates up 4-2 and for good. Jose Guzman (3-1) stuck out 8 Dodgers in his 7 innings of work. An unremarkable game for the Dodgers. 7 of 9 batters got hits, but nobody got 2.


4/30 6-4 L to the Pirates
Tony Phillips homered (3) in the 5^th inning to cut the lead to 3-2 for the Pirates. LA struggled to put much together against Jose DeLeon (2-3) for most of the game. But in the 8^th Fred Lynn homered (5) to tie the game, and right after, Incaviglia homered (9) to put LA in front. Alejandro Pena (0-1) came on in the bottom of the inning and ended up with the bases loaded and 0 outs. The Pirates got a big single from PH Larry Rush that put the Pirates back on top. Disappointing loss.

[PilotMan]

April Recap


Not the start we had in mind, but not a bad one either. We finish April with a 13-10 record and a hold on 2^nd place in the West. That puts us 3.5 games behind the leading Houston Astros.


Where last year's team looked a little weak in the hitting department this year's team seems to be better equipped. The team is 5^th in the NL in average. That .257 is higher than anything we had last year. They are also 3^rd in slugging and 3^rd in OBP. Tied for 2^nd in HR's. So the hitting is looking good. Clearly with Henderson on the team, the stolen bases were going to come up some. We are no longer dead last in that department either, with 24 we are 7^th. I would expect that to go up a little bit too.


Pitching hasn't been as good through. Even thought the team is 2^nd in team ERA, the bullpen is 8^th. The starters have been going deep, but when the game gets turned over, it's not as much of a certainty as it's been. I'm not blaming Steve Howe for this...yet. While we are 4^th in runs allowed, we are 9^th in hits allowed. That's offset by being 1^st in bases on balls. If that were to drop I think you'd see more guys scoring. On defense, we are still good. Good enough for 3^rd in the NL.


So our start could have been better, but I think the team is actually better than our record indicates. I'm confident that as the season goes along we'll find out place.


Top pitcher of the month was Fernando. He powered through in April with a 4-1 record and an ERA of 1.48. His 0.77 WHIP was one of the best that we've ever had. For a while it looked like Denny (2-2, 225) or Rhoden (3-1, 2.87) might take that title too. Who didn't? Look no further than newcomer Don Robinson. He allowed batters to his .286 against him, but his 2.57 WHIP and 9.64 ERA made all that a lot worse. He was supposed to be a reliable arm. April was not his month. Nor was it Pena's month (7.71 ERA, .375 oavg), or Holton's either (4.70 ERA, .303 OAVG, 1.83 WHIP)


Batting wise however, we had the rookie, Incaviglia who tore it up with 9 HR's and 25 RBI's in April, but he wasn't the top hitter. At least not in my eyes. His OBP was a lowly .330, and he struck out 30 times in 85 at bats. However, he was selected as the Rookie of the Month and Batter of the Month in the NL. No, in my opinion, the best hitter was Tony Phillips. Yeah, Tony Phillips. His slash line was .343/.432/.571 and he still hit 3 HR's. In 1 month he's a quarter of the way to his hit total from all of last season. He did it all, just didn't quite have the power surge that Inky had.


We can be better and I'm sure May will see a better result.

[Young Drachma]

Go Jays!

[PilotMan]

Go Jays!

I'm glad someone is getting something good out of this Dynasty!

----

5/1 11-5 L to the Cardinals
Hard to believe that late in the game LA lead this 4-2. Will Clark had homered in the 4^th to get the Cards on the board, then down by 2 in the 7^th Clark lauched his 2^nd HR, a 3-run shot (6,7). Andy Van Slyke (2) followed with his own to go back to back. In the 8^th, somehow with Rhoden (3-2) still pitching, he got into trouble again. Brian Holton came on and Clark tripled, then Van Slyke followed with his 2^nd HR of the game (3). Despite all that LA still scored 5 runs, on 8 hits. Scioscia went 3-4 with 2 RBI's. If the pitching would have been better we might have won.


Tom Brookens is heading to Pittsburgh as they win the waiver claim.


5/2 9-3 W over the Cardinals
LA got hit after hit and put all the runs on in the first 4 innings. Pete Vuckovich (0-3) served up 12 hits before he was yanked. Inky had the best game going 4-5 with 3 RBI's. He put the icing on the cake when he blasted his 10^th HR of the year in the 4^th. Henderson also cracked a HR (2) and he and Sax combined to go 6-9. Tony Phillips stayed hot going 3-5. Frank Tanana (3-1) pitched a complete game in a good start. He also hit a career milestone with his 2000'th career strikeout. He's 37^th in MLB history. He is looking to pass Catfish Hunter, Dazzy Vance and Bobo Newsome.


5/3 5-3 W over the Cardinals
Valenzuela goes 8 for his 5^th win of the year. LA scored 3 in the 5^th to break a 2-2 tie. All of LA's runs were unearned, as the Cardinals were victimized by Gold Glove second basemen Glenn Hubbard 2 times. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 5^th save of the year.


5/4 4-0 W over the Cubs
John Denny (3-2) threw a complete game shutout. He wasn't perfect through. He walked 4 and allowed 9 hits. He got some great defensive help with a couple double plays. Tony Phillips (4) and Doug DeCinces (2) both homered. DeCinces went 4-4 with 3 RBI's.


5/5 12-7 W over the Cubs
Hard to believe that LA blew a 5-0 lead. Kelly Downs (3-2) lucked into the win, even though he allowed 5 runs in 5 innings of work. We'll just leave the pitching with that. They weren't very good. Ray Knight though? Still smokin'. Even without a starting gig. He started at 3^rd tonight and went 4-4 with 2 walks, 3 runs and 3 RBI's, Fred Lynn went 3-6. Sax went 2-4 with 3 runs.


5/6 16-0 W over the Pirates
The best of both worlds. The winner was Rhoden (4-2) and his 2 hit, complete game, shutout. He walked 4 and struck out 7. However, his opposite, Bruce Ruffin, had the worst game score I've seen, a -2. In 3 2/3 innings of work, he allowed 8 hits, 10 runs, 5 walks, 0 K's and 2 HR's. He threw 92 pitches in less than 4 innings. It all started in the 3^rd when Ray Knight continued his hitting assault with a 2-run HR, his 4^th. He finished 4-6 with 3 RBI's. But he wasn't the best. Inky went 3-6, but he wasn't the best. Fred Lynn hit a grand slam in the 8 run 4^th, his 6^th, but he wasn't the best. Ricky walked 4 times in a 1-2 with 2 RBI game, nope, not the best. Tony Phillips walked 3 times and scored every time. Nope, not him either. Today, it was all Steve Sax. 4-6, 4 runs, and 4 RBI's. LA had 15 hits and walked 10 times as a team. We never did this last year. This is the kind of game that a fan can get excited about.


5/7 8-0 W over the Pirates
Frank Tanana (4-1) continued the assault on Pirate batters by completing the back to back shut out. He struck out 7 in a good showing. Steve Sax continued his hot streak going 3-5 and cracking a solo homer (1) in the 4^th. He has raised his average about 40 points in 2 games. Ray Knight raised his league leading average to .417, going 2-4. Inky also hit #11, as part of a 4 run 4^th inning.


5/8 4-1 L to the Cardinals
Fred Lynn knocked in Rickey in the first and it was downhill from there. Valenzuela (5-2) allowed 3 unearned runs from a Sax error. The Cards scored 3 in the 4^th and never looked back,. LA loses their win streak, and the Cards roll on theirs. We'll get another shot tomorrow.


5/9 9-6 L to the Cardinals
St Louis has a good team. They're like 2 players away from a playoff team. LA came up with 4 in the bottom of the 8^th and cut the lead to 1, but Don Robinson gave it all back in the 9^th. LA got 1 more in the bottom of the 9^th, and had they kept it close would have taken it to extras, but the bullpen hurt us again. Rough start for John Denny (3-3), allowed 6 of 6.2 innings.


5/10 6-0 W over the Cardinals
We salvage one against the Cards. Sid Bream and Mike Scioscia go 3-4 and Bream hits his first HR of the year. Kelly Downs goes the distance for the 3-hit shutout, striking out 6. Doug DeCinces hit his 3^rd of the year in the 5^th and put the final nail in the coffin for the Cards.


5/11 3-2 (10) W over the Cubs
Rick Schu homered in 2 in the first inning (3) off of Rhoden and Scott Bankhead (2-4) rolled on for 8.1 innings. In the 9^th Henderson grounded out, then Sax followed with a single. Fred Lynn then took a 1-1 pitch downtown, in a no doubt, game tying homer. His 7^th. In the 10^th, Doug DeCinces hit a massive, walk off HR to put the game away for LA.


Ray Knight and his incredible start has allowed him to wrest away the starting 3B job from Doug DeCinces. Wow. Both guys are playing well. It's a shame that we can't find a way to get them both on the field at the same time.


5/12 9-3 W over the Cubs
Frank Tanana (5-1) gets his 5^th win of the year and throws another complete game. He missed the shutout because of a Glenn Wilson (5) HR. LA scored 3 in the first off of rookie pitcher Tsuneto Fukuchi (0-2). They added 4 more in the 4^th on another Fred Lynn grand slam (8) and then Dwayne Murphy soloed for his first of the year in the 5^th. Lynn went 3-4. Frank Tanana even went 2-3, those were his first 2 hits of the year.


5/13 2-1 W over the Cubs
We drop the Cubs for their 10^th straight loss and our 4^th straight win. David Cone (4-2) put a great start in for the first 5.1 innings. He didn't allow a hit, but had major control issues. By the time he walked his 7^th batter, Inky came up and doubled deep to right-center to knock in a runner. Cone only allowed 2 hits as Bream was up next and got the 2^nd one and the 2^nd RBI. Valenzuela (6-2) pitched a great 8 innings, striking out 7. Franco pitched a perfect 9^th for his 6^th save.


5/15 11-4 L to the Expos
Oh fuck the Expos. They blister us for 15 hits and score in every inning until Ken Howell stops the bleeding in the 7^th. DeCinces hits his 5^th. Incaviglia hits his 12^th. Sax had 2 hits. Pretty much everyone on the Expos had a better day than that.

[PilotMan]

5/16 10-6 W over the Expos
The bats come alive as we even out the series. Rick Rhoden (5-2) served up 3 HR's, and probably stayed in the game way too long. Fred Lynn homered in the 4^th and 6^th innings, capping a 2-4 day with 4 RBI's. He's got 10 on the year now. Bream went 3-4 and Sax 2-6 with 3 RBI's. LA gave back 3 runs at the end and almost let the Expos back in it. Don Robinson got the final 2 outs, and lowered his ERA to 9.00.


5/17 9-5 W over the Expos
LA hammers 3 HR's to outslug the Expos for another night. Kelly Downs (5-2) got the win, but he was thankful for the support allowing 5 runs in 7 innings. LA scored first with 2 in the first, but they fell behind, to take the lead again in the 6^th. DeCinces hit #6, Lynn smacked his 11^th, and Larry Parrish hit his first, a pinch hit homer. Robinson lowered his ERA to 8.00.


5/18 9-8 W over the Phillies
Tough road trip against the top teams in the East. LA was up 5-0 then 7-2, and let the Phillies back in it. In the last 3 innings the teams combined for 10 runs. Even though Valenzuela (7-2) got the W, it was every man for himself. Both teams combined for 9 HR's. The ball was just flying out of Veterans Stadium. The Phillies Charles Hudson allowed 5 of them. Inky #13, Knight #5, Ricky #3, Phillips #5, Lynn #12. Ricky scored 3 times. LA added 2 insurance runs in the 9^th, and they needed both of them as Franco allowed 2, but held on for his 7^th save.


5/19 14-8 W over the Phillies
Yet again, LA proves that when the pitching staff lets down, the hitters are there to pick them up. That's 53 runs scored in the last 5 games. I'm not even sure the old Dodger teams of a few years ago ever put up those kinds of numbers. Frank Tanana gave up 2 HR's and 4 runs in the first inning and LA was down right away. Interesting fact of note, Greg Maddux started and his brother Mike relieved him in the 5^th. It didn't go well for either of them. Together, in 5 innings, they allowed 15 hits, 12 runs, and 2 HR's. Both HR's were hit by Inky, who finished the day 3-4 with 4 RBI's. He's got 15 on the year. Tony Phillips was the only starting 8 without a hit. LA had 25 baserunners today and left 8 on base.


5/20 12-5 W over the Phillies
Wow, 65 runs in 6 games. LA was ahead 12-1 and Denny pooped out when Larry Walker (8) and Balboni (15) went back to back. So he pitched well, improved to 4-4, and kep the pen in the pen for the most part. LA did almost all the damage in the 6^th inning. For the first time since I've been watching, LA went back-to-back-to-back. Yep, Ray Knight started with his 3 run shot (6), followed by Scioscia and his 2^nd, followed by Phillips and his 6^th. So it wasn't even the middle of the lineup, it was the 6-7-8. LA also hammered another 18 hits. It's been a wild run.


5/22 7-1 W over the Mets
Rhoden (6-2) goes the distance and would have had the shutout, but for one mistake pitch to Darryl. Fred Lynn got us on the board in the first with his first of 2 HR's on the day (13,14). Not to be outdone, Inky hit another one to keep his lead, and give him 16. Inky, Bream and Knight each had 3 more hits on the day. This team is just on fire right now. On fire.


5/23 7-4 L to the Mets
Doc Gooden (4-4) throws a complete game. Mets sluggers Kevin Mitchell (5), Alan Ashby (4) and Donnie Hill (3) hit off of Valenzuela (7-3), who took the loss. DeCinces homered for the 7^th time, in the 9^th in what was a consolation prize of a game that was already done. Tony Phillips reached base 3 times in 4 at bats.


5/24 4-2 L to the Mets
The Mets jumped out early and LA manufactured a couple of runs to tie it. Strawberry broke the tie in the 7^th with a sac fly that scored Marvell Wynne. Sax and Incaviglia had 4 of the team's 6 hits. In fact, hitters 1-4 went 6-16 hitting, while batters 5-9 went 0-17. That's why we lost again. Kelly Downs loses and drops to 5-3.


Former LA Dodger great, Ron Cey hit his 300^th HR today. Cey started the year with the Mariners, but was picked up off of waivers by the Pirates. Cey played for the Pirates back in '85 when he hit 31 HR's.


5/25 4-1 W over the Expos
Henderson and Sax again set the entire table for the offense. They combine to go 4-8, with 3 runs and 2 RBI's. Denny pitched 8 innings to go to 5-4. Steve Sax hit a rare HR in the 4^th (2) that tied the game, and Scioscia added another in the 8^th (3). Franco pitched another 9^th for his 8^th save.


5/26 3-2 L to the Expos
LA blew a 2-0 lead and Tanana pitched 5 innings of no hit ball. The Expos sneaked back into this game that culminated in a Hubie Brooks game tying 8^th inning HR. In the 9^th Tanana suffered a rare misplay by Rickey. That lead to a go ahead run for the Expos that handed them the game. LA got the winning run to the plate, but Quiz got Incaviglia out on strikes to end it.


LA went deep to the well for help in the bullpen. Brian Holton was optioned back to Albuquerque and the team signed 43yr old Tom Burgmeier. Burgmeier is in his 19^th season as a ML pitcher. He has pitched in 873 games, 3 were starts. Last season he pitched for the Padres and A's. In 35 games, he pitched 50 innings, with a 3.02 ERA. He was an all star in 1980.


5/27 8-5 W over the Expos
Mike Scioscia went 3-4, Tony Phillips went 2-3 at the bottom of the lineup. Fred Lynn cleaned up with a 3-run HR in the 7^th, his 15^th. Rick Rhoden's win moved his record to 7-2. Don Robinson allowed a HR to Carney Lansford (3) in the 9^th to raise his ERA to 7.36.


5/29 2-0 L to the Phillies
So we go from destroying the Phillies on the road to getting shut out at home. Charles Hudson did the heavy lifting (6-3), while Valenzuela (7-4) struck out 10 over 8. Bream was caught stealing twice in situations where a baserunner might have been nice. LA only managed 6 runners anyway, so he killed 1/3 of our baserunning ops.


5/30 10-5 W over the Phillies
Power won the day for LA. Every starter got a hit and we cracked 6 dingers. Tony Phillips got player of the game with 3-4, with 2 HR's and RBI's. He's got 8 on the year. Fred Lynn and Incaviglia went back to back in the 6^th with solo shots. That's 16 for Lynn and 17 for Inky. Ricky also got in the mix with a 2-4 game, 2 HR's and 3 RBI's. Henderson has 5 on the year. John Denny (6-4) got the win. The bullpen didn't fare well again. Niedenfeur gave up a HR in the 9^th.


5/31 11-5 L to the Phillies
Finish the month with the worst series of the month. Kelly Downs (5-4) got shelled over 7 innings, but it was the big 6 run 8^th that did most of the damage. Lynn, Inky, Knight and Phillips all had 2 hits on the day. Inky hit #18 and Henderson went deep again for #6. Former Dodgers, Kurt Stillwell and Pedro Guerrero did plenty of damage. Both went 2-5 with 2 RBI's and Guerrero homered (8).

[PilotMan]

May Recap


May was the best month in over a year as the team roared to a 19-9 record. The surprise being the offense which seemed to find it's groove in the month and put up numbers that the team hasn't seen in a few years. The result of the month saw LA move from 2^nd place to first and open up a 3 game lead on the Astros and 4 over the Padres.


The team is in the top half of every offensive category in the NL, with of all things, stolen bases being the worst. The team has never been fast, but with Henderson and Sax at the top of the order, they've moved from the cellar to #6. Where last year's team average was sub .250, this year so far, they are hitting .282, that is tops in the NL. Also #1 in OBP, runs, hits and HR's. They are #2 in SLG, OBS, and extra base hits. I don't know if anyone believes that they can keep this up. It seems like a lot of guys are playing far above their expected performance, and it is only the end of May. Come talk to me in August about it.


As for team pitching, where this has been a strong point for the team forever, this is the worst that we've seen in LA since we started here. Team ERA is still strong at #2, however, the bullpen is 10^th with a 4.52 ERA. Odds would suggest that it should drop just on regression to the mean, but it's not the type of performance that was planned. Losing Howe can't account for all of it. Neither can losing Beattie. The team is 7^th in hits allowed, and first in walks. Opponent average is .245, good for 4^th in the NL. The starters have kept all the numbers good. There have been many deep outings for them, and they are backed up by the #3 defense in the NL.


As for individual performances? Who didn't have a bad month? Not really anyone. You can make a case for Sid Bream whose slash was .288/.330/.394. He hit 1 HR and had 8 RBI's. He was the worst. As for the best? Well is it Sax (.360/.398/.464)? Or Rickey (.311/.438/.519 5HR, 11SB)? Or Phillips again (.300/.427/.544 5HR)? Or Knight (.392/.448/..570)? Or Inky (.291/.355/.618 9HR)? Honestly, it's probably none of those guys, although in past years, all of them could have won. This month, it's Fred Lynn (.315/.375/.676 11HR, 37 RBI) Lynn finally had a massive, break out month and knocked all those runners home. He has only broken the 30HR mark once in his career, and he is well on his way to #2.


Of our pitchers, we know that the bullpen is hurting. Of those guys, it's still Don Robinson who is getting the most playing time, and posting the worst lines. His ERA was lowered to 9.00 in a month where he pitched 8 times, and allowed 7 earned runs. As for the top starter, all the guys did alright, but Tanana with his 3.15 ERA and 3-1 record was the best. His WHIP was 0.97 and lead all starters for the month. These guys all benefited from the incredible outburst of hitting that we all hope carries over into June. Tanana also recorded his 2000 career strikeout in May. A great achievement for the 33yr old pitcher. He's 32 wins away from #200, which he could see in 1990 if he stays consistent.

[PilotMan]

6/1 9-5 W over the Mets
LA lived on the 2-run HR today. But I have to give some props to Sax, who twice doubled in Rickey from first in this one. Then there were the HR's. Inky in the 3^rd (19), Knight in the 6^th (7) and not to be outdone, Lynn in the 7^th (17). LA was up 9-2 at one point and Robinson was brought in for the 9^th. He allowed a HR to Strawberry (4), allowed 2 other hits, had a reached on error and even walked in a run. His ERA jumped to 9.24 and he couldn't finish the inning. It got to save standards and Franco came in and threw 4 pitches to Robby Thompson to end it. Rhoden got the win to go to 8-2.


The team got Frank Tanana to sign a 2-year extension for about half of what he's making right now. That seems like a bargain of a deal for a guy who has over 2000k's and is closing in on 200 wins. Even though he's inching up on his 34^th birthday he's been valuable to the team for the last 4 years. It takes away a potential need in free agency early.


6/2 5-2 L to the Mets
LA had bases loaded in the bottom of the 9^th with 0 outs and couldn't get any across. SAD! Tanana (5-3) rewarded LA with his new contract by walking 4, striking out 5, in 5 innings and serving up a gopher ball to Bobby Bonilla (8). New face, Tom Burgmeier pitched 3 scoreless in relief. Steve Sax left the game early after banging his knee sliding into 2^nd on a double (that scored Rickey again).


6/3 4-2 W over the Mets
Doc Gooden (5-5) struck out 12 and went the distance but ultimately gave up a game winning 2-run blast to Mike Scioscia (4) to let us walk off. That capped a 2-4 day for Scioscia. Pete Incaviglia hit his 20^th HR of the season earlier that put LA up. Only Jack Clark of the A's has more (21).


6/4 4-0 L to the Reds
Jack Morris (4-4) struck out 10 en route to a 5-hit shut over over LA today. John Denny (6-5) got no support as he offered up gopher balls to Canseco (18) and Esasky (10). Incaviglia and Scioscia got 4 of the team's 5 hits.


6/5 7-2 W over the Reds
Rick Rhoden (9-2) got his NL leading 9^th win today. He was cruising until a 2-run Nick Esasky homer (11) got the Reds on the board. LA scored first when Scioscia got Bream home in the 5^th, then a bases loaded double by Ray Knight opened it all up in the 6^th. In the 8^th Pete Incaviglia went yard again, his 21^st of the year. Ricky tacked one on in the 9^th.


6/6 6-5 W over the Reds
Fred Lynn got things started in the first when he popped a 2-run HR (18) off of John Stuper (4-4). Sid Bream followed with his own HR (2) and we had an early lead. Lynn left the game in the 4^th after hurting himself on a sliding catch and Kittle took over in left. Kittle hit a deep HR to left in his first at bat. His first of the year. A nearly 90 minute rain delay in the 6^th put the LA bullpen in play and the Reds worked their way back. Franco got the save, his 10^th, but it wasn't pretty.


Lynn has an ankle sprain and he's heading to the DL. One of the Dodgers top prospects, Doug Jennings was called up to take his place. Jennings is in his first season at Albuquerque after spending all of last season in AA San Antonio. The 40^th overall pick in 1983, he won the Texas League Gold Glove in Center and was the Texas League MVP, hitting .324, with 12 HR's and 78 RBI. He also had 24 SB. On the year so far, he's hitting .372/.455/.640 with 7 steals. He's still only 22. He figures to back up Henderson in center and Murphy in right. Incaviglia is sliding to left with Murphy taking over right field. Kittle is still out of sight.


6/8 3-1 W over the Braves
Rickey went 3-4 stole 3 bases, while Fernando (8-4) pitched 8 and struck out 8. LA stole 6 bases in total. LA scored twice in the first and never looked back. Franco pitched another 9^th for his 11 save.


6/9 5-1 L to the Braves
On a day when Terry Mulholland (1-1) got his second career hit, and first career RBI, you just knew it wasn't going to be an LA Dodger day. Frank Tanana (5-4) did his best Frank Tanana impression and gave up a scorching HR to Pete Stanicek. That was Stanicek's first career HR! In over 250 at bats, spanning parts of 3 seasons. So no, we weren't going to win. Rickey added a consolation HR in the 8^th, his 8^th, but there was nothing else to get excited about.


6/10 9-4 L to the Braves
Oh boy. So when Braves pitcher, John Mitchell hit his first career HR off of Tom Burgmeier in the 6^th, this one was over. Like, “oh yeah, we are doing nothing, might as well give up a dinger to a guy with almost 0 career hits.” LA committed 2 errors that lead to Denny allowing 5 unearned runs. Ray Knight homered in the 6^th (8) and Tony Phillips had a 2-4 day. Burgmeier allowed 2 HR's in his short inning of work. Steve Sax left the game on a collision at 2^nd while trying to turn 2.


Sax has a sprained knee and he's heading to the DL. IF/OF Ty Dabney got the call up to the team. You'll recall Dabney was the 157^th pick in 1984. Dabney is playing in AA San Antonio with a line that looks like .325/.365/.458. In his cup of coffee last season, he went 3-11 with a double and 2 RBI's.


6/11 4-1 L to the Astros
Houston has a very good team. They've beaten us up so far this season. Tonight, it was Doug DeCinces getting the now rare start, but hitting his 8^th HR of the year. This one a solo shot. Rhoden pitched a complete game but dropped his record to 9-3. Kirk McCaskill (8-4) struck out 8 Dodgers.


6/12 3-2 (11) L to the Astros
LA scored early on, with 2 in the 2^nd thanks to Roy Smalley. Ricky went 2-5. Kelly Downs went 8, but left with the game tied. Scioscia made 2 errors in the game. Don Robinson (0-2) lost it in the 11^th. Even with the loss he lowered his ERA to 9.22. Roy Smalley was taken out by a slide in the 11^th.


Smalley has a torn thumb ligament. He's heading to the DL to join Sax and Lynn. Ross Jones is getting called up for his 3^rd and final option year. He's his .111 in 18 at bats, and has played in 45 games for LA.


6/13 2-1 W over the Astros
Valenzuela (9-4) throws a complete game, striking out 11 Astros and defeating a very good Greg Swindell. Sid Bream hit his 3^rd home run in the 3^rd inning and we held on until Houston got on across in the 9^th. Doug DeCinces's pinch hit single scored Inky in the bottom of the 9^th to walk it off.


6/14 5-0 L to the Astros
Former Dodger, Dave Stewart (6-5) struck out 9 and walked 4 enroute to a 2 hit shut out. Frank Tanana (5-5) took another hard loss, but he just isn't able to stem the tide right now. Only Ray Knight and pinch hitting Doug DeCinces managed hits off of Stewart.

Former Dodger Franklin Stubbs had a big night in Baltimore. Stubbs lead his Blue Jay team to an 11-1 win and hit for the cycle along the way. So far on the year, Stubbs is batting .299 with 14 HR's and 50 RBI's.

[PilotMan]

6/16 7-2 W over the Padres
After being absent for most of June so far, the offense finally showed up tonight. Bream went 3-5 and hit his 4^th HR of the year, while Rickey scored 3 times and stole 3 bases. Ray Knight, whose average has fallen 30 points in 2 weeks, went 3-3 with 4 RBI's. Rhoden pitched 8 and moved his record to 10-3.


6/17 6-5 L to the Padres
Glenn Davis homered in the 3^rd to give the Padres a 3-1 lead. LA cut the lead in the 7^th, then in the 8^th Ricky and Scioscia each drove in runs to put LA up. John Denny (6-7) came out for the 8^th and got in trouble, it really hurt when Ted Simmons drilled a ball over the right field fence to put San Diego back in front. LA would put the tying run on third in the 9^th, but they wouldn't be able to get him home. Inky got hurt in the 4^th and left the game. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO word on the severity!


6/18 5-4 (15) L to the Astros
Houston proves to be the better team yet again. LA took a 4-1 lead into the 9^th and Valenzuela, even though he had 12 K's, ran dry. Franco came in and blew his first save of the year. Valenzuela even hit his first dinger of the year. Rickey hit number 9 and Ron Kittle hit number 2. Incaviglia didn't play. Niedenfeur took the loss (0-1).


George Hinshaw was claimed off waiver from the Paders. Hinshaw can play every position, but isn't any kind of offensive weapon. He's a career .220 hitter with a career WAR of 0.1. Ross Jones was optioned back to Albuquerque.


6/19 4-2 L to the Astros
Sid Bream lead off with HR (5) and we thought we'd get to Dave Stewart, but that wasn't the case. Stewart (7-5) allowed 4 more hits all game, 2 were extra bases. Ray Knight and Doug DeCinces were the only other guys with hits, they both got 2. Rookie prospect Doug Jennings got his first career hit, a double in the 5^th. Downs took the loss to drop to 6-5. He was hurt by 3 Dodger errors, that lead to 3 unearned runs. Houston has overtaken us for first.


Bad news is that Inky is still out and it's not looking good. The good news is that Lynn comes off the DL in 2 days.


6/20 10-2 W over the Astros
Frank Tanana (6-5) walked 6 and struck out 13, but the offense found footing tonight too. Bream, in the leadoff spot, went 3-4, with a walk and 4 RBI's. Dwayne Murphy, starting in right homered in the 2^nd inning (2) and added 2 more hits. Doug DeCinces has been starting at short and hit his 9^th homer in the 9^th. Tony Phillips added 3 more hits. It was 17 hits in all for the Dodgers. Our 3 game slide is halted.


Inky is down. He's got an elbow issue that is going to keep him out for a few weeks. He's been placed on the DL and Tom Beyers was called up to replace him. Beyers is hitting .330/.364/.522 with 5 HR's.


6/21 4-0 L to the Astros
That didn't last long. Kirk McCaskill (9-4) struck out 11 and came within 1 out of a 3 hit shut out. Rhoden (10-4) took the loss. DeCinces sucks at short. I know his bat is important, but his errors are really letting runs score that shouldn't be. Tough stretch right now.


6/22 1-0 L to the Braves
Zane Smith (6-7) once again takes us out. LA has scored 4 runs over 4 games now. And is on quite the streak. Ron Kittle and Mike Scioscia both had a couple hits, and LA left 9 guys on base and Doug DeCinces had 2 more errors at short. Atlanta's only run came on a Gerald Perry solo-homer (12) off of Valenzuela (9-5) in the second. Fernando struck out 8 in a good outing. Fred Lynn came off the DL before the game; Doug Jennings was sent back to AAA.


6/23 4-0 W over the Braves
John Denny (7-7) threw a complete game shut out get a W for LA. He did it with 122 pitches. Kittle went 2-4, with 2 solo HR's (3,4) and Rickey hit #10 in the 5^th to account for all 4 runs. DeCinces made another error at short.


6/24 8-3 L to the Braves
Kelly Downs (6-6) was ineffective serving up 10 hits, and 3 unearned runs. The error? DeCinces. He's killing us at short. Sax or Smalley need to get back ASAP. Rickey (11) and Lynn (19) added home runs late, but it wouldn't matter to the scoreline.


6/25 8-4 W over the Reds
LA put up 2 in the first and never fell behind. With an ok start by Rhoden (11-4) and a Fred Lynn HR (20) LA kept the lead and hit well. They knocked 10 hits, with Ricky, Lynn and Phillips all getting a pair. They also stole 4 bases. DeCinces committed another error at short.


Former 2^rd round and 72nd overall pick from '86, Scott Scudder, was released by the Dodgers. Scudder had pitched 1 game for the Great Falls Dodgers (rookie). He took the loss allowing 5 in 6 innings. That's a rough start to a career. No worries though. He isn't going far. The Angels signed him the same day and he's been promoted to “A” ball.


6/26 7-5 L to the Reds
Too much power for the Reds. Tanana (6-6) served up a grand slam to Danny Tartabull (13) in the first inning and in the 4^th, Jose Canseco would hit number 21. Seven RbI's between the 2 of them. Thre rest of the team only had 4 hits. LA had their own power shots, but never could recover after that grand slam. LA mounted a comeback late. In the 6^th Kittle (5) and DeCinces (10) went back to back and in the 7^th, it was Rickey who blasted his own (12). DeCinces did NOT commit an error today. Yay!


6/27 9-7 L to the Reds
This shit has to stop. Valenzuela only lasted 4 innings, and in those 4 innings he allowed 7 hits, 4 of which left the park. Yep, the Reds have some muscle. Esasky (19) and Kal Daniels (13) in the first. Canseco (22) in the 3^rd and Tom Foley (2) in the 4^th. And somehow, LA fought back and tied the game in the bottom of the 4^th. Helped by Lynn's 21^st HR, they charged back. Rickey broke the tie with a solo shot (13) in the 6^th and it was up to the LA pen. A 3-run 7^th off of Niedenfeur (0-2) thanks to another HR. This time by Tartabull (14) sealed the deal. Don Robinson did lower his ERA to 6.87. Five Dodger starters had 2 hits in this one.


Roy Smalley was activated off the DL. Ty Dabney was sent back along with Tom Beyers. Doug Jennings was recalled.


6/29 4-0 W over the Padres
We needed this win. This month hasn't gone well at all. John Denny (8-7) came throught with a 7 hit shutout. He was helped by a DeCinces solo HR (11) and Rickey and Scioscia both had 2 hits. This is Denny's 4^th shutout of the year, he is tied with McCaskill for the lead.


Steve Sax was activated off the DL and Tom Burgmeier was designated and placed on waivers. It's really nice to have Sax back, but perhaps not getting rid of the one guy who has been halfway decent in the bullpen and now only leaves you with 1 southpaw (Franco, the closer). No way he's going to Albuquerque, but it also could be a ploy to buy time. We've seen guys go to waivers before and come back.


6/30 8-5 (10) L to the Padres
Kevin McReynolds homered in the first, but LA answered with 3 in the bottom half. Downs was on the mound and he gave the lead back in the 4^th and gave it away in the 5^th. LA's bats seemed to find some spirit today with 2 hits from a returning Sax, Lynn and Bream. Another run for the Pads in the 7^th sent Downs out as LA answered to keep it a 1 run game into the 9^th. With Ken Daley on the mound LA sent Larry Parrish to the plate and he lead off with a game tying HR. Franco (2-2) stayed in for the 10^th and the Padres ended any hope of a home win steal.

[PilotMan]

June Recap


Ok, so this was a very bad month on the heels of a very good month. I think that the injuries and simply everyone running off the high of all the hitting they had been doing came down. The team record for the month was 11-16. That's the worst we've had in just about ever. For the season LA has fallen to 3^rd place, trailing the Reds by 2 games and the Astros by 3. Our record of 43-35 is good, but won't take us to the playoffs.


The team batting fell off a cliff. Where we were hitting .282 before June, we're only hitting .264 after. That's a team drop of 18 points in 30 days. That's a lot of guys sucking ass at the same time. Where the team was leading in most offensive categories, now we're down to 2^nd in batting, slugging, hits, 3^rd in HR's, OPS, runs, and 4^th in OBP and steals. Still pretty damn good, but another month as bad as June and we'll be mid table in everything.


Pitching is good too, we shouldn't lose hope. Team ERA is 3^rd in the NL, and the starters are #2, even the bullpen is up to #4 with a 3.77. We're 4^th in almost every other pitching category, so not the #1 or #2 that we have been, but not far off of the lead either. Still another bad month and we'll be mid table and chasing an 81-81 season.


On defense, we've fallen to 4^th. I blame the decision to put DeCinces at short. He's averaging nearly an error per game. With Sax back, that means that Phillips gets to go back where he belongs.


Our best hitter for the month was Rickey. He was one of the only guys who didn't fall off the planet this month. His slash line was .324/.439/.588, he hit 7 dingers and stole 16 bases. If anyone else would have backed him up we could have done something. Fred Lynn played half the month, but was still hot. His line was .383/.453/.809. He hit 5 HR's in 14 games, but all that only netted 14 RBI's (compared to 37 in May.) Dwayne Murphy should have stayed on the bench. His month was awful, like pitcher awful. He batted .087/.176/.152. He had 4 singles in 19 games. That's it. Good grief.


Our #1 pitcher was no surprise. It's been Rhoden for some time and he had another good month. He went 4-2 with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He's having a really good year so far. Maybe not 1986 good, but pretty good. Frank Tanana was not his best. He went 1-4 with a 5.23 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. Last year he lead the NL with 34 gopher balls, and his 11 this year is putting him in the ballpark again. I fully expect him to be the pitcher of the month next month in typical Tanana fashion.


All our optimism is dead. We're not awful, but we totally blew May with an awful June. July brings the All Star game and the trade deadline where the team could make moves one way or the other. We need to get Inky back, but the best we can hope for is the end of July at best. Crap.

[PilotMan]

7/1 7-6 W over the Padres
Rick Rhoden hit a bases loaded double, scoring 3 in the bottom of the 5^th that gave LA the lead. They would add another in the 7^th then turn it over to Niedenfuer. Tom proceeded to blow his 2^nd save of the year, but allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk. LA would pick him up though as Ricky came through with a 2 out single to give us the win. Don Robinson lowered his ERA to 6.20.


Tony Phillips is heading to the DL with a stitches in his hand from a collision at 2^nd base. LA has brought up Charlie Kerfeld for his first action this year.


7/3 4-1 L to the Pirates
Mike Scott (9-6) strikes out 9, including Lynn 4 times (once with the bases loaded) and Kittle 3 times. Valenzuela loses to drop to 9-6. LA's only run came on a Sax single after a triple by Rickey. They only managed 1 other hit, the entire game.


Tom Burgmeier was reinstated after his failed trip to the waiver wire and Kerfeld was optioned back to Albuquerque without throwing a pitch.


7/4 5-1 W over the Pirates
Great game by Denny (9-7) who pitched 8 and allowed 4 hits and 1 unearned run. Ron Kittle hit number 7, giving him more than '86 or '85. He went 2-4 to lead the team.


Don Sutton won game #300 with a Yankees uniform on.


7/5 3-2 W over the Pirates
Kelly Downs (7-6) went 8, striking out 7, but it was his 8^th inning that almost cost the team. The Bucs put 2 runs up and took a 2-1 lead. Tom Henke (1-3) came on gave up a lead off double to Scioscia. Parrish moved him over to third. With 2 outs, George Hinshaw, who took over for an injured Sax, singled in 2 to give LA the lead again. That's Henke's 4^th BS of the year already. Don Robinson pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 2^nd save.


Sax is on the DL again, this time with a some knee tenderness. Chuck Jackson (.406/.472/.535 in AAA) is getting his second stint with the team. Last year he went 1-3 in 1 start. Jackson is the Dodgers #4 prospect.


7/6 7-4 L to the Cardinals
Rhoden (11-5) was roughed up for 3 in the first, thanks to the 20^th HR of the year for Will Clark. He gave up another gopher ball in the 2^nd to Matthew Tyner (7) and the Dodgers just couldn't catch up. Ron Kittle hit #8 in the 4^th and Sid Bream hit #6 in the 7^th inning. Kittle's 2-4 day lead the team.


7/7 6-3 W over the Cardinals
Ron Kittle (9) and Roy Smalley (1) each hit home runs in the 5^th to put LA on top, then Kittle would add his 2^nd (10) in the 6^th. He would finish 3-4, with 3 RBI's. Rickey went 2-4, scored 2 runs and stole his 40^th base of the season. He is having a very, very good year. Lost in all that was a complete game by who? Oh yeah, Frank Tanana (7-6). The master of inconsistency strikes again, just like I said he would. Striking out 6 in a good pitching performance. He still gave up a 9^th inning gopher ball to Tom Brunansky (16).


Kittle, in 35 games, is closing in on his high HR total while playing for LA. He hit 14 after the trade in '83, and he's got 10 this year. Don't call it a comeback though. He's been here for years.


7/8 6-4 (11) W over the Cardinals
Sid Bream hit a bases loaded single in the 11^th to score Scioscia and Hinshaw and put LA up. Niedenfeur got the last 3 outs for his first save, but he made it interesting. LA had the game in hand early on, building a 4-0 lead on Rickey and aggressive baserunning. Henderson went 4-6 and scored 2 more runs. He's on pace for over 150 runs scored this year. Valenzuela was cruising, when he let the Cards tie it in the 8^th on a Bill Schroeder HR (5). Franco pitched 2 scoreless to get the W (3-2).


Reigning 2-time Cy Young winner Doc Gooden pitched a no-hitter last night against the Braves. It's his first no-no. He struck out 9 and walked 1. It's the first NL no-hitter since Mike Scott against the Phillies back in '84 for the Mets, and the first in baseball since June 8^th of last year, when Sid Fernandez got his 2^nd with the M's.


7/9 7-4 W over the Cubs
This is it friends. There's nothing left to play for this year. Ricky Henderson left the game with some kind of injury after making a catch and throw. No idea yet on how serious. This is probably the biggest blow we've had this year, and that's saying a lot. The key to the game was a bases loaded triple by John Denny (10-7) in the 4^th . It was only his 3^rd hit all year long and he quadrupled his RBI total from 1 to 4. That put LA in front 4-3 and we'd add a 5^th on Ray Knight's 9^th in the 5^th. The Cubs would scratch back, the we'd add 2 more in the 8^th and Franco got the final 8 outs for his 12^th save.


7/10 6-1 L to the Cubs
Scott Bankhead (6-11) flashed some skills that made him, at one time, the #14 prospect in ML baseball. He came within 2 singles and a HR of no-hitting us. He only walked 1 and struck out 13 in the complete game. Only Fred Lynn, who hit number 22, and Chuck Jackson could manage hits. Downs took the loss to drop to 7-7.


7/11 5-3 W over the Cubs
Rhoden (12-5) got player of the game. He went 8 and struck out 8, allowing 7 hits and 2 walks along the way. He was helped along by 3 Dodger errors, including one of his own. Kittle homered in the 6^th (11) to tie the game at 2. LA would break out in the 8^th with 3 when Scioscia got a bases loaded single. Don Robinson pitched the 9^th for his 3^rd save. He lowered his ERA to 5.40.


7/12 9-7 W over the Cubs
LA nearly paid for 4 errors, but it was the completely inept Cubbie pitching that allowed LA to win this one. Both teams scored in each of the first 3 innings, and LA carried a 2 run lead forward. A Shane Mack HR tied it in the 6^th (7), but LA managed to open it back up for good in the 7^th. LA walked 10 times in the game and left 11 runners on base.


All-Star Break


No question, it's bad news for LA. Rickey is down until mid August with back pain. Not having him in the lineup is going to change everything. Dwayne Murphy has been getting the playing time in center in his absence, but Rickey Henderson he isn't. As he is sent to the DL, Tom Beyers (.338/.376/.520 5 HR, 42 RBI) is getting called up for his 2^nd stint with the team. He went 0-5 in 6 games last season and is still looking for his first career hit. Notably, he's older than Rickey is. So he's not the wave of the future.


LA has locked down #4 outfielder Ron Kittle to a 3yr/1.53M contract to stay with the team. Not sure what the justification is, other than he's fairly cheap. He hits the ball a freaking mile, when he hits it.

Know how else we were shafted? Both Rickey and Inky were left off the NL All Star team.


Here are the current and former Dodgers that make up this year's All Star team:


P - Bob Welch (KC) (4^th AS) – 9-6, 3.40, 4.1 WAR
SS – Mariano Duncan (CWS) (1) - .301/.362/.473 9HR, 34 SB
OF – Franklin Stubbs (TOR) (1) - .333/.380/.692 30HR 8 SB


P – Fernando Valenzuela (LA) (7) – 9-6, 2.77 ERA, 2.5 WAR
P – John Franco (LA)(1) – 3-2, 12 S, 1.57 ERA, 1.1 WAR
3B – Pedro Guerrero (PHI) (5) - .339/.397/.516, 16HR
OF – Fred Lynn (LA) (10) - .290/.353/.592 22HR


Rickey and Inky both should have been on this team. Both deserved it. If we go deep, Rickey has strong MVP stats, but he needs to get healthy. Inky has big ROY possibilities. Who the fuck would have ever believed that Stubbs would blow up like he has. He is a bonafide stud for Toronto.


The NL All Stars knocked off the AL 8-4.


Fred Lynn was 0-3, Valenzuela only managed 2/3 of an inning, allowing 3 hits and a walk with 2 runs. John Franco pitched a scoreless 9^th. Andy Van Slyke went 2-2 with smacked a HR in the 2^nd off of Roger Clemens to nab MVP honors.

[PilotMan]

Tony Phillips is activated from the DL and Tom Beyers is sent back to Albuquerque without getting into a game.


7/16 8-5 W over the Pirates
Ron Kittle put us on the board first with his 12^th of the year, and walked us off with a 3-run bomb (13) off of Tom Henke (1-4). LA had fallen behind heading into the 9^th, but Fred Lynn doubled in BJ Surhoff , who had lead off with a walk, and Kittle followed with the game ender. On the day Kittle was 3-5, with 4 RBI. LA committed 2 more errors that lead to 2 unearned runs. Franco got the win to go to 4-2.


7/17 7-4 W over the Pirates
Ray Knight homered in the first (10) to go up early, but an error in the 5^th lead to 3 unearned runs for the Bucs. Trailing 3-1, Dwayne Murphy went lefty v lefty and won, blasting a 3-run HR to right to put LA in front for good. We'd add 3 more in the 8^th on a Surhoff, bases clearing double to end all doubt. Don Robinson allowed 1 in the 9^th to raise his ERA to 5.33. Rhoden improved his record to 13-5.


Inky was activated from the DL and sent to Albuquerque for some rehab from his injury.


7/18 3-1 W over the Pirates
Frank Tanana (8-6) pitched 8 long innings, struck out 7 on his way to lowering his ERA below 4. Ray Knight homered in the 7^th (11) and Scioscia went 2-4 and Franco pitched the 9^th for his 13^th save of the year.


7/19 3-2 W over the Pirates
Fernando (10-6) gets player of the game honors pitching 8 innings, allowing 6 runners, striking out 6. Doug DeCinces goes 2-4, and Kittle hammered #14 opposite field off of Mike Scott (9-8). Scott has owned LA from time to time lately and we're happy to get the big game off of him. Franco struck out 2 and allowed 1 on a wild pitch to save his 14^th game of the year.


Steve Sax is back from the disabled list. Chuck Jackson was optioned back to Albuquerque after a respectable showing in his 7 game stint. Should see more of him come September. Inky is 3-7 in 2 starts in AAA, and he should be coming back in within a week.


7/20 8-4 L to the Cardinals
Ozzie Smith went 5-6, hit 2 RBI's and lead a 16 hit, 5 walk, and 1 reach on an error attack of the Dodgers. Ron Kittle hit his 15^th HR in the 3^rd, and Steve Sax tied the game at 3 with his 3^rd of the year in the 5^th. LA's bullpen let them down as John Franco was tagged for 4 runs on 3 hits. Don Robinson had to get the 3^rd out in the 9^th and lowered his ERA to 5.26. This snaps LA's 5 game run.


7/21 7-2 (11) L to the Cardinals
Rhoden took a no-hitter into the 7^th inning and got help in the bottom when Fred Lynn bopped his 23^rd HR of the year. Top of the 8^th though, Rhoden got into trouble and it was Cards prospect, Jay Bell, with his own HR (2) that tied it back up. Rhoden would go 9, but LA wouldn't threaten again, as the Mike Morgan threw 10 innings and got the W (9-9). Don Robinson (0-3) had pitched a clean 10^th, but gave it all away in the 11^th and left without getting an out. Tom Niedenfuer only fared marginally better and let in a bunch of runs. Robinson's ERA shoots back up over 6, to 6.07.


Inky is been recalled from Albuquerque and is ready for prime time again. We've missed his power, no question. IF George Hinshaw was put on waivers and designated for assignment. Looks like Inky is taking over in right, while Lynn goes back to left and Kittle, the hottest hitter in LA, goes to the bench. I wish Lasorda would wise up and move Lynn to center and get Dwayne Murphy back to the bench. He can't hold a candle to Kittle for production right now. Rickey is for sure not coming back until after the trade deadline.


A couple significant trades around the league. Such as....remember that time that the Yankees traded DH Keith Hernandez, minor league OF Eric Anthony and some cash to the division leading Blue Jays for 37yr old, back up catcher Rick Dempsey? Or the other one? Remember the time that the Twins sent OF Chili Davis to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for ancient reliver Gene Garber and the Pirates top prospect, P John Smoltz? Fun times people! Fun times!!


7/23 5-4 W over the Cardinals
Once again, the bullpen tried it's hardest to give this one away. If it wasn't for a late Lynn HR (24) the Cards would have tied it up. Steve Sax was brilliant again. He went 3-4 and knocked in 3 of the Dodger runs. Kelly Downs (8-7) got the win after 7 strong innings, and Ken Howell eventually got the last out for his 2^nd save of the year.


7/24 3-2 W over the Cubs
Valenzuela (11-6) had early control problems and loaded the bases in the first. The Cubs would push one across, but in the bottom half, Fred Lynn would put us on top with a 2-run homer to deep right field (25). He's closing in on 1000 career RBI's. Valenzuela settled down and that would be all he would allow over 8 innings. LA would scrap together another run in the 6^th. Only Sax and Lynn would get hits, with 2 each. Franco pitched the 9^th. He walked the leadoff hitter, allowed a triple to Pat Tabler. Then with the tying run on 3^rd, get the next 3 batters to preserve the victory for his 15^th save.


7/25 7-5 L to the Cubs
Both Frank Tanana's (8-7) took the mound today. The first one didn't allow a hit until the 4^th, and the second one, blew a 3 run lead and gave up a go ahead HR to Jody Davis in the 7^th. LA's bullpen, once again, failed in every sense of the word. Don Robinson pitched the 8^th, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. His ERA ballooned to 6.83, putting us way behind. LA got 2 back in the 8^th, then managed to put the tying run in scoring position in the 9^th with Inky and Lynn due up. Ron Robinson struck them both out to end it. Scioscia left the game limping after running the bases. It doesn't look serious, he won't be available, but he's not going to the DL either.


7/26 3-2 W over the Cubs
John Denny improved to 11-7 with 8 innings of work. A 4^th inning 2-run HR by Rick Schu (10) put the Cubs in front. LA would tie it in the bottom half though, as Fred Lynn went opposite field with his own 2-run shot (26). Then Denny would do the rest. After Tony Phillips walked, then stole second, Denny, batting below .100, cracked a double to the gap in left that scored Phillips and put LA in front. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 16^th save.


George Hinshaw was claimed off of waivers by the Pirates.


The Yankees, who are falling further behind the Blue Jays as we head to the deadline made, what looks to be a desperate move to get more pitching. They've sent fan favorite CF Brett Butler to the Padres for SP Rick Sutcliffe and a minor leaguer. Sutcliffe is an inning eater and was an All-Star this season. He has a career record of 86-101, with a 4.05 ERA. Butler has been in pinstripes for 5 seasons, is a career .286 hitter, 2 time All-Star (84, 86) and Silver Slugger winner (84).


The Dodgers have also made their first big trade in at least 3 seasons. We are saying goodbye to hit and miss outfielder Ron Kittle, who was the hottest hitter on the team in July, cranking out 10 HR's and a .314/.385/.771 slash line this month. He's been a big trade card for the team, as he just can't get steady playing time at all. He's a career .250 hitter with 76 career HR's. We also sent minor league SS, Kent Anderson. Anderson is a former 8^th round pick of the White Sox, back in '83. LA was his 4^th team and had been playing at AA San Antonio. So......LA has decided that the Sid Bream experiment, at least for now, is done. Bream isn't delivering this year at first base, so he's heading to the bench. Taking is place, is Texas Rangers first basement, Pete O'Brien. O'Brien is was a Gold Glover in '85 and a top prospect. At 29, he's the same age as Kittle, and has played in 160 games each of the last 3 seasons. This year he is .294/.363/.469 with 17 HR's and 56 RBI's. He's a career .273 hitter with 106 HR's.


From the outside looking in, this looks like an upgrade in the lineup in exchange for depth of position. There's still more depth in this team they can move if they feel like a good deal can be made. I'm happy with this one. Kittle never seemed to get his chance after that first trade that brought him here.


7/27 4-2 L to the Giants
Rhoden (13-6) threw another complete game, striking out 8 along the way. LA however, did next to nothing until Tony Phillips hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 9^th. LA would put the tying run on base, with 0 outs, and Dan Plesac would pitch his way out of it. Ending it with a pickoff of BJ Surhoff on first base. How sad. Bream went 0-3. Inky hasn't been good at all since he came back. In 5 games, he has 0 extra base hits and is 3-17 with 10 strikeouts. Ugh.


7/28 2-0 L to the Giants
Kelly Downs (8-8). Poor Kelly Downs. He made 2 bad pitches all game. His no hitter was broken up in the 5^th by a Gregg Jefferies double to left. The very next batter, Terry Kennedy cleared the fence with HR #11 and that was it. Those were the only hits for SF the entire game. Downs walked 1, and struck out 11 in a nearly commanding performance. LA got 4 singles and 5 walks and couldn't get anyone home.


Dave Winfield got his #2000^th hit as member of the Kansas City Royals.


7/29 9-1 W over the Giants
Pete O'Brien didn't take long to make his mark on the team. In his 2^nd game, he hit HR #18 and went 3-3 with 2 doubles. Valenzuela (12-6) got the win, in a complete game performance. He allowed 5 hits, and struck out 5, lowering his ERA to 2.52 and showing his All Star mettle yet again.


The Dodgers have made another move, and I have really mixed emotions about it. LA gets younger, moves a bat and brings in some pitching help. Doug DeCinces is heading out the door. He's really had his moments with the team the last couple of years, even if his numbers are way off this year. At 36 he's not getting any younger, and Lasorda's penchant to put him at short is hurting us. He's batting .255, with 11 HR's and 34 RBI's. Anyway, he's not heading far, down to San Diego to see the Padres, along with some cash. In return, LA gets southpaw Dave Dravecky. Dravecky, 31, has spent his entire career in San Diego. He has a 54-61 record and a career 3.63 ERA. This year isn't on that level. He's started 6 and come out of the pen 9 times. He's 1-5, with a save and a 6.70 ERA, but like I said, that's not been typical for him. His career highlight was a no-hitter back in '83 against the Cardinals. His contract is up after this year. LA also gets minor leaguer Kevin Koslofski, an OF, and former 6^th round pick of the White Sox. He's never played above rookie ball.


7/31 15-4 L to the Braves
All you can do is laugh. We got killed today. John Denny (11-8) took the loss, and the bullpen allowed 7 more. Tom Burgmeier, who had been pretty effective, joined the rest of the bunch today, allowing 7 hits, and 5 runs, in 1/3 of an inning. Enough of that. Bright spots? Ray Knight and Steve Sax each had 2 hits. Tony Phillips hit HR #10 and Sid Bream came off the bench to his HR #7. Alejandro Pena threw 2 scoreless innings. Braves rookie shortstop, Andres Thomas, hit his first career HR in the game.


No other last minute deals. Tom Burgmeier was designated again and placed on waivers. Chuck Jackson was called back from AAA to take his roster spot and presumably to give us the infield depth that DeCinces gave us. Dravecky was added to the bullpen and LA is running with 11 pitchers now.

[PilotMan]

July Recap


July was a good month. After the disaster that was June, the team held steady and stayed close in the title hunt. The team's record was 16-9, bringing the overall record to 59-44. That has us in 2^nd place in the West right now, 2 games behind the Reds. Yeah. The Reds. The Astros sit another 1.5 behind us, and after a rough month.


LA has a good team. When I'm looking down the team rankings, LA is pretty much 3^rd on offense, in just about every category, and 7^th in steals. In pitching, we still have the #1 rotation, but the bullpen is the worst I've seen, mired down in 9^th place. The rest of our rankings keep us right about #4, a little better here, a little worse there. Team defense has dropped, all the way to the average ranking of #6. You can thank Doug DeCinces and his short stop skills for that.


Fernando Valenzuela was the top pitcher for July. His record of 3-1 could have been better, but his ERA of 2.02 and WHIP of 1.15 was his best since April. Just going to throw the entire bullpen under the bus this month. Don Robinson is an easy target, but even John Franco posted a +5 ERA.


Ron Kittle, was the best hitter. He bashed the ball, as I mentioned before he was traded. After him, the best hitter was Tony Phillips and he only played half the month and his .269/.345/.423 slash line isn't really impressing anyone. Ray Knight has come crashing down from his hot start. His line in July was .169/.258/.312. No good and this guy isn't competing for playing time anymore with DeCinces out the door.


We need Rickey back, and Rickey should be coming back sooner, rather than later, but I really don't want to jinx it. We also need Inky to find that swing that he had earlier. He's been lost since he came back.


Here's a look at the rest of the league:


Starting in the West, the Reds had a helluva month and hold a 2 game lead. They have 5 guys in the starting lineup with over 20 HR's. LA resides in 2^nd, with the Astros 3.5 back and hanging in there are the Padres at 7 games back. The Giants are the worst team in the NL and are 24 games back with a .359 winning percentage.


Over in the East, it's no long all about the Expos. The Expos have fallen back to Earth and are no mortal. They are in 5^th place, 12 games below .500 and 15 games back. They're not done, but it's not looking good. In the East right now, it's the Mets in control. They are a tight 2.5 games ahead of the surprising Phillies. Both teams are good, and either of them could be tough to face.


In the AL East, the Blue Jays are still dominant. With a .657 winning percentage they are the best team in baseball and they have hit more homers than any other team in baseball. Every batter in their starting lineup, save Ryne Sandberg (go figure) has over 10 HR's. They are healthy and the bullpen is strong enough to carry a so-so pitching staff. The East also has the worst team in baseball since the '62 Mets. The '87 Brewers are historically bad. With a 29-73 record, they're actually on pace to go 46-116. The Mets record is safe...for now, but keep an eye on it.


The AL West is similar to last season, where 3 teams are posting over .600 winning percentages. The M's are out front right now, but only 1.5 in front of the White Sox, and 3.5 in front of the Angels. The Twins have just been decimated. The team was once young, and talented, is now just young. Their 34-70 record is good for 2^nd worst in baseball. That's completely unexpected for a team that boasts, Hrbek, Puckett, Dave Parker, Viola, Blyleven, Stieb, Show, and Lea. Every single starter has an ERA between 5 and 10.50. Yeah. 10.50 for Charlie Lea.


August is our make or break month. Once again, we are in it, but gonna have to pull off some magic to get to the playoffs again.

[PilotMan]

8/1 9-3 L to the Braves
Rhoden (13-7) was pitching alright until a rain delay. The Braves had his number after that and the game evaporated with the Brook Jacoby 3-run HR (17) in the 7^th. Jeff Pico (1-5) got his first win of the year, and his 2^nd career win. Sax, Surhoff and O'Brien, the 1-3 hitters, combined to go 7-13. Yet barely any production from anyone else.


8/2 8-4 W over the Braves
The Braves still knocked 12 hits off of LA pitching, which is still not up to standard. Down 3-1, LA took the lead with a 3 run 5^th. Tony Phillips hit #11 in the 2^nd, and Fred Lynn hit #27^th in the 8^th. Sax, Knight and Lynn batted 1-3 and they combined to go 8-12, with 6 RBI's and 5 runs. The rest of the team combined for 4 hits. Kelly Downs (9-8) got the win, but not because he had a good game. Don Robinson lowered his ERA to 6.59.


8/3 6-2 L to the Reds
Important game, and Valenzuela (12-7) can't handle the power of the Reds. LA got 10 hits, but struck out 10 times against Browning (12-7). Pete O'Brien homered (19) in the 6^th that tied the game, but the Reds got a 3-run shot from Eric Davis in the bottom of the inning. That was that. Scioscia, O'Brien, and Knight all had 2 hits.


Mike Schmidt got his 2000^th hit as a member of the Yankees.


8/4 6-4 W over the Reds
We get one back. Tanana (9-7) true to form served up another gopher ball, but pitched well enough to go 8 innings and leave with the win. We faced off against former Dodger, Ted Power (9-8) Phillips homered (12) in the 2^nd to give us a 3-2 lead, and after the Reds tied it in the 3^rd, Pete O'Brien homered again (20) to put LA up for good. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 17^th save. Ron Kittle has 5 HR's in 7 games and 27 at bats for the Rangers. He's got 20 in 168 at bats on the year.


Rickey was activated from the DL. To make room, Chuck Jackson was optioned back to Albuquerque. LA has seriously struggled without him.


8/5 8-5 L to the Reds
Are the Reds our new nemesis? Are they the best in the West now? Maybe so. Denny (11-9) was touched for 5 in the first, and even Reds starter Jack Morris (1) homered off of him in the 4^th for his first career HR. LA slowly dug out of the hole. Dravecky made his LA debut with 2 scoreless innings. LA cut the lead to 6-3 in a Sax triple in the 6^th, then 6-4 in the 7^th. Fucking Eric Davis homered in the 3^rd game in a row (29) to keep that lead open. Incaviglia finally got his first HR since his DL return (22), but it was too little, too late. The big news should have been Rickey's leadoff double in the first and his 3-4 game, but it was overshadowed by everything else.


LA has dropped down to 3^rd now. Three games behind the Reds.


8/7 5-1 W over the Braves
Rhoden (14-7) goes 3-4 with the bat, and goes the distance never giving the Braves a chance. Pete O'Brien also added a 3-4 game with a 2 RBI triple. He's batting .432 with 3 HR's in 9 games with LA. An offensive punch that the team is grateful to get from first base.


8/8 9-4 W over the Braves
LA has found the swing the last 2 night, blasting out 29 hits. Even Valenzuela helped out with his 2^nd HR of the year in the 2^nd inning. Valenzuela (13-7) allowed only 3 hits and struck out 8. Except they were all HR's and that totaled all 4 runs for the Braves. That lead to an early shower for Fernando, but the team picked him up. Inky went 3-5. Lynn, Phillips, Scioscia and Sax all had 2 hits each. Don Robinson lowered his ERA to 6.37.


8/9 6-2 W over the Braves
The hit machine quieted down some, but 7 and 8 hitters, Scioscia and Phillips went 3-6 with 4 RBI's. For the third game in a row the pitching came through. Downs (10-8) went the distance for the W.


8/10 7-3 W over the Reds
Fred Lynn goes 3-4 with 2 HR's (28,29) and 5 RBI's single handedly takes out the Reds. Rickey lead off the game with his `4^th HR to give us the lead. John Denny (12-9) became the third Dodger pitcher in a row to throw a complete game. This sudden pitching effort is really paying off in the win column. The West is a mess. The Astros are 9-1 in their last 10 and have matched our 4 game streak to claim the lead, with both the Reds and Dodgers .5 game back.


8/11 7-3 W over the Reds
LA scored 2 in the 4^th and 3 more in the 5^th when Lynn hit HR #30. Mike Scioscia went 3-3 and scored twice. He's been solid lately and his average is creeping closer to .300. LA has 5 starters with batting averages over .295. Tanana (10-7) pitched alright, but got tagged by both Tartabull (24) and Daniels (23). Typical Tanana. Don Robinson pitched a good 9^th to lower his ERA to 6.16.


Tom Burgmeier has been released, throwing 14 innings in 10 games, with a 5.79 ERA.


8/12 3-2 (11) L to the Reds
Mike Scioscia went 2-3 and hit his 5^th HR in the 7^th inning to give Rick Rhoden a lead. Rhoden went 8 and struck out 9 in a game he should have won. John Franco gave up a leadoff triple to Eric Davis and Davis scored on a Tartabull sac fly to blow it for the 2^nd time this year. Don Robinson (0-4) replaced him and he did great in the 10^th, but in the 11^th Ex Dodger Dusty Baker, who had subbed into right, smacked a single that scored Donnell Nixon. Gossage shut the Dodgers down for his 23^rd save. Robinson lowered his ERA to 6.06.


8/13 3-2 (10) W over the Reds
Valenzuela got the start and had major control problems. In 7 innings of work, he only allowed 3 hits, but walked 6 and struck out 10 along with a wild pitch. The upside was the batters didn't know where the ball was going either. Rickey went 2-3, stole a base, and knocked in the game tying RBI in the 5^th. Niendenfuer pitched 2 innings of relief and struck out 6 in a row. Franco pitched most of the 10^th, but left the game early, hurt. Dravecky (2-5) threw 1 pitch. In the bottom of the 10^th, Roy Smalley came off the bench and put the ball in the left field seats to walk off with a win (2).


It's bad for Franco. The word comes back almost immediately and the team announces the next day that Franco has a torn labrum in his shoulder. He's done for the year. Lasorda plans to use Robinson in closer duty. He's 3 of 3 on the year. The team promoted 7-year Dodger farmhand, Rafael Montalvo to the roster. Montalvo played his first year at AA this year, his highest level in his career. For San Antonio, he pitched 37 games, went 4-2, with 13 saves and a 1.85 ERA.


The team also parted ways with last year's first round pick, and top prospect Butch Henry. Henry went 2-6 with a 4.00 ERA in low rookie ball.


8/14 12-2 W over the Giants
Rickey started it all off with a lead off homer (15). He would finish 3-3 with 3 walks, 4 runs, and added another solo homer in the 9^th (16). Sax went 3-6 with his own 3-run HR (4) and Lynn homered too (31) in the first. LA walked 10 times against 6 strikeouts. Kelly Downs (11-8) pitched a complete game for the win. Rickey now has the highest HR total of any season for his career. He's also on pace to score 117 runs in 130 games if he stays healthy the rest of the way.


8/15 8-1 W over the Giants
The streaking Dodgers win again. Backed by a complete game victory for John Denny (13-9) the offense rolled up 13 hits. Sax lead off the game with a big triple, and Henderson knocked him in. Inky finally got a HR (23) and he went 3-4 with 3 RBI's in the game. Pete O'Brien also went 2-4 with his 21^st HR in the 3^rd inning and 3 RBI's.

[PilotMan]

Is anyone following along anymore? I'm up to 170 written pages now. My typing skills are strong.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The team also parted ways with last year's first round pick, and top prospect Butch Henry. Henry went 2-6 with a 4.00 ERA in low rookie ball.

A question, on how this works in the game (hey, I read about once every 7-10 days, so I might as well toss this in here):

So they released a player -- which is something I don't see that often in sports games unless they're wanting the roster spot for someone else.

Is that the case here, that he was cut loose in order to use the spot for a player that either fills a need or simply has more potential?

Or ... something else? (yeah, I don't know what else either tbh)

[PilotMan]

OOTP has always gotten a bit of a knock for the way it has handled it's minor league transactions. It's vastly improved from years past where it would cut a guy, then resign him days later, and that would repeat itself off and on throughout.

In this case, without knowing the true mechanics of why, I mean, generally, a first round pick would get much more time to develop, especially for an 18-year old kid pitcher, it's really tough to say.

They didn't need a spot either. So in this case, the simple solution is that he just wasn't viewed as being good enough, or worthwhile enough, even though there are plenty of guys they do sign who, quite literally, have no future at all.

I chalk it up to a bit of randomness and shortsightedness of the front office. Or you can game it a bit and just figure he pissed a whole lot of people off with his charming personality. It does help tell a story for a player later on, if he does work his way up the ladder, of the teams that gave up on him and how he kept working hard and ate his vitamins, to get to the top.

[Warhammer]

Is anyone following along anymore? I'm up to 170 written pages now. My typing skills are strong.

I am, but I follow dynasties once a week or once every other week. I normally don't comment though.

[PilotMan]

Thanks for reading for those of you who stop in. I find that this medium helps immerse me in the world, and really brings back the old school, Strat days, without all that hard work of bookkeeping and random generation. I haven't been this deep into an OOTP dynasty in years and years. As a kid of the 80's it's like a walk down memory lane, and there's enough historical variation that it feels new every season.

[PilotMan]

8/16 7-6 L to the Giants
LA lost and Tanana (10-8) allowed 3 more dingers. The most important was a go ahead, 2-run homer by Tony Perez. Perez, at the ripe age of 45, hit his 400^th HR. The Giants are his 6^th team in 6 years, and it was his first of the year, and only his 2^nd since '83. Perez was signed in May, and his slash line this year is .231/.250/.308. He is the oldest active player in baseball. Sax went 2-4, and Tony Phillips hit his 13^th HR of the year. Down by 2, LA got a run and Lynn hit the final ball to the fence, but came up just short of tying it.


8/18 9-4 L to the Expos
Valenzuela (13-8) served up 4 HR's to the Expos in the first 5 innings. Three of them went to Andres Galarraga (28,29,30). Gary Carter (15) and Mike Greenwell (2) also homered for the Expos. Inky was the high spot going 2-4. The Expos are nearly out of the playoff race. This just shows they can still get one over on us.


8/19 8-6 W over the Expos
Andre Dawson smashed 2 HR's (21,22) and sent Kelly Downs to an early shower. The Expos took a 5-3 lead into the 9^th with Quiz (1-6) on the mound. Tony Phillips lead off with a walk, and BJ Surhoff pinch hit for pitcher. Surhoff smashed a 2-run HR for his first career homer and tied it up. LA wasn't done though. Henderson singled, Bream doubled him in next. LA would add another to make it 8-5. New closer, Don Robinson came on and Hubie Brooks homered, then Robinson settled down and finished it off for his 4^th save.


Rick Rhoden has been put on the DL with an illness. Michael Cunningham was promoted from Albuquerque to take his place. Cunningham, 26, has been pitching in Albuquerque off and on for 6 years and this is his first promotion to the Majors. This season he was 11-9, with a 5.11 ERA, in 176 innings of work. He's a hard worker, with a curve, change and knuckleball. He gets lots of movement, it's just that we don't really know where it's going. The team could have gone with Dravecky in the rotation, but that would have left them without any lefties in the bullpen.


8/20 7-6 W over the Expos
I cannot say enough good things about Rickey and what he means to this team right now. He and Sax lead off the day with back to back doubles and LA batted around and put up 3, leaving the bases loaded. John Denny did not have a good day, and despite getting 5 runs of support, a Gary Carter 2-run homer (16) in the bottom of the 7^th tied the game and he left with the result out of his hands. Niedenfeur (2-2) pitched the 8^th and his first batter, pinch hitter, Don Baylor, homered to left (2) to put Montreal on top. Joe Hesketh (2-1), who is not the closer, came on for the 9^th and it was Rickey, once again, who lead off with a big HR down the line (17) to tie it back up. That also happened to be Rickey's 100^th career round tripper. Two batters later, Inky hammered another ball to left-center (24) to give LA the lead. Don Robinson pitched a 1-2-3 9^th for his 5^th save, lowering his ERA to 5.97. Steve Sax went 4-5.


8/21 9-1 W over the Phillies
The Phils sent former Dodger Milt Wilcox (5-6) to the mound and it didn't end well for him. LA scored in each of the first 4 innings to send him to the shower with 7 runs on the board. LA didn't need much, but from there, but it got a complete game from Frank Tanana (11-8) who still had to be himself and serve up a gopher ball to another former Dodger, Pedro Guerrero (24) and who still has a 21 game hitting streak, thanks to that hit. The Phillies only got 4 hits off Tanana. Meanwhile, Fred Lynn hit #32, and Ray Knight went 4-5 with 3 runs, 3 RBI's and his 12^th HR of the season. Sax stole base number 31 and Henderson stole 3 to give him 50 on the year.


The Cardinals Andy Van Slyke hit for the cycle against the Reds. Not only that, but he tied the NL record for RBI's in a game with 8. His HR was a grand slam.


8/22 15-9 W over the Phillies
Rookie Michael Cunningham gets his first ML start today and opened it up by striking out 2^nd basemen, Juan Samuel and LF Pedro Guerrero in a 1-2-3 first inning. Then came the 2^nd where rookie of the year candidate, Larry Walker hit the ball 420 ft (32), he walked Balboni and the other ROY candidate, catcher Bob Melvin homered again (14) to put the Phillies on top. LA gave him 6 runs of support, but Samuel would get revenge on his 3^rd look with a 3-run HR (18) to ultimately ruin the journeyman's debut. Cunningham had wild pitch and 2 hit batters too. Dave Magadan had to leave after getting hit. LA wasn't done though. Dravecky (3-5) pitched 2 and struck out 5 and LA scored 2 in the 6^th to tie the game, helped by Phillips 14^th HR. Larry Parrish hit a pinch hit 2-run HR in the 7^th (3) to put LA on top for good. LA totaled 4 in the 7^th and another 3 in the 8^th as the Phillies had to empty the bullpen. LA bashed 18 hits with Sax and O'Brien getting 3 each. Even Bream got a 2-run pinch hit single. This game also saw the first career homerun for another Phillie rookie, Mark Grace. LA also cooled Guerrero's 22 game hitting streak.


8/23 4-3 W over the Phillies
LA was stymied by young Phillies starter Greg Maddux (13-10) for most of the game. Valenzuela (14-8) matched him inning for innings, but the Phillies build up a 3-1 lead heading into the 8^th inning. Two rare outfield errors in the same inning, one by Dave Clark and one by Larry Walker opened the door for LA to put 3 across and take a 4-3 lead. Valenzuela went 2-3 in the game and scored twice. Don Robinson loaded the bases in the 9^th and it looked like it was going to be bad, but he figured it out and finished the game without allowing the tying run. His 6^th save of the year, and lowering his ERA to 5.80.


8/24 4-3 (11) L to the Mets
Both teams come into the game in first place. Both teams have identical records. The series is split between them. It's about as even as it gets. Kelly Downs ended up walking 5 and striking out 7 and he had a 3-1 lead going into the 8^th, but he couldn't get out of it, and by the time he left it was tied up. The Mets have an incredible bullpen and LA tried to match it, but couldn't. Dave Dravecky (3-6) gave up a hit, and walked the bases loaded in the 11^th. Then strike out 2 before he would walk in the winning run for the Mets. Frustrating.


8/25 2-1 W over the Mets
John Denny (14-9) and Ron Darling (7-12) had a great pitchers dual totday. LA didn't get a hit until the 5^th inning. LA struck first on the back of a Incaviglia 2-run HR to left (25). The Mets clawed one back, but LA held on. Don Robinson pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 7^th save. His ERA is down to 5.65.


8/26 8-7 L to the Mets
A see saw affair, that saw LA fall behind 6-4, then with 3 solo home runs in the 6^th inning by Lynn (33), Knight (13) and Phillips (15) the Dodgers took the lead. Inky had homered in the 4^th (26), but Tanana was on the mound today and he gave up 3 of his own and only lasted 3 innings. Dravecky (3-7) pitched 3 good innings in relief, but it was the 4^th inning that hurt. Carmelo Martinez pinch hit for the pitcher and homered to give the Mets the lead and ultimately the win.


8/28 7-3 L to the Expos
Bryn Smith (16-10) gets his league leading 16^th win, but he has himself to thank for it. A career .118 hitter, Smith homered in the 2^nd inning for his first career homer. He would add a single and another RBI later on. Valenzuela (14-9) was not his best today. He allowed 10 hits in 5 innings of work. Fred Lynn homered in the 9^th (34) as a consolation. Rafael Montalvo made his ML debut, retiring the Expos in order.


Scioscia sprained his ankle sliding into 2^nd base and he's heading to the DL. LA promoted C/IF John Debus to back up Surhoff. Debus is regarded as a good defensive catcher, who started most of the year in AAA Albuquerque. His slash line was .284/.355/.443 with 7 HR's and 32 RBI's. He's been in the Dodgers farm system for 7 years, and this, at 28 years old, is his first call to the Majors.


8/29 6-1 W over the Expos
Downs (12-8) pitched 8 and struck out 5 to get the Dodgers the win today. LA didn't have any extra base hits, but relied on 2 hit games from Sax and Knight. The Candy Man, once a feared opponent, got a rare start for the Expos. His stuff isn't the same now. He walked 5 in 4 innings and was touched for 4 unearned runs (2 earned). Don Robinson pitched another scoreless 9^th to lower his ERA to 5.50.


8/30 7-5 (11) L to the Expos
Denny had a rough first inning thanks to Gary Carter and his 3-run HR (18). LA would fall behind 5-0 before they would start the comeback. It started in the 6^th when Surhoff his #2 to put LA on the board. Inky added another 2-run shot (27) that brought us to 5-3. Quiz (2-7) took the mound in the 9^th and after allowing the first 2 on, got Ray Knight to ground into a DP. One on, 2 out, 2-2 pitch to Tony Phillips and he hit it out (16) to tie it up. Don Robinson (0-5) pitched the 11^th and loaded them up before Molitor hit a 2-run single. LA went down meekly in the bottom half to end it. Robinson's ERA ballooned up to 5.82 with the loss. C John Debus made his ML debut and went 0-2 from the 7^th inning on.


8/31 8-2 W over the Phillies
Big day for LA as they pound Milt Wilcox (5-8). Tony Phillips went 3-3, Sax 3-5, and Surhoff 2-4 and who also hit his 3^rd HR of the season. LA put up a 6 in the 2^nd and that pretty much took care of that. Tanana (12-8) managed to pitch 7 innings without allowing a single HR. Not so much for Niedenfeur who served up a gohper ball to Bob Melvin (16) in the 9^th.

[PilotMan]

August Recap


LA goes 18-10 and stays in the mix as the season winds down. Our record is 77-54, 22 games above .500, and in a tie with the Astros for first in the West. LA is getting good offensive production, as the team is 2,3, or 4 in pretty much every offensive category. The pitching staff is good too, just about 4^th all around in every pitching category. The starters are #2 in ERA, but the bullpen is 7^th in the NL.

Getting Rickey back in the lineup has been critical to LA getting it's offense back in order. He's crucial in the lead off spot. He hit 4 HR's and hit over .300 in August. He also added 12 steals to get to 52 on the year. He only needs 3 more to have his highest number in 4 years.


Would you believe that Kelly Downs was the best pitcher for August? Well he was, with a 4-0 record and his 3.15 ERA. Fernando was awful with a 6+ ERA for the month. We need him to get it back together.


It's also September call up time. Here are the guys that are getting the call up to the Show:


C Jack Fimple (.211/2/28 in AAA) – Primarily a catcher, also plays 2b and 3b. Has 1 option year left. At 28, he's not getting any younger. He had 1 at bat last year.


3B Billie Merrifield (.246/6/30 in AAA) - Plays the corners and can also play some outfield. Has 2 option years left. He the #15 prospect in the organization, but he's also 25. He's gonna have to make some gains soon.


IF/OF Ty Dabney (.311/2/26 in AAA) – Dabney is a typical utility player who came up for a cup of coffee earlier this year. He's got 1 more option year left. He's the #16 prospect in the organization.


IF Ross Jones (.290/2/25 in AAA) Played 5 games earlier in the year with a .188 avg. This is his last option year, and at 27, he's too old to be a prospect.


OF Tom Byers (.348/13/71 in AAA) Byers is still in search of his first career hit at the age of 29, but he's been the best player in AAA for a couple years. He looks like a 4A player, who could be dangerous in the right situation. He still has 1 option year left.


IF/OF Chuck Jackson (.298/10/63 38SB in AAA) Jackson is back up with the team after filling in while Sax was out hurt. He hit .286/.360/.333 with the team in 7 starts. He is the #3 prospect and #133 in all of baseball. Still has 2 option years left.


RP Sergio DelRosario (2-1, 6 S 5.04 ERA in AAA) At 22, he's a young power pitcher who can hit 100 MPH. Started last year in A ball and moved up fast. He's the #10 prospect in the organization. This is his first call to the majors.


RP Brian Holton (0-2, 1S 8.27 ERA in AAA, 1-0 6.46 ERA 15.1 IP with LA) Minor league journeyman who finally got the call this year. Hasn't had good stuff this year and his 28^th birthday is coming quickly.


RP Charlie Kerfeld (3-2, 13S, 2.70 ERA in AAA) This is his second call, and his first this year. Had some control problems, but put his best season together this year. Has 1 more option year remaining.


The NL West is a 3 horse race, with the Reds sitting just 3.5 behind the leaders. The Padres have fallen back, but are still only 8 out. The loss of Franco really hurts a struggling bullpen. Rhoden is expected to miss one more start before he's back with the team and they hope that Scioscia won't be too far behind.


LA has been good in past September's and they'll need to be spot on once again this year, because Houston is good.

[PilotMan]

9/1 15-1 L to the Phillies
Rookie Michael Cunningham (0-1) was shelled and still lowered his ERA to 14.63. Sergio DelRosario made his ML debut and failed to record an out, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks. He was followed by Rafael Montalvo who got 2 outs, but allowed 2 hits and walked 5 in a 9 run 5^th inning. To make matters worse Rickey left the game in the first on a diving attempt in center. It's not looking good, but we'll have to wait and see. To his credit, Dwayne Murphy went 3-3 replacing him.

9/2 6-4 L to the Phillies
Ron Gant hit his first of the year to break a 3-3 tie and put the Phillies up 6-3 off of Valenzuela. It was one of 3 that Valenzuela gave up. He had 7 K's in 7 innings, but takes the loss to drop to 14-10. Inky went 2-4 batting. Dwayne Murphy left the game after leading off. It looked like he might have pulled something. Prospect Doug Jennings took over and scored 2 runs.

Major bad news for the Dodgers today. Rickey is heading to the DL again for recurring back spasms. That's not good for a guy who just signed a big contract. That's going to be it for his regular season. He might be back for the playoffs.

The other blow is to Murphy. He's also on the DL, and he's going to miss the rest of the year too with a foot injury. In 2 days, our offense and our depth has been neutered. Rick Rhoden was activated off the DL.

Fred Lynn, who started in CF last year, looks to take that spot back again, and Tom Beyers is going to get the initial shot in LF. Jennings will be the 4^th OF.

9/4 10-6 L to the Mets
The losing streak hits 3. Rhoden (14-8) makes his return and it's not good. He serves up 13 hits and couldn't get out of the 7^th innning. He was on the hook for all 10 runs, but only 6 were earned. Sax and Lynn each had 3 hits and Inky hammered 2 HR's (28, 29). Even Rhoden went 2-3 and got a go ahead RBI early in the game. The Mets Edward Lindsey got his 13^th win on the year.

Young Brewers utility guy, Dale Sveum hit for the cycle in a 14-9 W over the Twins. He's been getting a lot of time at first for the Brewers.

9/5 4-2 W over the Mets
LA gets 8 strong innings from Downs (13-8) as he allows 6 hits and 2 runs, while striking out 6. LA went down 2-0, but BJ Surhoff hit a 2 run homer as part of a 3 run 5^th inning to put LA on top for the game. Sax went 2-5 and Pete O'Brien walked 3 times and scored 2 runs. Robinson pitched the 9^th for his 8^th save and lowered his ERA to 5.53.

9/6 8-2 W over the Mets
LA put up 4 in the first, and 3 in the second, helped along by 2, 2-HR by Fred Lynn (35,36). Knight also homered in the first (14). The Dodgers got another strong start, this one from John Denny (15-9), who went 8, allowing only 1 run. Pena finished the 9^th. Tom Byers finally got his first career hit, as the 29 yr old went 2-4. O'Brien and Surhoff also added 2 hits.

9/7 11-4 L to the Reds
The new Big Red Machine rolled over us today. Just after LA tied it up in the top of the 7^th, the Reds exploded all over Brian Holton (1-1) and Ken Howell for 6 runs in the bottom half. Valenzuela started, and went 6, although he did allow 4 across. The Reds had 13 hits, 11 of which went for extra bases. Yeah. Read that again. Glenn Hubbard, a July trade pickup, has been hitting .130 for the Reds. He went 3-5 with 3 doubles. We're sliding backward early here.

9/8 12-9 L to the Reds
Rough. There were 6 lead changes and 7 HR's hit in the game. LA struck first, but between Tanana, 6 runs allowed, 2 gopher balls, Pena (2-2) and his 4 unearned runs, with 1 gopher, and Dravecky (another gopher) LA could not stay in it. The Dodgers committed 3 errors, and got homers from Lynn (37), Inky (30) and Knight (15). They brought the tying run to the plate in the 9^th and forced the Reds to bring in Goose, who promptly struck out Phillips to end the game. LA has slipped to 2 games back and are only a half ahead of the Reds.

9/9 14-6 L to the Reds
Good god. 37 runs allowed in 3 games. LA wasted another 2-HR day by Lynn (38,39) and Inky's 31^st and they went back to back in the 3^rd to go up 4-0. Rhoden (14-9) walked 6 in 3.2 innings of work. LA pitchers walked the Reds 11 times, and Reds pitchers allowed 9 walks. That's 20 combined walks. LA also wasted a 7-14 batting day by the 3-4-5 guys in the lineup and a 3-3 day by Phillips. LA drops to 3^rd in the West.

9/10 2-0 W over the Braves
One day. When you need a hero. One will arrive. The hero today? None other than Kelly Downs (14-8) who has been hot lately. Downs pitched 6.2 innings of no hit ball before ex Dodger, Candy Maldonado broke it up with a single. Downs had faced the minimum up to that point. The Braves started Zane Smith (11-16), who has been hard on LA over the years, and both men went zeros over 9 innings of work. Smith had scattered 8 hits, Downs 2. Both pitched the 10^th and LA finally broke through on a Sax 2-run single. Downs allowed a lead off double in the 10^th, but the Braves could muster no more.

Twins outfielder, Dave “The Cobra” Parker got his 2000^th career hit.

Mike Scioscia was activated from the DL. Surhoff played alright for a backup, but not good enough to supplant the ingrained Scioscia.

9/12 5-2 L to the Braves
LA struck first when Scioscia got his an RBI in his first game back, but the Braves just chugged along, helped by a 2-run HR by the Candy Man (24), the didn't surrender it. Lynn had a couple hits. Denny (15-10) went 5, in an unimpressive start.

9/13 10-5 W over the Braves
LA got 4 runs in the first, then gradually gave it back. Valenzuela (15-10) got the win, but managed to allow 5 in 7 innings. It was worse for Braves starter Mulholland (7-8). For some reason he pitched 8 innings, walked 7 and struck out none. He also allowed 9 hits and 7 runs. Going into the 8^th, LA had relinquished the lead thanks to a Craig Biggio HR (8). LA grabbed it back with 2, and piled on in the 9^th on the Braves pen. Don Robinson lowered his ERA to 5.40.
So I keep reporting Robinson's ERA just because he is sucking so badly and because we lost Howe. So how is Howe doing? Well, he didn't go far. He's the closer for the Angels over in Anehiem. He is 7-6, with 22 saves and a career high, 6.18 ERA. His WHIP is an astronomical 1.84 and he's blown 10 saves. Sooooo, we're not missing much this year. I blame his decision to leave the Dodgers for this.

9/14 2-1 W over the Astros
Nothing like a comeback. We get the Astros at home, only a game behind, take game 1 to tie things up in the West. The Dodgers took the lead when Lynn hit #40 in the 2^nd inning. Rhoden (15-9) got the start and pitched well. The only run being a Barry Larkin run off of a Bill Madlock double. A pinch hit single by Bream in the 7^th put LA back in front when Jennings scored. Don Robinson pitched the 9^th for his 9^th save in 9 tries. He lowered his ERA to 5.27.

9/15 9-8 (11) L to the Astros
LA fought back the entire game. Tanana pitched poorly, and struggled to 102 pitches in 4 innings of work. He make career sub .200 hittter, and career .278 SLG, Mike Brumley look amazing. Brumley hit his 3^rd career HR and had 2 other hits off of Tanana. LA got a run in the 8^th to cut the lead to 2 heading into the 9^th. With Astros closer, Garrelts on the mound, LA got the bases loaded with no outs and the middle of the order up. They'd tie it up and put the winning run on third (1 out), then fail to bring him in. Rookie reliever DelRosario, who is really sucking bad on the mound (allowed 2 more in 2 innings, still lowered his ERA, but struck out 4) did better in the box. In his first career at bat, knocked a single to right. Pena and Niedenfuer didn't allow a runner in 4 innings, but it was Ken Howell (0-1) in the 11^th that let Houston take the lead. Reardon closed it out for his 16^th save.

[PilotMan]

The races are winding down. Here's where we stand right now:


In the West, the Astros are 1 game ahead of LA, 1.5 ahead of the Reds. The Padres have been surging and now find themselves back in, but running out of time. They lie 5 games back. The magic number to clinch is 18.


In the East, the Mets are running away. The Expos have been officially eliminated and for the first time in 5 years, they aren't winning the East. The Mets are 11.5 games in front of the Phillies and are head and shoulders the best team in the NL. Their magic number is 8.


Over in the AL West, the West is still up for grabs. At the moment, it's the Angels and Mariners in a dogfight. California is up by a half game. Then lying 2.5 back are the White Sox, who have just crumbled, losing 6 in a row. The magic number is 18.


In the AL East, the Blue Jays have the best record in baseball. Only the Yankees haven't been eliminated and they are 12 games back. Virtually no chance. The magic number for the Blue Jays is 7.

[PilotMan]

The Blue Jays have lost OF George Bell for the rest of the regular season. He could be back, depending on how deep their playoff run goes, but for now, his 41 HR's and .343 avg are out of the lineup. Don't feel too bad though. Look at this:


Bell (.343/.394/.614, 41 HR's) on DL
Barfield (.272/.339/.518, 27 HR's) on DL (back in a week)
Stubbs (.325/.377/.638, 38 HR's) where was this guy in LA????
Snyder (.308/.354/.562, 37 HR's)
Evans (.279/.399/.471, 17 HR's) another former Dodger


I don't even know how they've all gotten playing time. If only they had some kind of pitching staff. Their starters are 9^th in the AL in ERA. WOW.

[PilotMan]

9/17 6-4 W over the Reds
This is a rain out, make up game from earlier in the season. Tonight, they got good pitching from Downs (15-8) who despite allowing 4 runs, struck out 8 without a walk. Also, 2 of those runs were unearned. It was the 8^th inning HR by Canseco (35) that tied it up. LA got all it's offense tonight from 2 people. Pete O'Brien and Fred Lynn. O'Brien started off with a solo shot in the first (22). Lynn followed with one in the 4^th (41) that put LA up 2-0. The Reds tied it in the 6^th, but in the bottom half, O'Brien came through again (23) to give us a 2-run lead. After the Canseco HR tied it again, Lynn hit his 2^nd HR (42) that was the difference in the game. Robinson closed the 9^th for his 10^th save, lowering his ERA to 5.15. That's the lowest his ERA has been all year long.


Blue Jays first basemen Keith Hernandez got his 2000^th career hit against his former club that traded him, the New York Yankees. The Blue Jays magic number is down to 3.


The Mets number is down to 6, and LA and Houston are tied in the West.


9/18 7-3 W over the Braves
Valenzuela (16-10) finally throws a good game. He goes the distance, and gives the bullpen a little break. Along the way he struck out 11 and had the shutout until the 8^th. LA got another 3-run HR from Pete O'Brien (24) and every single starter got a hit except Phillips, but he walked twice. O'Brien's 4 RBI's lead the team. Houston also won.


9/19 14-4 W over the Braves
It's not that Rhoden (16-9) was great, but he did go 8, and 3 of his 4 runs allowed were in the 8^th. Every Braves starter had a hit, save the pitcher. But it was the LA offense, that didn't seem to miss. Tom Byers, who has been getting the starts in left with Henderson out, had the best game of his career, going 3-4, with 2 doubles and 3 RBI's. Phillips AND Knight also went 3-4, and Knight scored 4 times. Add a pinch hit 3-run HR for Roy Smalley (3) as the cherry to this big blowout sundae. On a side note, the Braves top prospect, and the #4 prospect in the majors, Randy Johnson got into the game. Johnson spent most of the year in AA. He threw 31 pitches, allowed 3 hits, a walk, a wild pitch and a balk and was responsible for 5 earned runs. He just turned 24. This appearance ballooned his career ERA to 7.88 in 8 games played.


9/20 7-2 W over the Braves
Frank Tanana (13-8) goes the distance (bout damn time) to complete the sweep of the Braves. Tanana allowed 6 hits, 4 of them to former Dodger, Candy Maldonado. The Dodgers got 1 big swing from Ray Knight (16) when he hit a deep drive to left center, for a grand slam that put LA up for 6-0. Pete O'Brien and Tom Beyers both went 3-4. This is the Byers that we saw in Albuquerque. He also stole his first career base, and he isn't fast. The Padres shut out the Astros, while the Dodgers extend the win streak to 5. LA opens a 2 game lead. The magic number falls to 12.


9/21 7-2 W over the Giants
Six in a row. LA started off the first with a 3-run blast from Inky (32) and that would have been all we needed. Instead they smacked 13 hits and got another HR from O'Brien (25) in the 3^rd. O'Brien went 3-5, while Sax, Lynn, Inky and Doug Jennings all added 2 hits each. Denny (17-10) got the win, pitching 8 and Robinson finished it off. Lowering his ERA to 5.04.


Blue Jays pitcher Allen Ripley won his 20^th game of the year. You might remember that he was signed by LA last year, and missed the entire year, never suiting up for us. Even though his ERA is 4.66, he would get my vote for comeback player of the year.


9/22 9-3 W over the Giants
Seven in a row. The run continues. Rob Deer homered (25) off of Downs (16-8) in the first to take a 2-0 lead. LA trailed 2-1 until Ray Knight hit a 2-run HR (17) in the 6^th to put LA back on top. LA would add a solo homer from Scioscia (6) in the 7^th and in the 9^th Roy Smalley electrified the stadium with a pinch hit, inside the park HR (4) off of rookie Bryan Harvey. Robinson lowered his ERA to 4.93. His first time below 5 all year long. Houston lost again. LA now has a 3.5 game lead on the West. The Reds are 4.5 back and the Padres 7.5.


9/23 5-3 W over the Giants
Eight in a row. Another sweep. LA got 4 runs in the 7^th inning to come back from a 2-1 deficit. Fred Lynn hit a 3-run HR (44) to cap a 2-5 game. Inky struck out 4 times. Valenzuela (17-10) pitched 8, while Alejandro Pena pitched the 9^th for his first save of the year, giving up a gopher ball and striking out the side. LA left 10 on base. Houston won, Cincy lost. Magic number is at 8.


The Blue Jays are the first team to clinch as they own the AL East. In other news, the surging Dodgers have take advantage of the slumping Mets and are now tied for the best record in the NL. There are 4 teams in the AL with better records than the Mets and Dodgers. Three of them are in a fight in the AL West.


9/25 3-1 L to the Padres
It had to end somewhere. Just didn't figure it would be at home. Rhoden (16-10) got in trouble early on. He had control issues and that lead to the Padres building a small lead. Credit Padres starter Greg Mathews (15-9) who allowed 3 hits over 8 innings, while striking out 6. LA loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7^th and nobody out, but could only push 1 run across. The Reds beat up on the Astros and the magic number drops to 7.


The Mets have won the NL East. They have a 2 game lead on LA for home field. LA has an 86.9% probability to hang on and win the NL West. The AL West is nuts. The M's are currently in front (93-60), and a half game back are both the Angels and White Sox (93-61) . With the magic number being 9.
Even though the M's are in front the Angels are at 38.9%, followed by the White Sox (33.8) and then the M's (27.4) to win the division. I'm guessing because the White Sox and Angels still have to play one another. The Brewers, at one point, were closing in on the ML loss record, but they've done alright, only now did they drop their 100^th game of the year. Still the worst in the Majors, but a .351% is better than the sub .250% they had.


I didn't even notice this, but back in August, Gary Templeton signed a minor league contract with the team. He's been starting in Albuquerque. He was last with LA in '84 and released (after signing a 3 year deal) because he's a pain in the ass. He's played for the Yankees, Tigers, Braves, Indians and Giants since then. The 2-time All Star is still a good fielder and he has speed. He's pretty far down the depth chart in LA though.


9/26 4-1 W over the Padres
Pete O'Brien opened the scoring up with his 26^th HR in the 4^th inning. Phillips added a 2 run single to put LA up 3-0. O'Brien and Byers had a couple hits. Denny (18-10) was in charge, allowing only 3 hits in 8 innings of work. He left only having thrown 89 pitches. Robinson came in and closed out the 9^th for his 11^th save of the year. He lowered his ERA to 4.82. The magic number is down to 6.


9/27 7-4 L to the Padres
Downs (16-9) did not bring his A game for the first time in a long while. Even though he struck out 8 Padres, he allowed 11 hits over 6.1 innings. The Padres scored 2 in the first, but LA answered when Inky drove one into the left field pavillion (33). That tied it at 2, but the Padres would add 2 more unearned runs in the 4^th and another pair in the 5^th. LA couldn't answer those and missed some opportunities to tie it up. After the Inky HR, Bob Ojeda hit Fred Lynn, words were exchanged and Lynn charged the mound. Both players were ejected.


Lloyd Moseby hit for the cycle in an 11-0 thrashing of the Indians. Moseby is in the first year of his 5 year deal with the Angels. He has answered a lot of questions about whether or not he'd be able to keep his performances up. This is Moseby's best year since '83 and his 50 SB's are a career high.


The league has come down on Lynn and suspended him for 4 games for his role in the brawl with Ojeda.


9/28 4-3 (10) L to the Astros
Blew it. Just blew it. LA had a 3-1 lead after the 7^th. Houston just kept chipping away with a run in the 8^th, and in the 9^th off of Don Robinson, they tied it up. That was Robinson's first blown save of the year. LA didn't get a hit after the 6^th inning. Credit to the Astros bullpen. Robinson allowed 4 hits and 3 walks in less than 2 innings and his ERA ballooned to 5.06. He immediately got in trouble in the 10^th and when he left for Pena it was too late. A deep flyout to right, ended it. Our lead is down to 1.


9/29 6-2 W over the Astros
This was huge. It got that game back and shortened the season in our favor. LA hammered out 14 hits, and despite falling behind put up 5 in the 5^th to take the lead for good. Two of those were from Inky, who blasted a HR (34). Only Knight, Scioscia and Doug Jennings went hitless and every other starter had 2 hits or more. Even Tanana went 2-3 with an RBI and a run. Tanana (14-8) also bailed the starters out and went the distance to get the big win. Houston's Greg Swindell (15-7) struck out 8 in 5.2, but allowed 12 hits and 6 runs. This win, boosted the lead back to 2 games, dropped the magic number to 4 and completely eliminated both the Padres and the Reds. It's a 2 horse race now.


The Mets are up 3 for homefield with 4 games to play. The Dodgers are 84.9% to win the West. In the AL, the Angels a game in front of the M's, and are 83.4% to win the division.


9/30 4-3 W over the Giants
Rhoden went 8 (17-10) but surrendered a 2-run HR to Rob Deer (27) that put the Giants in front 3-1 in the 8^th inning. It had been a big dual between Rhoden and Hammaker (11-18) all night long. LA wouldn't go down though, and Larry Parrish, who had pinch hit and stayed in the game at first, for Byers hit his own 2-run HR (4) to put LA up for good. Pena pitched the 9^th for his 2^nd save. The Astros scored 3 in the bottom of the 9^th to steal a win from the Braves. The magic number to clinch the West is 3.

[PilotMan]

September Recap


Hey, here we are again. The end of September, in the thick of the playoff race and on the verge of another NL West title. I really didn't think we'd be here and when Rickey went down the hopes pretty much left the building. However, LA put up a record 16-11 record in the month and this is the 3^rd straight month with a winning record, and 5 games above .500. The record on the year is 94-65.


The offense kept it's run going. LA is the best hitting team in the NL, and 2^nd or 3^rd in every other category. Tom Byers. Yep, Tom Byers might be the reason. The old, rookie came up from AAA and got his first career hit and then some. He batted .393/.471/.590 in 19 starts in September. He worked 9 walks and only struck out 3 times. Being a hard out carried this team, when Rickey went down with back problems. It was a great surprise. LA got more good stuff out of more than just Byers though. Fred Lynn was an animal, hitting .325/.429/.723 with 10 HR's for the month. Inky hit 7 and won NL rookie of the month for the second month in a row. The only person who really didn't hit in September was Scioscia. Coming off the injury, he hit .222/.269/.302 and couldn't seem to get anyone out behind the plate. Even Surhoff hit .340. It was a great hitting month.


LA's pitching was up and down. Kelly Downs continued his ascension in the rotation, going 4-1 with a 2.52 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. John Denny also went 4-1, posted a 2.19 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. The bullpen finally got good work from Don Robinson (4S, 1.93 ERA), Pena (2S, 0.75 ERA) did most of the heavy lifting, throwing over 21 innings between them. There were some bad performances too. Tanana, despite going 2-0 had a 5.14 ERA, and the 3 rookies DelRosario (14.29), Cunningham (12.46) and Montalvo (54.00) did not make anyone think fondly on the future.


There are 5 games left. Houston is hanging on, but even if we win, LA will have the worst record of any of the division winners. There are 3 teams in the AL West that will finish with better records then the Dodgers. The Mets have (almost completely) locked up homefield in the NL. We finish with a game against the Giants and then 3 against the Padres. The Astros have 1 against the Braves, then they go home to finish against the Reds. I like our chances. We really need the Reds to take at least 1 from Houston and then we need to grab at least 1 or 2 of our next 4 and we'll do it.

The team is keeping a close eye on Rickey. He's starting some light training and he's eligible to come off the DL. The team isn't saying much, but he might be available for the NLCS, or he might not. It's about 50/50.

[PilotMan]

10/1 5-2 W over the Giants
One game closer! BJ Surhoff got the start and lead the team, going 4-4 at the plate with 2 RBI's. Knight added 3 hits and Sax 2 more. Sax stole his 42^nd base of the year. John Denny won his 19^th game of the year, even though it wasn't easy. He walked 5 and threw 143 pitches. Brian Holton was given the reigns for the 9^th. He allowed a hit and walked a batter, but got out of the inning with his first career save. Houston kept pace with a 9-1 win over the Braves.


The AL West is knotted up. There's now a 3 way tie between the Angels, White Sox, and Mariners. There are 3 games to play. The Mariners are on the road against the Rangers. The White Sox are on the road aginst the A's, and the Angels are on the road against the Indians. The Indians are 69-90, the A's are 78-81, and the Rangers are 90-69. Advantage California.


What a weird year. The AL West has 4 teams with over 90 wins. The AL East has 4 teams with 90 or more losses and 2 with over 100. Will the Blue Jays really be as good as they look playing in that weaker division?


10/2 2-1 L to the Padres
Kelly Downs pitched well (16-10) and clung to a 1-0 lead in the 8^th inning. He struck out Tony Gwynn 3 times, that is unheard of. However, a 2-out single by former Dodger Bob Brenly tied the game, and then a pinch hit double down the line by Ron Hassey put the Padres up. If not for a cannon throw by Inky in right, the lead could have blown up. In the 9^th, Lynn lead off with a double, but was stranded on 3^rd, when Phillips popped out to left center to end it. Houston, behind another former Dodger, Dave Stewart (19-10) shut out the Reds to cut the lead to 1. The magic number is still 2.


Seattle beat the Rangers, and both California and Chicago lost. The Mariners number is down to 2. The Dodgers loss clinches homefield for the Mets in the NLCS.


10/3 4-2 W over the Padres
When you need someone to step up. Someone who is a leader. Someone who has been there. You turn to Fernando Valenzuela. The Dodger ace dominated for 8 innings of work and came within 2 out of the complete game, shutout. He pushes his record to 18-10 on the year, but more that that. Fernando did it with the bat. A good hitter, he started the scoring with an RBI single in the 3^rd. He followed that up with a bases loaded, 2 run single in the 6^th. He went 2-4, with 3 RBI's. His best game with the bat, even if you take away his 2 homers this year. LA had to face the Padres ace Jimmy Key (16-15). So not only did Fernando do it with the bat, it was a lefty on lefty match up too. No extra base hits for LA.


The Astros won again, behind Greg Swindell and 4 HR's, 2 by Benito Santiago (17). In the AL, the Mariners did their part with a 2-1 win, but the Angels and White Sox both won too.


So it's all down to the last game of the year. LA is up by 1, and has clinched a tie. Same with the Mariners. All they have to do is win and they are in. While the neither the Astros, White Sox, nor the Angels can lose.

[PilotMan]

10/4 4-1 W over the Padres
We started late on the west coast, already knowing that the Astros had won again. LA had to win this in order to lock up the West. Frank Tanana (15-8) got the start, and he's been really, really inconsistent. He has come through for us though when we needed and today, he came through. LA jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 2^nd, helped along by an Inky solo homer (35). The Padres answered with 1 in the bottom half of the inning. Tanana was on form pitching well. Nobody else scored until the top of the 8^th when Inky, who already had a couple hits in the game, homered again (36) to put the nail in the Padres, and Astros season. Don Robinson struck out 2 in the 9^th to get his 13^th save and he lowered his ERA to a season ending 4.89. The Astros won their final 5 games, and went 8-2 in the final 10, and LA still won.


THE DODGERS HAVE WON THE WEST AGAIN!!!!!


Over in the AL West, the Mariners needed to win to lock it up, but the Rangers kept it from happening, winning 4-3. Both the White Sox and Angels needed a win to stay in it. The White Sox, who feature 4 guys with over 30 HR's, could not get it done and fell to the A's 4-2. That made it up to the Angels to win in order to push it to a playoff game. And they came through with flying colors. Backed by 4 HR's, 2 belonging to Dave Henderson (25), they made Neal Heaton a 19 game loser, with an 18-hit, 17 runs, 17-5 crushing of the Indians.


The M's will face the Angels in a 1 game playoff to see who will face the Blue Jays in the ALCS. The Mariners are sending Nolan Ryan (18-9, 4.75) to the hill to face Mike Witt (18-11, 4.07) in Cali.


The game featured 4 lead changes, a 6-6 tie after the 2^nd inning, Mark McGwire hitting his 53^rd HR of the year, Nolan Ryan walking 8 M's, and Mike Witt getting a game score of 0. He pitched 2.2 innings, allowed 9 hits and 9 runs. In the end, it was the Mariners that pulled off the 12-9 win over the Angels, knocking off the favored Angels.


This is the end of the regular season.

[PilotMan]

1987 Playoff Preview


NLCS


Los Angeles Dodgers (96-66) v. New York Mets (99-63)


This is a great series on paper. Both teams are the best in the NL after the All Star break and the series was split between them at 6-6. Since you should be familiar with the Dodgers roster and line up the most important thing to know is that Ricky is almost healthy. He wasn't given a clean bill of health for the series, but he's close. Second, Tom Byers was left off the playoff roster as he didn't qualify, in favor of Doug Jennings. Jennings hit .263/.358/.351 in 41 games and 57 at bats.


Lasorda also announced his starters for the series and John Denny was left out in favor of Tanana. He could change his mind, but Denny was much more consistent over the season, but maybe the lefty was needed against the Mets lineup.


So the Mets had 4 guys with over 30 HR's this year. They were Strawberry (36), Mitchell (37), Bonilla (33) and Rueben Sierra (34). Sierra is out dealing with a wrist injury and looks like he might miss the entire series. The Mets have replaced him with Carmelo Martinez. Sierra, he is not. In fact, the Mets are a near mirror image of the Dodgers. They have great hitting in the outfield, good fielding in the infield Donnie Hill and Gerald Young manning 2^nd and short respectively.


Where they differ though is that their pitching is better than their hitting. Lead by 2 (soon to be 3) time Cy Young winner Dwight Gooden (won another pitching triple crown this year) (23-7, 2.22, 269K) and quite simply the best bullpen in baseball. Their other starters aren't as good as what we have in LA, (Darling 11-14, 4.17; Terrell 14-13, 4.72l Wegman 12-7, 4.02), but the bullpen more than makes up for it. They have Roger McDowell closing (31S, 3.14) and Orosco (4-4, 2.98) and Myers (5-2, 2.11) setting the table. It gets deeper. Gene Nelson (5-2, 3.74) and Rick Aguilera (1-1, 4.63).


The Mets have homefield. There's very little to separate us. Ricky will be back soon. Maybe he'll be able to make the difference. If not him, it's going to be very, very close. Nice not to see the Expos for once.


ALCS


Seattle Mariners (99-64) v. Toronto Blue Jays (104-58)


The Mariners had to win a playoff game against the Angels to get here. They come into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They got here with some good hitting, speed, average pitching and average fielding. They can't match the Blue Jays in power, but they do have some.


Top hitter, first basemen, Alvin Davis (.290/34/128), followed by new signing this year, LF Brian Downing (.283/37/116), DH Phil Bradley (.321/29/111) and Dan Pasqua (.281/30/90). Pasqua, interestingly enough came over to the Mariners, along with RF Vince Coleman (81 SB) as part of a 5 player acquisition when the Mariners traded now Dodger, Jim Beattie, to the Yankees, back in '83. Also interesting, is that all 5 players the M's got in that trade, had ML playing time with the M's this year.


I don't think that anyone expected the M's to get here after they lost ace, Sid Fernandez (16-9, 4.67) to an elbow injury in late August. The rest of the rotation does feature some workhorses though. Mike Boddicker (17-13, 4.04), Mark Langston (16-8, 4.68), Mike Moore (13-10, 4.59) and Nolan Ryan (19-9, 4.89, 208K). The M's closer is Jeff Robinson (3-4, 32 S, 4.40).


The Blue Jays are an offensive juggernaut.


Every member of the starting lineup had at least double digits in HR's, except Mich Webster, who is playing for George Bell, who is still out. Bell only had 41 dingers, batted .343 and had 142 RBI's. The Blue Jays may not even miss him.


Corey Snyder lead the team with 44 HR's. Franklin Stubbs was second with 41. Slick fielding shortstop Tony Fernandez hit 14, which was more than 2-time Silver Slugger, Ryne Sandberg had (13). I could go on and on about them. They are heavy favorites to repeat as Champions. Even former Dodger RF'er Dwight Evans is getting time at DH (19 HR's). Evans, coincidentally, played for the Mariners last year.


If this team has a weakness it's on the mound. Top starter Jim Clancy (18-13, 4.62), isn't really a top starter. Danny Darwin won 20 games, and Allen Ripley won 21, but both had high ERA's (4.92, and 4.40) Dave Smith closes games on the back end and finished with 36 saves and a 3.13 ERA. Jim Gott (4-2, 2.24) and Larry Andersen (5-0, 2.06) hold down a strong bullpen. The Blue Jays have 0 lefties on their roster. That will play to the M's advantage as both Davis and Pasqua are lefties.


The Blue Jays went 8-4 against the M's this year. This is a battle between the #1 and #2 in runs scored in the AL, and #5 and #6 in pitching. The Jays have to be favored with homefield, but it might be closer than we think.

[PilotMan]

ALCS Game 1


The Mariners broke a 5-5 tie with 3 in the 8^th and 2 in the 9^th to run away with game 1, 9-5. Dan Pasqua hit 2 HR's.


NLCS Game 1
10/9
Rhoden v. Gooden
2-1 NY over LA


You asked for a pitchers dual and you got one. Rhoden outpitched Gooden, fair and square. NY got on the board first with a Mitchell HR in the 2^nd and after that all Rhoden would allow was another Mitchell single. He didn't allow another hit. LA managed to tie the game in the 5^th on a Doug Jennings triple that scored Knight from first. LA stranded 10 guys on base and Gooden struck out 9. Both starters were out in the 9^th inning and LA almost came though against McDowell, but not quite. Robinson came for LA and Ashby lead off with a single. Strawberry struck out. Mitchell doubled and Ashby held at third. They intentionally walked Bonilla to face Martinez, and Robinson walked him on 4 pitches to end the game. Ugh.


ALCS Game 2


Toronto jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but the M's got 5 back in the 7^th, but not the 6^th. Dwight Evans homered, and Toronto won 6-5 to tie it 1-1.


NLCS Game 2
10/10
Downs v. Darling
4-0 LA over NY


If you need something done, do it yourself. The quiet emergence of Kelly Downs this season has been an unexpected joy to behold. Tonight, he threw a 3-hit shutout, on the road, and silenced the rowdy NY crowd. LA scored first on an Inky HR in the 5^th, and drew 2 bases loaded walks for more. Darling didn't pitch bad, and one of those 3 hits was his, but he couldn't match the game that Downs brought to the mound today. BJ Surhoff tripled in the 9^th inning then had to leave the game due to an injury. Surhoff had recently taken over the starting job at catcher, and Scioscia is a strong catcher in his own right. We shouldn't miss a beat. Series it tied at 1 heading to LA.


ALCS Game 3


We knew pitching would be troublesome in this round, and it's the case again. Tied 7-7 heading into the 9^th and the Blue Jays already with 3 HR's in the game, get a 4^th from Jesse Barfield, a 3 run shot, and his 2^nd of the game. This leads to a 5 run 9^th to go up 12-7. The Mariners answer with 1, but it's not nearly enough. Mark Langston and the Mariners bullpen were really taken to town in this one. The Blue Jays regain homefield and take a 2-1 lead.


NLCS Game 3
10/12
Gooden v. Valenzuela
2-0 Mets over Dodgers


Yeah, you read that right. The Mets sent out Doc Gooden on 2 days rest to pitch game 3. Also, Ricky was activated on the off day and he's in the lineup tonight! This might very well have gone down as one of the best pitching performances in postseason history. Gooden took a no-hitter, on 2 days rest into the 9^th inning. He gave up a lead off double to Phillips, who made a horrible baserunning error and got thrown out at third. Just awful, especially when the next batter up, a pinch hitting Roy Smalley got a single. Gooden then walked Rickey and was pulled. He allowed 2 hits, and struck out 5. LA then loaded the bases on McDowell with Lynn at the plate. We needed a single to keep it going, but Lynn popped out to center and that was it. Tough way to lose. Valenzuela pitched 8.1 innings, walked 5 and struck out 8. All the Mets runs were on a pair of Strawberry solo homers. Otherwise, it was even up. The Mets get homefield back and take a 2-1 lead.


ALCS Game 4


Holy no pitching again Batman!! Toronto blew up and took a 9-1 lead on Nolan Ryan. Corey Snyder and Stubbs each homered. That wasn't the end though. The M's comeback started with 5 in the 7^th , they'd get another in the 8^th and the bullpen kept it close. Dave Smith came out to close it down in the 9^th. With 2 on, facing Dan Pasqua, the M's completed the comeback and walked off when Pasqua put the ball into the left field power alley, 379 feet later. The series is tied at 2.

[PilotMan]

NLCS Game 4
10/13
Terrell v. Tanana
4-3 Dodgers over the Mets


Kevin Mitchell starts the game with 8 career hits off of Tanana, 7 of them are home runs. Tanana hoped to build off his last regular season start and once again, he came through with flying colors. He is the wily vet that we needed to tame the Mets. He allowed 2 hits heading into the 9^th where Martinez lead off with a single and Strawberry homered to deep right to cut the lead 4-2 and that was all for Tanana. Robinson came in and gave up a HR to Mitchell right off the bat and suddenly there was need for worry. Robinson did manage to pull it together to strike out Donnie Hill and Wally Backman to end the game. Rickey went 3-5, with a 2 run single. Lynn went 3-4 with an RBI and Scioscia went 2-4 and knocked in the run that put LA in front in the 5^th. The Mets committed 4 errors in the game. The series is tied at 2.


ALCS Game 5


Seattle took a 2-0 lead in the 2^nd inning, but a 3-run Stubbs HR (4) opened up a 6 run 6^th inning. The Blue Jays added another pair in the 7^th and would go on to win 8-3. Jim Clancy went the distance for the win. The Blue Jays take a 3-2 lead and head back to Toronto where they only need 1 to head to the World Series.


NLCS Game 5
10/14
Wegman v. Rhoden
4-2 Mets over Dodgers


Crap. Another key game lost. It really looked like on paper, that LA could get one against Wegman starting, but he was totally in control today. He struck out 7, allowing only 3 hits all game. Rhoden had some control issues and he ended up walking 5. The teams traded runs in the first, but the Mets came right back with 2 in the 2^nd. Dykstra homered in the 7^th to really put the nail in. LA never got anything going after that. Against McDowell in the 9^th Inky crushed a solo homer to cut the lead, but nothing else came of it. He'd finish 3-4, the team had 4 hits. Not going to win like that. The Mets head back to NY needed to win 1.


BJ Surhoff tore his calf and he's done for the year.


ALCS Game 6


Ryne Sandberg went 4-5 and Corey Snyder homered and the Blue Jays opened up a 6-2 lead after 4 and never looked back. They went on to win 8-6. The Mariners threatened in the 9^th when Jose Lind and Vince Coleman lead off with singles. Phil Bradley then lined into a double play, but the M's weren't done. Alvin Davis doubled, Coleman took third. Pasqua then singled in both men. Dave Smith came on to close it out for the Blue Jays and he was able to get Jim Presley looking to end it. The Blue Jays are the AL Champs and look take the title back to Toronto for the 3^rd time in 4 years.


NLCS Game 6
10/16
Downs v. Gooden


The Mets are going for it. Doc Gooden went on 2 days rest, and now he's going on 3 days rest to end it. LA needs to solve this riddle. Downs has been LA's top pitcher lately, coming off of his own 3 hit shutout of the Mets.


3-2 (11) Dodgers over the Mets


Gooden was Good-en, but not quite Good-enough. Fred Lynn singled in Sax in the first and then Downs doubled in Ray Knight in the 2^nd and LA jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Mets. It looked like LA might chase Gooden early, but after that, he was back to his completely dominant self. Downs kept pace, and got out of trouble when we walked the bases loaded in the 3^rd. In the 4^th the Mets finally got through when Carmelo Martinez singled in Mitchell and Bonilla. Both starters would go 9, with Gooden closing out his game by striking out the side in the 9^th and Downs with 2 of his own in the bottom half. It was tit for tat like that all game long. The Mets went with McDowell and the Dodgers put Robinson on the mound. The nerve wracking 10^th came and went and in the 11^th LA started off when Kevin Mitchell, now playing short, mishandled a ball hit by Jack Fimple, who had taken over for Sax at 2^nd base, allowing Fimple to reach. Pete O'Brien doubled off the wall in center, but Fimple, who isn't speedy was stuck at 3^rd with 1 out. Fred Lynn would do the deed with another deep flyout to center that allowed Fimple to score easily. Inky then flied out, but that was all LA would need. Robinson shut the Mets down in the bottom half to lock down the win, and send the series to a 7^th and deciding game.

[PilotMan]

NLCS Game 7
10/17
Valenzuela v. Darling


Neither starter won their previous outing, but both pitched well. LA has to feel good with the ace back on the mound for game 7, fully rested and ready to go. Same could be said for Darling, who hasn't pitched since game 2. Reuben Sierra was activated off the DL and is starting in LF for the Mets.


5-4 Mets over Dodgers


FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!


What a game, what a series. There were 4 lead changes in this 7^th game of the NLCS, and in the end, the Mets were the ones in front when it ended. The Dodgers, who hadn't had much power in this series found 3 HR's tonight. Scioscia got LA on the board in the 3^rd with a solo shot. The Mets took advantage of 3 unearned runs in the 4^th to go up 3-1. Two errors, both by SS Tony Phillips helped the Mets. LA came right back in the 5^th to shut the fans up. Ray Knight lead off with a solo homer, Scioscia singled, then Phillips made amends with a 2-run homer to put LA in front 4-3. Valenzuela pitched the entire game and threw 144 pitches, walked 3 and struck out 5. In the 6^th the Mets broke through and tied it up after Gerald Young singled and stole 2^nd. Dykstra singled him in. It all came to a head in the 7^th though. Strawberry walked to lead off, Mitchell grounded out, moving the runner over. Bonilla was intentionally walked, then Valenzuela got Ashby to strike out swinging. Carmelo Martinez, who had been pretty much useless to the Mets all series came off the bench, while Lasorda didn't play the match up and left Fernando in there. The count ran to 3-0, and with the green light, Martinez singled over the shortstop. Strawberry hustled around the corner and scored the go ahead run. LA started off the 8^th with a Lynn single, but Inky was doubled up. That would be the last runner LA would have. Randy Myers came on in the 9^th to close out the game, and the series for the Mets. Kevin Mitchell, not Dwight Gooden was selected as the series MVP.

[PilotMan]

1987 World Series


New York Mets v. Toronto Blue Jays


Here's all you need to know, that hasn't been said about this series. The Blue Jays outscored the Mets, 992-832 in the regular season, but their pitching staff allowed 786-652. That's still a net advantage to the Blue Jays, who also have home field. The Jays also have their piching staff much more aligned than the Mets, but how many games will the Mets send Gooden out to pitch this time? Maybe, all of them?


Game 1
Gooden v. Clancy


9-3 Mets over Blue Jays

Gooden couldn't keep his run of dominance going, but the offense picked him up. The Blue Jays were ahead 3-1, but the Mets scored in the 6^th, then tied it in the 7^th. In the 8^th, against Larry Andersen, the Mets got a bases loaded double from Donnie Hill, that lead to a 6 run 8^th inning to give game 1 to the Mets.


Game 2
Terrell v. Darwin


4-3 Mets over Blue Jays


Shock of all shocks as the Mets go up 2-0 on the road, and now head home. Tonight, down 1-0 in the 4^th, Carmelo Martinez came up with 2 outs and the bases loaded. An error on Sandberg allowed the inning to continue after a double play. A passed ball by Ernie Whitt brought 1 in, then Martinez took a 1-2 pitch down the line in left and into the seats. The Blue Jays got 2 back, but Terrell was tough. McDowell closed out the 9^th for the save.


Game 3
Ripley v. Darling


8-6 Blue Jays over Mets


Toronto gets one back slamming 4 HR's, from Barfield, Sandberg, Whitt, and Stubbs. All of that came off of Darling, who allowed 12 hits, and 8 runs, in 3.1 innings. The Blue Jays lost George Bell on a collision while running the bases. He's done for the rest of the series. We know that will hurt, but we know that the Jays are deep.


Game 4
Clancy v. Gooden


2-0 Mets over Blue Jays


Doc Gooden, soon to be 3-time, 22 year old, Cy Young winner, struck out 10 in 7.1 innings and the Mets got the rest from McDowell. The Jays could only muster 2 hits all game. Strawberry homered, his 5^th of the post-season, and that was all the Mets would need. New York is on the cusp of a World Championship.


Game 5
Martinez v. Wegmen


4-3 (10) Mets over Blue Jays


The Blue Jays were up 3-0 heading to the middle of the 4^th and El Presidente was in command on the mound. Dykstra got one back in the 4^th and Mitchell got another back in the 5^th. Dykstra scored again in the 6^th to tie it up and that's how it stayed through 9. The Blue Jays elected to keep Martinez in for the 10^th as his pitch count was still low. Donnie Hill, a man with 14 career HR's in his short 6 year career, who hit 6 this year, will be the name on the lips of Mets fans for the rest of his life. He is the man who single handedly brought the title home to NY. Hill missed the first pitch, then popped up the second pitch into foul territory by first, but Dwight Evans misplayed the ball and it dropped for an error. Evans played 62 games at first and committed 5 errors in the regular season. The next pitch Hill drove down the line in left and it just cleared the wall to end the game. Strawberry was named as the World Series MVP.


That's it for 1987.

[PilotMan]

1987 Post Season and Awards


The Expos have fired long time manager Jim Fanning. The 2-time Manager of the Year was let go after missing the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. A run that brought 1 Championship home to Montreal. The Expos also fired GM Jimmy Miller. The Expos finished 5^th place with a record of 76-86.


LA made a couple of coaching adjustments. They resigned hitting coach Omar Bernal to a cheap 2 year extension. Bernal is a very good coach. The team also let go of pitching coach Jim Gulley, who had been with the team for 2 years.


LA avoids arbitration with Pete O'Brien, Tony Phillips, Steve Sax, John Franco, and Ken Howell, by signing them all to 1 year deals.


AL Gold Glove Winners


P Sid Fernandez SEA (1)
C Tony Pena NYY (2)
1B Kevin Seitzer BOS (1)
2B Jeff Blauser BAL (1)
3B Tim Wallach CAL (2)
SS Dick Schofield CAL (1)
LF Barry Bonds CHI (2)
CF Joe Carter CHI (1)
RF Jesse Barfield TOR (2)


NL Gold Glove Winners


P Greg Maddux PHI (1)
C Bob Melvin PHI (1)
1B Andres Gallaraga MON (1)
2B Johnny Ray PIT (2)
3B Mike Pagliarulo CHI (1)
SS Ozzie Smith STL (6)
LF Willie McGee STL (1)
CF Gary Pettis HOU (1)
RF Glenn Wilson CHI (1)


AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Dave Smith TOR (3-3, 3.13, 36/39 S, 10.1 K/9)
Smith wins his 2^nd award in a row.


NL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Lance McCullers PHI (4-5, 1.74, 37/42 S, 8.6 K/9)


AL Silver Slugger Awards


C Ernie Whitt TOR (1)
1B Mark McGwire CAL (1)
2B Lou Whitaker KC (2)
3B Corey Snyder TOR (1)
SS Tony Fernandez TOR (1)
LF Barry Bonds CHI (3)
CF Joe Carter CHI (1)
RF Lloyd Moseby CAL (1)
DH Wally Joyner TEX (1)


NL Silver Slugger Awards


P Jaime Moyer PIT (1)
C Craig Biggio ATL (1)
1B Will Clark STL (2)
2B Juan Samuel PHI (1)
3B Kevin Mitchell NYM (2)
SS Barry Larkin HOU (1)
LF Fred Lynn LAD (1)
CF Eric Davis CIN (2)
RF Kal Daniels CIN (1)


AL Rookie of the Year
Joe Magrane NYY (19-14, 4.05, 264.1 IP 1.31 WHIP, 167 K's)


NL Rookie of the Year
Greg Swindell HOU (16-7, 2.82, 233 IP, 1.03 WHIP, 203 K's)


Pete Incaviglia finished 3^rd in voting. Larry Walker who hit 38 HR's and had 120 RBI's was 2^nd.


AL Manager of the Year
Gene Mauch CAL (2)


NL Manager of the Year
Miguel Hernandez NYM (1)


AL Cy Young Award
Roger Clemens CLE (1) (19-10, 2.66, 284.1 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 285 K's)


NL Cy Young Award
Doc Gooden NYM (3) (23-7, 2.22, 288 IP, 1.01 WHIP, 269 K's)


ROY Greg Swindell finished 2^nd.


AL MVP Award
Barry Bonds CHI (2) (.324/.457/.652, 45/127, 50 SB)


At 23, Bonds has won ROY, and 2 MVP's. He's a 2-time All Star, with 2 Gold Gloves and 3 Silver Sluggers. He is building an impressive resume early in his career. The White Sox signed him to a 7 year deal after the season.

NL MVP Award
Doc Gooden NYM (2) (23-7, 2.22, 288 IP, 1.01 WHIP, 269 K's)


Gooden has his 2^nd MVP to go with 3 Cy Young Awards, 3 All Star appearances and now he's got his first world title. He is the best player in the NL and he's only 22.


The Dodgers have signed relative unknown Luis Vasquez as the new pitching coach for the team. Can't get very excited about that move at all. They really needed a bigger name, but it does leave more money for players.


The Dodgers did not offer arbitration to Alejandro Pena and failed to get him signed to an extension. In a horrible front office move he is allowed to walk for free from the team. Pena won the NL MVP in 1984, and is a 2-time All Star. He was also the most effective pitcher in the bullpen this year. Even though he only threw 36 innings, his 2.21 ERA was the best on the team. For his career, Pena is 34-17, 7 S and a career ERA of 2.22. Terrible move.


It's gonna be an interesting free agency period for LA. They only lost 2 starters from the roster, one of them being Dave Dravecky, who was acquired from the Padres in the DeCinces trade. He finished the year 3-7, with a 5.23 ERA in 63.2 innings. The other loss is Fred Lynn. Lynn was allowed to walk after they couldn't or wouldn't commit to a long term deal for a 35 yr old outfielder. Last year, Lynn hit 44 HR's, good enough to lead the NL. It was his best season since 1979 and the highest HR total of his career. It leaves a huge production hole in the offense, and one that the team can afford to fill. The question is will they? And if they do, who will it be?


In addition to Lynn, here are some of the bigger free agents available this offseason:


OF Claudell Washington
P John Tudor
C Ernie Whitt
C Carlton Fisk
OF Chet Lemon
OF Kirk Gibson
OF Jesse Barfield
3B Mike Schmidt
OF Eric Davis


LA made their first trade of the off season. Leaving LA is third basemen Ray Knight (.284/17/80) coming off of his best season since 1982, along with some cash for 28 yr old OF Mitch Webster. Webster came up with the Blue Jays, and started 120 games in 1986. He's fallen far off the depth chart with their outfield now. Last year he batted .275/.328/.383 in 73 games, the best season of his career. He can play all 3 outfield positions and is reliable with the bat, and speedy on the bases.


The Houston Astros who came so close to win the West are all aggressive this off season. They've signed Kirk Gibson and Randy Ready to big contracts and just added ex-Dodger reliever Alejandro Pena to the staff. Pena signs a 2 year deal worth 624k.


LA finally gets a good signing in the offseason. While I was pulling for Eric Davis to show up in Dodger Blue, instead of going younger, LA has gone older, and cheaper. No, Fred Lynn isn't back....yet, this guy is older. Last year Dave Winfield played in Kansas City on a one year deal, batting .299/.354/.543. He's 36, a 7-time All Star, 2 time Gold Glove and 2 time Silver Slugger. He plays on the corners, and will keep Rickey in CF in all likelihood.


The Dodgers make, what could be, the biggest deal in the Winter Meetings of this year. LA packages their #1 prospect, Paul Sorrento (.292/.411/.435 10 HR in AA) along with RP Rafael Montalvo (4-2, 13 S, 1.85 ERA in AA) and C Gil Reyes (.273/.357/.409 in AA), SS Juan Bautista (.196/.274/.304 in AA) and SS Seiji Tomashino (.249/.324/.332 in A) to the St Louis Cardinals in exchange for 2-time All Star, and 7-time Gold Glove SS Ozzie Smith (.255/.313/.325, 47 SB). Smith only has 1 year remaining on his contract so hopefully the team will look to lock him up for that. The Dodgers farm system is pretty much empty at this point.


Dodgers Draft Picks, first 5 rounds


P Jerry Spradlin (1.21)
C Bill Hasselman (2.10)
P Arthur Rhodes (2.25)
OF Trey McCoy (3.21)
P Jeff Mutis (4.21)
SS Jose Oliva (5.21)


A pretty weak draft class overall. The Brewers drafted Jim Edmonds as the 1.1 pick. Kenny Lofton went to the Orioles with 1.2 and the Twins added Jose Offerman with the 1.3 pick.


Veteran infielder Jim Morrison was last in LA in 1986. He was placed on waivers, picked up by the Padres and went on to hit 31 HR's between the Padres and Mariners the last 2 seasons. Morrison, 35, is coming back to LA on a 1 year deal worth 400k. He wants a chance to start at third and with Knight gone, it looks like he'll be going against Tony Phillips for that job. Phillips lost his job when Ozzie Smith was signed.


World Series hero Donnie Hill is gone. The Mets took advantage of his value and added catching prospect Eddie Taubensee to a trade with the Padres for first basement Glenn Davis. Davis is in his prime and hit 36 HR's last year. Bonilla is already holding down first for the world champion Mets, where will they put Davis?


LA brings a starter into the fold. Longtime Expos starter, Bryn Smith, who has won 57 games in the last 3 years in Montreal is coming to sunny LA. Smith was an All Star starter in in '85, and started his career in the bullpen. He's 32 and in his prime right now, LA has to hope that he can keep his winning ways that he had in Montreal. His contract is a 3yr/4.32M with an expectation that he gets to start here. Who will be on the outs? LA didn't lose any starters in free agency.


Another old bat comes to SoCal. This time it's the big, bad bat of Mike Schmidt. Schmidt started 82 games last year for the Yankees. He missed lots of time due to multiple injuries. His slash line was .268/.354/.490. He hit 17 HR's and had 55 RBI's. It was his lowest HR total since '72, when he was 22. He's 38 now, and 6 HR's shy of #500. Schmidt has to be a HOF shoe in. He's a 2-time MVP, 6-time Gold Glove, 9-time All Star, and 3-time Silver Slugger. He is certain to take over at third and will be an upgrade from Ray Knight, even if he is 3 years older. His contract is a 2yr/1.9M deal, but his 2^nd year requires that he have at least 550 PA in order to be good. Otherwise, he'll be a free agent. That's a good deal for LA on paper.


Fred Lynn is gone, but he's not gone far. Returning back to SoCal, Lynn will be wearing an Angels uniform again and looking to start in left, along side Eric Davis and Lloyd Moseby. That gives the Angels 3 guys who had over 40 HR's in 1987, and 6 guys who had over 100 RBI's.


LA isn't done wheeling and dealing and we have an idea of who is on the outs in the rotation. The Dodgers made another trade, this time sending longtime starter, who has only pitched for LA and Pittsburgh, Rick Rhoden (17-10, 3.28), going to the New York Yankees. In exchange, the Dodgers have a new center fielder. Von Hayes, 29, had just finished the first year of a 6 year deal with the Yankees after starting off in Cleveland. Last year, Hayes batted .235/.330/.423, he hit 28 HR's and had 83 RBI's. He's stolen 20 or more bases 5 times. Hayes can play all outfield positions as well as first. He has 5 years left in what was a 6yr/8.26M contract, so he's not cheap. Rhoden has 170 career wins and a career ERA of 3.31. He's pitched 200 or more innings for 6 years in a row. The Dodgers also got throw in minor league shortstop Larry Blackwell. Blackwell, 23, has bounced between Rookie and A ball in his 4 years playing pro ball. At best, he's a quick utility player.


One day later, LA makes another move, and it's clear that the Dodgers are making some major, wholesale changes. LA is bidding farewell to another long time Dodger. This time it's second basemen, Steve Sax. Sax, 27, batted .308 last year, had 43 steals and 73 RBI's. He also committed only 13 errors in 133 games. Sax is a career .294 hitter and could be a free agent after this season. In return, the Dodgers are getting southpaw reliever Bob Patterson (2-0, 3.66) and former Padres first round pick and former #20 MLB prospect thirdbasemen, Ken Caminiti. Caminiti, 24, is the real prize here. He's only hitting .241 in 129 games over his short 2 year career. He appears to be falling way short of the expectation that was heaped on him after a draft pick that high. He's a good defender, with a decent bat, but nothing more at this point. Patterson ran out of options and looked like he would have a hard time making the roster. In parts of 3 seasons, he's 4-0, with a 4.62 ERA in 39 games pitched.


The Hall of Fame Class of 1987 is in!


Steve Carlton (97.8) was inducted in his first season of eligibiliy and goes in as a Philly. Carlton finished with 280 career wins and 3387 career K's.


Brooks Robinson (77.2) was inducted in his 6^th season and he goes in as an Oriole. Robinson played his entire career with the O's, batted .267, had 2848 hits, and 268 HR's.


Dick Allen (75.7) was inducted in his 6^th season and he goes in as a Philly. Allen batted .292 in his career, hit 351 HR's and had 1848 hits.


Willie McCovey (70.6, 3^rd), Reggie Jackson (61.8, 1^st) Tony Oliva (46.3, 6^th) were the next 3 that didn't make it.


LA makes another trade, in what has been the most active offseason for moves in recent memory. The Dodgers have shipped IF Tony Phillips to the Cincinnati Reds. This means that LA has gotten rid of 3 of their 4 infield starters from last season and brought in 2 of 3 new outfielders. That's turnover. LA gets in return, southpaw reliever Frank DiPino (3-2, 3 S, 5.02 ERA). DiPino has 41 career saves, and saved a career high of 22 in '84 for the Astros. His career ERA is 3.38. He's a solid player, but he's no monster. The Dodgers also get OF prospect Lee Stevens. Stevens, 20, was the Reds first pick in 1985, the 17^th overall. He's been stuck in rookie ball and played in A ball last year, where he batted .354. He was the #95 prospect in MLB last year and he can play first and center.


LA has signed all top 5 picks with the exception of Trey McCoy and Jose Oliva. This is much better than past seasons. Now will they be cut after spring training?


LA signs starter Richard Dotson (14-12, 4.13) to a 1 year deal. Dotson's best year was in '85 with the Angels when he went 16-7. Right now he will get a chance to come out of the pen. It just looks like there are too many arms in the rotation for him to have a chance. He's got an average fastball and curveball. He also throws a slider and changeup, but both can be hit and miss. He's 87-80 with a 4.00 ERA for his career.


Dave Dravecky signed a 1 year deal with the Detroit Tigers worth 110k.


The last old guy that the Dodgers add to the roster is 41 yr old, Kent Tekulve. The submariner has pitched the last 4 years with the Yankees. He has a career ERA of 2.93 in 767 games. It's a 1 year deal worth 366k.

[PilotMan]

And with that I need a break. I'm almost up to 200 pages typed and the activity is down pretty far, and it's not even baseball season anymore. Let me know if there's something you want information on and maybe I'll pick this up by spring.

[CraigSca]

Great read.

I admit I didn't look at the first post as I was reading the wrap-ups. I then read the first post and realized you are WATCHING each game and letting the CPU make all decisions. I admire your discipline as I think that would be maddening. However, I totally understand your wanting to "re-live" a slightly altered version of the 80s. Great baseball, great players, and a trip down a slightly different memory lane :)

Looking forward to your restart in the spring.

[PilotMan]

1988 Opening Day Roster


Starting Rotation


Bryn Smith (19-12, 4.23 for Montreal)
Kelly Downs (16-10, 3.59)
Frank Tanana (15-8, 4.17)
Richard Dotson (14-12, 4.13 with California)
Fernando Valenzuela (18-10, 3.38)


A couple new faces via free agency come over. The rotation looks strong on paper. Only Tanana didn't get to 200 innings last year (198.1) and all posted good records, with decent numbers. Smith has 57 wins in 3 seasons. Dotson has 45 over the same period, although his other stats aren't up to the same. There are some concerns with Fernando as he had control issues in spring training walking 13 in 19 innings. He always ends up being the stopper in LA. This year will be no different.


Bullpen


John Denny (19-10, 3.14)
Jim Beattie (Injured)
Don Robinson (0-6, 13S, 4.89)


Frank DiPino (3-2, 3S, 5.02 with Cincinnati)
Kent Tekulve (1-2, 5S, 3.20 with New York Yankees)


John Franco (4-3, 17S, 2.60)


We start off with a little more flexibility than we had last season. DiPino adds a lefty to go with Franco, and the submariner, Tekulve, who is 41, never looks to be slowing down. John Denny is a bit of a surprise given that he was a top starter last season. You have to think he'll be ready if called upon. Jim Beattie is another surprise, he hasn't pitched since he blew his shoulder out in 1986. Don Robinson isn't loved after last season's struggles, but he is in the last year of his contract. Franco is entrenched as the closer.


Catcher
BJ Surhoff (.281/5/25)
Mike Scioscia (.286/6/39)


Both are lefties and it looks like it'll be a rotation to start. Surhoff adds a little more with the bat, while Scioscia adds more defensively. Surhoff, in only his 3^rd year, keeps taking playing time and he can also play third base.


First Base
Pete O'Brien (.302/26/100 TEX/LA)
Larry Parrish (.281/4/8)


O'Brien was worth the move to upgrade first base, even though Kittle hit 23 HR's in 62 games for the Rangers, after the trade. He was a liability in the field. Parrish is still here for some reason. The team never uses him the way they should and he's not happy about it. He still brings power off the bench, and that always helps.


Second Base
Jim Morrison (.264/14/64 with Seattle)


With Sax gone to the Padres, the team turned to a former cast off. Morrision is 35 now. His last couple of seasons were fair enough, but he's not lighting the world on fire. He's a dependable defender, doesn't break the bank, and has a little pop in the bat.


Third Base
Mike Schmidt (.268/17/55)
Ken Caminiti (.167/0/7 with San Diego)


While this looks great on paper, Schmidt, at 38, is far removed from his best days of baseball. He's got 494 career dingers so he could pop #500 in April, which is very cool. He has lost range on defense, but can also move over to first to play. He lost half of last year to a knee injury. Caminiti is the former #20 top prospect in baseball, but he got less game time last season, than the year before. He was the big get in the Sax trade.


Shortstop
Ozzie Smith (.255/0/28 with St. Louis)
Garry Templeton (.239/2/28 with CLE/SF)


An aging “Wizard of Oz” brings his flair to LA this year. The legendary short stop was traded for a handful of prospects. The most notable being former first rounder, Paul Sorrento. Smith is in the final year of his contract and has ++ speed and defense. Gary Templeton, who is in his second go around with the team will back him up, however, I expect that Roy Smalley will regain the backup role when he returns from the DL.


Left Field
Rickey Henderson (.310/17/59)
Pete Incaviglia (.265/36/101)


And here is a major issue with the team this year. The outfield is once again a crowded mess. Henderson, who had been in center, moves to left, and he can opt out of his contract after this year. Inky was a good power hitter in the middle of the lineup last year, and now will fight for playing time. He finished 3^rd in the Rookie of the Year voting last season.


Center Field
Von Hayes (.235/28/83 with the New York Yankees)
Dwayne Murphy (.228/4/12)


Hayes signed a big 6 year deal prior to last season and then was off loaded for Rick Rhoden. He's an average fielder, but has never been a standout player, (but he was 20/20 last year). He's got some speed, but his 28 HR outburst last year was an abberation. He needs to produce for this team. Murphy, who is still under his big 6 year deal will be the backup again. LA surely regrets that decision. He's had 39 HR's in the last 4 seasons, which is still less than the 41 he hit in Milwaukee, in '83 prior to coming here.


Right Field


Dave Winfield (.299/23/77)
Inky


I cannot deny that Winfield brings a certain amount of excitement and interest. Even though he's 36 now, he is still very popular. Last season was the first time that he's cleared 20 HR's in the previous 5 years. He's only here on a 2 year deal, so at least the bank isn't mortgaged. He's a decent fielder with a cannon for an arm. Inky will obviously be behind him, if his old knees give out.


The Close but Not Close Enough Brigade


SP Ken Howell (0-1, 2S, 3.28)


Howell has gone back to the minors and is has been working on his stamina all off season. The team wants to see him as a starter, so he'll start there. Have to think that he'll be the number 1 option, if the team needs help early. He only has 3 pitches, and I'm not sure that will be enough.


RP Tom Niendenfuer (2-2, 1S, 4.88)


The man who signed a big deal and was promised the closer role isn't even on the major league roster. Last season was the first rough season for him after 4 All-Star appearances. Have to think that he'd be on the trading block if the offer was right.


RP Brian Holton (1-1, 1S, 6.95)


Holton had a terrible year last year, bouncing between AAA and the majors. He's 28, and his time is either now, or up. He worked extensively in spring training, but the results were the same.


RP Bob Patterson (2-0, 3.66 with San Diego)


The extra who came over in the Sax/Caminiti deal. Patterson is a southpaw who played well last season. He's also probably the best lefty option in Albuquerque.


OF Doug Jennings (.263/0/2)


Jennings was one of the teams best prospects and he did add some extra help when he got the call last year. He plays all 3 OF positions and first base too. The problem is the team already has a deep outfield and players who fill the other positions. Look for him to have another breakout year in AAA and get the call if injuries to old guys mount.


OF Tom Beyers (.375/0/8)


Beyers is in the same boat as Jennings, except he has even less time. He's 29, played very well in his 23 games last year and is now in his last option year. He's a career .326 hitter in AAA. He plays the corner outfield positions and first base. Not a great fielder, he's likely a trade option if the team needs to fill gaps other places.


Down on the Farm


Overall, the Dodgers are still 24^th out of 26 teams. Last year's top prospect, Paul Sorrento, is gone, but LA traded for a Reds top prospect and that essentially evened the system out. Last year's draft wasn't good enough and the team is very weak in it's development. The top system is still in Atlanta where their top 5 prospects are all higher than the Dodgers top, but a long way. Randy Johnson is 4^th, Ramon Martinez is 12, Tom Glavine is 16, Tommy Greene is 19 and Juan Gonzalez is 51^st.


Here are the top guys in LA:


#1 OF Lee Stevens – A first round pick in 1985, by the Reds, Stevens will start the year in AA San Antonio, having played A ball all of last year. Acquired along with Frank DiPino in the trade that sent Tony Phillips away. He is the #74 prospect in the majors. He has a good eye and a high contact rate, along with gap power. He's a big guy, but only 20, so maybe his power has yet to develop.


#2 SS Chuck Jackson – A former supplemental first round pick in '83. Jackson is the #133 prospect in baseball. He's come up for a cup of coffee each of the last 2 years, playing 16 games last year. His total dominance of AAA hasn't translated over yet. The only positions he can't play are catcher and first base making him quite valuable. Above average defender with plus speed, he lost out when Ozzie Smith came over.


#3 C Bill Haselman – A guy the Dodgers liked so well, that they drafted him twice. His holdout resulted in a selection a whopping 7 slots higher, going in the 2^nd round last year. He's a big guy who may not be set at Catcher, could move to the out field. An average defender, he doesn't stand out in any area. Starts the season in rookie ball.


#4 P Arthur Rhodes – Another 2^nd round pick from last season. Rhodes has a high 80's, low 90's fastball , but also throws an assortment of other pitches that make him likely to run as a starter. He's young, only 18, so he'll need time to develop. Scouts like his stuff, but he stays high in the zone making hitters able to drive the ball on him.


#5 IF Tommy Hinzo – A former 4^th round pick of the Seattle Mariners, he was signed by LA in '86 as a free agent. Hinzo played in 158 games between A and AA last season, getting 666 at bats. He stole 61 bases in 106 attempts and had 181 base hits. Shows good range with ++ speed. Will start the year in A ball.


#6 OF Kevin Koslofski – Normall, I wouldn't do a number 6, but my god, this shows the lack of any quality in this system. Koslofski came over in the deal with the Padres that sent DeCinces away in exchange for the renting of Dave Dravecky. He somehow got a part of that deal, even though the Padres were his 9^th team between '83 and '87. He'd been released by 8 other teams, so it's not like the Dodgers never had a shot at him. He only elevated to A ball last year, where he hit .262 with 15 stolen bases. He'll start in A ball this year.


That's it for the tour around the team for 1988.


IT'S TIME FOR DODGERS BASEBALL!!!!

[PilotMan]

4/4 3-2 W over the Giants
Rickey goes 4-5, steals 3 bases, and delivers the walk off, bases loaded single, in the bottom of the 9^th to get the first W of the year for LA. Henderson and Ozzie combined for 7 of the 10 LA hits, while Smith delivered the first RBI of the year for the team. Bryn Smith went 7 strong, but Franco (1-0) got the win with a scoreless 9^th.


4/5 4-0 W over the Giants
The Giants are not a high powered team. LA took advantage of 3 errors to score 3 unearned runs in this one. Pete O'Brien and Mike Schmidt added 2 hits each and Downs (1-0) went 7 while striking out 8. Tekulve pitched the final 2 innings to preserve the shutout.


The team makes a tremendous, controversial move by claiming Astros OF Todd Benzinger off of waivers. Benzinger hit .310 with 16 HR's and 82 RBI's last year. He was even Rookie of the Month for August. To put him on the roster, the team options Pete Inkaviglia, our own, slugging rookie. Does Inky deserve this demotion in favor of Benzinger though?


4/7 5-0 W over the Braves
Tanana (1-0) allowed 5 hits over 8 innings and LA got it's first homer of the season, from Von Hayes (1). LA cracked 11 hits, with Winfield getting 3 of them. Only O'Brien and Tanana failed to get a hit in this one. LA is off to a good start. Every game counts.


Former Dodger starting first basemen, Sid Bream, was claimed by the Royals when LA put him on waivers.


4/8 9-4 W over the Braves
Make it 4 to start the year. Richard Dotson (1-0) went 7, allowing 2 runs, but the bigger news was the major league debut of Tom Glavine for the Braves. Glavine had a very rough outing. In his 6 innings of work, he allowed 10 hits, 3 HR's and 7 runs altogether. The Dodgers offense was powered by Ozzie, who went 4-5 and hit his first HR (1) in over a year and a half. Rickey also homered (1) along with Mike Schmidt's first.


4/9 7-6 L to the Braves
Well there goes the streak. The teams combined for 34 hits in a still brisk 3 hour and 4 minute game. LA had jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 3, but Bryn Smith couldn't hold it. Rickey and Scioscia both had 3 hits each. Dave Winfield homered for the first time this year (1). LA had the tying run at third with 2 out. Ozzie walked and was picked off of first base to end the game with Larry Parrish at the plate. Frank DiPino (0-1) took the loss and the Braves Randy Johnson got his first career win (1-0).


4/10 2-1 W over the Braves
Kelly Downs (2-0) stuck out 11 in 8, and allowed his first run of the season. Down 1-0 in the 9^th, Surhoff lead off with an infield single, then took second on a bad throw. Rickey then knocked a base hit up the middle and Surhoff came around to score. Henderson took second on the fielders choice. Von Hayes would knock Henderson in to take the lead. Franco pitched the 9^th for his first save of the year. Zane Smith threw 8 shut out innings for the Braves.


LA commits to Pete O'Brien as he signs a very affordable 2-yr/1.1M extension. It's a 120k raise from his current salary.


4/12 10-1 W over the Padres
Frank Tanana (2-0) only needed 84 pitches to decimate the Padres, who are the first good team that we've played this season. Tanana went the distance, but raised his ERA to 0.53. LA put the game away in the 3^rd inning when they loaded the bases and Mike Schmidt cleared them for his 2^nd of the year. Only Ricky failed to get a hit. The controversy continues and Inky, who had just been called up, pinch hit in the 9^th and promptly reminded everyone just who he is when he hit it out of the park (1) to add insult to injury for the Padres.


Roy Smalley was activated from the DL. To make room for him, Jim Morrison was placed on waivers and designated, in what has to be a giant kick in the pants as it's the 2^nd time it's happened to him by LA. The team also recalled Inky and placed Benzinger on waivers and designated him. He's already been claimed.


4/13 4-1 L to the Padres
Dotson (1-1) pitched well enough today and went the distance, but we ran into a buzz saw in Jimmy Key (1-1) who allowed 3 hits all day, while striking out 9. Winfield had 2 of them, which is hard to win when nobody else gets on.


4/14 5-2 W over the Padres
Bryn Smith (1-0) pitched strong, while the Dodgers cranked out 10 hits. Dave Winfield hit #2 to put LA up. LA committed 3 errors, which is the worst fielding performance on the season. Franco pitched the last 2 innings to get his 2^nd save of the year.


Todd Benzinger heads to Baltimore after the Orioles claim him off of waivers.


4/15 5-0 L to the Braves
Zane Smith (1-1) has had a long history of casual dominance of the Dodgers. Today, he was to exceptionally dominant today. He went 7, and allowed only 3 hits. Not a single Dodger got to 2^nd base the entire game. Kelly Downs (2-1) pitched a really good game, but he made a bad throw on a ball in the 7^th and that opened the door for all 5 runs the Braves scored.


4/16 4-1 L to the Braves
Back to back losses for the first time this season. LA wasted 10 hits and just couldn't get runs across. Fernando had major control issues walking 7 in 5.2 innings. Winfield, Schmidt and Templeton all had a pair of hits. Winfield the only extra base hit of the day.


4/17 7-3 W over the Braves
Frank Tanana (3-0) pushes himself and this team through another game. Tanana struck out 7 in 7.1 innings. Garry Templeton knocked in 3. Pete O'Brien, Winfield and Hayes all had a couple of hits each. The big question is what happens to Ozzie Smith who was injured on the last play of the game.


4/18 7-3 L to the Padres
Jimmy Key (2-1) silences Dodger bats in a complete game win. Richard Dotson (1-2) takes the loss after giving up a bases loaded double to Matt Williams in the 6^th. LA scored it's first run after relief pitcher, John Denny doubled and then scored on a Surhoff sac fly. LA failed to capitalize on 3 Padre errors.


4/19 12-1 W over the Padres
It would be easy to look at all the hitting and overlook the start by Bryn Smith (2-0) but we shouldn't. He went the distance and struck out 8 along the way. Great job. Now, the hitting. Stunningly BJ Surhoff went 0-6. HA! So yeah, Winfield went 4-4, scored 4 runs. Pete O'Brien hit his first and Von Hayes hit #2. LA torched poor Paul Kilgus (0-3) and his manager just left him out there. Kilgus served up 12 hits, 5 walks and 10 runs in 3.2 innings. He threw 104 pitches. Good god.


Ozzie Smith was diagnosed with Shoulder Tendinitis. That will keep him on the sidelines until the end of May it looks like. In response, the team reinstated Jim Morrison. He will play 2B and Garry Templeton will move over and cover shortstop.


4/20 13-3 L to the Padres
Turn about is fair play I suppose. The Padres scored 4 in the 6^th and 6 in the 7^th to rout LA. Neither Downs (2-2) nor Denny in relief were effective today. The lone highlight was Surhoff going 3-4 and scoring 2 of our runs. The game, embarrassingly enough, ended on a strikeout/throwout double play.


4/21 6-1 W over the Padres
Fernando does it again. Valenzuela (1-0) pitches 8 strong and looks like his old self today, striking out 6, walking 2. Franco pitched a scoreless 9^th. LA had 0 extra base hits, but both Henderson and Hayes went 2-4 in the game.


4/22 7-1 W over the Giants
Tanana (4-0) keeps on rolling throwing 99 pitches, allowing 4 hits, striking out 6, while cruising to a win over the hapless Giants. Von Hayes lead off the game with his 3^rd homer and Jim Morrison hit his first in the 4^th. LA got 2 hits each from Rickey, Winfield, and O'Brien. We were helped by 4 Giant errors.


4/23 5-2 L to the Giants
Richard Dotson (1-3) was recently demoted to the 5 slot and serves up 3 in the first. LA can't come back. Rob Deer crushes 2 HR's (4,5). Inky goes 3-4 in the loss. Frank DiPino with another shaky showing in relief.


4/24 15-2 W over the Giants
Things got weird in this one. As in, the game was over at 6-2 in the 9^th, then LA decided to put up 9 more. That included Inky (2) and Smalley (1) going deep, back to back. BJ Surhoff stole 2^nd and 3^rd, while up by 12 runs. Kent Tekulve scored a run after he reached on an error. Pete O'Brien went 5-5. Winfield had 4, and LA still left the bases loaded in the 9^th and left 10 guys on for the game. Bryn Smith (3-0) got the W.


4/26 5-3 W over the Cubs
Kelly Downs ( 3-2) fell behind 2-0 in the first and LA scrapped to keep up. Downs and Cone combined to go 3-5 in the batters box. Winfield homered for the 4^th time, a solo shot. LA got a go ahead RBI on a Pete O'Brien single in the 7^th. Morrison and Scioscia both added 2 hits, and Franco pitched the 8^th and 9^th for his 3^rd save of the year. Ricky has 15 steals in 20 games.


4/27 6-5 (13) W over the Cubs
Frank DiPino, who had come on in the 13^th, hit a bases loaded double with 2 outs to sent the teams home for the night. For DiPino, it was only his 2^nd career hit and the first RBI of his career. Schmidt homered in the 2^nd. That gives him 3 on the year and 497 for his career. Rickey, Hayes, and Schmidt all had 3 hits. Tanana, went 8 in the start, but gave up 3 in the first on Paul O'Neil's 3^rd of the season.


4/28 5-1 W over the Cubs
Fernando strikes out 7, in 7.2 innings and nails down his 2^nd win of the year (2-0). LA fell behind early, but a 3 run 5^th, lead by a 2-run shot by Pete O'Brien (2) and a solo shot from Garry Templeton (1) put LA up for good. Franco pitched the last 4 outs to secure his 4^th save.


4/29 3-0 L to the Cardinals
Mike Morgan (2-2) dominates LA. Morgan is one of the lowest winning percentages among active players, but tonight he was on fire. Bryn Smith lowers his ERA to 2.89, but his record drops to 3-1. Schmidt and Morrison both had a couple hits.


Richard Dotson was designated and placed on waivers. John Denny was promoted to the rotation and Ken Howell was brought up from Albuquerque to take his place. Denny is scheduled to make the next start. Dotson is 1-3 with a 5.88 ERA.


4/30 5-2 L to the Cardinals
John Denny (0-1) gets the start, gave up 5 runs in 6.2 innings. There was nothing but 0's on the board until the 6^th when Mell Hall opened the game up (5) with a 2-run shot. Brunansky smacked his 3^rd right after as they went back to back. Schmidt went 3-4 and scored twice. Ken Howell got his first ML work of the year and Jim Beattie threw 2 scoreless.

[PilotMan]

April Recap


The Dodgers shot out of the gate with a much better than expected record of 15-9. The bad thing, is that it puts them 4 full games behind the Astros, who have a ridiculous team this year. For LA it's been the solid combination of pitching and hitting that has been the good start to the year.


For now, they sit 3^rd in the NL in runs scored, AVG, 2^nd in OBP, T-6 in HR's and first in SB's. The pitching staff is pretty much the 4^th best in the NL. Both among starters and relievers. The team is 2^nd in the NL in defense. Those are solid stats and rankings all the way around.

Ozzie Smith is the team's only long term injury right now, and most of the original roster is still playing.


Dave Winfield is the stalwart of the offense, hitting .371 with a team high 4 HR's and 15 RBI's. Frank Tanana has put the best pitching numbers up, with a 4-0 record and 1.74 ERA.


Conversely, Jim Morrison's .174 avg is holding the team back. That's probably why Ken Caminiti has been getting playing time at second base.


The Astros are the best team in baseball with an 18-4 record for the month. They just traded away a couple of prospects to the Blue Jays (who also happen to be in first place) for George Bell. Former Dodger Alejenadro Pena is in the bullpen for them.


The worst team? Not hard. That's the Giants. With a record of 5-19, they are 14 games behind the Astros. They are so bad that the set up man, Brian Harvey, is tied for the team lead in wins (2). Jody Reed leads the team in average, hitting .286.


Ron Kittle is annihilating American League pitching. He leads the AL with 8 HR's and is batting .345. Somehow, the Twins Kirby Puckett, has more total bases than Kittle. The Mets Kevin Mitchell leads the NL with 9 round trippers.


On to May!

[PilotMan]

5/1 7-5 L to the Cardinals
LA went down 4-0 and fought back to tie the game at 5 in the bottom of the 7^th. Dave Winfield went 2-3 with 3 RBI's and hit his 5^th HR of the season. Kelly Downs pitched another subpar game and the team had to rely on the bullpen to keep it close. That ended when the Cards catcher, Terry Kennedy, hit a 2-run homer off of Frank DiPino (1-3) in the 8^th to go up for good. It was Kennedy's 100^th career jack.


5/2 4-3 L to the Pirates
The losing streak continues. The Dodgers clung to a 3-1 lead behind Frank Tanana scattering 11 hits in 8 innings and took the lead into the 9^th. It was Pirate first basemen Larry Rush, hitting a 2-run HR, his 4^th of his career, that put the Pirates up. It's the first blown save for Franco (1-1) this season. Pete O'Brien hit #3 in the 6^th and went 2-3 with all 3 RBI's. LA slides to 5 games behind the Astros.


5/3 6-4 L to the Pirates
Dave Winfield got LA on the board in the first with a monster 3-run homer (6). With that Valenzuela (2-1) looked like he was going to play the stopper role for us again. That is until the 7^th, when bad, went worse and 5 runs later the lead was gone and so was Valenzuela. Inky lead off the 8^th with a pinch hit, solo-homer (3), but the offense couldn't find the rest. Jose Guzman (2-2) got the win.


Rumors are that Rickey Henderson is calling out people in the locker room. That he might have a specific beef with Jim Morrison.


5/4 3-2 W over the Pirates
Finally, a win. Bryn Smith (4-1) scattered 10 hits over 8 innings, and got out of a bases loaded, 1 out jam in the 8^th to break the Dodgers out of their losing streak. Winfield stayed hot going 2-3 and Ken Caminiti went 2-4 from the #2 slot. Caminiti has been getting more playing time at 2^nd lately. He's not a natural there, but Lasorda must feel like he's the better option over Morrison right now. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 5^th save.


5/6 8-1 W over the Cardinals
Very good hitting today, and a good start from Kelly Downs (4-2) pave the way for the LA victory. Winfield went 3-5 with 2 RBI's and Garry Templeton had a big day with the bat going 2-5, with 2 doubles and 2 RBI's. Ken Howell got the 3 inning save (1) to close it out. This is the first win against the Cardinals for LA this season.


5/7 3-0 W over the Cardinals
Frank Tanana (5-0) is lighting it up early this year. Undefeated and lowering his ERA to 1.56. Lasorda wouldn't let him get the complete game after 2 runners got on in the 9^th, but Franco was able to finish it for his 6^th save. The game was tied at 0 going into the 9^th. LA got 3 walks, then a bases loaded walk, a hit batsmen, and a wild pitch to score all 3. Rickey has 22 steals in 30 games now.


5/8 7-0 W over the Cardinals
With 15 hits, the Dodgers finally got the offense going. Helped along by a great pitching show from Fernando, who moves his record to 3-1. Valenzuela pitched a 5 hit shutout, striking out 6. The top of the order had all the production, with Hayes going deep in the 4^th (4), Surhoff going 3-5 and Henderson going 4-5. Every batter in the lineup got a base hit. It's Valenzuela's first shutout since '85.


5/9 4-2 W over the Cubs
Bryn Smith (5-1) goes 8, striking out 8 and Franco shuts the door in the 9^th for his 7^th save. LA scored first on a Templeton HR (2) in the 3^rd inning, then added 3 more in the 5^th. Templeton, Winfield and Caminiti all had 2 hits in this one.


The trade that brought Caminiti to LA for Sax is looking a little better these day. His offense is making up for his defense at the moment, even though he's a natural third basemen, he's just not going to get the time at third as long as Schmidt is healthy.


5/10 6-3 W over the Cubs
John Denny (1-1) worked 5.2 innings and was pulled after 111 pitches despite only allowing 1 run. LA stormed out to a 2-0 lead in the first on another Winfield 2-run HR (7). Rickey added a solo shot in the 6^th (2) and Larry Parrish had a pinch hit 2-run shot in the 7^th (1) to open the game up for LA. Ken Howell looked like he was on his way to another 3 inning save, when he had to leave due to a hand injury. The streaking Dodgers are on a roll.


Richard Dotson was given his unconditional release. His stat line was 1-3, 5.88 ERA, 26IP, 12K's.


5/11 5-2 W over the Pirates
The Dodgers continue to be road warriors. Ricky goes 2-2, with 3 RBI's and now has 24 steals in 34 games. He's almost halfway to his total from last season. Kelly Downs (5-2) pitches a complete game as he allowed 2 runs on 5 hits.


5/12 5-1 W over the Pirates
Frank Tanana runs his record to 6-0 and lowers his ERA to 1.51 on the season. He allows 3 hits, in 8 innings of work. He is carrying this team right now. It's the best he's pitched in a long time. LA took the lead in the 4^th inning when Mike Schmidt hit HR #498, his 4^th of the year. Schmidt isn't the fearsome hitter he used to be, but he can still crack the ball a long way. Pete O'Brien went 3-3 and added his own HR (4) in the 8^th inning.LA's 8 straight wins are the best in the Majors.


5/13 5-0 L to the Phillies
Valenzuela (3-2) had a really rough first inning, giving up 4, and the team really couldn't recover. He hung around until the 6^th inning and struck out 7. LA could only manage 4 hits in the game.


Ken Howell was placed on the DL. He injured his hand a few days ago, and thought he could play through it, but it appears that it's more serious. Tom Niedenfuer (1-0, 2.70 in Albuquerque) was recalled to take his place on the roster.


5/14 4-1 L to the Phillies
The Phillies came out and jumped all over Bryn Smith (5-2) in the first inning. Before an out was even recorded Larry Walker had homered (2) and the Phills had all 4 of their runs in. Smith sort of cruised after that, but LA couldn't do anything against the craft Don Carmen (3-2). LA had 3 hits, and only scored because of a wild pitch.


5/15 5-0 W over the Phillies
John Denny (2-1) didn't get the chance to finish the game, but he was in form tonight. The Phillies only managed 3 hits off of him, and Franco finished the game. Rickey and Schmidt both had 3 hits, and Henderson stole 3 bases bringing him up to 28, in 38 games. Pete O'Brien cleared the bases in the 6^th (5) and Von Hayes did the same in the 7^th (5).


Greg Luzinski finally tagged HR #300. When 1983 finished The Bull had 296. He rode the bench for the Yankees and finally got that magical HR with the Royals.


5/17 7-3 L to the Expos
LA scored first and had the the ever hot Tanana (6-1) on the mound, but his stuff wasn't unhittable today. Von Hayes tried to help him out with his 6^th HR of the year, but it was an Andre Dawson grand slam (4) that undid the Dodgers today. Don Robinson came on to pitch the 9^th, but had to leave after 3 pitches with some kind of injury. Tough to say right now how bad it might be.


5/18 3-2 (12) L to the Expos
LA was down to the last strike in the bottom of the 9^th when Larry Parrish knocked in the tying run off the bench. Not sure if you remember, 1988 was the year that MLB decided that the balk was going to get called a lot more. Frank DiPino (1-4) ended up balking in the winning run in the 12^th. LA got out of a couple bases loaded innings, but it still wasn't enough. Charlie Hough walked 8 Dodgers, Pete O'Brien had 3 hits, Niedenfeur pitched for the first time this year, and Downs had a good start. Probably should have done better with this one.


5/19 4-1 L to the Expos
After a nice run, LA drops 3 straight to our old foe, the Expos. Not even former Expos starter Bryn Smith (5-3) could get the W for us today. A Gallaraga (11) 2-run HR gave the Expos all the offense they needed. LA smacked out 10 hits, but left 10 on base, which was 6 more then Montreal. Don Robinson came on and pitched through some shoulder discomfort. He threw 2 scoreless innings.


5/20 14-4 L to the Mets
The Mets just pounded LA into submission. Valenzuela (3-3) got the start and Kevin Mitchell homered early (11) to go up. Rickey answered with a lead off shot to tie it back up, but that was the last good news. The Mets would go deep 5 times in all. Another from Mitchell (12), Robby Thompson (5), Strawberry (13) and Bobby Bonilla (6). LA would get the first HR of the year from Caminiti (1). I guess no one got hurt. So there's that. Well, not exactly. Bud Black was an out away from a 3 inning save and had to leave because he got hurt. No LA injuries.


5/21 4-3 (11) W over the Mets
The Mets lead 2-0 for most of the game, but Inky came off the bench, with 2 on, and ended all that. He crushed the ball and put it into the left field seats (4). Franco came on for the 9^th, but blew his second save of the year, thanks to some careless pitching. Bottom of the 11^th saw Rickey smoke one over the left field wall for a walk off win for us (4).


5/22 11-2 W over the Mets
We get a little respect back from that white washing we took in game 1. Tanana (7-1) allowed 1 hit through 4, got into a little trouble, but still pitched into the 8^th. Rickey went 2-4, scored 3 times, and added 3 RBI's. Winfield, went 3-4 with 4 RBI's, and Ken Caminiti went 2-4, with 2 runs. A good game for the boys.


5/24 9-7 W over the Phillies
LA ends the Phillies 6 game win streak. Ken Caminiti is starting to look like a real ball player. He's gotten much more comfortable playing 2^nd and with the bat. He went 3-5, with 2 HR's (2,3) and had 6 RBI's. There were 7 lead changes and not a lot of pitching. Bryn Smith (6-3) started, but only went 5 hard innings. Franco came on in the 8^th, but really struggled again and it was Tekulve who had to finish it off for his 1^st save of the year.


5/25 11-6 W over the Phillies
You'd never know that Kelly Downs (6-2) pitched into the 9^th inning in this one. He was shelled in the first, allowed 3 HR's by the third, then didn't allow another hit until the 9^th. Thankfully for him, his teammates picked him up. LA bashed out 15 hits, with Downs himself getting 2 doubles. Caminiti and Templeton both went 2-5 with 3 RBI's to lead LA. Jim Beattie finished the game in unspectacular. Rumor is he left the game after the last out and went straight to the trainers office.


5/26 4-2 W over the Phillies
Valenzuela (4-3) went the distance, struck out 8, and the Dodgers were able to best a 9 strikeout performance from Greg Maddux (2-5). Surhoff and O'Brien both went 2-4, while O'Brien added a couple of RBI's. The Phillies have a lot of talent, and one of the oldest benches I've ever seen. Having lost Pedro Guerrero in spring training, the Phillies have Jim Sundberg (37), Cliff Johnson (40), Don Baylor (38), Ken Griffey Sr (38) and Jim Rice (35). This team could have been something about 8 years ago.


Jim Beattie has some tenderness in his forearm and will miss a few days, but isn't on the DL yet.


Ozzie Smith was activated from the DL while Jim Morrison was designated and placed on waivers again. Templeton did very well playing in Smith's absence. While he is only batting .234 with a .250 OBP, his defense was fantastic. Templeton only has committed 2 errors in 33 starts at shortstop, which amounts to about 10 errors over the season. The lowest that Gold Glover Smith has is 14 in a season. Templeton also lost his starting job at 2B. The emergence of Caminiti offensively and defensively has locked him in as the starter.


5/27 3-2 L to the Expos
Tanana (7-2) went the distance, thew only 83 pitches, 61 for strikes, generally was in command all day, and lost. Why? Gopher ball problems. Today it was a 2-run shot from Robin Yount (7) that did him in. Tanana even got an RBI double today, which is amazing when you know that his career average is .099. Rickey stole his 35^th base in his 48^th game. The Expos Joe Hesketh stuck out 4 of the 5 guys he faced for his 7^th save.


5/28 3-2 L to the Expos
At one time, John Candelaria (3-3) was the single most feared pitcher in baseball. His recent move to the bullpen in the last couple years dried that up, but he looked in old form today. John Denny (2-2) pitched well. The game was tied until the 7^th when Hubie Brooks broke it with a left field dinger (9). Rickey did not steal a base despite going 2-4. LA is still winless aginst the Expos this season.


Ken Howell has returned from the DL. Niedenfuer was optioned back to Albuquerque.


5/29 9-2 L to the Expos
That makes 6 in a row lost to the Expos and destroys any momentum we had after the Phillies sweep. Mike Schmidt went 3-4 with his 5^th HR and that was it. The Expos went deep twice in the first off of Bryn Smith (6-4) who was shelled by his former team for the second time this season. Gary Carter went deep twice (9,10) and Brooks hit a grand slam (10). It was pretty much done at that point.


5/30 4-2 (15) L to the Mets
Ugh. That's all I can say here. Lots to talk about. Kelly Downs and Ron Darling both went 8, allowed 1 each and left with the game tied at 1. It goes to extras, where Von Hayes is eventually ejected because he was arguing a strike call. At this point though, LA was out of bench players so Bryn Smith came in to play center. LA managed to grab a run in the top of the 15^th to take the lead. Kent Tekulve had pitched 4 scoreless, but Lasoda elected to sent him out again. The leadoff hitter got on, then Don Robinson (0-1) came in. The Mets tied it up, then Bobby Bonilla ended it with a powerful drive that left the yard (9).


5/31 5-0 L to the Mets
Edward Lindsey (6-2) combined with Aguilera and Gullickson to throw a 1 hit shut out. Only Winfield could manage a hit off of any Mets pitcher. Only 29 batters came to the plate for LA. Valenzuela (4-4) gave up 5, walked 5 and stuck out 4. His control issues are alive and well. Rickey stole his 37^th base.

[PilotMan]

May Recap


The team posted a 14-14 record for the month, a sudden drop from the white hot start they had in April. A large part of the dropoff was the change in offense. The team had been one of the best in this category, but now the team is 9^th in average, and 6^th in OBP. The team is still 4^th in runs scored and 5^th in HR's. As for pitching, the team is 4^th in ERA and oppAVG. The pitching staff has been greatly helped by the team's defense. The team is tops in the NL.

At the moment, the team is in 2^nd place in the West. With a 29-23 record, and a big, 6 games behind the Astros. Losing 5 in a row at the end of the month hurt what could have been a successful month.


The top hitters for the month were, no surprise, Rickey Henderson (.295/.387/.448 19SB) and Dave Winfield (.282/.359/.417). But you can see, if this is the best, it's not really that great. Von Hayes hit 4 HR's in the month to lead the way. That's downright awful. Mike Schmidt has practically disappeared from any sort of production. Schmidt's line was (.174/.209/.239) with 2 HR's and 9 RBI's. Kelly Down's offensive output was nearly as much. Pretty much the whole team needs to get it's act together.


On the pitching side, both John Denny (1.88 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 2-1) and Frank Tanana (2.35, 1.09 WHIP, 3-2) were right no point. Kent Tekulve and Ken Howell were excellent in the bullpen. Bryn Smith (5.58, 1.26, 3-3) and Fernando Valenzuela (5.62, 1.46, 2-4) were not. Jim Beattie was a disaster coming out of the pen (8.31, 1.96, .361 OPPAVG).


The team has good pitching. I think a couple of roster moves might be to their benefit, and Lasorda not relying so damn heavy on his starters would be an improvement. He loves to leave his guys in long, and his choices out of the pen can be head scratching at times. Still, the quality is there.


Looking at the broader league. The Mets are the best team in baseball. Posting a 35-15 record, they are only a game better than the Astros. Both teams are expected to continue to dominate throughout the rest of the season. Injuries might make an impact, but both teams are loaded with quality. The AL East is lead by the Blue Jays, who with a record of 26-25, are a the only team with a winning record in the East. The AL West has a 3 way tie, between the Rangers, Mariners, and White Sox. Consequently, every team in the West has a winning record. There is, among all others, one god awful, team in baseball. That team is the San Francisco Giants.


The Giants are a sad sack. With a record of 10-42, which equates to a win percentage of .192. The Giants are currently on pace, to be the worst team in baseball history. Long time team ace, Atlee Hammaker is 0-7 with a 5.08 ERA. Cleanup hitter, Rob Deer has 11 HR's and 30 RBI's. The bullpen features a young David Wells and Brian Harvey, with Dan Plesac closing games. It doesn't sound bad, but then it is. Among field players, Rob Deer is rated as 15^th best at his position, of RF. That is the highest. First base and third are 26^th, with Marvin Ward (.227/6/18) and Chris Brown (.243/2/11) respectively. Second basemen Mike Sharperson is 25^th (.223/0/1) and Catcher Phil Ouellette is 24^th (.234/2/7). It's almost like an entire team of replacement players.


Blame has to fall on 3^rd year GM Joe Christopher and the notoriously stingy, yet micro managing owner, Justin Culbert. The Giants are 21^st in team budget and payroll, yet no more money is available for free agents or extensions. On the brighter side, there is some talent in the minors. 19Y/O Bernie Williams probably shouldn't be starting in CF, but he is. He is the #4 prospect in baseball. Behind him is #19 SS Reggie Sanders, and #32 OF Steve Finley. Will they be up before the end of the year?

[Young Drachma]

I like this idea of just watching it play out as a fan, I have to admit while I do a lot of watching, I've never considered doing it at such a slow pace and being a fan watching and maddened by whatever decisions the AI makes. Good stuff.

[PilotMan]

I like this idea of just watching it play out as a fan, I have to admit while I do a lot of watching, I've never considered doing it at such a slow pace and being a fan watching and maddened by whatever decisions the AI makes. Good stuff.


Thanks, the inspiration for it was how could I get into a league like I had back in my early SOM days and this was what I came up with. Back then I had to somewhat randomly move players between teams to create the idea of free agency. This type of play is really the best of all worlds. Deep immersion into the day to day and complete hands off moves my all teams with no favoritism. It's a type of replay, sans my own personal bias.

[PilotMan]

6/1 9-2 W over the Mets
Finally a win to break another losing streak. LA went up in the first when Rickey doubled home Von Hayes. The Mets in typical fashion against Tanana, a known giver upper of gopher balls, got one from Glenn Davis (3) to go back on top. It looked like it would be a long day for Tanana against the Mets but he came alive and so did the LA bats. LA tied it in the 3^rd on a Smith triple and erupted for 5 in the 5^th. Tanana (8-2) went the distance, but set another kind of record, as he tied the record with 5 strikeouts in 5 at bats. Surhoff left the game after he legged out a double. Some sort of leg injury.


The word came fast and hard from the team doctor on Surhoff. A torn meniscus, will require surgery. He's done. He might be back before the end of the year, but it's doubtful right now. The team put him on the 60 day DL. The team called up former Braves farmhand, Ronald King, who was claimed off of waivers in April. In 35 starts for Albuquerque, he's hitting .358/.490/.458 and stole 15 bases. He's been up 3 times with the Braves, but never had enough to stick. Scioscia will now be the full time guy.


6/3 8-1 W over the Reds
This starts the first of a very important series with the #3 team in the NL West. LA will need to get the upper hand here if they want to stay in contention in the division. Bryn Smith (7-4) allowed 4 hits and pitched into the 8^th. Pete O'Brien finally had a coming out party this year. He's been dead silent. Not today. Two HR's (6,7) 4-5 with the stick and 6 RBI's.


6/4 7-6 L to the Reds
Kelly Downs (6-3) served up 2 HR's to Nick Esasky (12,13), but struck out 7, walked 4, gave up 8 hits. Really, he was all over the place. It was a struggle. It's all too bad. LA went up 4-0 in the first after Winfield bashed his 8^th dinger of the season. Dwayne Murphy added his first of the season when he came on during a double switch.


Bad news for former Dodger ace, Rick Rhoden. Rhoden is still with the Yankees after the trade that brought Von Hayes to LA. Anyway, Rhoden sustained a torn flexor tendon and he's done for the year. He won't be back until mid season next year. He was 4-5 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.25 WHIP on the year. Rhoden just turned 35. The recovery from this injury isn't an easy one.


6/5 5-3 L to the Reds
Former Dodger Ted Power (2-4) allowed 4 hits, and went 7.1 to get the win. He would have hung in there longer, but had some discomfort and had to leave the game. Pete O'Brien went 2-3 and got 2 RBI's. Fernando (4-5) went 7.2, allowed 11 hits and struggled with control again. His high pitch count cost him. Big news though. Winfield got hurt going for a catch, and had to leave the game.


Winfield's injury looks to be fairly nominal. It's a finger sprain and he's expected to play through it. Good break for us.


6/6 6-1 L to the Astros
On the heels of the Reds series loss, we start our first series with the division leading Stros. Dennis Martinez (7-4) throws a complete game 6 hitter. He got help from Kirk Gibson, who lead off the game with a HR (5) and Barry Larkin (3) who homered in the 3^rd. Tanana (8-3) took the loss as his stuff just didn't do the trick today.


Jim Morrison was given his unconditional release today. Ending his 2^nd stint with the team. His 100 at bats are the lowest total for any team he's played for. He batted .210/2/10 during his 2 stints with the team.


6/7 4-3 W over the Astros
Despite Kirk Gibson leading off the game with another HR (6), LA flexed it's own muscles and got strong pitching from John Denny (3-2) to grab a win against the Astros. Dave Winfield went deep in 2 the 2^nd and 6^th (9,10) and hit his 300^th career round tripper. Huge day for him. Von Hayes also went deep (8). LA saw plenty of ex Dodgers today too. Former Dodger top prospect, Cecil Espy started in center, and he hit a HR (2), only the 3^rd of his career. Alejandro Pena struck out 4 in 2 innings of relief. John Franco got the final 6 outs for his 8^th save of the season.


6/8 3-0 L to the Astros
Tom Candiotti (2-1) had the knuckler under control today and LA couldn't find it anywere. Candiotti throws a 4 hit shutout, walking only 1, with 5 K's. Rickey goes 2-4 with a double and triple. Houston got a HR from Fred McGriff (14) and Bryn Smith loses another one (7-5).


6/9 6-1 W over the Astros
Splitting a 4 game series leave hope for the season. Another former Dodger took the mound today, and although it's been a while, he was here once. Dave Stewart (8-4) got the start, but LA kept chipping away. An O'Brien HR (8) in the 4^th put the Dodgers on top, and in the 6^th LA got 3 more thanks to a Von Hayes 2-run single. Ozzie went 3-5. Henderson stole his 39^th base in 60 games. Kelly Downs (7-3) had a great start and struck out 9.


6/10 5-2 L to the Padres
Mike Schmidt hit his 500^th career HR in a Dodgers jersey tonight. It came in the top of the 9^th with nobody on against Mark Williamson. Aside from that hit, LA could only manage 5 other hits, 3 of which, came from Winfield. Valenzuela (4-6) got the start, went 6, struck out 5, walked 4, allowed 2 HR's. Steve Sax just torched us today. 2-4 and a 2-run blast in the 2^nd inning (4). Bob Ojeda picked up the W (8-5). Garry Templeton, who had started the game at 2^nd, left with an injury.


6/11 6-2 L to the Padres
Tanana (8-4) got roughed up and looked like his old self today. Kevin McReynolds tagged him for his 9^th of the year in the 5^th and broke the game open. Bo Jackson added a double and triple. LA got a 2-3 day from Rickey Henderson and some good work out of the bullpen from Ken Howell and Jim Beattie. Otherwise, it was Gary Mathews (3-4) that stole the show.


Good news on Templeton as it's a mild hamstring strain and he won't be going on the DL.


6/12 6-3 L to the Padres
LA commits 4 errors, only manages 4 hits, but draws 7 walks. Can't find home plate. John Denny (3-3) was touched for 10 hits, and 6 runs and Tony Gwynn hit a 3-run HR (3) that gave the Padres the lead. Rickey stole his 41^st base of the year. The Dodgers are in danger of falling back to .500. This is the closest they've been in a long while.


6/14 2-1 L to the Braves
Brook Jacoby went 2-4, had both RBI's and his HR in the 4^th (9) was the first hit of the game for the Braves. Smith (7-6) takes the loss, but it was his best game in a while. Scioscia went 2-3 with an RBI. The only bright spot for the teams hitting.


LA has dropped 4 straight, and 8 of the last 10. The team now finds itself 9.5 games behind the Astros. The biggest gap of the year. The team is still holding down 2^nd place. The Mets are 7.5 up in the East, and the 2 horse race for the NLCS is underway and it's not even the All Star break yet. If LA was in the AL East, they'd be in first place by 4 games.


6/15 5-4 W over the Braves
LA homered 3 times, and the bullpen did a great job over the final 3 innings, only allowing 2 runners. A Von Hayes lead off homer (9) in the top of the 9^th off of Braves closer John Mitchell (0-4) put LA in front. LA also got homers from Schmidt (7) and Henderson (5). Kelly Downs started, and walked 6 in just over 5 innings. Inky went 3-4 in a start, giving Winfield a day off.


6/16 2-0 L to the Braves
The Braves are, right now, the closest to the Dodgers in terms of talent on the field. On paper, LA has them beat all over. The Braves are also 8 games below .500. LA may be regressing. Tanana (8-5) went the distance in this one, walked 1, struck out 3. Should have gotten the win. He also allowed a HR to the opposing pitcher, Steve Ontiveros (1-0). Now, Ontiveros, a relief pitcher turned starter this season, only had 3 career at bats, and went down on strikes every time. Against our gopher ball hero, he hit one 391ft into left field. His first actual, career hit. LA got a couple of 2 hit games from Scioscia and Caminiti, but 0 hits from the 3-4-5 spots.


LA claimed Mets infielder Curt Wilkerson off of waivers. Wilkerson had been starting, batting .249/.295/.305, with 0 HR's and 19 RBI's. He was assigned to Albuquerque.


6/17 8-3 L to the Padres
Valenzuela (4-7) didn't even allow a hit until the 5^th inning. But the 6^th was one of the worst innings of the year as the Padres put up 6, including 2 bases loaded walks. Frank DiPino did the same thing in the 7^th inning, walking the bases loaded 2 times. Eight walks in all by Dodger pitching. Winfield homered early to put LA on top (11), but nothing else good happened. Von Hayes left the game after getting hurt on a diving play in center.


Hayes is on the DL with a strained stomach muscle. The team called up prospect Doug Jennings. Jennings is hitting .375/5/30 so far in AAA. Both he and Dwayne Murphy are lefties, but it looks like Jennings might have the starting edge. At least at first. Lasorda could also move Hendeson back to center and let Inky start in left, but that might make too much sense.


4/18 4-3 W over the Padres
Mike Schmidt hit a 3-run HR (8) in the first inning as part of a 4 run first. The Padres chipped away at it, but 8 strong innings by John Denny (4-3) kept us in it. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 10^th save. Ozzie Smith went 2-2, with2 walks, getting on base every time up.


4/19 3-1 W over the Padres
Bryn Smith (8-6) pitched like we hoped that we would all season long. Seven innings, 3 hits. Picked up by Franco, who went 2 for his 11^th save. The Dodgers smacked 12 hits and drew 5 walks. You'd think that they would be able to get more across than 3. Smith, Winfield, and youngsters Jennings and King all had 2 hits each. Henderson was caught stealing for the 4^th time this year.


4/20 7-2 W over the Braves
Dave Winfield gave us a 3-run HR (12), as part of a 6-run 5^th inning. Scioscia and Jennings both added 2 more hits. Kelly Downs (8-3) threw a complete game to get the win.


4/21 4-3 (11) W over the Braves
The bats might be starting to wake up. Pete O'Brien and Mike Schmidt, two guys who are really underperforming, both went 3-5. Schmidt delivered the game winning bases loaded single in the 11^th to send the team home. Tanana went 8 in his start, allowed a HR, of course, but struck out 7 too. Kent Tekulve, who threw 1 pitch in the 11^th got the win (3-0).


4/22 11-2 L to the Braves
My, oh my, oh my. This might be Valenzuela's worst start of his career. Two more, bases loaded walks, 8 hits, and 11 runs allowed in 5 innings. The loss moves him to 4-8. Something is very wrong with our beloved ace. I just don't know what it is. His game score today was 6. Rickey went 2-3 and hit a 2-run HR (6), and stole his 43^rd base this year. In even worse news, Mike Scioscia was hurt in a play at the plate, and Ken Howell had to leave the game with an undisclosed injury. Will Fernando come around?


The ballad of Jim Morrison continues. He waited 10 days to sign a minor league deal with the Indians. They've been using him as a DH. Today, he hit 2 HR's (3). That game alone exceeded his entire career with LA.


Scioscia's injury isn't serious. He'll be day to day with a tight back and some soreness. Ken Howell is a different story. He was sent to the DL with a muscle strain in his side. No timetable for his return. This is the second time he's been out this year. LA brought up the Albuquerque Dukes closer, Brian Holton to take his place. Holton has been in the Dodgers system since he was 19. He pitched in 14 games last year and posted a 6.95 ERA as a 27 yr old, and now at 28, putting up a 1.23 ERA in 21 games and 11 saves. His control is still an issue, but here's another chance for him to get it done.


6/24 11-1 L to the Reds
Outscored 22-3 in 2 games. Everything I said about hitting, forget it. Just let it go. It doesn't exist. Bryn Smith (8-7) had another good game going, but an awful 6^th sent him to the showers. Brian Holton came on with his chance and threw 48 pitches....in 1 inning. Allowing 5 more runs. Jack Morris (10-4) struck out 9 and threw 135 pitches.


6/25 6-2 L to the Reds
The Reds pitching staff, once again, held LA in check. Ten hits spread out, only 1 extra base hit. Ozzie Smith with 3 of them from the leadoff spot, but he didn't score once. Kelly Downs got the start, takes the loss, to drop to 8-4. Henderson stole base #44. Mike Scioscia, playing hurt, had to leave the game after a big hit. No update yet.


6/26 3-2 L to the Reds
We can't even win one from them. The Reds knock us off and we fall to 3^rd in the NL West. We needed a hero and the thought was that maybe it would be Tanana (8-6) after all, he's picked us up before. LA had gone down 2-1, but they had fought back to tie the game in the top of the 7^th. The leadoff hitter, Dave Valle, had been hitting the ball well all day long. He took the second pitch he saw and put it in the left field stands (9). That shot was all the Reds needed. The pen closed it out and despite 11 hits, and drawing 4 walks and another error, all LA could manage was 2 runs. I wonder, will the Dodgers sell in a month? Cause this season...it's over.


Mike Scioscia was sent to the DL. He's pulled a hamstring and will miss a month. That's 2 catchers that we are down. Ronald King is still on fire, and he's taking over the starting catcher job. Taking Scioscia's spot on the roster is Larry See. Quite the road he's had. Back in '82, when this whole thing started, See was traded from LA, along with IF Mark Bradley, to the Expos, for SP Ray Burris. He would win a World Series with the Expos in '85 and his last ML experience would be in '86. He's a .213 hitter in 47 at bats for his career. He was claimed off of waivers by LA in April and has a .250/.322/.332 line. He has some gap power, better than average speed, for a catcher, and a decent arm. At 28, it's got to be a dream come true.


6/27 4-3 (13) W over the Astros
We break the streak, cut the Astros lead by a game, but it really means nothing. Valenzuela started, and he was his old self again. He did work out of a big jam in the 7^th. It could have gone very differently. Houston did tie the game then, and that's what sent it to extras. In the 9^th and 10^th both teams got the bases loaded with 1 or less outs. Neither team scored. LA got an RBI single from Doug Jennings in the 12^th to go up, but Brian Holton (1-0) couldn't hold the lead and the Stros tied it up again. LA did it again in the 13^th though, this time on a Pete O'Brien single. Holton walked the leadoff hitter again, but was able to keep the Astros from scoring, sealing the win.


6/28 2-1 W over the Astros
Kirk McCaskill took a no-hitter into the 7^th and I really thought he might get it. Until Ken Caminiti blasted one over the right field fence (4). LA added another on a Schmidt single. Those were the only 2 hits of the game. HR and single. The Astros had 10. John Denny (5-3) went 8 and Franco locked down the 9^th for his 12^th save. We needed some kind of good luck.


Holton back to Albuquerque. Niedenfuer back up.


6/29 2-1 W over the Astros
A sweep of the best team in baseball? On the road? We'll take it either way. The teams traded runs in the first inning and then it was on the pitchers. Bryn Smith (9-7) and Tom Candiotti went head to head. Smith only allowed 3 runners. Top of the 9^th and Astros closer Scott Garrelts (and his league leading 24 saves)(1-4) came on. Rickey lead off with a deep HR (7) to left field that was the game winner. Franco closed out another for his 13^th save.

[PilotMan]

June Report


LA finished the month of June with a poor 12-14 record. Overall, the team sits in 2^nd place in the West, with a record of 41-37. The Dodgers are an awful 11 games behind the Astros. The light is dimming on the season as we close in on the All Star break. Could have been a lot worse too. LA won their final 3 games to get to that point.


The reason for this was the hitting. The team has been dropping and dropping at the plate. With a .255 avg, the Dodgers find themselves 9^th in the NL in batting and 7^th in OBP. 9^th in hits and 6^th in runs scored. Good enough for a solid above average record, but not title hopefuls. Even with Rickey, the team is 2^nd in the NL in stolen bases.


The pitching staff is as good as it's been lately. With a team 3.54 ERA they are 5^th in the NL. The bullpen is 3^rd in the NL with a 2.57 ERA, but Lasorda doesn't really like to use his bullpen. Opponents are hitting .245 and 5^th in runs allowed. They are getting a lot of help from the defense. With a .720 efficiency the team is 2^nd in the NL, and it's the best that this team has had in years.


Of the slew of bad hitting that we saw this month, who was the best? Winfield lead the team with 5 HR's. Not awesome. He was also one of the best hitters with a .263/.295/.434 slash line. That's awful. Ozzie was probably the most consistent. He hit .299/.393/.361 and stole 6 bases. Doug Jennings only played 9 games, but hit .300. He was probably the best. That's it. Nobody else was worth a shit. Who wasn't? How long can I go on? Rickey hit .219/.327/.375. O'Brien hit .242/.290/.364. Schmidt hit .202/.279/.340. Good grief. This is bad.


The top pitcher for June was Franco. After a rough start, the Dodgers closer pitched in 10 games, saved 6 and didn't allow a run in 13 innings of work while striking out 11. Actually, none of Tekulve, Franco, Robinson, nor Beattie allowed a run. That's a total of 30.2 innings of work with 0 runs allowed. Top starter was Bryn Smith and his 3-3, 2.83 ERA, 0.90 WHIP month. He only allowed 26 hits in 41 innings of work. Fernando was the worst. Might be the worst month of his career. He went 0-4 with a 7.03 ERA, 19 walks in 32 innings. We need old Fernando back. Tanana lived up to his gopher ball mantra, allowing 8 HR's in 40.2 innings.


It wasn't a good month. There are a few guys out with injury and the All Star break is coming. Will this team be selling come the end of July? Or maybe they'll be buying? We'll have to see.

[PilotMan]

Royals catcher Carlton Fisk hit his 300^th career HR. The 40yr old signed a 2 year deal after playing in Baltimore the last couple seasons. He's been coming off the bench this season.


7/1 5-4 W over the Cubs
LA scored in the first 3 innings, going up 4-0 with Kelly Downs on the mound. The Cubs fought back though, and in the 8^th off of Niedenfuer (1-0) they tied it up. In the bottom of the 8^th LA got the lead again on a sac fly from Ronald King that scored Schmidt. Speaking of Schmidt. He was good. He went 3-4 with an RBI and a run. Franco pitched the 9^th for this 14^th save. Winfield was ejected in the first after arguing a strikeout. He stormed back and bumped the ump, so we expect him to be out for a couple days at least.


Winfield will miss 2 games with a suspension.


7/2 9-4 W over the Cubs
Ken Caminiti crushed a 3-run HR (5) in the 2^nd inning to give LA a good lead. He would go on to hit 4-3 with 4 RBI's. Pete O'Brien went 3-5 with 2 more RBI's. Tanana (9-6) pitched well, as he allowed 9 hits over 7.1 innings. He was hurt by a couple errors, one of his own making. Dwayne Murphy started in center and left after making a diving catch.


The Chicago White Sox made one of the most controversial and possibly dumbest moves ever in recent history. The first place White Sox, with a record of 52-30 and a half game ahead of the Rangers in the AL West, designated Joe Carter for assignment and placed him on waivers. Carter, 28, is a 2-time All Star, and Silver Slugger winner last year. He hit 51 HR's and had 133 RBI's last season, while batting .310. Carter had signed a 6-yr extension to stay in Chicago and filled an outfield with young Barry Bonds and Harold Baines. Baines was lost for the year earlier, and Carter lead the team with 17 HR's. Carter was then picked up by the Yankees, who are in third in the NL East, 2.5 games behind the Blue Jays. The Yankees are 13^th in the AL in HR's and getting Carter for free, locked into a cheap 6 year contract, is a huge steal. IT's a big boner for the White Sox. No idea what they were thinking.


7/3 10-2 L to the Cubs
Hard to believe that this was 0-0 after 6. Valenzuela (4-9) takes the loss, but pitches better than most of his recent starts. Today it was the bullpen that just gave it all away. Tekulve gave up 2 HR's and he and Denny combined to allow 8. Larry See and Schmidt had 2 hits each. Schmidt homered in the 9^th (9).


Von Hayes was activated off the DL. Jennings was optioned back to the minors. Dwayne Murphy will be alright. He has a thumb bruise and won't go on the DL.


7/4 2-1 W over the Cardinals
LA hosted the Cardinals for Independence Day Fireworks, and found themselves in a pitchers dual between Bryn Smith and Oil Can Boyd. Both pitchers combined for 15 innings and 8 hits allowed. The Cards scored first on a Smith balk in the 5^th. LA tied it in the 8^th and in the 9^th, on the 4^th pitch from Jerry Don Gleaton (4-2), Pete O'Brien tagged one over the right field wall (10) to walk off with a win (and fireworks). Franco, pitched the 9^th and ran his record to 2-1.


7/5 7-1 W over the Cardinals
The wins are coming in bunches as LA is heating up for real. Mike Schmidt goes 3-4 and LA gets home runs from Von Hayes (10), Rickey (8), Winfield (13) and pinch hitting Inky (5). Getting the start for LA was Jim Beattie (1-0) who started his first game in over 2 years. He pitched 7.1 innings and struck out 5. He's taken John Denny's spot in the rotation.


Catcher Stan Holmes was claimed off of waivers from the Orioles. To make room, backup catcher Larry See (2-4 in 1 start) was designated and placed on waivers. I guess See should hope he gets picked up because the team doesn't look like they think he's got anything to give. Holmes is a 28 yr old player who also plays corner infield and all outfield positions. He was a minor league MVP and 2-time Gold Glover in '83 and '84. He has 112 career at bats, and a career .232/.265/.402 slash line. Mike Scioscia might be back the end of this month, and Surhoff is done until the very end of the year, if he's lucky. LA is the 4^th team to claim Holmes off of waivers in his career.


7/6 4-1 W over the Cardinals
Caminiti goes 3-3 and a big solo homer by O'Brien (11) in the 7^th put LA up for good in this one. Kelly Downs (9-4) pitched 7 and struck out 6 to get the win. Franco pitched the 8^th and 9^th for his 15^th save of the year. Mike Morgan (7-5) pitched well for the Cardinals.


Garry Templeton was designated and placed on waivers today. He batted .239/2/18 in limited time at second and short. Taking his place is Curtis Wilkerson, who was playing in Albuquerque. Wilkerson had been starting for the Mets, when LA picked him off the waiver wire. He's a solid middle infielder with good speed. He was also a starter for the Rangers for 3 years.


7/8 3-2 (12) L to the Pirates
LA took a lead into the 9^th but the Pirates got to Franco and tied it up. His 3^rd blown save of the season. Mike Scott and Frank Tanana both pitched great, but the Bucs pen did a better job. Rickey stole his 47^th base in 85 games. Mike Schmidt homered in the 5^th to give LA the lead. His 10^th on the season. Niedenfuer (1-1) only allowed 1 hit in 2 innings, but it was was Chili Davis's 16^th on the year that was the winning margin. The Pirates lost 3 players in the game to injury (Denny Gonzalez, Rafael Ramirez and Mike Henneman).


7/9 3-1 W over the Pirates
Juan Guzman pitched so well again for the Pirates. He went 7, striking out 7 and allowing 4 hits. Bryn Smith was almost as good, going 7 and striking out 7, but Guzman singled in the only run for the Pirates. In the 9^th , closer Tom Henke (5-3) came on to close it out. Nearly untouchable, Henke allowed a lead off single to Ronald King. Dwayne Murphy came on to pinch hit and beat out an infield single. Von Hayes came up next, with 0 outs, and smashed a forkball over the right field fence to give LA the win (11). Henderson stole #48. Kent Tekulve (4-0) pitched 2 scoreless for the win.


The All Star game rosters were announced today. Rickey Henderson will start in left. He's the only Dodger starter on the team. It's his 4^th All Star game apperance. LA only had 1 other player selected to the team this year and that was closer John Franco. Franco has 15 saves, and a 1.05 ERA in 43 innings. It's his 2^nd All Star game selection.


7/10 8-7 L to the Pirates
Fernando (4-10) was rolling along, had a 4-3 lead and for some reason, Lasorda, in his infinite wisdom decided to send him out for the 8^th inning. Things went south in a hurry and the bases were soon loaded. Valenzuela walked the tying run in and then followed that by serving up a grand slam to the not very dangerous Jim Lindeman (3). Lindeman is hitting .176 and that was his 3^rd career HR. Down 8-4 in the bottom half LA answered by putting 2 on and their own pinch hitter, Pete Incaviglia bashed the answer over the left field wall (6). LA down by 1 put a runner on third, but they couldn't get him home.


All Star Break


7/12 6-1 W for the AL
AL Catcher and 4-time All Star, Ernie Whitt was named the MVP for today's All Star Game. Whitt went 2-3 and clubbed a solo homer in the 4^th inning off of the Reds Jack Morris. Gary Carter homered for the NL, giving them their only run in the 3^rd inning. Of the Dodger players, only Ricky got in the game. He started in left and lead off, going 0-2 with 2 walks.


Bob Welch was just sent from the Royals to the Yankees for Otis Nixon and Ken Hill. Welch has a year and a half left on his contract.


The Royals keep making moves by getting OF Jessie Barfield from the Rangers for relivers Steve Farr and Rob Dibble. Barfield was in the first year of a 5 year deal after coming over from the Blue Jays in the offseason.


7/14 6-3 W over the Cubs
LA jumped out with 3 in the first, thanks to a 2-run HR from Dave Winfield (14). Schmidt went 3-4 with an RBI and Ozzie added another 2 hits. David Cone (7-7) had a rough outing for the Cubs. While Bryn Smith (10-7) struck out 7 in 6.2 innings. Franco went another 2 innings for his 16^th save. Franco dropped his ERA back below 1 (0.98).


7/15 9-3 W over the Cubs
LA scored 6 in the 7^th and broke the game open. It was a bases loaded double from Von Hayes that helped them along. Backup catcher, Stan Holmes added 3 RBI's. The Cubs had 13 hits to the Dodgers 10. Kelly Downs (10-4) allowed 9 of them over 6 innings. John Denny pitched 3 innings for his first save of the year.


Dave Stieb throws the first no-hitter of 1988. The Twins pitcher, and 3 time 20 game winner had 2 sub par seasons for the Twins, but this year he's 11-6, with a 2.46 ERA. The Baltimore Orioles couldn't do anything. Stieb walked 2, but only faced 28 batters. The last No-No was Doc Gooden in July of 1987.


7/16 4-2 (10) W over the Cubs
A Von Hayes solo home run in the 10^th (12) lifted the LA Dodgers to another win today. LA got 8 innings from Tanana who didn't figure in the decision. LA had lead for most of the game but a Glenn Wilson HR (7) in the 7^th tied it up. LA got 3 hits from Schmidt. Tekulve got the win (5-0) and Franco pitched the 10^th for his 17^th save.




The LA Dodgers are now 10 games above .500, but are still 8 games behind the Astros.


No rumors yet as we work our way to the trade deadline.


7/17 5-4 L to the Cubs
We still win the series. Four hitters get 2 hits each, but Valenzuela (4-11) allowed 10 hits and all 5 runs in 6 innings. He loses again, or the offense failed to pick him up again. The Cubs saw rookie Bobby Thigpen make his major league debut in the 9^th. He walked 1, but notched his first save of his career.


Garry Templeton was given his unconditional release from the team. He batted .239/.253/.347 and filled in at short for Smith when he was down. Ultimately, it was the rise of Ken Caminiti at second base that cost him his job.


7/19 DH Game 1 4-3 W over the Cardinals
Bryn Smith (11-7) goes 8 innings and could've finished the game, he was that on. LA got a go ahead run in the 6^th inning when Ozzie hit his 2^nd HR of the year against his former team. Franco got into some trouble in the 9^th after Mell Hall cracked a 2-run HR off of him to cut the lead to 1, but he got pinch hitter, Tom Pagnozzi, to ground into a double play with the tying run on third. Franco earns his 18^th save.


7/19 DH Game 2 3-2 (16) L to the Cardinals
Let's just call this Tom Pagnozzi's revenge. Game 2 of the doubleheader he homered (3) in the third to put the Cards up. He doubled 3 times, including with the bases loaded in the 16^th to send everyone home. He would finish the game 4-6, with 3 RBI's. In 16 innings LA only could get 8 hits (only 1 in the final 6 innings). Jim Beattie started, went 6. Pitched fine. Frank DiPino threw 4.2 scoreless innings in what had to be his longest outing of his career. It was Don Robinson (0-2) who couldn't lock it down in the 16^th and let the Cards have it. Dave Winfield had to leave after making a catch in the outfield.


Bert Blyleven, who is having a helluva comeback year after he signed a 1-year deal for a very economical 240k, picked up his 250^th career win.


7/20 3-1 W over the Cardinals
Von Hayes hit a 2-run HR in the first (13) to take the lead, and it took until the 8^th inning before anyone else other than Hayes or Smith got a hit. Ozzie went 3-4 and scored twice. Kelly Downs (11-4) allowed 3 hits over 8 and didn't allow a hit until the 5^th. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 19^th save.


7/21 3-0 L to the Pirates
Despite getting 9 hits LA couldn't break through against rookie Melido Perez (4-3). Catcher Ronald King went 2-3 with 2 SB's and that was the top player for us. There was a big issue early on though, Frank Tanana left the game in the 2^nd inning with some sort of injury. There's no update on his condition. LA did bring the tying run to the plate in the 9^th with only 1 out, but couldn't get any in.


Ken Howell was activated from the DL and in a shocking move the team not only optioned Tom Niedenfuer back to Albuquerque, they put him on waivers and designated him. The team has room on the 40-man, they didn't need to do this. A 4-time All Star and Rolaids Reliver of the Year in 1984, we're not far removed from his glory days. He's only 28 with 2 years left on his contract.


7/22 4-3 L to the Pirates
We lose. In the 9^th. After being up thanks to a Mike Schmidt HR (11) in the 9^th off of Tom Henke. John Franco (2-2) couldn't lock it down as he blew his 4^th save of the year. The worst news of the day, as if that wasn't bad enough, was losing our heart, Fernando Valenzuela to some sort of injury in the 2^nd inning. Ken Howell pitched a great 4.1 in relief. We may need him in the rotation depending on how bad those injuries are. Ozzie Smith also left the game with an injury. Ugh. Not a good couple of days.


Ozzie Smith is on the 15 day DL with a groin strain. Curtis Wilkerson will take over at shortstop. Chuck Jackson is called up from AAA to fill the roster spot. Jackson is hitting .330 with 6 HR's and 32 RBI's.


Valenzuela has some shoulder inflammation and the team is concerned. He's going to be out a while. The team puts him on the 60 day DL meaning that at the earliest, it'll be late September before he might be back. Brian Holton is called up from AAA to take his place. Holton pitched in 2 games earlier this year. He has 16 saves for Albuquerque and a 0.93 ERA. Ken Howell is penciled in to replace him in the rotation.


7/23 6-3 (7) L to the Pirates
A rain shortened game that saw the Pirates down the beloved Dodgers. A top prospect, by the name of Jack McDowell (2-0) was getting his 2^nd career start today. LA jumped all over him with 3 in the first. The Pirates chipped away at Bryn Smith (11-8) getting 1 in the 4^th and 5^th and 3 in the 6^th. Pete O'Brien had 2 doubles and went 2-3. LA committed 3 errors to help the Pirates out.


And the news is in for Frank Tanana and it's bad. At 35, Tanana has a partially torn UCL in his elbow and that will require some surgery. He's gone to the 60 day and his return won't be until sometime next year, hopefully before the All Star Break. Tanana is in his 5^th season with LA and has racked up 63 wins pitching for us. He's been a gopher ball hound, but was in the middle of one of the best seasons in a while. LA has brought up Michael Cunningham from Albuquerque to take his place. No word if he'll go into the rotation or if it will be John Denny returning. Cunningham, 27, is a knuckleballer who made his ML debut last year. In 2 starts he is 0-1 with a 14.04 ERA. This year in Albuquerque he is 5-9 with a 5.54 ERA in 19 starts. He has a career record of 43-82 in AAA. Things are bleak.


7/24 2-1 L to the Pirates
This is 4 straight losses as the Pirates end our great month. Mike Scott (10-8) didn't allow a hit until the 6^th inning and despite going 7 strong, Jim Beattie (1-1) just didn't get the support he needed. Leon Durham homered in the first (7) with a runner on and that was all they needed. Old sidewinder Kent Tekulve left the game with an injury, and there's no word on the severity of it. Scott struck out 9.


Niedenfuer was returned to the roster and Holton was optioned back to AAA. Not sure what that was about.


7/25 4-2 W over the Giants
Just what we need! A series against the worst team in baseball. Despite Kelly Downs serving up a leadoff HR to Stan Jefferson (2), LA would come back to win it. Caminiti went 2-4 with a bases clearing double. Von Hayes hit his team leading 14^th HR in the 4^th and Downs improved to 12-4. Franco closed out the 9^th for his 20^th save.


News is back on Tekulve and it's as good as we could have hoped for. Just some minor back spasms and he won't need to go on the DL.


The White Sox have lost closer Dennis Eckersley for the year due to elbow surgery. He had 22 saves with a 1.72 ERA in his best season as a converted starter turned closer.


7/26 5-4 W over the Giants
Lasorda went with Cunningham for the start and even though he walked 4, he did leave the game in the 8^th with a 3-1 lead and a guy on. Pete O'Brien had given LA the lead with his 12^th HR of the season. A Caminiti error and a struggling John Franco (3-2) let the Giants tie the game up, blowing his 5^th save of the year. LA would not be denied and got 2 in the top off of Giants closer Dan Plesac. In the 9^th Franco's struggles continued and he allowed another hit, before tiring and giving way to Tekulve who was able to shut the door for his 2^nd save.


7/27 11-2 W over the Giants
The Giants are bad. I like seeing the team beat them over and over again. Today, the story was the start by Ken Howell (1-0) who went 7 in his first career start, allowed 3 hits, and struck out 7 and the other half of the story is Dodgers #4 catcher, Stan Holmes, claimed off of waivers from Baltimore, with a grand slam in the 4^th (2). It was his 5^th career dinger. Von Hayes homered in the 9^th (15) to keep leading the team.


Mike Scioscia was activated from the DL and is back. Ronald King was designated and placed on waivers. King was a waiver claim from the Braves in April. In 27 games, he batted .179/.309/.205 with 3 SB's. He did catch 57% of baserunners trying to steal. Otherwise, I doubt he'll be missed, let's hope he isn't needed again.


7/29 5-1 W over the Astros
The division leading Astros come to town and Bryn Smith shuts them down over 8 innings to get his 12^th win of the year. Rickey homered in the 6^th (9) off of starter Tom Candiotti (6-3), as part of a 4 run inning that saw 8 batters come to the plate. Scioscia had 2 hits in his first game back. Dave Winfield left the game after making a diving catch with back pain.


7/30 6-3 L to the Astros
Houston came storming back on us, with a lead off triple by former Dodger, Cecil Espy followed by a balk by Kelly Downs that put Houston up right off the bat. Downs (12-5) was victimized by errors and allowed 5 unearned runs. Downs struck out 6. Kirk McCaskill (7-8) pitched 7 for the win. The bad news on the day though, was Scioscia leaving the game with a back injury. Tough break.


Good news on Scioscia. Tests are negative and he is being treated for tightness. Not going to the DL. Bad news though on Winfield. He's heading to the DL with a herniated disc in his back. Inky will take his place in the lineup. In a surprising move the team has purchased the contract of top prospect OF Lee Stevens from AA San Antonio. Stevens is batting .340/.431/.580 with 20 HR's. Doug Jennings is out with an injury and the team just straight bypassed Tom Beyers, who once again, is having a good year in Albuquerque, but at 30 his time may have passed.


7/31 5-1 L to the Astros
Dale Murphy (17) and Jerry Willard (5) went back to back in the 2^nd inning off of our starter Jim Beattie (1-2) as part of a 3 run 2^nd inning. That gave the Astos all they would need as starter Greg Swindell (16-2) added another win to his season total. Inky and Scioscia had 2 hits a piece, and also accounted for LA's only run of the day.


The trade deadline passes with no major trades or moves by any team. There were some minor spot filling by the Mets, Yankees and Mariners, but no superstar found a new home. Kind of a surprise, and a little bit of a surprise that LA wasn't involved anywhere.


Ronald King was claimed by the Yankees.

[PilotMan]

July Recap


Well, the team found a groove and jumped out to a hot start for the month, but faltered at the end against the Pirates and Astros. Injuries started to pile up and the season is looking to be set with no NL West pennant coming to LA this year. The team had a good showing going 15-11, but only 4 games above .500 means they aren't keeping pace with the Astros. Right now our record stands at 56-48 and the team is on pace for 87 wins. That won't win anything this year. We're 1.5 games ahead of the Reds for 2^nd place, and 12 games behind the Astros.


The team this year is really showing a lack of punch at the plate. Despite being 6^th in runs scored, the team is 11^th in average, and 9^th in OBP. I think leading the league in steals is helping the run production as is being 6^th in HR's. The top producer in July was Von Hayes. Hayes batted .286 with 6 HR's and 15 RBI's in the month and leads the team with 15 HR's on the year, despite batting leadoff for most of it. His .560 SLG was also tops. Pete O'Brien also had a good month .296/.340/.490, but nothing that lit the world on fire. Too many guys are not pulling their weight and causing issues. Winfield is hurt now, but his month was bad. He batted .233 with a .315 SLG and 2 HR's. Rickey was even worse. He started so hot, and is not quite pedestrian. For July he batted only .192/.287/.283 with 10 stolen bases. Not enough frankly. Inky had half as many at bats and more production.


The pitching staff is still a bright spot, but with both Tanana and Valenzuela gone now will it continue? Tanana was the top pitcher in July. He only went 1-0, but his 1.52 ERA lead the team. Bryn Smith (3-1, 1.86) and Kelly Downs (4-1, 2.11) were right behind in what was a very strong month for pitchers. Fernando was the dead weight and it was showing in his games. For July he went 0-3, with a 6.14 ERA. His control was an issue, so now that he's out, maybe he can come back and be more of what he was before the injury.


Looking around the league, in the NL it's really a 2 horse race. The Astros will most likely play the Mets in the NLCS. They have the 2 best records in baseball. The Astros lead LA by 12 games. The Mets only lead the Pirates by 6. That has shrunk by 3 games since June. The Pirates are baseball's hottest team. They are on a 13 game winning streak.


Over in the AL. The East is a catfight between the O's, Blue Jays and Yankees. None of these teams has a winning record though. The Jays are a game below, the closest thing to a winning team. The West is a mess. Four teams are within 4 games. Right now the M's lead the way, and the Rangers and Angels are right behind, followed by the White Sox. The A's are in 5^th. If they were in the East, they'd be tied for first. So you'd have to think that whoever comes out of the West will make the Series.


August is here. Historically, this has been a make or break month. I think it's already broken. The Astros are a top notch team. I don't think LA can catch them at all. It's a done deal. Sit back, relax, and let's just see where we end up at. The season's been written already. Let's just see it out.

[PilotMan]

8/1 5-1 L to the Reds
The Reds jumped all over Ken Howell (1-1) in his 2^nd start. They had 4 after 2 and never looked back. LA left 9 runners on base and wasted an 8 hit, 4 walk night. John Denny and John Franco pitched 4 hitless innings, but it didn't matter in the end. Von Hayes and Pete O'Brien had 2 hit games each. The Reds started recently acquired prospect Andrew Robertson who started his first career game and threw 6 scoreless innings. Roy Smith pitched the final 3 for his first save on the year. Dodgers top prospect Lee Stevens made his major league debut pinch hitting and lined out to third. The Reds just jumped LA for 2^nd in the West.


8/2 4-3 L to the Reds
Rickey goes 3-4 and Inky goes deep (7), but a Kal Daniels HR (15) in the 3^rd off of Michael Cunningham put the Reds back up. LA tied the game in the 4^th and it stayed that way until Danny Tartabull, on for an injured Daniels knocked in the go ahead run. Niedenfuer (1-2) took the loss, but was hurt by an O'Brien error. Former Dodger Ted Power started and left early with an injury. Cunningham pitched 6, but walked 9 and allowed 3 hits. The Reds stranded 12 runners.


8/3 8-6 L (11) to the Reds
Another sweep loss to a quality team. The Reds pounded Bryn Smith early for 5 runs before LA even had a hit. Jose Canseco, who leads the NL in batting with a .371 average, went 4-6 and scored in the 11^th. The Reds took the lead in the 8^th, but LA tied it in the 9^th. Rickey had 3 hits and O'Brien went 2-3 with a bases loaded double. Tekulve (5-1) took his first loss of the year. Inky went 0-5 with 4 K's including in the bottom of the 11^th as the winning run, with 2 out and 2 on.


8/5 2-0 W over the Astros
Pitching saves the day. Greg Swindell and Kelly Downs (13-5) went head to head and neither budged. Both pitchers threw up zeroes for 16 innings worth of work while the offenses couldn't get anything across. In the 9^th, with Astros closer Garrelts (2-6) on, Ken Caminiti pinch hit for Wilkerson and drove a ball into the RF seats (6) to put LA up. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 21^st save even though Downs batted for himself in the 9^th. Downs could have closed it out.


Sid Fernandez (remember him?) former Dodgers top prospect, traded away for Willie Randolph, who went on to be a 2-time All Star and Cy Young winner, who has thrown 2 no hitters, made his return to baseball after being out for a year. Fernandez, went 7, walked 8, struck out 4 in his return as the M's won 12-1 over the A's. Welcome back Sid!


8/6 3-1 L to the Astros
Dale Murphy went deep (18) and former Dodger Dave Stewart (13-6) kept LA off the board until the 8^th inning. Mike Schmidt added a couple hits and Jim Beattie (1-3) took the loss, but pitched well, striking out 6. Garrelts finished for his 30^th save on the year.


8/7 4-1 W over the Astros
The 1-4 hitters in the Dodgers lineup went 9-17 in the game, with 2 walks and set the table for the entire team. The breakthrough came in the 6^th on slew of hits for the Dodgers. Caminiti lead the way going 3-5. Von Hayes added an insurance run with a solo homer in the 9^th (16). Ken Howell goes 6.1, has some control problems, but improves to 2-1. Franco gets his 22^nd save.


8/8 5-1 L to the Astros
LA splits the series with Houston with the loss today. Dale Murphy went deep for number 19. Tom Candiotti (8-3) only allowed 2 hits in 7.2 innings, but walked a season high 8. Bryn Smith (12-9) took the loss. Don Robinson left the game with some arm pain. Curtis Wilkerson went 2-2 with a double and triple. That alone was half our offense. LA is now 15 games behind Houston and 2 behind the Reds.


8/9 6-1 L to the Reds
Cunningham (0-1) got into trouble early on surrendering a homer to Canseco (20) in the first, then giving up 4 more in the 2^nd was it. Was out after the 4^th inning. The highlight was Denny allowing 1 hit over 3 innings. Von Hayes homered in the first (17). He still leads the team.


8/10 3-1 L to the Reds
Jack Morris (15-6) shut down the Dodgers. He nearly shut us out, but we got a run in the 9^th. Schmidt went 3-4 and knocked in the only run. Kelly Downs (13-6) took the loss, but pitched just fine. That's another loss for LA. September can't get here fast enough.


There's still no update on Don Robinson's injury. This can't be good news.


8/11 6-2 L to the Reds
LA took a 2 run lead early on and helped by an Inky HR (8) in the 3^rd. Jim Beattie (1-4) couldn't hold on to it though, as Canseco took him deep in the 5^th to put the Reds on top (21). Beattie ended up being on the hook for all 6 runs today and Dodger pitchers walked 9 in a very poor showing.


Don Robinson is heading to the 15 day DL with a sore shoulder. He's going to be out a few weeks at least. Brian Holton was recalled to take his spot in the bullpen.


8/12 1-0 W over the Giants
Von Hayes got 2 of LA's 3 hits, and Caminit scored the only run thanks to a Giants error. Ken Howell (3-1) pitched 7 scoreless and Franco pitched the 9^th for his 23^rd save. Rickey had to leave the game after making a diving catch. Von Hayes now has 17 HR's and 18 Sb's. He's closing in on a good 20/20 season.


Good news on Henderson. He's got a mild muscle strain and won't be going to the DL.


8/13 6-5 W over the Giants
LA put up 6 in the first 2 innings and spent the rest of the game hanging on. Pete O'Brien and Mike Schmidt hit 2-run HR's in the first (13 and 12 respectively). Bryn Smith (13-9) struggled through 6 and Franco pitched the 9^th for his 24th save.


8/14 6-5 L to the Giants
Lasorda paid the price for leaving Cunningham (0-2) in the game too long tonight. Karl Pagel smashed a 3-run PH HR in the 8^th (4) that put the Giants up for good. O'Brien went 3-5 and Schmidt and Scioscia both added 2 hits each. The team left 9 runners on base in this one. Tom Niedenfuer threw 5 pitches before needing to leave with some kind of injury.


Scans on Niedenfuer were negative. Just a few back spasms and he won't be heading to the disabled list. Ozzie Smith was activated off the DL. Curtis Wilkerson was placed on waivers and designated for assignment. Wilkerson batted .125 with 4 RBI's in 29 games.


8/15 5-3 W over the Giants
We take 3 out of 4 from the pathetic Giants. Ozzie returns from the DL and picks up a couple hits. O'Brien hit his 14^th HR of the year in the 4^th that tied the game back up. Otherwise it was a sloppy game, we committed 3 errors, and barely pulled off the win despite having 10 this and drawing a couple more walks. Eric King lost to drop to 3-10. Kelly Downs was the winner (14-6) and Franco pitched the 9^th for his 25^th save.


8/16 11-2 L to the Phillies
The Phillies suck and the Phillies owned us today. Former Dodger prospect, Kurt Stillwell, went deep off of us again (8) as part of a 3-5 day. Both Jim Beattie (1-5) and John Denny got smoked on the mound. LA got 2 hit games from Von Hayes, Mike Schmidt and Ken Caminiti. Stillwell has a higher slugging average than Pedro Guerrero does this season.


Andre Dawson got his 2000^th career hit today's game against the Padres. He also hit his 20^th HR of the year.


Michael Cunningham (0-2, 5.63) was optioned back to Albuquerque and starter Kirk Vucsko was promoted to take his place. This is the first time that Vucsko has been to the majors. He is in his 4^th year at AAA, and at age 27, hasn't exactly been dominating. This year he's 9-8, with a 4.38 ERA. He has major control issues with a 1.71 WHIP and 114 walks in 156 IP. Vucsko is a righty, with a mid 90's fastball, and that is his best pitch. He also throws a cutter, curve and change. For some reason, Denny is still in the bullpen, when I think he'd be well served to go back to the rotation. Lasorda is still the one in charge though.


8/17 5-3 L to the Phillies
Ken Howell (3-2) was completely ineffective early on as the Phillies got all 5 runs in the first couple innings. Lasorda left him in to figure things out and he did pull it together well enough to go 5.2 innings. LA tried to fight back. Scioscia smacked his first homer of the year as part of a 3-4 game. DiPino threw 3.1 scoreless in relief. Greg Maddux got the win to see his record improve to 5-15.


8/18 5- 2 W over the Phillies
Bryn Smith (14-9) pitched 8 innings for the win and Franco pitched the 9^th for his 26^th save. Chuck Jackson came into the game hitting 1-15 on the season. Today was his day. Batting 2^nd, Jackson went 3-4 and doubled in 2 runs. He also stole his first base of the year. Scioscia hurt his back on a play at the plate where he was called out, and had to leave the game. Lee Stevens got his first career start and had his first career hit as well.


Scioscia's MRI was negative and he's being treated for some soreness. He won't be going to the DL. Yay for us!


Winfield is on the verge of coming back. Inky hasn't exactly been abusing baseballs in his absence.


8/19 2-1 W over the Expos
Rookie prospect Lee Stevens came out of the dugout in the 8^th inning to pinch hit for Kelly Downs (15-6) with the game tied at 1. Charlie Hough (8-11) was still in the game for the Expos and Stevens saw the 2^nd pitch and put it in the right field seats for hit 2^nd career hit, and first career HR. That was the game winning run for LA. Franco pitched the 9^th for this 27^th save. Caminiti had homered in the 7^th (7) to tie the game for LA.


Wilkerson cleared waivers and was sent to Albuquerque.


8/20 6-3 W over the Expos
Kirk Vucsko made his Major League debut today and gave up a triple to the leadoff hitter, who scored. And in the 2^nd Robin Yount cracked a HR (11) off of him. Vucsko would pitch into the 6^th, throwing 84 pitches, but left with the game tied. In the 6^th, LA got a pinch hit, bases loaded double, that scored 3 from Larry Parrish that opened the game up for LA. Brian Holton (2-0) got the win, while Franco pitched the 9^th for another save, his 28^th. Vucsko did get a base hit in his first official at bat.


Dave Winfield was activated from the DL and Stevens was optioned back to AAA, for what appears to be, just a couple weeks, until the end of the month.


8/21 9-1 L to the Expos
The Candy Man was in vintage form today. He should have gotten the shut out, but LA got a mercy run in the 9^th. Jim Beattie (1-6) dropped another one. He walked 7, and allowed 6 hits ,while striking out 5 in 6 innings. John Denny served up back to back homers after he came on in relief. This one was a sorry reminder of the good ol Expo dominating days, where they owned us.


Former Dodger, Dwight Evans, got his 2000^th career hit today. Evans was batting 3^rd and DH'ing for the Blue Jays, where he's played the last couple years.


The Giants become the first baseball team eliminated from the playoffs. This is the 17^th time in a row that the Giants have missed the playoffs.


8/22 3-1 L to the Mets
Strawberry went deep two times (33,34) off of Ken Howell (3-3) and gave the Mets all the offense they'd need in this one. LA's offense was nowhere to be found for yet another game. Howell struck out 6 in 5 innings, but still walked 3 and allowed 6 hits. DiPino and Tekulve pitched great out of the bullpen. Mike LaCoss (7-11) went 8 and lowered his ERA to 4.73 since his trade to the Mets. LA's offense sucks.


8/23 5-4 L to the Mets
A back and forth endeavor today. Bud Black and Bryn Smith both started, but neither would figure in to the final. They left with the score tied at 1, late. LA picked up 3 in the 7^th, thanks to a 2-run single from Ozzie, who had 3 RBI's on the day, bringing him up to 20 on the year. And LA was up 4-1. Smith ran into trouble right away in the 8^th, walking the first 2 hitters, getting a K, then allowing a hit. Franco (3-3) was brought in and struggled to get out of the inning and before it was done the Mets had the lead again. He locked them down in the 8^th, but Randy Myers had already shut LA down to get his 27^th save on the year.


Ron Kittle hit 44 HR's in a Dodger uniform over parts of 5 seasons. He's been with Texas for parts of 2 and now has hit 50 in a Rangers uniform (he hit 33 in a White Sox uni in parts of 2). It feels like we could have used some of his power this year. Between Lynn last year, and the numbers that Kittle has put up, this LA team is really struggling to get the ball over the fence to drive in runs.


8/24 5-2 L to the Mets
Ron Darling (12-10) goes 8, allowing 4 hits to pick up the win. Rickey homered for the 10^th time this season as part of a 2-3 day. Lasorda made Inky play catcher today, and the results weren't great. He went 0-3 with a passed ball. Kelly Downs (15-7) took the loss.


Vucsko and Cunningham swap places on the roster with Vucsko heading back to Albuquerque.


8/26 7-5 W over the Phillies
Jim Beattie (2-6) pitched a great game, going 7 innings allowing only 4 hits. He got help with 11 hits from the offense. Von Hayes went 3-4 and Dave Winfield blasted his 15^th HR of the year. LA went into the 9^th with a 7-1 lead and John Denny on the mound. Denny was completely useless and served up 3 straight hits. With the tying run at the plate John Franco came on, but even he didn't keep it clean.Bases loaded with 2 outs and Guerrero up at the place and Franco got him to ground out to end it. For his 29^th save.


Expos slugger Andre Dawson hit homer #300 today off of Padres starter Greg Mathews. Dawson, 33, has spent his entire career in Montreal, all 13 seasons. He's got 3 more years left in his contract with the Expos.


8/27 6-3 W over the Phillies
LA picks up another one thanks, almost singlehandedly thanks to Ken Caminiti who went 3-5 with 3 doubles, one of which was with the bases loaded. Von Hayes also added 3 hits, but left the game with a knee injury on a close play at first. Ken Howell (4-3) went 5.1, struck out 6, walking 4 for the win. The bullpen kept the Phillies from coming back.


The Phillies are mathematically eliminated from the season with their loss today. This is the 7^th year since they last made it.


Good news on Hayes, tests were negative and he's not going to the DL. Just some knee soreness.


8/28 7-4 W over the Phillies
That's 3 in a row for us. Both teams combined for 30 base hits. The Phils went up 4-3 in the 3^rd helped along by old Pedro Guerrero going 3-5 with 2 RBI's. Bryn Smith (15-9) served up 11 hits, in 5 short innings while the bullpen threw 4 scoreless with Franco closing out the last 2 for his 30^th save on the year. LA's 4-5-6 hitters, Winfield, Caminti and O'Brien all had 3 hits each and totaled 5 RBI's.


8/29 7-0 L to the Expos
Again, a loss to the Expos. David Palmer (13-11) was simply sublime today. He went the distance throwing a 2-hit shutout. Kelly Downs (15-8) took the loss in one of his worst starts this year. Allowed 12 hits, over 5 innings, as the Expos hit everything. Denny was good for 3 out of the pen.


8/30 3-0 L to the Expos
The Candy Man strikes again. Candelaria (10-8) goes 7, and looks like old Candy tonight against LA. Ozzie and Caminiti each got 2 of LA's 7 hits, but that's all LA would do. Mark Cunningham (0-3) made 7 good innings tonight, but a Galarraga HR (29) in the 5^th but the Expos up. The Expos have 3 20 HR guys, and 1 nearly there and another nearly at 30. LA's leader has 17. We have a major power outage in LA. To add insult to injury, Rickey left the game with a leg injury.


Good news on Rickey, just a thigh bruise, and not DL. Thankfully.


8/31 6-2 W over the Expos
Jim Beattie (3-6) pitched a great game tonight. He kept the Expos hitless until the 7^th inning and went 8 before giving way. Winfield and Caminit both had 2 hit games, and Mike Schmidt, who has been completely inept with a bat lately, broke through with a 3-run HR (13) in the 4^th inning. Charlie Hough (8-12) got beat up, but the Expos bullpen shut the Dodgers down for the final 4 innings.

[PilotMan]

August Recap


August has been the make or break month for LA in the past, and this year, despite being behind, it was definitely a break month. LA went 12-17, it was the worst month of the year, 5 games below .500. That brings this years Dodgers to 68-65 on the year, 18 games behind the Astros and good for 3^rd place in the NL West.


It is not going to be a playoff year for LA. We're on the ropes, and the Astros are coming down the home stretch for the NL West pennant.


To that end, let's look at just how crappy things are going for this team. LA's offense is firmly 11^th in the NL in batting, and 11^th in runs scored. 9^th in OBP and 8^th in HR's. No matter how you cut it, those numbers aren't going to create a playoff winning team. LA does lead in stolen bases, mostly to Rickey and his 62 steals.


Just how bad was August offensively? The top hitter Caminiti (.290/.336/.421). That was the best, and those aren't season numbers, that is one month. Who lead the team in home runs? It was so bad that 5 guys tied for the lead. They only had 2 all month. So the HR leader on the team, for the month, hit 2 HR's the entire month. Caminiti, Hayes, Schmidt, O'Brien, and Inky. That sucks.

There's only 1 player who was the worst too. That was future Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt. Schmidt's play has been so bad that there have been many calls for him to be benched. Although his 2 HR's tied him for the lead, his slash line was .173/.234/.255. His 10 RBI's were good enough for 3^rd on the team. Inky was also bad. He batted .184/.229/.289 when he had the chance to show everyone just what he could do to help.


Overall, Von Hayes is still the best hitter on the team.


The pitching staff is still pretty good. Overall they are 3^rd in ERA, with the bullpen slightly better (2^nd) than the rotation (4^th). On defense, the team has slipped to 3^rd in the NL, and that is a huge benefit to this particular team.


Even though the team is still pitching well, August was bad for the rotation. The top starter was Downs who went 3-3, with a 3.61 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP for the month. DiPino pitched great. He didn't allow a run in 15.2 innings, and Franco saved 10 games, with a 1.02 ERA in 14 games.


So the season is pretty much over, but that doesn't mean we can't look at what's going on in the rest of the league.


In the NL West, it's the Astros with an 11.5 game lead on the 2^nd place Reds. Their magic number is 19. The Astros hold the best record in baseball at 86-47 and boast, without question, the best pitching staff in the league.


In the NL East, it's the Mets who have been in front all year, and look good for their lead at 14 games over the Pirates. The Mets are the 2^nd best team in baseball with an 85-48 record. The Mets lead the NL in HR's thanks to their team of young sluggers and Doc Gooden.


In the AL West, it's been tight all year, and the M's continue to hold on to a 1 game lead over the Rangers, and a 3 game lead on the White Sox. The Anges have drifted to 5.5 back. The M's have been slumping as of late and are dealing with some newer injury issues. It's possible that they won't on, even with the top batting team in the AL.


In the AL East, the Yankees, who made the most moves at the trade deadline, are 3 games in front of the Brewers, and at 68-64, are the only team with a winning record. The Brewers have won 9 in a row, but the Yankees are nearly keeping pace. The pivotal move for the Yankees was the waiver claim and subsequent 6 year contract extension acquisition of Joe Carter from the White Sox.


The only ray of hope for LA right now, is that maybe being out of the top will net them a halfway decent draft pick for the future. The ownership isn't aggressive and so the results won't be either. The next offseason could be interesting though. Winfield is 100 plate appearances away from hitting his vesting for next year. He is projected to fall 1 PA shy. Schmidt has the same deal, but he's almost there. Not sure that's a good thing. Henderson has a player op out after this year, which you have to believe that he'll take. Ozzie will be gone unless they get an extension done, and Fernando might too. Things could look really, really different next year, and and just the expected losses between those guys, amount to almost 30% of the payroll. It's a big deal.

[PilotMan]

September Roster Expansion


Maybe it'll be interesting, maybe not. Here are the early September call ups for LA.


P Kirk Vucsko, 27 (9-10, 4.65, 1.70 WHIP, 166 IP in AAA, 0-0 3.38 in 1 GS for LA)
Vucsko got his first taste of big league ball this year after a long road through the Dodgers minor league system. His career totals are unimpressive. He throws a mid 90's fastball with good movement, and a cutter. His curve and change up need work.


P Sergio Del Rosario, 23 (3-1, 7S, 4.21 in AA; 7.04 ERA in 4 games in AAA)
Del Rosario gets his 2^nd call to the big leagues. Last year, he was ineffective in 5 games posting a 14.29 ERA. His talent has not translated to results as he's come up the system. He throws 3 good pitches, with good stuff. His fastball touches 100 MPH, but his control has dogged him somewhat.


C John Debus, 30 (.286/.335/.443, 5 HR/32 RBI in AAA)
Debus is also making his 2^nd return to LA. He is able to play the corners and outfield as well. He's a decent catcher, but possesses very little in the way off offense, outside of forcing opposing pitchers to work for the out. He's been in the LA farm system his whole career.


UTIL Ty Dabney, 26 (.318/.358/.484, 4HR/52RBI in AAA)
This is Dabney's 3^rd trip to LA. He played in 5 games in '86, and 7 last year. In total he is 4-14 batting. A lefty who can play a multitude of positions, he has shown to be very valuable off the bench and capable, at least in the minors, with the bat. He's a gap hitter, who doesn't really impress in any other way. He was a 5^th round pick in '84.


OF Tom Beyers, 30 (.333/.392/.485, 7HR/79RBI in AAA)
Having been bypassed by both Jennings and Stevens it's a little surprising to see Beyers get the call, but nice all the same. He has nearly 1400 minor league hits over 9 seasons in the LA system and bats over .300. He made the most of his call up last year, batting .375/.451/.552 in 23 games. I'm sure he expected to make it to the bigs before now, but it's nice to see him the same. This is his last option year.


OF Doug Jennings, 23 (.334/.468/.497, 7HR/45 RBI in AAA; .297/.395/.351 in 12 with LA)
Jennings was LA's first round pick in 1983. He's been up already this season, and put up respectable numbers) One of the team leaders in Albuquerque, Jennings can play all outfield positions and first. A spray hitter with a good eye, Jennings hopes to build on his chances.


OF Lee Stevens, 21 (.340/.431/.580, 20HR in AA; .326/.408/.535 in 11 games in AAA; and 2-7 in 6 games in LA)
The top prospect in the LA farm system, Stevens is the #74 prospect in baseball. A former first rounder of the Reds, he came to LA in the Tony Phillips deal in the offseason. He plays in center and at first, and is the most well rounded of the LA call ups. Good HR potential, and average range, make him the best in LA, but not really a top overall prospect across the league.


LA is already tight in the OF. How will calling up these 3 guys change that? Or will they even grab playing time? Will any of these guys really be able to contribute this season?

[PilotMan]

9/2 7-1 L to the Mets
Winfield went 2-3 and hit his 20^th double of the year. Bryn Smith (15-10) lost again. Smith made 3 mistakes. One to Glenn Davis in the 2^nd (9) and 2 to the Straw Man (36,37). The Mets rapped out 14 hits in all, and cruised to an easy win.


9/3 14-6 W over the Mets
The Mets started off with a 5 spot in the first and looked like a repeat of yesterday, but then LA came back. And did they ever. Today marks the highest run output from LA all year, and the first time since July 27^th that they've gotten at least 10. Ever starter except Von Hayes got into the hit parade today with Ozzie leading the way with 3. Schmidt went 2-4 with a bases clearing double. Of LA's 16 hits, 8 were for extra bases. Kelly Downs (16-8) gets the win in a bad outing. Rickey was forced to leave the game late after hurting his shoulder making a diving catch with the game decided. Ugh.


9/4 3-2 L to the Mets
LA wastes a really good performance from Ken Howell. Howell allowed 4 hits over 7.1 innings of shut out baseball and then gave way to John Franco. Franco got out of the 8^th inning just fine, but it was the 9^th where things fell apart. Franco, now 3-4 on the year, blows his 7^th save chance. They game went from 2-0 to 3-2 on a bases clearing, double by former Dodger killer(?) Luis Salazar (known from his Padres days). Gene Nelson (4-2) gets the win.


In other really great news, the LA Dodgers have lost Rickey Henderson for the rest of the year to a significant shoulder injury. He's gone to the 60 day DL. Henderson only batted .250 this year, with 10 HR's. He was a speed demon early on, but his getting on base dropped off and so did his production. At one point he was on pace for well over 100 steals, but ended the year early with 64. There's a very good chance this is the last we'll see of Rickey in LA. 1988 was Henderson's least productive year since his rookie season in '79.


9/5 13-3 L to the Braves
Ozzie Smith went 3-4 and Von Hayes hit his 18^th HR of the year. Jim Beattie (3-7) struggled through 5 innings and Sergio Del Rosario's first appearance this year went very poorly. He was responsible for 5 runs in an inning and two-thirds. The Braves Craig Biggio lead off with a homer (13) and they never looked back. Glavine (14-11) picked up the W.


9/6 8-2 W over the Braves
Mike Schmidt went deep in the 4^th (14) as part of a 7 run inning that put LA in front for good. Inky had a bases clearing triple in the same inning as things just didn't go right for Brian Fischer (3-10). LA's rookie Kirk Vucsko (1-0) got his first career win with a 6 inning outing, where we walked 5 and struck out 7. John Denny pitched the final 3 for his 2^nd save.


9/7 8-4 L to the Astros
Don't really expect to win any of these games. Winfield went 3-5 and Caminiti 2-4. The Astros went up 2-0 and it was close for most, then they added 4 more in the 7^th and chased Bryn Smith (15-11). LA put 4 up in the bottom off of Candiotti (12-4) and got it close again, but in the top of the 9^th the Astros got to Franco for 3 more to put it away. Lee Stevens was hurt in a collision at 2^nd and had to leave.


9/8 9-5 L to the Astros
Houston put up 2 early off of Kelly Downs (16-9), but LA got them back plus 1 by the bottom of the 2^nd, thanks to a Schmidt HR (15). Once again, things went ary in the 6^th and 7^th as Downs was chased and the bullpen did him no favors, leaving him on the hook for 7 runs as Barry Larkin cleared the bases with one of his 3 doubles in the game.


Don Robinson was activated off of the DL, recovered from his shoulder injury.


IF Curtis Wilkerson was promoted to the main roster. Wilkerson put up good numbers in AAA, but in 89 games in the majors he's hitting .214, with an OPS of .552. Yippee.


9/9 16-4 W over the Reds
Middle of the third, after 2 Reds HR's, one by Luis Alicea who lead off with one (10) and the other, a 2 run shot by Kal Daniels (16). Those were the only errors by Ken Howell (5-3) who struck out 8 in 6. cut the game in half when Winfield went deep (17) and again when Inky tied it in the 5^th (9) with a 482 ft blast. The wheels came off for the Reds in the 6^th though. LA sent something like 16 guys to the plate, scored 12 runs, and and saw Hayes hit number 19. Mike Scioscia left the game with an injury so we'll have to deal with that again. John Denny pitched the final 3 for save number 3. Only the 2^nd win in 13 tries against the Reds.


Lee Stevens is on the DL with a bone bruise on his arm.


9/10 7-6 (11) W over the Reds
Tie game until the 4^th when Winfield went opposite field (18) to tie it up. Jim Beattie got touched for 4 more in the 6^th and it looked like that would hold, but in the 9^th, Quiz could not get an out against LA. Batter after batter, and in the end it was an Ozzie Smith 2 run triple that tied the game up. The Reds got out of that jam, but they couldn't get out of the blown 9^th and ultimate loss in the 11^th. Curt Wilkerson provided the game winning hit. We denied Jack Morris's 20^th win of the year.


Both Greg Swindell (20-3) of Houston and Doc Gooden (20-6) of New York joined the 20 win club. This is Gooden's 3^rd 20 win season in 6 years.


Just back tightness for Scioscia, and no trip to the DL.


With that win for Swindell and the Astros, the Los Angeles Dodgers are eliminated from the playoffs this year. With a 16 game lead on the Reds, the magic number is down for 5 for the Astros. The Mets need 9. In the AL, the Yankees are 2.5 in front, with a number of 18. And the West, the Rangers have come out on top by 4 games, and they have a number of 17.


9/11 9-3 L to the Reds
The Reds got on the board first with another first inning HR. This one from SS Jeffery Wilson (15). LA would claw that one back in the 4^th then take the lead in the 5^th. Kirk Vucsko (1-1) pitched well and held the slim lead, but Lasorda, once again, sent him out one inning too late. Back to back home runs by rookie Orsino Hill (1, his first career) and Luis Alicea (11) surrendered the tight lead. Tom Niedenfuer blew the game open allowing 6 in an inning and a third. Kal Daniels walked 5 times for the Reds. LA squandered a 3-5 game from Wilkerson and a game where Scioscia reached base on all 4 plate appearnces.


9/12 3-2 L to the Braves
Bryn Smith took a 2 hit shutout into the 9^th inning. Then a single and a pinch hit HR by Craig Worthington (6) tied the game. Franco came on and served up single to Craig Biggio, who then stole 2^nd, and took 3^rd on a throwing error. Andres Thomas knocked him in, then Franco (3-5) got some outs. LA got 2 hit games from Scioscia, Smith, and Biggio. LA had the tying run on third, and Dwayne Murphy poked a little flare to left, but Dan Boever was able to make the catch to end the game.


The Padres Bob Ojeda joins the 20 win club.


LA has promoted OF Billie Merrifield. A former 4^th rounder, in 1982 of the Dodgers, he had previously played in 20 games, but never an at bat. He can play the corner infield positions as well as a couple in the outfield. He's spent most of '88 in AA San Antonio, where he batted .246/.284/.363.


There's just a little over 2 weeks of baseball left for this year. The Dodgers hopes are crushed and the DL is full. Of the guys on the DL, we may have seen the last of Rickey Henderson and Fernando Valenzuela in a Dodgers uniform. We also have no chance of see BJ Surhoff or Frank Tanana back in action this year.


9/13 5-4 L to the Braves
Kelly Downs didn't allow a hit until the 7^th inning but it still didn't earn the W. The Braves went up, and LA tied it in the 7^th, but Kent Tekulve (6-2) got hit by Craig Biggio's 14^th of the year, and that ended up being the winning margin. Once again LA got the tying run on 3^rd, but Jim Acker shut us down and he earned his 14^th save.


LA had dropped into a tie for 3^rd now with the Padres. The Braves lurk another game behind. 5^th place is a real possibility. Tom Lasorda's job is in real jeopardy right now. He is in the last year of his deal, and while he has had tremendous success, this year will be one to forget and it may do him in. The rumblings are beginning.


Mike Scioscia is back on the DL again with back tightness. He just can't seem to shake this injury. So LA's catching situation will be back to a plethora of minor leaguers to handle. C Larry See (.248/5/30 in AAA) was recalled to take his roster spot.


LA has signed journeyman reliever Don Aase (4-4, 5.85 40G with Boston) was signed to a minor league deal a week after being released by the Red Sox. Aase had turned 34 the day he was released, and has a 3.95 career ERA. LA is hist 8^th pro team in his career.


9/14 11-5 W over the Braves
Ken Howell (6-3) struck out 11 Braves in 7 innings. LA put up 4 in the 3^rd and 3 more in the 4^th against Zane Smith (10-10). Inky hit HR number 10 and Von Hayes became the first Dodger to hit 20 HR's on the year. In fact, Hayes is putting the touches on his best season ever, by joining the 20/20 club. Bad luck continued to hound the team. Dave Winfield left the game with a back injury, as did John Denny, who had come on in relief.


Things just go from bad to worse for LA. Dave Winfield needs 550 PA to get the vesting for his contract extension. He had been on pace to get it, but he had to go on the DL with a back strain and he is likely done for the year. He has 505 PA's. So he will be a free agent. No work on John Denny yet.


OF Mitch Webster was brought up to the Majors after spending the entire year in Albuquerque. Webster suffered through a multitude of injuries this season and still managed to hit .370/.427/.518 with 21 steals in 66 games. Webster last played for the Blue Jays and has a career .281 average.


Denny is now done too. With a non-throwing shoulder injury, he won't be back until the spring. Tough break for him. '89 will be his last on contract.


9/16 7-6 L to the Reds
Reds went up 6-0 on Jim Beattie (3-8) after 3 innings. Kal Daniels hit #18. LA kept fighting back though. Von Hayes homered in the 5^th (21), as part of a 3-4 day. Curtis Wilkerson also went 3-4, with 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored. Mike Schmidt came off the bench and homered in the 9^th to cut the lead to 7-6 before Quiz closed the door (35). LA's Sergio DelRosario who up to now, had possibly the worst career pitching stats ever, pitched 3.2 innings, no hits, 4 walks and 3 K's. His best career outing. It dropped his season ERA to 12.00.


The Astros are the first team to clinch a title, winning the West with their 97^th win of the season. The Mets are down to 2 for their magic number. In the AL, the Yankees are 3.5 in front and are still the only plus .500 team in the East. The West is still a mess. The Rangers had moved to the front, but the surging White Sox have caught them. The M's linger 2 back and the Angels only 4.5.


9/17 8-3 W over the Reds
LA scored 4 times in the first, which was enough to win the game outright. Curtis Wilkerson went 3-5 with a bases clearing double in the first. He ended with 4 RBI's. Von Hayes hit #22 in the 2^nd, a solo shot, and Caminiti added another in the 9^th, his 8^th of the season. Bryn Smith (16-11) pitched 8, throwing only 102 pitches to get the job done.


9/18 6-5 L to the Reds
A good game from Kelly Downs, and the bullpen kept him from getting his 17^th win. Carrying a 4-3 lead into the 8^th Niedenfeur served up a 2-run HR to Nick Esasky (23) that put the Reds up in front. LA sneaked a run in the 9^th to tie it up and Don Robinson (0-4) took the game to the 9^th. Nothing went right, 3 hits, a big throw at the plate to salvage the game, then back to back walks that let the winning run score. Ozzie Smith was injured in a collision at 2^nd base and was taken out.


Of course, the news is not good for the Wizard of Oz. He's torn some ligaments in his thumb and he is done for the year. LA only got 92 games from Ozzie this year. He did good, but it was costly. He may not be back next year.


The Mets are the Kings of the NL East. They will meet the Astros in the least surprising preseason pick ever.


9/19 5-4 W over the Astros
This may as well be our playoffs. We traded the lead 4 times with the Astros. Von Hayes was great, going 4-4 with his 23^rd HR. Pete O'Brien's 15^th in the 8^th put LA back on top for good. Franco pitched the last 2 innings for his 31^st save on the year.


9/20 8-3 L to the Astros
Barry Larkin went deep in the 2^nd and 4^th (13,14) off of Kirk Vucsko (1-2). LA's young starter allowed 10 runners, 6 of them walks, while also getting 6 K's in an all or nothing effort in under 5 innings. Even though it was still close, reliver DelRosario did him no favors as he allowed a single, then a grand slam to Dickie Thon (9). Caminit went 2-4 with a pair of doubles.


9/21 7-2 W over the Padres
The Padres scored first, with 2 in the first on a Gwynn 2-run shot. Jim Beattie (4-8) settled down from there and worked 7 strong. LA scored the next 7, with 5 in the first as they batted around. Mike Schmidt went 3-3 with his 17 HR and Pete O'Brien went 2-5 with his 16^th. LA got a lot of help from the others in the lineup. Mitch Webster, Curt Wilkerson and Larry See all had 2 hit games.


LA begins the final run of their games with all of the remaining games being against either the Padres or Giants. Right now we are in 3^rd, but only 2 game separate the Braves and Padres. If things go badly we could easily be surpassed, however, having the 106 loss Giants on the schedule may help that.


Don Aase has been promoted to the club for the final few series. LA is now the 8^th uniform that Aase will have worn in his 12 year career.


9/22 4-1 (10) W over the Padres
Bob Ojeda and Bryn Smith went head to head all game. After each team scored in the first it stayed zeroes until the 10^th. With Bob Stanley (5-6) on the mound, Schmidt walked, Wilkerson singled. After a pinch hitting Roy Smalley got out, Von Hayes stepped up and smashed a shot over the right field wall. It was Hayes' 24^th of the season and capped a 2-5 game. Tekulve (7-2) got the win.


Lee Stevens was activated off the DL, but doesn't figure to start with Hayes on fire in center and Pete O'Brien at first.


9/23 4-0 W over the Giants
Really, playing the Giants can make anyone look good. Kelly Downs (17-9) allowed 2 hits, and if not for a walk in the 9^th would have gotten to finish the game, but instead he had to settle for the W. Downs knocked in 2 of the 4 runs, with a bit 4^th inning double. It was his 4^th on the season. The real highlight was getting to see 30yr old C John Debus, get his first major league hit. He was overjoyed at the moment and the crowd appreciated it.


With just a few games remaining it looks like Schmidt might be done at third. While is production has been down most of the year it looks like he might just be too old to keep it up at the hot corner any longer. Wilkerson has slid over, while Chuck Jackson takes up the position at short.


9/24 3-1 L to the Giants
Lasorda is really shaking things up now. Don Robinson (0-5) got his first start of the season. I'll be honest, this really feels like we're scraping bottom now. He pitched ok, for just under 5 innings, and the bullpen was alright. Today, it was the offense that just couldn't get going off of Eric King (5-13). Of the Dodger starters, it was Curt Wilkerson (3-4) and Stan Holmes (2-4) that provided all the punch. A Mitch Webster single and RBI was the lone scoring play and nobody else even got a hit.


Rumor has it that Valenzuela may be available for one of the final 2 games of the year. Whether or not he gets to make a start is up to Tommy.


In the AL races, it's the Yankees with a tight 1 game lead on the Orioles. Both teams are at or above .500 now. In the West, the White Sox are a game in front of both the M's and Rangers, with the Angels 3 back, but the window is closing. The magic number for both teams is 8.


9/25 3-2 (12) W over the Giants
LA faced a pitcher in Tim Kammeyer who had walked 135 guys in 176 innings. The fact that LA rapped out 9 hits off of him in over 6 innings but didn't draw a walk until the 7^th has to say something. Kirk Vucsko had the best start of his career, pitching 7.2 and allowing only 3 hits, walking 3 with 4 K's. The Dodger bullpen did great, especially DiPino (3-4) who went 3 scoreless innings. LA outhit the Giants 14-4. In the 12^th Ty Dabney hit a double, and then scored on an Inky single. Chuck Jackson went 3-4. Giants rookie prospect Glenallen Hill hit the first homer of his career (1).


9/26 6-3 W over the Padres
The Padres opened up scoring in the first off of Jim Beattie (5-8), then again, Beattie settled down, good for his typical performance. Still LA couldn't do anything against Tandy Charley until the 7^th. In the 8^th Schmidt went deep for the 18^th time, and this one, a 3 run blast, put LA up for good. That capepd a 3-4 game for Schmidt and one of his best of recent times. The Padres loaded the bases with 1 out in the 9^th. Putting the tying run at the plate. John Franco was called on and got out allowing only 1 of them to score, before closing it out on a double play. His 32^nd save.


The second no-hitter of 1988 (Dave Stieb in July) was pitched by the most unlikely of pitchers. Cleveland Indians pitcher Mark Fellows, who at best, has been a really good minor league pitcher, no hit the Detroit Tigers tonight. He finished his 9 innings with the game tied at 0, as the Indians couldn't do anything against Teddy Higuera. In the bottom of the 9^th, tied, Fred Manrique lead off with a double. The Tigers brought in John Henry Johnson to pitch, and Kelly Gruber singled over the short stop. Manrique, running all the way scored from 2^nd to get Fellows the no hitter, who was mobbed in the dugout. This was Fellows first win of the year, in his 5^th start. He has 23 career starts over 3 seasons, starting 16 in '86. He's a 3 time minor league all star, and finished 2^nd in '87 for MVP and Pitcher of the Year in AAA. This year in AAA, he was 16-7, with a 2.89 ERA .His minor league success just has never showed up in the Majors. He's 30, and this has to be the high point of his career.


9/27 7-4 L to the Padres
Bryn Smith (16-12) allowed 3 2-run HR's in 5 short innings. That good hitting by the Padres, Matt Williams (25,26) and McGee (12), allowed them to go out and hide. LA chipped away getting 2 hit games from Caminiti, Inky, and Webster, but they just couldn't get close enough to really threaten the game. Bob Ojeda picks up his 22^nd win on a team with a losing record.


The O's who have been hard charging the Yankees are now having to do without the services of probably ROY Ken Griffey Jr. He's got an injury that would have him back in the middle of the ALCS if they make it that far. The team will now try and replace him with fellow rookie, Brian McRae.


9/28 2-0 L to the Padres
Great pitching dual between Kelly Downs (17-10) and Jimmy Key. Both men threw 8 inning shutouts with both teams only getting 5 hits in a clean game with no errors. Von Hayes opened the 9^th off with a great diving catch in right, but then had to leave the game with a bruise. He's probably not going to play any more this year, bu the injury isn't serious long term. Tom Beyers came in to play and Kevin McReynolds knocked a single into left. Downs faced Matt Williams next, who cleared the fence in right (27), over the watching eyes of Byers to end it.


Four games left for everyone else, 3 for LA. In the AL races things are crazy. The Yankees are 1 up on Baltimore, with 1 game to play between them before they both head elsewhere. The Yakees have an easier road, so the odds do favor them, slightly. In the West, it's now a 3 way tie for the lead, and legitimately anyone's to win. The Angels are only a half game back. The M's and Rangers finish with 4 against one another, while the White Sox go on the road to Kansas City, and the Angles finish with 3 on the road against the Twins. The Angels were supposed to win this division, but they are under 8% probability to take it. The winner of the M's/Rangers series has a 77% likelihood of winning the division. All 4 teams have 94 wins.


9/29
LA is off.
The Yankees win 7-3 and extend their lead in the East.
The White Sox fall to the Royals thanks to 2 Lance Parrish home runs (12).
The Rangers are shut out by Nolan Ryan and the M's (8K's), to take the lead.


Dave Winfield and Fernando Valenzuela were activated off the DL today.


9/30 7-2 W over the Giants
Pitching under the lights of LA, Dodger fans got to witness one final throw of the year, and possibly ever, for fan favorite and hometown hearo Fernando Valenzuela. In an emotional game, Fernando pitched more like his old self. Although he walked 5, and struck out 4, the Dodger icon, pitched into the 7^th inning and got the win to run his record to 5-11. LA hammered 6 extra base hits (of 10) including an 8^th inning blast by rookie Lee Stevens (2). Stevens finished the game 2-4. LA's also saw Winfield return and go 2-4, while Caminiti went 2-2, but walked 3 times. The fans gave Valenzuela a standing ovation as he left the field. He smiled and waived his cap in respect to the fans. No word yet on if the team is thinking of extending his contract. LA will finish with at least 81 wins this year.


The Yankees win and O's lose and that hands the title to the Yankees for this year.
The Angels stay close with a 5-2 win in Minnesota.
The White Sox lose again, this time in the bottom of the 9^th to the Royals.
In extra innings, the M's steal a game from the Rangers to drop the magic number to 2. Only the Angels now have any chance to take the division from the Mariners.


The Angels had the best team in the AL, but an August that saw them go 11-17 killed their strong run this year. They have the best pitching in the AL with 2 20game winners (Saberhagen, Storm Davis) and 1 19 game winner (Mike Witt).


Mike Scioscia was activated from the DL with his back issues.

[PilotMan]

September Recap


A 13-14 record for the month is nothing to be proud of at all. It's the 2^nd month in a row with a losing record, and overall, the team has been playing under .500 ball since the end of April. That's sad to think about. The injuries really started to pile up on the team and we felt it all month long. For the year, the team is still above 500, with an 81-79 record, and sitting in 3^rd in the NL West.


All around, the numbers went from bad to worse for LA. The team is 11^th in the NL in batting average, even though, they are 8^th in OBP, and 7^th in runs scored. The team is patient, being 3^rd in walks, and 8^th in HR's. A fair bit of speed has them 2^nd in steals. It's one of the worst hitting teams, if not the worst, since we started following along, back in '82.


There was 1 man, who lead the way on offense, and he has been the only really stable, reliable offensive threat all year long, and that is Von Hayes. In September, Hayes his .330/.429/.610 with 7 HR's. He made it to the 20/20 club and his defense in center is in the top of the NL. Caminiti also hit well in the month. Batting .330/.444/.454, he walked 20 times and stole 5 bases. Even Mike Schmidt seemed to find some energy hitting 5 homers, a monthly high for him this year. Lots of part time players saw substantial action in the month. Curt Wilkerson batted .338 in 19 games between filling in at 3^rd and SS. Stan Holmes hit .273 when Scioscia went down. We would have liked to have seen better output from both Inky (.245/.317/.394, 2 HR) and Pete O'Brien (.220/.306/.321, 2 HR) as they drug the team down.


It was the pitching that really slumped in September though. Having hung in there around 3^rd or 4^th all summer, the team ERA dropped to 5^th in the NL and 11^th in HR's allowed and 9^th in walks. Even though opposing hitters only batted .247 and the team defense was still 3^rd in the NL. Part of that drop was the starting pitching. Needing to rely on Jim Beattie (2-2, 6.37) and Kirk Vucsko (1-2, 4.13, 1.46 WHIP) wasn't strong. The most reliable starter through the month was Ken Howell (2-0, 3.71 and a 1.20 WHIP). Even Kirk Vucsko held his own, although 6 HR's allowed in 24 innings, 19 walks and 23 K's made his games interesting to watch. Kelly Downs (2-2, 4.14) perhaps pitched the best with is 1.19 WHIP, but the failure of Bryn Smith (1-3, 5.06), John Franco (0-2, 2 S, 5.56 ERA, 1.68 WHIP), Sergio DelRosario (0-0, 11.74, 2.09 WHIP) and Tom Niedenfuer (0-0, 12.15 ERA, 2.70 WHIP) made things harder for everyone. Rookie Michael Cunningham, who had started, came out of the bullpen to throw 8.1 innings with 0 runs allowed and only 2 hits, with his knuckleball.


There's not much else to say for September. LA was eliminated and we are only looking at what is to come with this team. Free agency could be busy.

[PilotMan]

10/1 7-2 W over the Giants
Don Robinson got another start, but never really got going. An arm injury in the 2^nd inning sent him to the lockers early. Kirk Vucsko (2-2) came on and threw 3 strong, walking 3 and striking out 5. LA did it all with 12 singles today. No extra base hits at all. Lee Stevens was the player of the game going 3-4 with an RBI in the leadoff spot, playing for Von Hayes. Inky, O'Brien, and Wilkerson all had 2 hit games as well.


The M's took another one from the Rangers and eliminated them from the playoffs. The Angels eeked out a 6-5 win in Minnesota to keep pace. It all comes down to the final day. The Angels will send Mike Witt to the mound in search of his 20^th against the Twins Frank Viola (12-11). The M's will send Mike Moore (14-8) against the Rangers Curt Young (6-7). Could we see another 1 game playoff like we saw last year?


10/2 7-5 L to the Giants
We don't end on a high note, getting knocked off by a team with 113 losses, at home. Bryn Smith (16-13) started and took the loss, but this one is really on Niedenfuer who let all of Smith's runners score, then allowed 3 more of his own in an inning of work. LA managed to snag a couple off of stud reliever Bryan Harvey (1.95 ERA) and homers by Lee Stevens (3) and Inky (11) are the last we'll see this year. O'Brien went 3-4, and Stevens, Winfield, and Inky all had 2 hit games today. It was simply another failure by the bullpen that let us down. Dan Plesac closed out for his 22^nd save of the season.


Mike Witt did get his 20^th win and the Angels won again, but they will go home this year, with no playoff. The Seattle Mariners, complete the 4 game sweep of the Rangers, at home, as Mike Moore picks up the win in a 5-1 victory.


Roger Clemens wins his 19^th on an Indians team that lost 95 games. He strikes out 13 in his final game and may me making a strong case for AL Cy Young.


Don Robinson blew his elbow out and the timing couldn't have been worse for him. At best he is out until the all star break and he is a free agent. So he's on his own for rehab until he's healthy again. I doubt we'll see him in an LA uniform anymore. As bad as '87 was, '88 was much better, even then, he went 0-11, with 13 saves and a 3.80 ERA for LA.

[PilotMan]

1988 Playoff Preview


NLCS


New York Mets (100-62) v. Houston Astros (105-57)


The Mets are hoping to repeat as World Series Champions, but in order to do so, they will need to knock off the best team in baseball. The Mets had a great year too though, and they are a great team in their own right. Hard to imagine them coming in as the underdog, but they may be.


The starting lineup is filled with 5 All Stars. The rotation has 2, and the 1 in the bullpen. The Mets have the top team in HR's and 3^rd overall in runs scored. They are 2^nd in the National League in pitching.


The Mets have a wealth of talent on this roster. Lead by OF Bobby Bonilla (.297/.364/.497, with 24 HR), OF Darryl Strawberry (.255/.341/.514 with 44 HR's and 23 SB's), 2B Robby Thompson (.289/.372/.442), 3B Kevin Mitchell (.296/.374/.496 and 18 HR's), OF Reuben Sierra (.307/.339/.527 and 27 HR's). Lenny Dykstra (.268/3/20 and 12 SB) backs them all up in the outfield. Make no mention of big, young, first baseman Glenn Davis (.288/13/54).


In the rotation, All-Star and 3-time Cy Young winner, Doc Gooden is in the mix for his 4^th again this year. Gooden was 22-8 with a 2.26 ERA and a league leading 0.95 WHIP and 206K's. The other All Star in the rotation is Edward Lindsey. Lindsey went 9-5, with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. The rest of the rotation fills out with Ron Darling (14-13, 3.88) and possibly Bud Black (4-3, 3.43). They have on of the best closers in baseball in Randy Myers, who had 36 saves with a 2.01 ERA and 103k's in 89.2 innings. Setup man Gene Nelson (6-3, 3.35) and Rick Aguileria (5-1, 2.93) are no slouches either.


This is a complete team that could be expected to win it all if they can get past the Astros.


We saw a lot of the Astros this year in LA. Even if LA had pretty good success against them. Houston is #2 on batting and #1 in pitching in the National League. Despite playing in the Astrodome, where homers go to die, the Astros were 4^th in the NL in HR's. While they don't have the number of All Stars the Mets do, they have plenty of weapons.


The Astros are lead by their lone All Star, short stop, Barry Larkin. Larkin (.335/.385/.480, with 29 steals and is possibly the best defensive short stop in the majors. Fred McGriff, 24, is the other part of the beast that is the Astros, played every game of the year. For some reason he was snubbed for the All Star game, but it doesn't matter now. He hit .302/.403/.526, with 35 HR's and 110 RBI's. Early in April the team shipped 2 prospects for the Blue Jays slamming RF'er George Bell. Bell didn't have the HR numbers with only 19 on the year, but he still hit .322/.353/.467. Bell knows a thing or 2 about titles, having won 2 with the Blue Jays. Catcher Benito Santiago (.314/.369/.493), 3B Carney Lansford (.277/.343/.336, with 24 steals ) round out the top players. Big names still linger in Dale Murphy, who only hit .224, but still had 25 HR's and Kirk Gibson who batted .237 with 7. Hard to sell either of guys short when push comes to shove.


The pitching staff is anchored by another youngster, 23yr old, Greg Swindell, lead the league in wins (22) and ERA (2.23). He expects to go head to head with Gooden. Dave Stewart, found himself last year, and kept right on rolling. Stewart went 20-9 with a 2.92 ERA. They also have Tom Candiotti (12-7, 3.16) and Dennis Martinez (14-12, 3.05). The team really shines in the bullpen though. Scott Garrelts closes, and lead the league with 38 saves. Set up men, Tim Burke (1.62) and Alejandro Pena (1.97) are hard to get past. Behind them are Terry Leach (2.97) and John Dopson (1.06)


In the regular season the Mets lead the matchup winning 9 out of 12 games. The Mets are the defending champs, but the Astros have the home field.


ALCS


New York Yankees (83-79) vs. Seattle Mariners (98-64)


The New York Yankees haven't made the playoffs since 1981, since then they've been stuck behind the Blue Jays. The Yankees would really like meet the Mets in a cross town rivalry series this fall. The Yankees are clearly the weakest team among the 4 in the playoffs. They are 8^th in the AL in runs scored and 6^th in the AL in runs allowed. They also have the advantage in the head to head with 7 wins in 12 games against the M's.


The Yankees are lead by DH Don Mattingly, who lead the team with 27 HR's, while batting .321/.357/.510. It's been no secret that the surge of the Yankees was helped by the strange waiver acquisition of Joe Carter. Carter hit 51 HR's last year, and signed a big contract, only to leave to the Yankees for free. It's one of the most head scratching moments this year. Carter hit .278/.322/.494 with 30 HR's and 98 RBI's between the 2 teams this year. OF Brett Butler (.291/.386/.380, with 23 SB), OF Dave Martinez (.286/.346/.387 with 30 SB) round out the impact players on offense.


The pitching staff lost expected contributers Joe Magrane, who won 19 last year, and Rick Rhoden, who won 17 and had to scramble for more help. The top of the rotation is lead by Bob Welch, who came over in a July deal with the Royals, for Otis Nixon and a top pitching prospect, Ken Hill. Welch (15-10, 3.74), a former Dodger pitcher, knows how to carry a team, was better for the Yankees than the Royals. Rick Sutcliffe (13-15, 3.12) is the #2, Shane Rawley (13-13, 3.85) and 43yr old Don Sutton (14-6, 2.85) round out the rotation. The bullpen features Dave Righetti, whose 1.51 ERA was one of the best all year. His set up men are 40yr old Bill Campbell (1.85) and 39yr old Doc Medich (3.68). The team also features 38yr old, Ron Guidry (10-5, 2.71) who can go either way to the pen or the rotation.


The Mariners are heavily favored in this series and are looking to get back to the World Series, where we could see a repeat of the '87 series, between the M's and Mets. This M's team was 4^th in the AL in scoring and 3^rd in pitching. Their numbers are better than they were last year. This team is better than they were last year.


The Mariners have the best hitting team in the AL, lead by the offseason trade acquisition of Andy Van Slyke. Van Slyke came to the M's for 2 top pitching prospects and 2 other minor leaguers. Van Slyke hit .270/.337/.457 with 20 HR's and 20 SB's. His defense alone in center saved 29 runs over the season. Second baseman Harold Reynolds, had 207 hits, batting .298 with 36 steals from the leadoff spot. Jim Presley (.301/17/56), Brian Downing (.255/18/68), Phil Bradley (.286/12/78) Dan Pasqua (.256/20/73) round out the offensive threat for the M's. Danger up and down, hard out all over.


The pitching staff is really rated as the advantage for Seattle. Mark Langston (16-13, 3.17) carried the team all year. He may not have been the top pitcher, but he didn't miss a start. He is underrated, and overshadowed here in Seattle. By whom? Nolan Ryan for starters. Ryan missed a few starts with bone spurs in his elbow, but he went 14-5, with a 2.34 ERA. He's only 3 away from number 300 and he's closing in on his 5000^th K. Who else? How about Sid Fernandez? The Cy Young winner missed the playoffs last year with an elbow injury, but he's back this year, and in 10 starts, he's 6-3 with a 2.34 ERA. That 1-2-3 is going to be hard to overcome for any team. Oh, I almost forgot. Mike Boddicker went 18-6, with a 3.55 ERA. So they are stacked. The bullpen has closer Jeff Robinson (35 saves, 3.87) Juan Nieves (2.79), Mike Moore (3.72) and Tim Belcher (2.54).


The road to the '88 Playoffs are set to begin!

[PilotMan]

1988 World Series


Seattle Mariners v. Houston Astros


Game 1
Nolan Ryan v. Tom Candiotti


Nolan Ryan was selected as the player of the game with his 7 innings, but the Astros took the series lead with a 4-3 win. The Astros overcame a sprained ankle by starter Candiotti and the bullpen threw 5.1 scoreless against the top hitting team in the AL. The M's built a 3-0 lead, but the Astros tied it up in the 5^th. Gary Pettis singled in Kirk Gibson in the 8^th to give the Astros the lead in game 1. Gary Pettis and Randy Ready both had 2 hits in the game.


Game 2
Sid Fernandez v. Greg Swindell


Greg Swindell went pitch for pitch with Sid Fernandez and Alejandro Pena pitched 3 scoreless to finish the M's off for his 2^nd save. The Astros take game 2, 5-2. Jim Presley homered for the M's and Fred McGriff homered for the Astros. Houston goes on the road with a 2-0 lead.


Game 3
Dave Stewart v. Mark Langston


The Astros pitchers are just getting the better of the M's hitters. Tonight it was Stewart going the distance for a 4-1 win over the Mariners, and give the Astros a 3-0 lead in the series. George Bell went 2-4 and homered . Jerry Willard also homered for the Astros.


Game 4
Dennis Martinez v. Mike Boddicker


Jim Presley homered for the 4^th time in the post-season and Harold Reynolds hit his first. The Mariners needed 10 to win at home, but they live to fight another day. It was close though. The Astros got 13 hits, 12 for the M's. Jeff Robinson, typically the M's closer, pitched the final 3 in a gutsy performance for the M's.


Game 5
Candiotti v. Ryan


Tom Candiotti left no doubt tonight. Complete game 1-hit masterpiece for the knuckleball pitcher to give the Astros the first World Series title for Houston! Nolan Ryan didn't bring it, and allowed homers to Randy Ready and Gary Pettis. Pettis hadn't homered since '87. Fred McGriff was selected Series MVP.

[PilotMan]

1988 Reflections on this Team


For years LA has been a top notch, title contender and we've not seen a title come here. This year, we lost a lot of power out the door, brought in some older, past their prime players, and took a step back in overall quality. The Farm system is dry and there is not much there to play with either. So how does the team with the #1 payroll and #1 budget do this poorly?


I'll tell you. Money wasted. Players wasted. Talent wasted.


Of the top 10 paid players on the team take a look at how that money was wasted:


#10 Larry Parrish – 34 games, 30 at bats. 161 at bats in 3 years. 0.2 WAR, 3 years
#9 Jim Beattie – LA signed him for a big deal 5 years ago, and we've got 1 year to go. 0.2 WAR 3 Yrs
#8 Mike Schimidt – His deal is vested for another year. 0.2 WAR
#7 John Denny – Got a 6 year deal, with 1 remaining. 15.8 WAR 5 years
#6 Fernando – At the end of a 6yr deal. This dropoff makes him resigning unlikely. 34.5 WAR 6 years
#5 Roy Smalley – At the end of a 6yr deal. Only 1 as starter. 7.3 WAR 6 yrs
#4 Dwayne Murphy – 1 yr remaining on a 6yr deal. Only 1 as starter. 10.2 WAR 5 yrs
#3 Von Hayes – 5 yrs remaining on a 6yr deal. Top player on team in '88. 6.7 WAR 1 yr
#2 Bryn Smith – 2yrs remaining on a 3 yr deal. #2 pitcher in '88. 3.4 WAR 1 yr
#1 Rickey – 3yrs remaining on a 5yr deal. Can opt out this year. 11.0 WAR 2 yrs


Some god awful waste there. I'm scared for how much more waste there will be going forward.


I wonder if next year will be this bad? I don't have high hopes, there's still a lot of waste, but having the deepest pockets in the league does allow us to just buy our way out. Let's just hope there isn't crazy waste again.

[PilotMan]

1988 Post Season and Awards


Big news in LA, big news for the entire team.


First and foremost. Tommy Lasorda has retired from baseball as a Dodger. This does save the team from some embarrassment. The team will be hiring a new manager to start the 1989 season.


Next, as expected Mike Schmidt made his contract vesting, and Dave Winfield failed to meet his. Winfield was 31 plate appearances shy. The injury at the end of the year did him in.


Last, Rickey Henderson has decided to stay in LA! It's a big deal. That means that he is committed to us for 3 years. This makes me happy for sure. Thank you Ricky!


Gold Glove Winners

AL
P Chris Bosio TEX (1)
C Mike Lavalliere MIL (1)
1B Wally Joyner TEX (1)
2B Jim Gantner CAL (1)
3B Terry Pendleton KC (2)
SS Alan Trammell DET (4)
LF Barry Bonds CHI (3)
CF Devon White CHI (1)
RF Dave Martinez NYY (1)


NL
P Mike LaCoss NYM (1)
C Dave Valle CIN (1)
1B Andres Gallaraga MON (2)
2B Robby Thompson NYM (2)
3B Brook Jacoby ATL (1)
SS Ozzie Guillen SD (1)
LF Joe Orsulak PIT (1)
CF Dave Henderson CIN (1)
RF Jose Canseco CIN (1)


LA resigns Frank DiPino, Kelly Downs, Mitch Webster, Curt Wilkerson, John Franco, Ken Howell, and BJ Surhoff to 1 yr extensions. Downs was the top pitcher, Franco was the closer, Howell was consistent, and BJ Surhoff was a starter before going down for the season with an injury.


Rolaids Reliever of the Year
AL
Dave Righetti NYY (5-6, 37/40 Saves, 1.51 ERA)


NL
Tom Henke PIT (11-5, 36/43 Saves, 1.50 ERA)


Silver Slugger Awards


AL
C Ernie Witt TOR .270/21/75 .804 OPS (2)
1B Mark McGwire CAL .302/52/151 1.022 OPS (2)
2B Paul Molitor CHI .319/11/85 .854 OPS (1)
3B Howard Johnson DET .269/42/104 .880 OPS (1)
SS Roberto Alomar CLE .337/15/65 .863 OPS (1)
LF Barry Bonds CHI .310/24/119 .920 OPS (4)
CF Kirby Puckett MIN .318/23/111 .862 OPS (1)
RF Dwight Evans TOR .283/12/73 .822 OPS (4)
DH Wade Boggs BOS .365/6/72 .959 OPS (1)


NL
P Dwight Gooden NYM .241/0/5 .578 OPS (1)
C Craig Biggio ATL .294/15/61 .811 OPS (2)
1B Will Clark STL .343/33/96 1.005 OPS (3)
2B Julio Franco PHI .320/4/65 .802 OPS (2)
3B Victor Madden CHI .286/31/87 .887 OPS (1)
SS Barry Larkin HOU .335/14/85 .865 OPS (2)
LF Reuben Sierra NYM .307/27/99 .866 OPS (1)
CF Robin Yount MON .359/14/90 .945 OPS (3)
RF Jose Canseco CIN .343/30/97 1.003 OPS (1)


AL Rookie of the Year
Ken Griffey Jr BAL .316/18/77 .886 OPS 5.9 WAR


NL Rookie of the Year
Henry Cotto CHI .267/9/36 .704 OPS 1.9 WAR


AL Manager of the Year
Mark Leggio SEA


NL Manager of the Year
Bill Virdon HOU


AL Cy Young Winner
Roger Clemens CLE 19-6 2.14 ERA (2)


NL Cy Young Winner
Doc Gooden NYM 22-8 2.26 ERA (4)


AL MVP
Mark McGwire CAL .302/52/131 (1)


NL MVP
Doc Gooden NYM (3)


8 of the 25 Dodgers on the recent roster have filed for free agency. They are:


P Don Robinson
P Kent Tekulve
P Fernando Valenzuela
P Don Aase
SS Ozzie Smith
1B Larry Parrish
OF Dave Winfield
SS Roy Smalley


The team has some money to fill those positions, but it's not like they can go crazy on the market.


The Champion Astros have aggressively added talent early on. A trade with the Yankees brings Joe Carter to town, and Reliever of the Year Tom Henke from the Pirates has come in on free agency. Reminds me of the old Expos free agency runs.


Well, the Dodgers have finalized a deal, the biggest of free agency so far, and I'm not sure it's good? It's a lot of money, and I'm leery of these deals. Anyway. 6 year deal for Twins southpaw Frank Viola. The deal is worth 10.8M/6yrs and Viola can opt out after 3 years. Viola won the Cy Young and MVP in 1984 for the Twins. He's a 2 time All Star with a career record of 105-77, with a 3.93 ERA. He'll be 29 at the start of next year. He was 12-12 with a 3.16 ERA for the Twins last year.


LA keeps it going, adding to the bullpen with the big 6'5” 225lb, true to life closer, Lee Smith. Smith is a 2-time All Star and he's been the Red Sox closer for the last 3 years. He gets a 3yr/800k deal. Very affordable for the team for what he brings. He has 209 career saves, with a 3.50 ERA in 475 games.


Don Robinson is heading to the Mets on a 1 yr deal.


Kent Tekulve is heading to the Tigers on a 1 yr deal.


Ozzie Smith signs a 4yr/2.1M contract to return to the St Louis Cardinals.


Dave Winfield stays in town, but moves down the freeway to the California Angels on a 2yr/1.76M deal.


LA signs OF Juan Samuel to a 3yr/2.1M deal. Samuel has been a 5 yr starter in Philadelphia. He is a good player, with power and speed, having reached 20/20 twice. On the verge of his 28^th birthday, Samuel is a career .272 hitter who averages about 17 HR's and 38 steals each year.


LA also signs Angels shortstop Dick Schofield to a 3yr/1.75M deal. Schofield won the Gold Glove in '87. He's an above average defender, but nothing special with the bat. He's got some speed averaging 27 steals each of the last 3 years. He's a career .247 hitter with 62 career HR's.


LA brings in Independent minor league star pitcher Chris Welsh. Welsh will be 34 when the new season fires up next year. He last time donned a major league uniform in 1982 for the Padres, where he had a 2.21 ERA in 41 games. He was sent to the minors and then released. Since then he's been pitching for overloaded independent minor league teams at the A level where one year he went 29-5 and threw 291 innings. Four years he has toiled, and now he's with LA on a minor league deal.


1988 Rookie Draft
First 5 Rounds


OF Bill Masse (1.38)
P Patt Rapp (2.16)
C Brian Johnson (3.18)
OF Michael House (3.23)
SS Mike Mordecai (4.16)
3B Jose Oliva (5.16)


The Dodgers have announced that they have hired Adam Abercrombie to be the new manager of the highest payroll team in baseball. This hiring was met with taunts and derision from pretty much everyone. Abercrombie was the manager for the Twins A-level Visalia Oaks baseball team. His career record is 481-597, and in 17 years, pretty much has no reputation to think of. His 1 yr deal will pay him 110k. It's less than half of what the team payed Lasorda. This is no bueno.


LA has selected IF/OF Armando Moreno from the Cardinals in the Rule 5 draft. Moreno, 24, is a 3-time minor league All Star, and was 3^rd in the '85 MVP race in AA.


LA brings an old face home. Great news! LA completes a trade with the Phillies to bring Pedro Guerrero back home again. LA sends the Phillies OF Mitch Webster and recently acquired minor league pitching prospect Rueben Monett. Guerrero, 32, may have seen his best days. He's missed a lot of the last 3 years with some serious injuries. Last year, he only managed 58 games. He still batted .298/.374/.476. Pedro can still play some left and first base, but he's not skilled by any means. He's a 5-time All Star, 2-time Silver Slugger and he's got 1 year left on his contract. Pedro is a career .308 hitter, with over 1100 hits, and 169 career HR's. Welcome home Pedro!


LA makes another swap for depth. This trade sends the Red Sox former 2^nd round pick and top prospect C Bill Haselman and minor league IF Jim Jones in exchange 30yr old 2B Marty Barrett. Barrett batted .320 last year for the Red Sox and sports a career .306 average in 6 years. Barrett has been with the Red Sox his entire career, and has over 1000 career hits in 887 career games. He's been the Red Sox starter at 2^nd for all 6 seasons.


LA signs southpaw reliever Joe Price, 32, who was 0-2, with a 5.14 ERA with the Twins, to a 1 year deal.


Sadness as Fernando heads to the White Sox on a 1 year deal.


The team signs all top 5 picks, with the exception of 3^rd rounder Brian Johnson.


Hall of Fame Voting is in!


Here is the Hall of Fame Class of 1989!


SP Gaylord Perry 96.5% in his first year
LF Pete Rose 94.4% in his first year
LF Carl Yastrzemski with a 93% in his first year.
C Johnny Bench 77% in his first year.


Tough class of guys right there. Jim Palmer, Jim Kaat were the next closest and Reggie Jackson was the closest not in his first season with 52.3%.


That's it for the offseason. (editors note: I expected expansion, as all my settings were automatic, but for some reason, no expansion, no realignment for '89, and that makes me a little sad).

[PilotMan]

1989 Opening Day Roster


Starting Rotation


Frank Viola (12-12, 3.16 with the Twins)
Bryn Smith (16-13, 3.67)
Ken Howell (6-3, 2.98)
Kelly Downs (17-10, 3.55)
Jim Beattie (5-8, 4.70)


We said goodbye to El Toro, and bring in Sweet Music, Frank Viola, the Twins ace starter. This is an upgrade on paper. Viola is a southpaw and standard 3 pitch starter with above average movement on his pitches. He throws everything for strikes. He's thrown over 200 innings each of his 7 pro seasons. Ken Howell gets promoted to the rotation, and we hope that Smith and Downs can keep throwing well. Jim Beattie holds down the 5 spot, but Frank Tanana is a week from heading back to the team where he should lock down one of those spots.


Bullpen


Joe Price (0-2, 5.14 with the Twins)
John Denny (5-3, 3S, 3.64)
Brian Holton (2-0, 7.71)


Frank DiPino (3-4, 2.56)
Lee Smith (6-7, 33S, 4.50 with the Red Sox)


John Franco (3-5, 32S, 2.06)


One of the more balanced bullpens in recent years. We boast 3 lefties, a long guy in Denny, who can also spot start. A lefty and righty set up guy, and a guy in Smith, who can lock games down, just like Franco. Will the new manager be able to utilize these guys the right way? I think that's a big question. Brian Holton, after a long time in the minors gets the call up. I really hope he's better than he's been.


Catcher
Mike Scioscia (.280/1/16)
BJ Surhoff (.240/0/10)


Injuries to both of these guys cost them last season. It would have been Surhoff's chance to start, but he's lost the regular job to Scioscia again. He does expect to get a couple starts in a week though, in a rotation to keep the frequently injured Scioscia on the field more.


First Base
Pedro Guerrero (.298/7/46 with the Phillies)
Pete O'Brien (.262/16/85)


Guerrero has had some severe injury problems the last few years, but when he's healthy he is one of the most dangerous hitters in the league. Coming up on 33, he isn't getting any younger, and he's a liability in field, but the team really needs his bat. O'Brien was ok, but less output than the team should expect for a first basemen. He's not happy about losing his starting role.


Second Base
Marty Barrett (.320/1/82 with the Red Sox)
Chuck Jackson (.224/0/5)


Barrett takes over for Caminiti at second base. He's pretty average in the field, but he is a career .300 hitter in 6 years starting for the Red Sox. He hasn't made an All Star game but he's bonafide. Jackson is the only backup. Jackson plays every base except first and catcher. Look for him to get plenty of playing time all over.


Third Base
Ken Caminiti (.294/8/50)
Mike Schmidt (.235/18/62)


The future Hall of Famer still feels like he can start, and even though he'd like to move to first, there isn't a home for him right now. Caminiti was a surprise last year and his fielding in a new position was solid. He could still move to 2^nd if he needed. Schmidt and his 512 career homers will have to be patient if he wants to play.


Shortstop
Dick Schofield (.268/9/63 with the Angels)
Jackson


Schofield is no defensive wizard like Ozzie, but he does have a gold glove, he's a lot younger, he hits better and he is just as fast. Jackson will back him up here. The team doesn't really have any options after that. Roy Smalley is gone, so someone from the outside or minors would have to come up.


Left Field
Rickey Henderson (.250/10/59)


One of the most electric and polarizing players in baseball. He shocked us when he exercised his option to stay for 3 more years. Half the clubhouse hates him. His numbers were good until he suffered a couple injuries. He needs to be the man in the outfield and the spark of this offense.


Center Field
Juan Samuel (.271/12/60 with the Phillies)
Doug Jennings (.263/0/6)


Von Hayes got hurt in spring training and is expected to miss up to the first 2 months of the season. As a result the team went out and added the Phillies speedy CF/2B. Samuel hasn't been as good as Hayes, but he's been a steady 3.8 WAR over the last 5 years. Jennings makes the team for the first time ever. He showed some progress in his development in the spring with a great eye, and good gap power. He backs up all the OF positions and can play at first.


Right Field
Pete Incaviglia (.253/11/49)
Dwayne Murphy (.167/1/5)


Inky gets his old job back with Winfied moving on. He had a pretty bad year last year, compared to his rookie campaign, so the hope is that he finds his old groove again. We need that power stroke in the lineup. There are not enough big bats in this lineup without him. Dwayne Murphy should have been cut. I think the only reason he is here, is because we have to pay him. He can still get the ball over the fence. He can also play all 3 outfield spots.


Injured Band Brigade


Von Hayes (.274/24/70)


Last years team MVP. Hayes went 20/20, and is always a hard out. Sadly, he's not the kind of player that can carry the team, but he is a good fielder. Look for him to get back close to the end of May.


Frank Tanana (9-6, 2.73)


It was a shock to lose him last year, and the staff really suffered. He had been the ace of the staff prior to tearing his UCL in his elbow. He is 13 wins away from his 200^th career win. He should kick Beattie out of the rotation when he comes back. Let's hope he can be effective again. He is due back within 10 days.


Armando Moreno (.132/1/9 with the Cardinals)


The Dodgers Rule 5 pick this year. Moreno is a utility player, who would need to stay on the roster all year or go back to the Cards. He broke his hand last year and needed surgery. He was once included in a trade that sent Nolan Ryan to the Expos. He'll be competing with Chuck Jackson for that roster spot.


Down on the Farm


OF Lee Stevens (#1, #34 MLB, 1^st Round, 17^th overall, '85)
The Dodgers top prospect came over last year in the Reds trade. Last year, he was voted the MVP for the AA league playing with San Antonio. He hit .340 with 20 HR's and 65 RBI's in 97 games. Stevens got his first ML experience last year, batting .355 with 3 HR's in 18 games for the Dodgers. He's very close to making the big league club.


OF Bill Masse (#2, #66 MLB, 1^st Round Supp, 38^th overall, '88)
LA's first round pick this year starts the year in Albuquerque playing LF for the Dukes. He's an average fielder with good range. He's fast on the bases. He has a good batting eye, but isn't known for his power or contact ability. Could be a good gap hitter, with occasional power and good average.


OF Michael House (#3, #153 MLB, 3^rd Round, 101^st overall, '88)
House starts the year off in AA San Antonio. His best position is first, but he's playing center for the Missions. He's got some pop, zero speed, and swings at everything. Doesn't really grade out to be much of anything, but he could add some power.


IF Dave Rohde (#4, #189 MLB, 4^th Round, 112^th overall, '85)
Rohde was signed by the club in the offseason. He was originally drafted by the Twins, but has subsequently played for 6 different clubs now. He has played sparingly over the years, with 23 game played between A and rookie ball. He's approaching his 25^th birthday, with not much to show. He'll start the year in AAA Albuquerque playing short. He has a good decent eye, is fast on the bases, but is a below average fielder and hitter.


Not Quite Ready for Prime Time


Stevens, Of Course


1B Darcy Walker
A 14^th round pick in '82, Walker has lived his whole career in the LA farm system. His last 2 have been in AAA, and last year was his best yet. He batted .316 with 11 HR and 83 RBI for the Dukes. LA is pretty fat at first so his chances are not looking good. He's 27 and his window of opportunity is fading.


OF Greg Clark
Clark should have changed his name to Walker, because he gets on base at mythical levels. His OBP in AAA, is over .400 and he has averaged over 125 walks per year in about 135 games. Below average in the field and swinging the bat, if he gets on he's a threat to steal, averaging about 38 for the last 3 years. He is nearly 30 though, has never broken into the majors and never been anywhere else but the Dodgers farm system.


P Bob Patterson
A lefty with good control. He could make the jump to fill in if one of the current lefties goes south. A former Padre, Patterson spent all of last year in AAA where he had a 2.95 ERA in 58 innings of work.


Preseason Outlook


The rags have us picked to finish 2^nd in the NL West, a distant 20 games behind the Astros. That doesn't bode well for post season hopes. The defending champs are loaded and should be looking to repeat. Their pitching is top shelf and their hitting isn't bad either. In the AL look for both the Mariners and Angels again to be grinding away at the top. The AL West is much stronger, with the Yankees looking like the top team over in the East. The Mets are the best in the NL East this preseason, however they may have dropped some as injuries have really taken their toll on that team.


IT'S TIME FOR DODGER BASEBALL!

[CraigSca]

So, I just went through the first page to see if I could find the information (if it's posted elsewhere, whoops), but how exactly are you playing this? I realize you are just watching the Dodgers vicariously with no input on your end.

However, what are the settings of the replay? Are you doing it where the player's career will follow the real one with re-calculation each year, or are you generating the player when he joins the league and then having the algorithms generate a "semi" random career?

Having you report this has me want to try something like this, too. Just wondering what parameters you set up.

Keep up the good work!

[PilotMan]

So, I just went through the first page to see if I could find the information (if it's posted elsewhere, whoops), but how exactly are you playing this? I realize you are just watching the Dodgers vicariously with no input on your end.

However, what are the settings of the replay? Are you doing it where the player's career will follow the real one with re-calculation each year, or are you generating the player when he joins the league and then having the algorithms generate a "semi" random career?

Having you report this has me want to try something like this, too. Just wondering what parameters you set up.

Keep up the good work!


For the most part it's pretty stock. Guys have their ratings readjusted based on their real life stats every year, and those ratings are based on a 3 year statistical window of real life stats. However, there is still an element of randomness as well, because player development is still turned on. So you can have guys, whose ratings are good, maybe never hit the level they hit in real life, or you have other guys, who never made it, turn it into something.

So there's still an element of surprise, along with the element of expectation.

Take the Cubs 3B Victor Madden. In real life, he never got higher than A ball in '84. However, in this world, in '89, he is a breakout player, who won the Silver Slugger last year, cracked 31 HR's and already has 5 in '89.

Or take a guy like Doc Medich, who was out of baseball after the '82 year, but here, is still going at 40 years old.

Or Kirk Gibson or Dave Winfield who will never (at least looking at it right now) live up to their real life career numbers.

Yet, Barry Bonds is just destroying his real life numbers right now. Will he be able to stay healthy enough to come close to his final numbers though?

It feels like a familiar enough world, with enough differences that it's all it's own. Thanks for reading. I'm glad that you're enjoying it. It's relaxing for me to do, I just worry that as I'm hitting my 250th typed page now, that it's getting a little boring and repetitive.

[PilotMan]

4/3 5-4 L to the Reds
What started good, ended poorly. LA had 3-0 lead in the 6^th, but couldn't hold on. Frank Viola pitched well early on, but got tagged in the 7^th. He first major league at bat, he drew a bases loaded walk. Dick Schofield hit the first homer of the year for the Dodgers (1). Esasky (1) for the Reds. The Reds rallied in the 7^th for 3 runs to take the lead. LA tied it in the 8^th. Lee Smith loaded the bases in the 9^th, then struck out Dave Henderson, but a line drive that was caught by Samuel was able to get Mike Stanley home for the Opening Day win for the Reds.


4/5 2-1 W over the Reds
Bryn Smith (1-0) pitched 6.1 and struck out 7. Rickey hit his first homer of the year in the first to give LA all the offense we'd need. DiPino and Franco finished it off in fine form for the first win of the year for LA.


4/6 5-1 L to the Reds
Dave Henderson went 3-4 with a HR (1) and Gary Redus doubled in 2. Rickey went 2-3 and stole a base in the loss. Ken Howell (0-1) took the loss. Wes Gardner the win (1-0).


4/7 3-2 (16) L to the Braves
Brad Komminsk singled in the winning run off of Brian Holton (0-1) in the 16^th to win it for the Braves. That capped a 3-7 game for him. Rickey went 2-5 with 2 walks for LA. Mark Leiter (1-0) got the win. Guerrero hit HR number 1 on the year.


Doug Jennings and Chuck Jackson were optioned to Albuquerque. To fill those roster spots, IF/OF Armando Moreno was activated from the DL, and the team picked up 28 yo, Bruce Fields off of waivers from the Astros. Fields has been a minor league journeyman and still has no career plate appearances. His last ML game was in '86 for the Tigers. He's a spray hitter, with some good speed. Like Moreno he can play a bunch of positions.


4/8 10-6 L to the Braves
The Braves put up 8 on the 4^th off of Viola (0-1). It was a really bad outing for him, 11 hits, 9 runs, 2 HR's allowed. Randy Johnson got the win (1-0). Rickey went 3-4, with 3 RBI's, including his 2^nd HR of the year. Scioscia also went deep for #1 and his 50^th career dinger.
Fields was optioned and Jennings was recalled back to LA.


4/9 4-0 L to the Braves
Oh boy. Gonna be a long year. LA drops another one. Allan Anderson (1-1) ended up 2 outs shy of the shutout. LA could only manage 4 singles in the game. The Braves rookie Mo Vaughn hit HR number 2 of the year, then left the game with an injury Jim Beattie (0-1) took the loss after 7 innings of work.


Frank Tanana was activated from the DL, and in a shocking move, LA designated Kelly Downs and placed him on waivers. Downs was LA's best pitcher last season and was expected to hold down a spot on the rotation all year. This one is causing all kinds of consternation among the fans. That means that both John Denny and Jim Beattie keep their roster spots with his return. Wow.


4/10 3-1 L to the Giants
Ugh. The worst team in the league has some young talent now, but they still suck. Bryn Smith (1-1) had a lead and a 3 hit shutout until the 8^th. A bad pitch to Gregg Jefferies was all the Giants needed. That was the first HR of the year for Jefferies. Joe Slusarski started for the Giants, but Bryan Harvey (1-0) got the win. LA put the tying run in scoring position, but Pleasac kept anyone from scoring for his 2^nd save.


For some reason the Dodgers front office has gone off the rails. Chuck Jackson was recalled from Albuquerque, and to make room for him, Ken Caminiti was designated and placed on waivers. Caminiti started the year hitting (.171/.161/.171) in 7 games. He was a huge bright spot for the team last year, and was part of the young talent on the team. There is no way he is going to survive this. LA claimed OF Eddie Vargas from the Reds and placed him on the roster. He's a career .192 hitter in 4 years with the Pirates and Padres. He hasn't been in the majors since '85.

4/11 4-2 L to the Giants
LA drops another one. Frank Tanana (0-1) made his return to the rotation tonight, but in the 5^th he had to leave with another injury. How does that decision to dump Downs look now? The Giants Jose Nunez (1-0) pitched 5.2 with 6 k's. Pedro had a couple hits, and Chuck Jackson, now starting at third, hit his first career HR, a solo shot (1). LA has dropped 6 straight.


Fields was returned to the team and Jackson was optioned back to AAA. Also, long time Dodger reliever and former closer and '84 Reliever of the Year, Tom Neidenfuer was released by the team. His career ERA is 2.73 after 8 years with the Dodgers. Another of the old guard gone.


4/12 5-2 L to the Giants
Oh no. We are swept by what was the worst team in baseball. LA drops to 1-8 on the year. John Habyan (1-1) pitched 8 innings and Harvey got his 3^rd save. Juan Samuel lead off the game with a home run (1) but LA could only get 3 more hits. He had 2 of the teams 4 hits. Ken Howell (0-2) served up 10 hits in 5.2 innings.


Kelly Downs was claimed off of waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers had their best season last year since '83. I am shocked too. Caminiti skated through waivers without a claim and he was optioned to Albuquerque.


Mike Huff of the Texas Rangers made his ML debut, and what a debut it was. The Rule 5 pick from the Brewers went 5-5 and ended a homer shy of the cycle.


4/13 6-1 W over the Astros
Frank Viola (1-1) got his first win in a Dodgers uniform with an 8 inning, 4 hit show. LA needed the stopper to do his stopper job. His only mistake was a bad pitch to George Bell who put one in the left field bleachers (3). LA, behind, was saved today by Pedro Guerrero's 2-run HR (2) in the 6^th off of Dennis Martinez (1-1). Guerrero went 3-4 with 4 RBI's.


4/14 4-1 L to the Astros
Tom Candiotti (2-0) came within an out of the complete game tonight. If not for allowing the tying run to come to the plate he would have been good. LA's only runs came on an inning where the Astros made 2 errors. Fred McGriff (3) and Joe Carter (4) went back to back off of Jim Beattie (0-2) in the third. Scioscia had a 2 hit day for LA.


4/15 9-2 L to the Astros
Fred McGriff and Joe Carter both went 3-5, with McGriff hitting his 4^th HR of the season. Nolan Ryan (1-1) struck out 8 in a short 5 innings of work, while Bryn Smith (1-2) took the loss for LA. Pedro had 2 hits for LA.

[PilotMan]

4/16 4-3 W over the Astros
A 2-run double by Marty Barrett in the 6^th put LA up in for good tonight. Mike Scioscia batted cleanup and went 2-4 with the other 2 RBI's. Tanana (1-1) went 6.2, gave up his standard home run. Franco closed it out for his 2^nd save. LA is now 3-10 to start the year. This is the worst start I've seen them have.


To say that the team is in transition is a mild understatement. Mike Schmidt was placed on waivers and designated for assignment today. Chuck Jackson was recalled from AAA to take his roster spot. Schmidt hasn't appeared in a game yet this year.


4/17 3-2 L to the Reds
A pair of 7^th inning home runs for the Reds gave them the winning margin tonight. First it was the first career homer for Mickey Morandini (1). A supplemental first rounder, Morandini's pinch hit homer broke the tie, then former Dodger Tom Broookens smacked another (1). Both home runs came off of Brian Holton (0-2). Jeff Stember (2-1) got the W. Dwayne Murphy came off the bench to go 2-2 and hit a solo homer (1). That ties his total for all of last year.


4/18 7-3 L to the Reds
LA wasted 13 hits and left 11 runners on base. CF Eddie Vargas went 3-5 and Pedro knocked his 3^rd HR of the season. Frank Viola (1-2) had a challenging outing tonight while Frank DiPino didn't help him out of the pen. UF Armando Moreno was hurt sliding into 3^rd and left the game.


Schmidt cleared waivers with no claims. It's yet to be seen whether he will rejoin the team or be let go. I don't see him taking a spot in Albuquerque.


Moreno only has a mild ab strain. No DL trip for him.


4/19 7-1 L to the Reds
Nick Esasky's 2-run HR in the 4^th (3) off of Jim Beattie (0-3) gave the Reds all the offense they'd need tonight. A great night of pitching from Tom Browning (2-1) who gave up his hit in the 4^th when Guerrero went deep (4). He came an out from a complete game, but only threw 104 pitches. LA had 3 errors in the loss.


4/21 3-1 W over the Giants
No hits until the bottom of the 4^th for either team until Mike Scioscia broke it open with HR #2 on the year. The Giants tied the game back up and Bryn Smith lost a great start. Dick Schofield hit a 2-run single to put LA on top. DiPino gets the win (1-0) and and Franco gets his 3^rd save.


4/22 6-0 W over the Giants
Holy Shit! LA wins 2 in a row! Frank Tanana (2-1) throws 7.1 shutout innings and the Dodgers get homers from Chuck Jackson (2) and Ricky (3) as LA puts up 6 runs on 8 hits. Barrett goes 3-4. John Habyan (2-2) takes the loss.


4/23 6-2 W over the Giants
That's 3! We're taking the baseball world by storm! Rickey went 3-3, scored 3 times and crushed a 2-run homer (4) in the first to give LA a 2-1 lead. Juan Samuel added another (2) in his 2-5 game. Guerrero doubled in 2 more. Viola (2-2) pitched into the 8^th and allowed 1 earned run, walking none and striking out 6. Greg Hibbard (1-3) took the loss.


4/25 4-0 L to the Cubs
David Cone (2-1) pitched 8 scoreless to win player of the game tonight. Cubs slugging third basemen Victor Madden hit his 7^th HR of the year. LA got 3 hits from Guerrero and Ken Howell (0-3) fought through 7 tough innings. Dodger reliver Brian Holton walked 4 including a run, in his single inning.


4/26 10-6 (13) L to the Cubs
Phil Plantier hit a grand slam (2) in the 13^th off of Joe Price (0-1) to crush the hopes of the Dodger faithful tonight. LA was behind all game and came back twice to extend the game. BJ Surhoff went 4-6, Jackson added 3 more of his own. LA had 4 extra base hits and left 10 runners on base.


Mike Schmidt was released from the Dodgers. He did not play in a game this year. Even though he probably could have gotten some playing time, he is a liability in the field and his hitting last year was below par. He did hit his 500^th career HR in an Dodgers uniform though.


4/27 2-1 L to the Cubs
Glenn Wilson doubled in a run, and scored the winning run in the 7^th inning for the Cubs. Kevin Brown (1-2) only missed on a 5^th inning pitch to Dick Schofield (2) and that was all LA would get. Frank Tanana (2-2) pitched brilliantly going the distance, but he didn't get the support. Sixto DeLaCruz pitched the 9^th for his 3^rd save.


4/28 7-1 W over the Cardinals
Viola (3-2) got the complete game tonight, allowing 5 hits and an unearned run. LA got on the board in the first and a 3 run shot in the 2^nd inning by Juan Samuel (3) opened the game up. Scioscia added his 3^rd in the 5^th as part of a 2-5, 3 RBI day. Jaime Navarro (1-2) took the loss.


4/29 5-4 W over the Cardinals
Pete O'Brian doubled in the winning run in the 7^th inning, pinch hitting for Samuel. Earlier, Samuel had doubled with the bases loaded knocking in 3. Jim Beattie (1-3) pitched 6 innings to get his first win of the year. Franco closed the game out for his 4^th save.


4/30 3-2 (11) L to the Cardinals
LA wasted a good pitching performance from Ken Howell. Howell pitched 7 and got 2 hits from Jennings, Guerrero, and Scioscia. LA was helpless against the Cardinals bullpen today. Mike Morgan left early and the Cards threw 7 straight scoreless. John Franco served up a hit to Ozzie Smith, back with the Cards this year, that scored Mel Hall to send the faithful home. Larry McWilliams won (3-0).

[PilotMan]

April Recap


This was a bad, bad month and the worst start for LA. LA finished the month with a record of 8-17 and the 3^rd worst record in baseball. Incredibly, the A's and Brewers were worst. LA though, was the worst in the NL. At this point, the Dodgers are in 5^th in the NL West, and 10 games behind the Astros who are off to an 18-7 start to the year. It's bad. So bad.


It looks like a bad start to a long season. I had a much more optimistic view of the season a month ago. Now? I shutter at the thought of what it could be, so let's cover this quickly.


LA is 12^th in the NL in runs scored, 10^th in average and 11^th in OBP. Team OBP is below .300, and even despite all that the team is 4^th in HR's. Starters are 6^th in ERA and the bullpen is 8^th. The team is 2^nd in the NL in defense.


Top players for the month were Rickey (.312/.396/.473, 7SB, 4 HR (tied for team lead)), and Pedro (.322/.359/.506, 4 HR). Who didn't help with the bat? Inky (.154/.258/.154) and Caminiti (.172/.161/.172) are both back in the minors. Schofield and his .173/.287/.267 is in danger of losing his job and even career +.300 hitter Marty Barrett only hit .215/.270/.258. You really can go down the line. I won't pick on some of the other utility players, but there's a lot to hate right now.


The pitching staff wasn't quite so bad, but...Frank DiPino pitched in a team high 10 games, and had a 7.47 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. Jim Beattie started 4 games, went 1-3 and had a 4.97 ERA. Franco pitched the best posting a 0.79 ERA in 9 games, with 4 saves and Lee Smith a 0.82 ERA in 8 games. Frank Tanana was the top starter, going 2-2 with a 2.42 ERA.


In the NL East it's the Expos back on top by 3 over the Pirates with a 17-7 record. The Mets are off to a horrid start going 10-13 and are 6.5 back. In the AL East, the Yankees are in 3^rd, 2.5 behind the Indians and Orioles, who are tied at the top. And over in the West, or the 'good' AL division, the Royals are in front by a half over the White Sox.


On to May and I hope a plan for our favored team.

[PilotMan]

5/1 8-1 L to the Pirates
Pirates third basemen Eddie Williams goes 3-4, and catcher Brian Harper goes deep for #5. Melido Perez goes 7 innings, walked 4 allowed 3 hits for the win (2-1). Dodgers Bryn Smith (1-3) takes the loss.


5/2 2-1 L to the Pirates
Chili Davis went deep for the 8^th time this year and Frank Tanana (2-3) took the loss despite pitching 8 strong innings. The Pirates had 2 pitchers leave the game with injuries, yet the bullpen was still able to shut LA down. Jeff Dryden (2-0) got the win despite only throwing 3 pitches.


Doug Jennings was optioned back to AAA and Lee Stevens was recalled back to the team.


5/3 3-0 W over the Cardinals
Maybe Viola will be a stopper? Tonight, he was nearly perfect. Throwing a complete game, 2-hit shut out, with 7 K's to imrove to 4-2 on the year. Dick Schofield was 3-3 and hit his 3^rd HR of the year, and Rickey was 2-4 and hit his 5^th. Other than those guys, LA managed 2 hits. His game tied Candiotti for top pitching performance on the year.


5/4 11-2 W over the Cardinals
This one belonged to the unsung players tonight. Bruce Fields hit his first career HR (1) and went 3-4 with 4 RBI's and 3 runs scored in his best game ever. Fields started in right and did not disappoint. Chuck Jackson who has been starting at 3^rd, went 3-3 with a triple and a HR (3), 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored. Jim Beattie (2-3) pitched 6 and Joe Price got the 3 inning save (1). Pete Harnish (1-3) took the loss.


5/5 4-3 W over the Cubs
The Cubs scored first, but Samuel tied it with a 2 run homer in the 3^rd (4). LA would get one in the 6^th to take the lead thanks to Guerrero. Franco (1-1) came on in the 8^th, and let the Cubs tie it up. His first BS of the year. The 9^th saw a leadoff single by Fields, followed by a single by Chuck Jackson. Pete O'Brien then singled in the winning run. Bobby Thigpen (0-2) took the loss.


Nolan Ryan went 9 and struck out 7 Mets on a night he'll never forget as he picked up his 300^th career win. The 42 year old shows no signs of slowing down.


5/6 2-1 (11) W over the Cubs
John Smiley and Bryn Smith went head to head with zeros all night long. It wasn't until the 10^th inning, with Smiley, still in and batting for himself, singled in the catcher and former Dodger Ronald King. With Thigpen on the mound again, LA worked a walk to lead off and eventually got the bases loaded. O'Brien, pinch hitting, drew another walk to tie it. In the 11^th, Lee Stevens, getting his first start of the year, singled in Chuck Jackson to walk us off. Frank DiPino (2-0) gets the win, while Sixto DeLaCruz took the loss (0-2).


5/7 2-0 W over the Cubs
Frank Tanana (3-3) pitched 8 innings of shut out baseball and John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 5^th save of the season. Dodger 2^nd basement, Bruce Fields, doubled in the first run in the 6^th, and LA added another in the 8^th on a Chuck Jackson double. LA is no longer the worst in the NL.


Lee Stevens was sent back to Albuquerque as Von Hayes was activated from the DL. Hayes is expected to start in RF.


5/9 4-1 L to the Pirates
Jack McDowell (4-2) pitches into the 8^th and strikes out 6 in the win. Johnny Ray went 3-4 and Eddie Williams hit a bases clearing double with them loaded. Viola (4-3) took the loss, while Von Hayes went 2-4 in his first game back with the teams only RBI.


5/10 5-4 L to the Pirates
Ken Howell (0-4) served up 13 hits in 6 innings and LA was lucky that the scoreline wasn't higher. LA fought back in the 9^th and scored 3 to get it close. The tying run made it to 2^nd base before Henneman and the Pirates shut it down. Henneman got his 9^th save. Chuck Jackson went 2-4 with 2 doubles. Jose DeLeon gets the win (3-3).


5/12 8-2 L to the Phillies
Dave Magadan went 2-4 with 2 RBI's and Darren Daulton smashed his first HR of the year as the Phillies cruise to a win. Tanana (3-4) got roughed up all night and couldn't make it out of the 6^th. The Phils piled on the LA bullpen with John Denny allowing 3 in the 8^th. Surhoff went 2-4 in the start. Andy Hawkins (1-0) got the win.


Lee Stevens broke his hand in a game in AAA and he's may be able to return for roster expansion, but otherwise his year is functionally over.


5/13 8-4 L to the Phillies
OK. This is pretty amazing. Truly. Bryn Smith (1-4) started for LA, but his bat was the story. Smith hit a grand slam (1) in the 2^nd inning to put all 4 runs in for LA and a lead. This is no lie. In the bottom of the 2^nd, Phillies pitcher, Ed Wojna hit a 3-run HR off of Smith to bring it back. I've never seen 2 HR's and 7 RBI's from the starting pitchers before. The Phillies kept scoring though, and Mark Grace hit one in the 6^th (5) to keep the run parade rolling.


5/14 7-4 L to the Phillies
Here we go again with losing. Phils first basemen Mark Grace went 2-3 and tripled in 2, to put the game out of reach for LA. The Phillies jumped all over Viola (4-4) to the tune of 7 runs and 9 hits. Mike Scioscia went 2-3 with 2 walks and a solo homer (4). Greg Maddux (5-2) gets the win.


5/15 11-4 W over the Mets
Pedro Guerrero doubled and went deep twice (5,6). Juan Samuel went 2-5, with 4 RBI's and he went deep (5) for his 100^th career dinger. Scioscia, Barrett and Jackson all added 2 hits. Ken Howell (1-4) really struggled, but his 8 k's in 5.2 innings were solid. The Mets Robby Thompson homered twice (3,4) and Pete Smith (1-4) took the loss.

[PilotMan]

Just wanted to emphasize this crazy game.



5/13 8-4 L to the Phillies
OK. This is pretty amazing. Truly. Bryn Smith (1-4) started for LA, but his bat was the story. Smith hit a grand slam (1) in the 2^nd inning to put all 4 runs in for LA and a lead. This is no lie. In the bottom of the 2^nd, Phillies pitcher, Ed Wojna hit a 3-run HR off of Smith to bring it back. I've never seen 2 HR's and 7 RBI's from the starting pitchers before. The Phillies kept scoring though, and Mark Grace hit one in the 6^th (5) to keep the run parade rolling.

[PilotMan]

5/16 5-4 (13) L to the Mets
Oh boy. LA has some issues in the bullpen. Chuck Jackson is starting to play like a major leaguer. LA scored first with 3 in the 4^th thanks to something like 6 straight singles. The Mets got it all back in the 4^th. Helped by a Strawberry home run (7) off of starter Jim Beattie who pitched 5 innings. The it was silent until the 13^th. Jackson hit his 4^th HR of the year and topped off a 3-6 game, with 2 RBI's. It looked like LA was going to pull this one out. Brian Holton (0-3) came in to pitch and 2 pitches in Bobby Bonilla hit a solo homer (7) to tie it again. Then 6 pitches after that, Kevin Mitchell sent them home with his 3^rd. Tough, tough ending. Holton should probably be shown the door. Storm Davis gets the win (2-2).


5/18 8-4 L to the Mets
Up until the 6^th it was all pitching. Tanana (3-5) and Liebrandt (3-1) kept the game quiet. LA got to him in the 6^th with 2 on a Hayes double. But everytime LA scored, the Mets did too. The Mets answered with 1 in the bottom. Then LA scored in the 7^th, but the Mets scored 4 and got Tanana out. LA came back with another in the 8^th, but the Mets got 3 more. A truly losing endeavor. Mitchell and Bonilla both went 3-5. Mitchell had 3 RBI's.


LA's short rise up the division is now over as we fall back to 5^th.
5/19 2-1 L to the Expos
LA making average pitchers look good again. Today it was John Wetteland (4-2). Wetteland allowed 2 hits over 6 innings. Viola (4-5) got the start for LA today, threw a complete game, got his first career double and lost. LA had the tying run in scoring position when Guerrero hit a drive to the right field corner. Dawson was able to run it down and save the game for the Expos.


Former Dodger slugger, Fred Lynn, hit career home run number 300 tonight. Lynn's blast came as part of a 4-run, 6^th inning against the Brewers. Coincidentally, the pitcher on the mound was another former Dodger, Kelly Downs. Downs is 0-4 on the year with a 4.83 ERA for the Brew Crew.


5/20 7-1 L to the Expos
The Expos score in each of the first 5 innings, capped by a 3-4 game by Al Newman and a 2-3, 3 RBI game by Galarraga who hit his 6^th HR of the year. Bryn Smith drops to 1-5 with another poor game, and Ed Whitson (5-1) throws a complete game and was never in any real trouble. Henderson and Jackson had 2 hit games.


5/21 5-4 W over the Expos
LA fought back from down 3-0 and Ken Howell (2-4) helped his own cause today. Rickey went 4-5, but it was Howell, who went 2-4 with 3 RBI's, including the go ahead RBI in the 7^th. Franco came on in the 8^th when Howell got in trouble, and closed out the game for his 6^th save. Nice to get a win for a change.


LA makes a few changes to the roster. Brian Holton was optioned back to Albuquerque and the team promotes Scott Baker. Baker is a 26yr old righty who is making his MLB debut. He was originally a 35^th round pick (920^th overall) by the Expos back in '82. Since then he's been all over. He was signed by LA at the end of last season as a free agent. Prior to last season the highest he's played was rookie ball. With Albuquerque this year he's 0-1, with 7 saves and a 1.59 ERA in 10 games. He's been a prime closer everywhere and in 100 minor league games has a career 1.55 ERA with 56 career saves. He throws a fastball and slider and can reach the upper 90's. Who knows if he'll be worth anything, but he's a good story at least.


The other change was the team putting 2^nd baseman Marty Barrett (.204/0/10, with a .275 OBP) on waivers and designating him for assignment. A bit of a surprise for the team, who signed him to a 2 year deal and had high expectations for him. It is also a sign that the team is willing to recognize that things are not going well. The team recalled Ken Caminiti (.328/1/16 in Albuquerque) to take his place. Not sure if he or Jackson will play 2^nd/3^rd.


5/23 9-8 W over the Phillies
Hard to finger this one. LA blew a 7-1 lead, and needed 2 in the 9^th to win it. Frank Tanana left the game in the first with a hand injury. Tough to say how bad right now. Caminiti got us going right with a 3-5 day and 3 doubles. He was responsible for the tying run in the 9^th. LA bashed out 14 hits, 3 from Henderson and 3 from Guerrero. Guerrero also blasted a solo shot in the 4^th (7). Lee Smith, normally rock solid, walked 4 batters in just under 2 innings, and walked 2 in. Of his 40 pitches, 16 were for strikes. In the 9^th, with 2 out, Bruce Fields grounded out to the closer Mike Schooler, but Schooler threw it away and allowed Henderson to score the winning run.


Tanana's injury is minor and that's good news. He shouldn't miss a start and isn't going to the DL.


5/24 5-1 L to the Phillies
Greg Maddux (7-2) is having the best year of his career. He leads the NL in wins with 7 and today shut us down over 8 innings. Viola (4-6) pitched 7 good, but not good enough. Juan Samuel got 2 hits today, and Armando Moreno left the game with an abdominal strain.


5/25 3-0 L to the Phillies
Mark Grace went 3-4 and former Dodgers Kurt Stillwell and Floyd Bannister (5-4) put the hurt on. Bannister pitched 7 scoreless against LA, while Stillwell knocked in 2. Bryn Smith (1-6) took another tough loss, but pitched into the 8^th. He has a 3.68 ERA to go with his stellar record.


5/26 6-5 W over the Mets
LA struck first with a couple in the first inning, but by the 4^th the Mets had tied the game. Neither Bud Black nor Ken Howell figured into the final, although both pitched 7. In the 8^th Rickey lead off with his 6^th HR of the year, against Roger McDowell (4-3) and Mike Scioscia added his 5^th a 2-run homer, later on. The Mets made Franco look bad today with 2 off of him in the 9^th and the tying run on first, before Franco locked it down for his 7^th save. Lee Smith got the win (1-1).


5/27 4-3 W over the Mets
The Mets get 2 cheap runs early in the game off of Jim Beattie (3-3), but he settled down and pitched well enough. LA tied that game on a Schofield HR (4) off of Mets starter Brian Holman (0-1), in his first career start. Scioscia went 3-4 and Pete O'Brien and Rickey added 2 more. We got to see the debut of Scott Baker, who got 4 outs, 2 K's on 11 pitches. Franco closed the 9^th for his 8^th save.


Armando Moreno was placed on the 15 day DL, and taking his place on the roster was Marty Barrett, who was reinstated after clearing waivers.


5/28 5-1 L to the Mets
Strawberry hammered a ball in the first inning off of “Gopher Ball” Tanana (3-6) and the Mets went up for good. Liebrandt (4-1) owned LA today, except for Juan Samuel who went 2-4 with a solo homer (6) . Robby Thompson homered in the 8^th (6) off of Lee Smith to pour on the misery.


5/29 2-1 W over the Expos
Frank Viola (5-6) looked like the real deal tonight. He simply owned the Expos, allowing 1 hit through 7 innings, before he allowed a run off a couple walks. Von Hayes hit his first HR of the year, which is way longer than he should have. Franco pitched another 9^th for his 9^th save this year.


5/30 9-4 L to the Expos
Von Hayes saw his batting average bump by about 70 points today as he put together a 5-5 showing, including 2 RBI's. Both Caminiti and and Schofield added 2 hit games, but it didn't really matter. An error by Schofield in the first, lead to a 5 unearned run outburst, that put the Expos up for good. Bryn Smith loses again, dropping to 1-7, while Ed Whitson won again (6-2).


5/31 4-3 (10) L to the Expos
Former Dodger, Willie Randolph put it to us going 3-5 today, and knocking in 2 runs. Raines came around to score in the 10^th on a Yount flyball to center. LA had 6 hits, 4 from Guerrero and Rickey. Ken Howell took a no hitter into the 6^th before the Expos pitcher Rodney Imes got his first career hit, and that opened the door to a 2-run inning. John Franco (2-2) took the loss in the 10^th.

[PilotMan]

May Recap


Gonna make this one short and sweet and move on to other things. LA went 11-16 in May, and while that's a step up it's good enough for 5^th place in the West and a mere 19.5 games behind the Astros.

The team can't hit. They are 11^th in average (.238) and OPB (.299) and 12^th in slugging (.344). Somehow, they are 6^th in HR's. The pitching staff is 7^th in the NL, with the bullpen ranking 10^th. Defensively, the team is 3^rd in the NL. So the mantra is, they suck.


The best hitter was Chuck Jackson. Yep, his .313/.410/.507 slash line lead the team and Ricky was right behind with a .305/.407/.400 line. Like April power was in short supply. For the entire month, Pedro and Samuel and their 3 dingers lead the team. Samuel hit .170. Pedro a measly .250. Who else sucked? Marty Barrett (.171/.256/.186). Maybe they should have released him.


The top pitcher was probably Frankie V. Viola went 2-4 with a 2.98 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. Tanana wasn't awful either (1-4, 3.41, 1.05). Who wasn't? John Denny (0-0, 7.30, 2.11) and Ken Howell (2-1, 4.50, 1.50) was the worst of the starters.


What about the rest of the league?


The Astros are winning. With a 39-14 record they lead all of the NL, and are 11 games in front of the Braves. In the East, the Expos (.596) are a half in front of the Pirates (.588) and 1.5 in front of the Phillies (.566). The top team in the AL are the Orioles, who have gone from laughing stock to 34-18 leaders. They have the worst pitching staff, but they are powered by the Jr's. Cal Ripken and Ken Griffey. Add Ellis Burks in there too and they can hit. And in the West, it's between the Royals (.615) who lead, followed by the White Sox (.604) who are a half back. The Royals are lead by former Dodger, Orel Hersheiser, who is 9-1, with a 2.38 ERA. The White Sox and El Toro are getting along just fine. Valenzuela is 6-4, with a 3.07 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP for the White Sox. The White Sox currently have 7 pitchers on the DL.


I'm almost afraid of what June has to bring.

[PilotMan]

6/1 3-2 W over the Astros
LA scrapped a win against the best team in baseball tonight. Beattie gave the team a chance with 5.1 innings and 4 k's, but the offense couldn't get it going against former Dodger Dave Stewart. Stewart lowered his ERA to 2.12, but a Dodger run in the 8^th tied it up, then a double by Pete O'Brien in the 9^th against Tom Henke (0-5). McGriff homered for the 11^th time this year.


6/2 11-7 W over the Astros
And LA takes down the champs again! Quite the offensive battle today. Pitching didn't matter much today. LA was lucky to knock Dennis Martinez around (5-3). He came into the game with a sub 2 ERA. Tanana (4-6) still gave up 2 homers, but was picked up with a Hayes HR (2) and Scioscia HR (6). Tanana even did his own damage. Coming into the game on an 0-25 streak, Tanana went a blistering 2-4 with 2 RBI's. Barrett and Scioscia added 3 hit games each.


6/3 4-2 L to the Astros
I guess we couldn't sweep or anything. Frankly we were lucky to get 2 runs off of Candiotti, who is having a stellar season (8-3, 1.15 ERA). LA had 0 extra base hits, and wasted a good effort by Viola (5-7). The game was tied heading to the bottom of the 6^th, when McGriff got his first career hit off of Frankie, a deep drive into the right field seats (13). Tom Henke closed for his 20^th save.


6/4 4-3 L to the Astros
Another game lost from the jaws of victory. Despite allowing 13 baserunners in 7 innings, Bryn Smith managed to keep the Astros from crossing home plate. Well...mostly. Every time LA would score the Astros would answer. Down 2-1, in the 8^th, BJ Surhoff lauched a 2-run blast (1) off of former Dodger Alejandro Pena. It was the first run Pena has allowed in 17 innings worked this year. LA couldn't hold the lead. Two runners lead off the bottom half of the inning and the manager went to Franco, and he couldn't keep those 2 from scoring. LA threatened in the 9^th, but Barrett lined into a DP to end it.


6/5 3-1 L to the Braves
Just when things were turning, we're back to another losing streak. The offense didn't show up again today, as the Braves Ramon Martinez struck out 8 and upped his record to 4-3. His only mistake was a 4^th inning HR by Ken Caminiti (1). Ken Howell (2-5) took the loss for LA. Jim Acker got his 12^th save for Atlanta.


Blue Jays first baseman Jack Clark mashed his 300^th career HR last night. The Blue Jays crushed the Brewers 13-1.


6/6 5-1 L to the Braves
Another failure of the bats tonight. The Braves fearsome lineup with names like, Kelly, Browne, Thomas and Winningham, beat up on Jim Beattie (3-4) scoring in 4 of the first 5 innings. Mark Leiter, making his 2^nd career start, (2-0) shut down LA over 7 scoreless. LA only scored in the 9^th, when it was already over.


6/7 2-1 L to the Braves
Another sweep of LA for the Braves. Randy Johnson, despite a 72 minute rain delay in the 4^th inning, took a no hitter into the 8^th inning, before Caminiti broke it up with a double to left. He would score for LA's only run. The Dodgers, Frank Tanana (4-7), also pitched well. The first 2 batters he faced after the delay singled and homered (Komminsk (8)), and really, that was all the Braves needed. In the 7^th, Tanana was forced out of the game with back soreness. No word yet on his condition.


Ugh, this team is tough to watch. They have scored 8 runs in the last 5 games. Before that they put up 11 in one against Houston. The players are complaining about a lack of team leadership as well as selfish players in the clubhouse (hmmmmm, sounds like Henderson). Manager Adam Abercrombie can't like his chances of staying with this 1 year deal right now, and even the GM should be concerned. Shockingly, LA is 3^rd in team payroll, and attendance has dropped by over 10,000 per game compared to last season. It's gonna be a long, hot summer of losing.


Good news at least with Tanana, he's been diagnosed with spasms and will not be going to the DL, for now anyway.


6/9 3-1 L to the Reds
This is 6 straight losses for the Dodgers now. Ron Darling went 8 and improved his record to 2-8, while Viola pitched into the 8^th and lost to go to 5-8. Henderson went 2-4 and was the only bright spot. LA put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs against Eck and couldn't get even one run across. John Franco was removed from the game with back tightness, but it was only precautionary. He should be fine. This was Darling's first game with the Reds after a trade from the Padres yesterday. The Padres got Gary Redus and a minor leaguer.


6/10 5-1 L to the Reds
Now 7 in a row. Bryn Smith loses again and runs his record to 1-9 on the year. His 3.63 ERA belies that record. Today, he was victimized by a Schofield error, then the Reds pitcher, Roy Smith, hit a 2-run triple. Later it was Hendu who crushed an opposite field HR (11) to close it and chase Smith in the 6^th. LA got 2 hit games from Samuel, O'Brien and Surhoff, but left 8 runners on base.


6/11 6-1 L to the Reds
Good god. This is 8 now. LA could only muster 4 hits today. One of them was a leadoff HR by Samuel in the first (7). It was all downhill from there. Ken Howell (2-6) struck out 8 in 5 innings, but also allowed 6 hits, 3 walks and another HR by Hendu (12). Jeff Stember (6-4) is the winner.


Former Dodger, Fred Lynn got his 2000^th career hit last night for the Angels. Lynn went 2-4 as part of the Angels 6-4 win over the Royals. Lynn also hit HR number 303 in the game.


LA now has the worst record in the NL. I hate to say that I saw this coming, but I really did. I mean, the preseason pick saw us in 2^nd place, and I really didn't think we'd fall this far, this fast, but damn. With no farm system, and poor finances, this team was destined to struggle. Only 3 teams in baseball are worse. The Brewers and the A's.


Armando Moreno was activated from the DL, and once again, Marty Barrett was designated and placed on waivers.


6/12 4-3 (11) L to the Reds
OMG! We're up to 9 straight losses now. Von Hayes, Mike Scioscia, and Juan Samuel all had 2 hit games, and Frank Tanana left the game with a 3-1 lead, but Frank DiPino couldn't keep the Reds from scoring and sending it to extras. Lee Smith (2-2) took the loss. Juan Samuel left the game with an abdominal injury. They're already saying that he should be fine, and not planning to send him to the DL (not that it would matter at this point).


Marty Barrett was pulled off of waivers and Caminiti (.210/1/6) was sent back to Albuquerque.


6/13 8-0 W over the Astros
Well, we needed that, and for some reason, are really beating the best team in the league regularly. Jim Beattie (4-4) started and spread out 8 hits over 6 innings, while the rest of the team spread another 3 hits. The 'Stros out hit LA 11 to 9. Rickey cleared the bases with a double that broke the game open in the 7^th. Juan Samuel, already banged up, had to leave the game after legging out a double in the 6^th. Tom Candiotti, (8-4) who came into the game with a sub 1.30 ERA left with a 1.75 ERA after giving up all 8 runs in 6 innings. I should also say, that LA didn't get it's first hit until the 5^th. So how about that?!


Samuel has some hamstring tightness, but isn't going to the DL just yet.


6/14 14-4 L to the Astros
Houston put up 4 off of Frank Viola (5-9) in the first and never looked back. LA had actually cut the lead to 5-4 heading into the top of the 8^th before Houston blew it out. LA lost Eddie Vargas (.318/0/0) and Joe Price (0-1, 1S, 2.79) to injuries. Ricky homered in the first (7). Marty Barrett had his best game of the year going 3-4 with 2 RBI's.


Both Vargas and Price came back with minor injuries and neither will need to head to the DL. Good news for Price. He's been one of the best pitchers on the team.


6/15 11-6 L to the Astros
Another smackdown for the Champs against crappy LA pitching. Bryn Smith got lit up for 7 runs in 5 innings, while watching his record drop to 1-10. Ouch. Nolan Ryan (7-4) strikes out 7. Marty Barrett continued his hot streak going 3-3 and Jackson and Ricky added 2 hits each.


San Diego Padres pitcher, and former Dodger, Rick Reuchel, at age 40, with over 200 wins, and 2000 strikeouts, with 2 World Series rings and a Gold Glove, can now add no-hitter to his long list of career accomplishments. Tonight, Reuchel no hit the Cincinnati Reds 3-0, walking 2 and striking out 6.


The Dodgers ship pitching prospect Don Pall, 27, (0-1, 8.38 in AAA) to the Tigers for 22 y/o Jorge Brito. Brito was a 7^th round pick in '87, and was batting .074 in AAA prior to the trade. LA has sent him to low A Vero Beach. Pall was a former 4^th round pick of the Dodgers in '84. He was 24-26, with 10 career saves and a 3.98 ERA in his minor league career.

[PilotMan]

6/16 3-1 W over the Braves
Ken Howell (3-6) served up a HR to Craig Worthington (10) in the first and kept them off the board the rest of the way. He finished the game with 7 K's in his 8 innings. Craig Jackson went 2-4 and an RBI tonight. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 10^th save.


6/17 6-3 W over the Braves
Hey! We're playing like a baseball team! LA left 11 guys on base tonight, and could have blown this one open. Tanana (5-7) didn't have his good stuff. He gave up 10 hits in just over 6 innings, but kept it close enough for the offense. LA benefited from 3 unearned runs and Lee Smith pitched the final 2 innings for the first save of his season. This game also saw the Major League debut of Braves pitcher Tommy Greene. He worked 2 scoreless and struck out his first batter.


6/18 6-2 W over the Braves
Von Hayes goes 3-4 (where has he been?) and Scioscia goes 2-3 with 3 RBI's as LA leaves 10 guys on base. So between Randy Johnson and Jim Beattie, who had more K's? Beattie 7 to 1. Who had more walks? Johnson 8 to 5 (wow that was awful to watch). Beattie becomes the first Dodger pitcher to have a winning record on the year (5-4) while Johnson drops to 4-7. Marty Barrett hurt his elbow in a collision at 2^nd while turning a DP. He left the game.


Barrett is put on the DL with an elbow bruise. Caminiti is recalled from AAA.


6/19 6-2 L to the Padres
Before the game I found out that Viola only trails Bryn Smith in leading the league in losses. On top of that, he is also 5^th in FIP, and 4^th in WAR. That's awful. Tonight, he pitched a perfect 3 innings, and LA scored early to put him up. In the 4^th a Kruk single was followed by a Bo Jackson HR (15) to put SD on top. It got way out of hand when unheralded 2^nd baseman Ron Coomer, hit a bases clearing double to open it up. Viola loses again (5-10).


6/20 4-1 L to the Padres
SD lead off the scoring in the 4^th when old Dodger, Franklin Stubbs singled in one. Rick Reuchel had to leave the game with an injury, and LA tied it up on a bases loaded walk. But LA would only get 1 and the Padres would score again on a Bo Jackson solo homer (16) off of Joe Price. The Padres got 2 more in the 8^th, again off of Price, thanks to Matt Williams (19). Juan Samuel had to leave the game early after he pulled up lame, running out a double. How bad is it, that the Padres suck as bad as they do, yet they have 2 guys with over 15 homers and out leader's are tied with 7? It's bad.


LA puts Juan Samuel on the 15 day with a quad strain. Inky was recalled from Albuquerque. So far on the year, he's hitting .333 with 4 HR's and 17 RBI's.


6/21 5-3 W over the Padres
Welcome back Inky. He helped out starter Ken Howell (4-6) with a 2-4 game, and 2 doubles. Dwayne Murphy, Eddie Vargas and Schofield all had 2 hits as the team got 12 all together. The game was tied 3-3, but LA took the lead in the 7^th when Scioscia homered for the 8^th time to take over the team lead. Franco pitched the last 2 for his 11^th save.


Scott Baker (0-0, 6.97) was optioned back to Albuquerque and southpaw Bob Patterson (6-3, 4.39) was promoted to the club. Patterson last pitched in the majors for the Padres in '87, where he was 2-0, with a 3.66 ERA out of the bullpen. He's been starting this year in AAA. Patterson was part of the deal that sent Steve Sax to the Padres for Ken Caminiti.


6/22 6-3 W over the Reds
Jim Beattie served up 3 to the Reds in the first thanks to a Jeffrey Wilson HR (8), and LA fought back with 1 in the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th to tie it. Dick Schofield tied the game in the 6^th with his 5^th dinger, as part of a 4-5 day that included a double. LA got 16 hits, and put up 3 in the 7^th to take the lead. Von Hayes added 3 hits and Frank DiPino pitched the final 3 for his 1^st save of the year. Only 32 pitches for him, in his best outing this year.


6/23 4-2 W over the Reds
Two in a row against the Reds? Nice! Von Hayes started the scoring with a 2-run HR in the 3^rd (3). Viola (6-10) served one up to Dave Valle (7) in the 4^th to tie the score. Then Inky broke the tie with a big opposite field drive for his first. LA scored in insurance run in the 8^th and Franco picked up his 12^th save. Scioscia went 3-4 batting cleanup. LA is 18 games below .500.


6/24 7-2 L to the Reds
The Reds jumped all over Bryn Smith (1-11) in the first as his bad season continues. It was a Jeffrey Wilson 3-run bomb (9) that opened things up. Meanwhile Ron Darling (4-9) seems to have found his stride as he struck out 8 in 7 and a third. LA manager Abercrombie has moved Tanana to the bullpen and he saw his first action. He and John Denny closed the game out with 3 scoreless innings.


6/25 4-3 L to the Reds
Tough loss today. Micky Morandini went 3-4 and Dave Henderson hit a 2-run double in the 7^th off of Frank DiPino that put the Reds up. Earlier, Inky hit the longest HR of the year, a 458ft blast into the 2^nd deck in left (2). He was 2-2 with 2 RBI's on the day. Ken Howell (4-7) pitched well, but ultimately took the loss after getting into trouble and not being able to hold on. LA got the tying run on, but Eck shut them down with K's to end it.


I guess Inky's show wasn't good enough as he was optioned back to AAA and Doug Jennings was recalled. Inky had been playing center, and he might have been able to get Hendu's big blast if he was a better fielder. Jennings is.


6/27 3-0 W over the Padres
Bob Patterson (1-0) got his first ML start today and pitched 6 scoreless innings allowing only 2 hits. The game was knotted at 0 when Patterson came out. Pedro stepped in to pinch hit and drove it into the left field seats to give LA the lead (8). Dwayne Murphy would pinch hit later and would hit another shot for LA to give some insurance (2). Franco closed out the 9^th for his 13^th save.


6/28 6-4 L to the Padres
Ozzie Guillen went 4-5 and scored 3 times leading off. Franklin Stubbs batted 2^nd and went 2-3 with 4 RBI's including going back to back with HR's with Bo Jackson in the 4^th (2, Stubbs and 18 for Jackson). Guerrero got LA on the board in the 4^th with his 9^th HR. Jim Beattie (5-5) went 6, but couldn't keep up with the gem from Ojeda (5-8). LA came back a little with 2 in the 8^th and another in the 9^th with an Armando Moreno solo homer (1).


6/29 5-4 W over the Padres
Viola (7-10) fell behind early on another Bo Jackson homer (19). The Padres extended the lead with 3 more in the 4^th thanks to a McLendon HR (10) and it looked like another loss for Frankie. He still had great stuff and struck out 10 Padres over 7 innings, and LA rallied with 2 in the 6^th and another 2 in the 7^th . Pedro had a 3-4 day with 2 RBI's. Franco pitched the final 6 outs for his 14^th save.


6/30 4-1 W over the Pirates
Bryn Smith (2-11) goes the distance and only threw 84 pitches. His only mistake was a juicy ball to third basemen Eddie Williams who put it beyond left for the HR (5). Down by 1 all game long, LA put a few hits together in the bottom of the 8^th. The previous inning Von Hayes had gunned someone out at the plate, followed by a diving catch along the line. In his next at bat he doubled in a run to tie it up. Pedro would pinch hit his own 2-run double and put LA up for good. Rick Honeycutt (2-3) took the loss (2-3).

[PilotMan]

June Recap


The best month yet! Yet, that's not saying anything good about this year. LA finished the month of June with a 12-16 record, and now stand at 31-49 on the year, in last place in the West, and 27.5 games behind the Astros. Heading into July the only question should be, who is going to be traded? It's got to be Guerrero. I mean, really. He's got 1 year left, and has value. Tanana perhaps? Maybe Price, DiPino? Maybe they even move Rickey? He could bring something. He has a couple years left, but he's a clubhouse cancer and it's killing the team. Plus he's one of the highest paid guys on the team.


We still suck at hitting. LA is 12^th in runs scored, and 10^th in average (.239) and OPB (.304). The team leader in HR's is Guerrero with 9. He also leads the team in average with a .269. There were no offensive weapons in June. The top hitter all around was, Mike Scioscia. Scioscia had a .287/.341/.438 slash line and he lead the team in HR's with 3. Inky played in 5 games and fell 1 shy of tying him. So bad. Who was bad? Everyone else. Rickey hit .188/.310/.250. Pedro hit .235/.303/.370. The guys who had been the best, are suddenly not producing.


Pitching wise, the team is 7^th in the league in ERA. The starters were 9^th and the bullpen 7^th. Opponent average was 5^th. If there was any offense at all, we might be close a .500 team. At Chavez Ravine, LA is 21-19, while the road is hard and they're only 10-30. Lefties are harder on the team (5-16) than righties are (26-33). Defensively, LA has dropped to 5^th in the NL. This is the lowest that we've been all year long. The top pitcher for June was DiPino, who pitched in a club high 11 games. Throwing 15 innings with a 1.20 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Franco was also good with 5 saves and 11.2 innings of scoreless baseball in just over 11 innings. The top starter Frank Tanana (again, remind me how wound up in the bullpen) who was 2-1 with a 3.30 ERA in 30 innings. Tanana had a 1.30 WHIP. Who wasn't? Not Joe Price, who was 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA and a 2.10 WHIP and not Bryn Smith 1-4, 5.70 and a 1.54. Viola pitched 41 innings and allowed only 34 hits and 11 walks, but still had a 4.97 ERA and a .214 OAVG. Some bad luck? Bad something.


Is it next year yet?


The Astros are crushing the souls of the West. With a 59-22 record they are 18 games in front of the Reds, who are only 9.5 in front of LA. That's a big gap. In the East, the Pirates and Expos are at the top, followed by the Mets and Phillies only 1.5 behind. It's a very tight race. In the AL, the Orioles have lost the wonderkid, Griffey Jr for the rest of the year, but they still find themselves in front in the East, with a 3.5 game lead on the Red Sox and Yankees. In the West, it's the White Sox out front by 1.5 over the Mariners.


Just how dominating are the Astros? They are 2^nd in the NL in all offensive categories, and first in steals. Their pitching staff is first in every category and they are #1 in defense. It's pretty sick. They should roll to their 2nd straight title.


For LA, the year is over. We're not completely out, but it's not far off. I wonder if there will be any good sales this year?

[PilotMan]

You need to check out this post from the Undynasties about the most incredible half inning of baseball ever.


Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Glimpses & Moments from "Undynasties" (https://forums.operationsports.com/fofc/showpost.php?p=3216307&postcount=140)

[CraigSca]

You need to check out this post from the Undynasties about the most incredible half inning of baseball ever.


Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - Glimpses & Moments from "Undynasties" (https://forums.operationsports.com/fofc/showpost.php?p=3216307&postcount=140)

Wow. How did you catch that - do you check the scores each day?

[PilotMan]

7/1 4-2 W over the Pirates
LA scored 3 in the first inning a single and RBI by Guerrero and a 2-run shot by Von Hayes (4). Ken Howell picked up the W to move to 5-7 in his 8 innings of work. John Franco pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 15^th save.


The Houston Astros have lost Barry Larkin for a few weeks due to an ankle sprain. Larkin was hitting .318 with 4 HR's and 28 RBI's. He was also leading the NL in votes at short stop for the All Star game.


So then the Astros decided that they needed more help. Being stupidly deep, they traded away former closer, Scott Garrelts, who found himself behind Henke, Burke and Pena in the bullpen. He also started 5 games this year, and has a 4-0 record, with a save and a 1.32 ERA. The former All Star, lead the NL in saves last year. He'll be going to the Padres (along with pitching prospect, Dave Burba) now with the Astros getting John Kruk in exchange. Kruk plays first and the corner outfield spots. He's hitting .286, with a .394 OBP, 5 HR's and 23 RBI's. Kruk is a 2 time All Star. This is the third time Garrelts has been dealt. He's previously been involved in deals for John Lowenstein and Claudell Washington. The Astros continue to be aggressive at making the team better.


7/2 5-4 (10) W over the Pirates
John Franco (3-2) blew a save chance in the 9^th on an error by SS Armando Moreno. Moreno made up for it in the 10^th when he singled in Caminiti to win the game. That capped a 3-4 game by him. Scioscia went 3-5.


7/3 3-2 (12) L to the Pirates
So close to the win here today. Should have had it. Joe Price (1-3) gave up an RBI single to Pirates catcher Falcone, a guy hitting .173 on the year. LA got on the board with a Guerrero homer in the 4^th (10) and Jim Beattie carried a no-hitter into the 6^th inning with 2 out. From there, the Pirates put a rally together to get on the board, then tied it in the 7^th. Pirates starter McDowell had only allowed 1 hit all day (the homer) when he hit an RBI double and then was hurt sliding into 2^nd. He had to leave the game. Credit the Pirates pen for keeping LA quiet the rest of the game.


Inky is back with the club and they have optioned Eddie Vargas (.245/0/2) back to Albuquerque.


7/4 4-2 L to the Cardinals
Frank Viola and Mike Morgan matched zeros until the bottom of the 7^th, when the Cardinals put a run across. In the top of the 8^th LA took the lead 2-1 on a Ken Caminiti 2 run HR (2). Franco came on to close it out, but he was touched for 4 hits and 3 runs in 2/3ds of an inning. Franco takes the loss (3-3). LA lost Von Hayes who was hurt making a diving catch.


7/5 5-4 W over the Cardinals
Bryn Smith was roughed up early for 3 in the first 2 innings, and only lasted 5 innings today. LA only got offense from 3 guys today. Inky had a great day as he went 4-5, and knocked in 2. Doug Jennings had a big one, as his, go ahead, 2-run HR (1), wasn't only his first career knock in 205 at bats, it gave LA the lead they needed to win. Frank Tanana got the win (6-7), and Lee Smith pitched the final 2 innings for his 2^nd save.


7/6 7-6 L to the Cardinals
A good back and forth game tonight. LA scored first with Guerrero homering in the first (11) as part of a 3-4 day, but the Cards tied it in the 2^nd, then took the lead in the 4^th. LA got the lead back in the 6^th on a Von Hayes 3-run HR (5), but LA gave it right back in the bottom of the inning. LA then took the lead again, plating 2 in the 8^th and had the lead. Franco (3-4) came on in the 8^th but a Surhoff error lead to a tying run. In the 9^th the Cards got back to back hits, with none out. An intentional walk to Calderon saw Franco get Herr on strikes. Ozzie Smith, with the infield in, blasted a shot right at Schofield, but he bobbled the hard hit ball and couldn't get the runner at hom.


7/7 11-6 W over the Cubs
The Dodgers committed 5 errors and smacked enough hits to see this one through. Rickey went 3-4 with 2 walks and 4 RBI's. Dick Schofield hit a bases clearing double in the 8^th that gave LA the lead, and LA piled on another 3 in the 9^th. John Denny got the win (and also blew the lead, 1-0) and the Cubs closer Sixto DeLaCruz dropped to 0-7.


7/8 3-2 W over the Cubs
Jim Beattie got the start and Tom Brunansky put the Cubs on the board in the first with a 2 run HR (3). LA answered with one in the 2^nd, but that's how it stayed for a while. In the 7^th with 2 out, Doug Jennings pinch hit for Dick Schofield with the bases loaded and smacked a hit over 2^nd that scored the 2 LA needed to take the lead. The bullpen did the rest as Franco pitched much better today getting his 16^th save. Joe Price picked up the win (2-3).


7/9 6-5 W over the Cubs
Nice little sweep of the Cubbies here. It almost got away from them tonight too. Viola (8-10) goes 7, and strikes out 6. He's over 100 on the year now. LA scored first, in the first. Guerrero's solo homer off of Kevin Brown (12) put us up. We'd add another and another in the 2^nd, but in the 3^rd the Cubs came back. Kevin Brown helped his own cause with his 2^nd career hit. This one a triple that scored 1. Caminiti and Guerrero had 2 hit games. LA went up 6-3 late, but the Cubs fought back against Lee Smith and had the winning run on 2^nd before David Justice lightly grounded out to first to end it. Smith picked up his 3^rd save. Kevin Brown left the game with a shoulder injury.




All Star Break


LA has 2 players who were selected to the All Star game this year. None were voted in, both were selected by the manager to go. First is closer John Franco (3-4, 16S, 1.81 ERA). It's his 3^rd straight All Star game selection. The other player is Frank Tanana (6-7, 3.09). This is Tanana's 4^th career All Star appearance and his first in 11 years. Lee Smith was probably robbed. His numbers are good too (2-2, 3S, 1.51), but I'm happy it was Tanana, even though Abercrombie sent him to the pen.


All Star Game
7/11 3-2 AL over NL


California Angles outfielder Eric Davis won the MVP for tonight's game. Davis went 3-3 and hit the games only HR. A solo shot off of Expos strarter Ed Whitson, who took the loss. Randy Myers was the only pitcher to strike out all 3 batters he faced. Franco didn't pitch, but Tanana threw 21 pitches, gave up a hit and a walk in a scoreless inning of work.




LA activated 2B Marty Barrett (.229/0/18) and optioned OF Bruce Fields (.246/1/6) to Albuquerque to make room on the roster.


7/13 8-5 W over the Cardinals
Bryn Smith took the mound tonight, but he wasn't good enough to get the win. Guerrero hammered a shot in the first to put LA up 2-0 to start. Halfway through the game the Cardinals had taken the lead 5-3. In the 7^th, LA's Inky hammered another HR (3), a 3-run shot that gave LA the lead again. Von Hayes also got his 6^th to give LA the lead for good. Joe Price (3-3) gets the win, while Franco gets his 17^th save.


7/14 6-2 L to the Cardinals
Will Clark went 4-4 with 3 RBI's and a solo homer off of Frank Viola (8-11) to give the Cards the win today. Mike Heath went 3-4 and Ozzie 2-4 as the Cards got Viola for 9 hits and 5 runs. Guerrero has found his stroke again as he went 4-4 with a double and a triple. Schofield went 2-3 with an RBI. The loss breaks LA's 4 game win streak that has seen the Dodgers climb over the Padres for 4^th in the West.


7/15 10-0 L to the Cardinals
Will Clark (20), Mell Hall (10) and Mike Pagliarulo (1) all took turns going deep tonight and all off of Ken Howell (5-8) who was tagged for 9 earned runs in 5 innings of work. LA loaded the bases in the 9^th and Caminiti had a 2 hit day. Frank Tanana worked 4 innings of relief to give the bullpen a break on a bad day.

[PilotMan]

Wow. How did you catch that - do you check the scores each day?


Yep, I am always looking for milestones, great performances and general oddities. That particular inning really stood out.

[PilotMan]

7/16 1-0 L to the Cardinals
Von Hayes went 2-4 and upped his hitting streak to 14 games and his average to .273. LA wasted a great start from Jim Beattie, who pitched 7 innings and allowed 1 hit and struck out 3. The Cards got a great start too. Jaime Navarro, walked 5 and allowed 2 hits through 7 and neither pitcher allowed a run. Lee Smith (2-3) had a rough inning. An error by Barrett, then back to back walks. A single from Jay Bell knocked in the games only run.


7/17 9-4 W over the Cubs
A few tough games against the Cards and a good game to get back on track again. Slugger Victor Madden homered (23) in the first to put Chicago up first, but LA answered with 5 before the first out was even recorded by rookie Kevin Brown. Guerrero homered (14) and tripled enroute to a 3-4 with 3 RBI's. Inky scored 3 times and Von Hayes hit for the 15^th straight game with a 2-run HR (7). Marty Barrett also homered for the first time this year. It's been over a year since he'd homered. Frank Tanana (7-7) got the win in relief as Patterson didn't get his 5 innings.


The White Sox have lost top player Barry Bonds, for possibly the entire season, with a back injury. The Sox are a game and a half up on Mariners and Bonds leads the team in HR (23), RBI's (69) and is 2^nd in AVG (.307). Daryl Boston takes his place in the lineup.


Rob Deer had the highlight of his career end. A 22 game hitting streak. If you remember anything about Rob Deer's career, it's that a 22 game hitting streak might be the most unlikely thing he would ever do.


7/18 3-0 W over the Cubs
The Cubs extend their losing streak to 9 games as Bryn Smith (3-11) goes the distance for the shut out. His first on the year, and his best game too. Hayes saw his hitting streak come to an end, while Inky added 2 hits, and Caminiti went 3-4 with 2 RBI's on a single through the drawn in infield. David Cone (6-8) took the loss.


7/19 3-1 L to the Cubs
The Cubbies grab the win from Viola tonight (8-12) Former Dodger catcher Ronald King blasted a go ahead triple that scored Ramirez in the 6^th. Inky homered in the 7^th (4) to LA hope. LA got the tying run on with 0 outs in the 9^th but couldn't get them in. John Smiley moves to 6-7 with the win.


Juan Samuel was activated from the DL and Inky was optioned to open the roster spot. LA has signed 37 year old Buddy Bell to a minor league deal. Bell is a 4-time All Star and 6 time Gold Glove winner. He was released by the Rangers in April and hasn't played this year. In 18 seasons he has 2563 hits and a .277 average, with 207 career home runs. Last season, with the Rangers, he batted .268 with 14 HR's and 69 RBI's, while committing 16 errors at third in 156 games started. Bell lost his job when the Rangers signed Gary Gaetti to a 4 year deal in the offseason.


7/21 3-0 L to the Pirates
Brian Harper, the best catcher in baseball, went 3-4 including his 14^th of the year to put the Pirates on the board. Dave Hengel added insurance for Pittsburgh in the 7^th with a solo shot (2). Ken Howell (5-9) pitched alright beside those. The real problem was Doug Drabek (3-5) who only allowed 2 hits in 7 innings. Paul Assenmacher, pitched 2 hitless for his 2^nd save of the season.


7/22 2-0 L to the Pirates
Oof. Another shutout. We've now scored 1 run in 27 innings. Caminiti goes 2-3 and Beattie pitches into the 6^th, but takes the loss (5-6). LA never really threatened. Jack McDowell (8-5) struck out 8 in 7.1 innings of work and Henneman got his 21^st save. We could really use some power in this lineup.


7/23 3-0 L to the Pirates
Holy cow. Another shut out loss. That 27 scoreless for LA and 1 run in the last 36 innings. Today it was Jose DeLeon (10-6) shutting down the Dodgers. Bryn Smith (3-12) loses again as LA only manages 4 hits. Henneman gets his 22^nd save. Steve Balboni got a triple. Really, the game was over at that point. There was no other way.


7/24 2-0 W over the Pirates
A win is a win, but 2 runs isn't sending fireworks into the sky. Viola (9-12) pitched great, with 8 shutout innings. Top 6 with the score tied at 0, and runners on first and second, Schofield knocked a single to put LA on the board. LA would add another in the 9^th and Franco pitched a quick 9^th for his 18^th save of the year.


Expos outfielder, Hubie Brooks hit for the cycle last night against the Phillies. It was his 7^th HR of the year.


Former Dodger starter Kelly Downs is having a rough season in Milwaukee. Last night, he won his 2^nd game of the year, to run his record to 2-13. His ERA with the Brewers is 5.73 and the worst season he has put up since his early days in LA.


7/25 3-0 L to the Astros
Greg Swindell (12-1) threw a 3 hit shutout today against LA. Fred McGriff knocked in 2 as Bob Patterson took his first loss as a Dodger (1-1). LA's best performance belongs to Frank Tanana in relief. Tanana pitched 3.2 innings allowing 1 hit and striking 3.


7/26 8-2 L to the Astros
Not a big surprise, that Candiotti (12-6) shuts us down again. Caminiti and Scioscia belted 5 of the LA's 7 hits. Ken Howell (5-10) started, but didn't last 5 innings. I wonder when we can get Tanana back into the rotation? I wonder when Inky will be back? We can't hit at all. The depth of the Astros is almost comical.


7/27 5-1 W over the Astros
Who thought that Jim Beattie (6-6) would win a dual with Nolan Ryan (11-6)? Not me, that's for sure. LA got a pinch hit HR from Pete O'Brien (1) as padding, but otherwise Beattie pitched a brilliant game today. Ricky went 3-5 and Schofield went 2-3. Even Surhoff added 2. Juan Samuel left the game with a foot injury.


7/28 8-6 L to the Padres
Bryn Smith (3-13) got lit up early and often in this one. We were down 8-0 after the 3^rd and the game was basically over. LA chipped away and Samuel smashed #8 of the season. Tanana threw another 4 shutout innings of relief and lowered his ERA to 2.85. The Padres are pulling away from us for 5^th in the West. Paul Kilgus got the win (7-9).


Do you think LA will trade anyone before the deadline? We have some talent we could part with.


The Padres say goodbye to Kilgus after he beats us. He goes to the Orioles in the heat of the AL East race. He actually improves their rotation somehow. The Padres get Aaron Cain, a 10 year utility player, with 171 career hits. He hadn't taken an at bat for the O's this season. So basically free.


7/29 3-2 W over the Padres
Frank Viola and Mark Gardiner both pitched well early on, but the Padres broke through first. Matt Williams homered deep to left (26) to score 2 and put the Padres up in the 6^th. LA got back to it in the 7^th when Doug Jennings lead off with a single and later scored with Henderson on a Hayes single that tied it up. LA got the go ahead run in the 9^th once again, thanks to Jennings who singled Surhoff who had walked. Price gets the win to go to 4-3, while Franco pitched the 9^th for his 19^th save.


7/30 5-3 W over the Padres
LA scored 2 in the first, and seemed to have Ojeda's number all game (7-11). The Padres got back into it with 2 in the 5^th to tie the game back up. Patterson (2-1) got some support from the team as they got a string of hits and doubles in the 6^th to plate 3 and take the lead again. The Padres tried to come back, but the bullpen kept it to 1 run. Franco got his 20^th save of the year.


What the fuck...


So LA makes a trade. Let's start with what we did get. Coming to LA from the Chicago White Sox is OF Darryl Boston. Boston, 26, will be arbitration eligible in the offseason and is in his last option year. Boston has 7 years of experience in the majors. He is a career .247 hitter, with a 34 HR's and 551 games played over that time. He is a pretty good fielder and can play all 3 outfield positions. He's fast, with 104 career steals and a high of 31 in '86. He was a 3 year starter for the Sox, but lost his job and has ridden the bench for the last 3. In return, LA ships RP Lee Smith. Yep. Lee fucking Smith. A guy under contract for next to nothing for 3 years. On the year, Smith is 2-3, with 3 saves and a career low 1.83 ERA in just under 40 innings of work. LA also sent minor league shortstop Patrick Abbatiello, the former #5 prospect in the Dodgers farm system, who was hitting .207/.247/.315 for AA San Antonio. He's got speed, and a good eye. Plays a couple positions. This doesn't feel like a very fair deal for us, nor does it feel like a trade that needed to be made, or gained us anything at all.


Boston gets a spot on the roster and Doug Jennings was optioned back to Albuquerque. Really can't say whether or not this is an upgrade. Both guys are lefties. To fill the spot in the bullpen, the team has recalled Scott Baker, who had just come off the DL. LA now has 4 lefties in the bullpen. In fact, all the major bullpen slots are occupied by lefties. Only Baker and Denny are right handed relievers.

[PilotMan]

July Recap


Another month of this long season is behind us and LA finishes with a 13-13 record, or the best record in any month all year long. As of right now, LA is dead last, in 6^th place with a 44-62 record, 32.5 games behind the Astros for first in the West. We are very close to the official end of the season. Once that happens these games will float right by. In fact, that Astros magic number is 34, and we're 32.5 back. It's that close.


The Dodgers are the worst team in the NL in runs scored. But, they've improved to 9^th in AVG (.242), 10^th in OBP (.308) and 9^th in HR (68). The team didn't have anyone who was good in July. Guerrero was probably the best. He lead the team with a whopping 5 HR's in the month. His slash line was .258/.320/.483. Von Hayes was next with 4 HR's and a team leading 14 RBI's, with a line of .245/.291/.392. God Awful. Henderson's OBP of .371 lead the team, but his .223 AVG was horrid. Barrett hit .176 and Scioscia hit .225.


The pitching was the only reason we won 13 games. LA is 8^th in the NL in ERA, and the bullpen is all the way up to 4^th. Defensively, the team has dropped down to 6^th in the NL. Who would have thought that Jim Beattie would be the best pitcher of the month? Beattie was 1-1 with a 1.71 ERA in 5 starts and 31 innings. Even his WHIP was an impressive 1.01. Tanana was next. In his 8 games he pitched over 20 innings, with an ERA of 1.77. Viola had a 2-2 record, even though his ERA was 2.53 and his WHIP 1.10. Too many guys sucked though too. Bryn Smith was 1-2 with a 4.70 ERA and Ken Howell was 1-3 with a crazy 7.50 ERA.


The team sucks. They are really bad on the road (.321), against lefties (.286) and in extra innings (.222) Let's see just how bad, and if who we might end up drafting as a result.

[PilotMan]

8/1 4-3 W over the Giants
LA scored first with a HR from a Henderson solo shot in the first (8), but the Giants took advantage of a rough start from Ken Howell (6-10). A 2-run HR from Gregg Jefferies in the 3^rd (6) as part of a 3 run inning. Giants pitcher Kip Gross (3-7) got his first career hit, an RBI double as part of the scoring. Howell himself answered with his first career HR in the bottom half (1). A 400+ft blast to left. LA took the lead in the 5^th and held on. Franco got the last 5 outs for save 21.


8/2 2-0 W over the Giants
Even though LA got 10 hits in the game, the offense could only get 2 across. Henderson knocked in Samuel in the first, and Darryl Boston his a pinch hit HR in the 7^th (4). His first as a Dodger. Samuel went 3-4, and Henderson another 2. Bryn Smith (4-13) pitched a very good game, allowing only 2 hits in his 7 innings. DiPino pitched the final 2 innings with Franco unavailable and notched his 2^nd save of the year.


8/3 8-2 L to the Giants
LA can't keep the streak alive and the Giants avoid the sweep. It started good, with a 2 out walk by Henderson and a 2-run HR from Guerrero (15) in the first off of Greg Hibbard (10-12). Frank Viola (9-13) gave 1 up in the 2^nd, but kept the lead into the 6^th. With 8 K's it wasn't quite good enough as the Giants took the lead. Tanana came on and had his first bad outing, walking 2 and giving up 3 hits. The biggest to rookie Bob Hamelin, who with the bases loaded, and being a .169 hitter, smashed a pinch hit HR into the seats (4). It was over at that point.


8/4 4-2 W over the Padres
LA scored 3 early off of Bob Ojeda (7-12) and Jim Beattie threw 8 innings and allowed 5 hits and 2 runs. Schofield left the game with back soreness after a collision at 2^nd and Armando Moreno came on. His HR (2) in the 8^th gave LA some insurance. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 22^nd save. Marty Barrett had his 2^nd 3 hit game in row.


Schofield (.229/5/31) is heading to the DL with a herniated disc. IF/OF Bruce Fields (.246/1/6) was recalled to take his place. Chuck Jackson (.298/4/25) looks to be getting the playing time at short with him out.


8/5 5-2 L to the Padres
Bo Jackson got the better of the Dodgers today going 3-4 and slamming a 2-run HR off of Frank DiPino. Chuck Jackson got a pair of hits for LA and Henderson drove in the games only runs. Bob Patterson took the loss to fall to 2-2. Shane Rawley got the win (3-6). Juan Samuel who had been dealing with a nagging injury was hurt while running the bases and his status is unclear.


The Astros have dropped 7 straight now. They are still 11.5 games better than the next best team in all of baseball, and 21.5 in front of the 2^nd place Giants. LA has trimmed the gap to 29.5 games.


Juan Samuel (.215/8/26) has a strained abdominal muscle and he is heading to the DL. Doug Jennings (.259/1/8) was recalled to fill the roster spot. Darryl Boston will be taking Samuel's place in the lineup.


8/6 4-0 W over the Padres
Ken Howell (7-10) pitched his balls off tonight taking a no-hitter into the 7^th inning and leaving with only 1 hit allowed. LA got another multi hit game from Barrett (who has raised his average to a blistering .239) and Von Hayes homered in the 7^th (8) for extra insurance. Tanana pitched the final 2 to preserve the win.


8/7 2-0 W over the Braves
The pitching staff comes through, yet again, to save the team. Tonight, it was Bryn Smith (5-13) pitching a gem over 8 against the Braves Randy Johnson. The Braves brought in Jose Alvarez, and LA got a pinch hit double from Boston and an RBI single from Henderson to get on the board. Mike Scioscia went 4-4 against the tough lefty. Franco got another save, for his 23^rd of the year.


8/8 11-2 L to the Braves
A complete ass whipping by the Braves today. Home runs from Mo Vaughan (9) and Roberto Kelly (6), and a total of 13 hits, and 10 runs all off of Viola (9-14) who was touched in one of his worst games this year. LA got a 3 hit game from Guerrero and Jackson hit a 2-run double. Denny came on in relief and pitched the final 4.2 innings, lasting longer than Viola.


8/9 4-3 (13) W over the Braves
The Braves put up 3 quick on Beattie in the first, and it looked like it would be a long day for him, but he settled down and stepped up his game. He put zeros on the board for the next 4.1 innings, before turning the game over to the bullpen and they did not disappoint. Price, Franco, DiPino and Tanana (8-7) all kept it scoreless the rest of the way. LA quietly came back. Boston homered again (5), we lost Jackson to a collision at 2^nd. The 13^th started with a leadoff triple by Fields, a walk to Murphy, and a single by Von Hayes to take home the win.


Jackson is down for a while after he suffered a concussion in the accident. Tough break. I'm worried. He's been a lone bright spot for this team. His .297/.369/.463 slash line might be the best on the team. The team has called up IF Dave Rhode from Albuquerque to take his place. Rhode is one of the better prospects in the LA farm system. He was signed last offseason, and spent the year in AAA so far. Where he's batted .279/.357/.347 with 1 HR and 35 RBI's. He's a light hitting infielder with with plenty of speed a better than average eye. This is his first trip to the majors.


8/11 4-1 W over the Giants
Pitching wins again. Tonight it was Ken Howell (8-10) who pitched another great game. He had 7 k's pitching into the 8^th inning. Dave Rhode got the start and got his first career hit in his first at bat. Later Gurerrero would pinch hit for him and drive in 2 with a double. Franco pitched another 4 out save for LA (24). He's on a streak of 17 scoreless now.


8/12 3-2 W over the Giants
LA took a 2-0 lead early on behind a Marty Barrett solo homer (2) and Dave Rhode got his first RBI on a sac fly. Bryn Smith (6-13) won yet again, with his 8 inning, 6 hit performance. The Giants Dave Telgheder (11-12) matched him all the way, as the Giants tied it in the 7^th behind a Frank Thomas solo homer (12). It was a Scioscia single that scored Daryl Boston that put LA in front and Franco once again, locked down the 9^th for his 25^th save.


So LA isn't playing half bad right now. It's weird.




8/13 5-3 L to the Giants
Viola strikes out 7, but his horrible month continues, and he drops to 9-15. Surhoff tied the game in the 5^th with a 2-run HR (2), and LA wasted a 3 hit game from Barrett. The Giants Frank Thomas and Bryan Snyder carried the team. LA loaded the bases in the 9^th, but Brian Harvey got Guerrero looking to end it.


8/14 5-4 L to the Phillies
Jim Beattie got the start and had a bad 2^nd inning that saw multiple extra base hits and 3 runs for the Phils. LA worked their way back though and a 2 hit/2 RBI game from Caminiti and another 2 hit game from Boston saw LA tie everything at 4 in the 6^th. Rickey left the game after a diving catch, and Doug Jennings came in. He had a 2-hit game too, but it was the 8^th and DiPino (2-1) that cost LA. DiPino ended up walking 3 men, striking out 2, and then gave up a bases loaded single to Larry Walker to give the Phils the win.


Henderson is day to day with a strained rib muscle and isn't going on the DL.


The Mariners and former Dodger top prospect, Sid Fernandez (8-11, 3.75) is done for the season with elbow inflammation. Fernandez suffered a torn flexor in his elbow back in '87 that cost him half of the '88 season. He should be back for the start of the next year.


8/15 19-2 L to the Phillies
The biggest beatdown of the year. The Phillies scored in every single inning. Ken Howell (8-11) started, and takes the loss, but the bullpen of Denny and Baker allowed 13 runs in 4 innings. Larry Walker, hitting leadoff, went 2-3 with 3 walks, 4 runs, 5 RBI's, 2 HR's (17,18) and a stolen base (23). The Dodgers Surhoff hit HR #3 in the 2^nd to give LA a 2-1 lead. Bad game.

[PilotMan]

8/16 15-1 W over the Phillies
One blowout deserves another. LA put 9 up in the first couple innings to open up a clear lead. Bryn Smith only allowed 1 hit through 4, then hit a double with a big lead and went into 2^nd base odd, getting hurt in the process. He had to leave, which is just about the worst way to go. Pedro had a huge game, going 5-5, with 3 runs, 4 RBI's and his 19^th HR of the year. Mike Scioscia hit a grand slam (9) and had 6 RBI's . Von Hayes added another (9) with a 2 hit game. Where has this team been all year?

Bryn Smith has a back strain, but should avoid the DL. He may or may not miss a start.


8/17 3-1 L to the Phillies
Bud Black (9-4) surrendered 4 hits and Randy Myers got his 17^th save of the year. Frank Viola (9-16) threw 7, but the offense didn't help him out any. Guerrero got a couple hits and a walk. LA brought the tying run up in the 9^th, but couldn't threaten. Darryl Boston was hurt making a catch against the wall.


Lee Stevens was activated from the DL and Doug Jennings was once again, optioned back to Albuquerque.


8/19 1-0 (13) L to the Mets
It doesn't get any more sad than this. The Mets had 2 hits in this game and only 1 through the 12^th inning. From Patterson, to DiPino to Franco to Tanana, the Dodger pitchers kept the Mets quiet. A leadoff double by Charlie Hayes off of Joe Price (5-4) in the 13^th, followed by a flyout and tag, then an intentional walk to Omar Visquel to bring up Kevin Mitchell and hope for the double play. Instead he hits one to the wall and Hayes tags up and walks in. The Dodgers got 5 hits, 2 from Von Hayes.


Boston has a sore elbow but won't need to go on the DL.


The word coming out in the news is that this Dodger team is a train wreck. There are so many pissed off players that they are going to have a hard time signing any of their free agents. Honestly, I can't see how anyone is going to want to stay with this team after this season. I think we're going to see a lot of roster turnover this year.


8/20 10-3 L to the Mets
Beattie (7-7) v. Gooden (12-7) in this one. Beattie took the loss, and to add insult to literal injury, he did it after throwing only 7 pitches, allowing 2 hits, and not recording an out, then left with an arm problem. Beattie missed all of '87 with a shoulder injury. The game was close until late, and that's hard to do with Gooden on the mound. Scott Baker had an awful day though. In his 2 innings, out of 48 pitches, only 14 found the strike zone. He walked 7 batters. In 2 innings. It wasn't any better for Denny or Tanana either. Interesting stat of the day. Kevin Mitchell has 10 career hits against Tanana, 7 are home runs. Wow. Boston and Barrett had 2 hit days.


MRI was negative for Beattie and the diagnosis was good. He won't need to go on the DL.


8/21 11-3 L to the Expos
Ken Howell (8-12) goes 2-2 with an RBI, but he gave up 2 dingers and 5 runs. Tanana gave up 6 unearened runs thanks to a Caminiti error that let an inning continue. The Expos got HR's from Brooks (9) and Gallarraga (23), a 4 hit game from Raines and a great start from Mark Knudson (8-6). LA's offense is just unable.


LA added another old third basemen to play in the minors. Joining Buddy Bell and Ray Knight will be Keith Moreland. Moreland was last seen hittin .190 in 13 games for the Reds this season. Lee Stevens (.231/0/1) and Dave Rhode (.100/0/1) were optioned back to AAA. Schofield was activated from the DL and Jennings was recalled.


8/22 5-3 L to the Expos
And a month that started good, is dropping quickly. Another time LA fails to score more than 3. Bryn Smith (6-14) rides to another loss, and LA wasted a 3 hit show by Hayes. Guerrero gave LA the lead 2-0 in the first with a massive HR (17) and it was all downhill. They wouldn't score again until Scioscia had a pinch hit double in the 9^th. LA got the go ahead run on, with Guerrero up, but he struck out to end it.


8/23 5-3 W over the Expos
Nice to get one anyway. John Wettland struck out 8 Dodgers in 7.1 innings and looked good for the win. In the 9^th, with Jeff Russell (2-5) on to close and down 2-0 and an out, with a runner on, saw Caminiti drive the ball into the seats for only the 3^rd time this year. His HR tied the game, and started, what would be, a 5 run 9^th inning for the Dodgers, and for once, not wasting a good start by Viola (10-16). Franco allowed a HR to rookie, Jeff Conine (3) in the 9^th, but got the next 3 outs to preserve the save (26).


8/25 8-0 L to the Phillies
Greg Maddux, after a 19 loss season last year, picks up win number 18, going the distance and pitching a 3-hit shutout. No walks, striking out 8. Jim Beattie (7-8) took the loss, but left with some back problem. Guerrero had 2 of the LA's hits and Doug Jennings the other. The Phillies just beat up Dodger pitching. Scott Baker pitched the final 3 innings, but the Phils teed off on him. Beattie shouldn't miss much, all the tests were negative, and the issue is just a tight back.


The Astros have cut their magic number down to 9. The next closest team to clinching are the Phillies who are 6 up on the Mets and have a magic number of 29.


8/26 1-0 (10) W over the Phillies
Pitching was the game today! Starters Kevin Appier and Ken Howell dueled then turned it over to the bullpens. LA's Price and Franco (4-4) did better than Rob Murphy, Mike Schooler, and Lance McCullers (4-4). Bottom of the 10^th it was Pete O'Brien who took the 6^th pitch from McCullers and hit it in the seats (3) to give LA the walk off win.


8/27 1-0 W over the Phillies
Many, the offense isn't helping anyone here. 2 runs in 3 games, and somehow 2 wins? Bryn Smith (7-14) allowed 2 hits over 8 innings, and Franco pitched the 9^th for his 27^th save. The Phillies sent rookie Dave Miller (1-1) to the mound and he pitched good too. LA scored in the first after Von Hayes lead off with a walk, Schofield singled, and Boston singled Hayes in. That was it.


The Dodgers have climbed up to #21 in the baseball power rankings. This is the highest we've been in a while. Only the Padres and Cubs are lower in the NL.


Darryl Boston and Rickey Henderson are both carrying nagging injuries that may be impacting their performance on the field. Henderson especially has been far below his historical performance.


8/28 2-1 W over the Mets
Good thing the pitching is good right now. LA scored 2 in the bottom of the 8^th off of a tiring Bud Black (9-5). Scioscia capped off a 2 hit performance and singled in the game winning RBI as Viola pitched 8 innings and improved his record to 11-16. DiPino pitched the 9^th for his 3^rd save of the year.


And on August 29^th, 1989, the Dodgers were officially eliminated from the post season. There's always the next decade or so!


8/29 7-1 L to the Mets
NY singled handedly ruined Patterson's (2-3) season ERA in this game. Pushing it above 4 for the first time all year. Tanana came on in relief and threw over 4 innings, but LA could never get enough O going to contend. Brian Holman (3-2) threw a complete game for the Mets.


Stevens and Jennings swap places on the roster yet again.


8/30 3-1 L to the Mets
Jim Beattie falls to 7-9, but he lasted longer than Gooden. Doc left the game after the first, and there was no word on the severity of the injury. Beattie pitched pretty good, allowing 2 runs over 7 innings. Meanwhile, LA got a 2 hit game from Dick Schofield for their offense. Strawberry went deep (24) and the Mets had no issues.


The Mets dodge a bullet as the NL Pitcher of the Month for August is only out with some forearm stiffness and that's it. For August, Gooden went 4-0 with a 0.70 ERA and a .164 average against.

[PilotMan]

Augutst Recap


What started as a great month with an 8-3 record, ended typically with an end of month record of 13-14. That's only a game below .500 in the last 2 months, but 57-76 for the year. LA currently resides in 5^th in the West, 34 games behind the Astros. As bad as that record is, we are 35-30 at home. That means that all the failure is on the road. Only 7 games separate the Dodgers from the 2^nd place Braves.


We've seen it all month. The hitting was awful. Only Pedro provided any punch at all. His slash line was .326/.358/.483 and his 3 HR's lead the team for the month. Here's the rundown of just how bad starters did in August. Hayes (.260, 2HR's, 6 SB), Rickey (.157, 1 HR, 4 SB), Caminiti (.175), Boston (.195), Surhoff (.163), Rohde (.100), Schofield (.147), O'Brien (.185). How can this team win any games at all? The team average is .236, and worst in the NL. Also last? SLG, runs, hits, extra base hits.


The pitching was much better. We saw it over and over. Bryn Smith was the best of the best. He went 4-1, with a 1.29 ERA in 6 starts. Even Ken Howell went 3-2 with a 3.52. Viola had a rough month going 2-4 with a 5.13, as he was rocked a couple times. Franco lead the team in games with 11 games, 7 saves, and 0.70 ERA. The bad month belonged to Denny and Baker in the bullpen, both of whom, posted over 10.00 ERA's. Denny was touched for 13 runs in 9 innings and Baker had a 2.56 WHIP. The team is 6^th in ERA in the NL, the starters were 8^th and the bullpen was 5^th. That's not as good as previous years, but the only thing keeping us competitive. As a team, the Dodgers are 4^th in the NL in defense.


How does LA compare to the rest of the league? Well, there are 5 teams with worse records: Padres, Cubs, A's, Tigers, and Brewers.


The Astros are down to a magic number of 3. They are 91-42 this year to lead all teams. In the East, the Phillies are out front and 5.5 up on the Mets, who are really working to keep it close. It will be one of those 2 barring some kind of amazing comeback.


In the AL, the East is faring a lot better this year than last year. The Orioles are 2 games in front of the Indians, and the Yankees who were up early, but now find themselves 5 games out. The O's are doing this without Griffey, who is out until next year. In the West, the Angels are the leaders, per norm, it's tight. The M's are 2 games back, and the White Sox are 4 back.

[PilotMan]

September Roster Expansion


A look at who's coming up:


C/1B John Debus (.302/1/10 in AAA)
Debus is 31. He is far removed from a young prospect, and this is his 3^rd shot with the Dodgers. He has 3 ML hits in 14 at bats in his previous stints. He doesn't really bring much in the way of anything to the team, other than an ability to play a few positions. He's slow, a below average hitter, but he's got a decent eye.


1B Darcy Walker (.308/8/43 in AAA)
Walker is 27, and was a 14^th round pick in '82, it's taken him until now to get his first shot at the majors. He's nothing but a first baseman, but doesn't have much in the way of range. As a hitter, he has sub par power for someone you'd find at first. He's got decent eye, and makes solid contact.


2B/SS Dave Rohde (.279/1/37 at AAA)
Rohde is 25, and is up for the 2^nd time this year. He was unimpressive in his debut batting .100 in 10 games. Originally a pick of the Twins, he's been with 5 other teams, and is considered the Dodgers #4 prospect. He's a pretty good defender, with good speed, but a light bat. He is a hard out.


1B/OF Eddie Vargas (.320/5/23 at AAA)
Vargas is 30, and played 24 games with LA earlier this year. He was a .245 hitter, with 5 doubles in his 12 hits. He's been a AAAA player for a while now, with previous stints with the Pirates. Vargas is an aggressive hitter with a little bit of power.


OF Pete Incaviglia (.336/17/55 in AAA)
Inky, 25, would still be a top prospect if he hadn't already hit 59 career HR's. As weak as our offense has been why he's been in AAA is beyond me. It's not like he's hurting us. He's a free swinger, with tremendous power and minimal defense.


OF Doug Jennings (.298/4/34 in AAA)
Jennings, 24, was a first round pick for LA back in '83. He's played in 54 games for the Dodgers this year, and frequently traded places with Inky. With the Dodgers, he's batted .272/.348/.392 with 1 HR and 9 RBI's. He can also play first, has good speed, and defense, and is a tough out in the box.


P Kirk Vucsko (4-4, 5.00 ERA, 63IP in AAA, 4-10, 4.96 ERA, 131 IP in AA)
Vucsko, 28, started 5 games for LA last year, but hasn't come back this year. He throws a mid-90's fastball, but the problem is he throws it all over, everywhere. He struck out 229 in the minors, but walked 99. He's got 4 pitches he can throw, but still needs work.


P Michael Cunningham (6-15, 6.48, 165 IP in AAA)
Cunningham is 28, and he's been around the block a couple times now. This is his 3^rd look with the club now, and his track record isn't great with a 5.80 ERA in 15 games, 7 of which are starts. Not really sure why he's here, except that he's a righty. He primarily throws a curve and knuckleball, and rarely hits the strike zone. He walked 111 in AAA, to 102 K's.


P Brian Holton (4-3, 13S, 3.66, 39.1 IP in AAA)
Holton, 29, had made the team out of spring training, but was sent down and never came back. In 14 games for LA, he posted a 5.79 ERA, an 0-3 record and gave up 5 HR's in 18 innings. He's got a lot of pitches he can throw, has good movement and control, but just can't seem to reach the next level.

[PilotMan]

9/1 11-5 W over the Expos
Inky returns! He homers in the 6^th (5) and goes 3-5 with 3 RBI's. Along with Gurrero (3-4) and Barrett (2-5, 3 RBI's). Even Bryn Smith himself went 1-3 and scored twice. Smith (8-14) needed the help today as he gave up 10 hits and 4 runs in 7 innings. Normally, this would have been a loss.


9/2 9-5 L to the Expos
The Expos got 3 hit games from Yount and Raines and LA got one from Barrett. LA went down 5-2 but scored late in the 8^th to tie it heading into the 9^th. Franco (4-5) got in trouble early but nearly got out of it. Until that is, Conine hit a 3-run HR (4) off the bench to break it open. LA got a HR from O'Brien (4).


9/3 3-2 W over the Expos
Mark Knudson and Ken Howell both pitched good in this dual, but it was Howell who left after 7 behind. Expos reliver Joe Hesketh had control problems and walked 2 in the 8^th before Daryl Boston pulled one down the line. Boston was thrown out at third, but both runners scored to give LA the lead. DiPino (3-1) gets the win, and Franco the save (28).


9/4 2-0 L to the Astros
Greg Swindell (17-2) owns LA. He's 3-0 on the year with an ERA around 1. Jim Beattie pitched good for the Dodgers (7-10) going 6 and allowing only the 2 runs in. Swindell got out of a bases loaded jam with 1 out to keep LA down. LA threatened in the 9^th against Henke, but he got out of the jam.


Expos OF Robin Yount picked up his 2500^th career hit last night as part of a 3-5 game where he homered. Yount (.302/10/67) is in his 16^th season in the Majors and has only played with the Brewers and Expos. He's in the last year of a 6yr/9.0M contract and will be 34 by season's end. He's just the kind of player the Dodgers like to bring in. Guys who might be good, but most certainly not as good as they used to be. And old. They like old guys.


The Dodgers are 21^st in the latest league power poll. Yep, there are 6 teams that are worse. The Cubbies are at the bottom with a 41-96 record.


And the Astros are down to the magic number of 1, at home, against LA. No other team has a magic number of less than 20 at this point.


9/5 7-3 L to the Astros
It looked like LA had something going early against Houston and John Dopson (1-2) as the scored 2 in the first. LA send Kirk Vucsko (0-1) to the mound and he rolled along for 2, but before getting into big trouble in the 3^rd. Houston put 4 up as McGriff hit number 29. Larkin would add another 2 run shot in the 4^th (6) and that was that. Houston rookie Scott Sorce got his first big league HR off of Bob Patterson in the 8^th (1). It was only his 10^th big leage at bat and 3^rd hit. LA's Schofield homered (6) in the 7^th for LA.


We've had our 2^nd no-hitter of the year! Pittsburgh Pirates starter Rodney Rogers (1-2) threw 116 pitches against the Phillies last night. He walked 2 and struck out 8 in his 12-0 win. Rogers had his mid 90s fastball going, along with a drooping forkball. Rogers has spend most of the year in AAA Buffalo where he was 10-8 with a 3.67 ERA in 26 starts. A former 26^th round pick by the Reds, he was released and picked up by Pittsburgh. He made 3 starts last year for the Pirates going 2-0 with a 3.54 ERA, but his stuff had never approached no-hitter quality. What a memory for the 24yr old! Rogers start is the best pitched game of the year.


Coincidentally on the very same day, Matt Williams of the Padres had the 2^nd best hitting performance of the year (the Padres Bo Jackson is #1) by hitting 3 HR's in a 4-4 game.


9/6 4-1 L to the Reds
Reds rookie Doug Simons got his first career start and win (1-0) going 6 and striking out 5. Bryn Smith (8-15) allowed 10 hits over his 6 innings. It was a Carmelo Martinez 3-run HR in the 4^th (11) that opened the game up for the Reds. LA didn't score until the 9^th when Von Hayes singled in Dick Schofield.


9/7 PPD


LA activated Juan Samuel and minor leaguer Sergio DelRosario from the DL. Samuel (.215/8/26) and Rosario (1-1, 3S, 1.80 ERA in AA). DelRosario was up last year for 5 games where he walked 9 and had a 10.80 ERA.


9/8 2-0 L to the Padres
Poor Viola (11-17) allows 3 hits in a complete game, but 2 of them are HR's. One to Dan Gladden (2) and one to Gary Redus (5). The only other guy to get a hit was Ron Coomer. LA left 9 guys on base including a bases loaded opportunity.


9/9 5-4 (11) W over the Padres
LA had to dig deep here to avoid falling into the cellar of the West. Even though we went up 2-0 early, Bo Jackson tied the game with #32 and the Padres took the lead in the 5^th and looked good to go. LA got 2 lead off singles in the 9^th and with good baserunning and hitting tied it up. It was Mark Williamson's 10^th blown save this year. LA got good bullpen pitching with Franco (5-5) getting the win and DiPino the save (4). Caminit went 3-5 and the team had 14 hits.


OF Jose Gonzalez was called up from Albuquerque. Gonzalez originally came up in the Dodgers system and was sent to Houston in a deal with Ramon Martinez and Cecil Espy for Larry Parrish. Gonzalez won a title with Houston last year, but was claimed off of waivers by the Dodgers in April. This season in Albuquerque he batted .287/.325/.433 with 11 HR's and 24 stolen bases. He is a career .203 hitter in 55 games and a -0.3 WAR over 3 seasons.


LA still only has 1 player with more than 10 home runs. Just 1. Guerrero and his 17. That's it. Von Hayes and Mike Scioscia are tied for 2^nd with 9. You wonder why this team sucks? That's a big part of it. Rickey's batting average for his career is near .300. His average this season is .238. It's crazy. The Padres have 2 guys over 30 in Jackson and Matt Williams. They are #1 and #3 in the NL in HR's.


9/10 1-0 L to the Padres
Big pitchers dual between Scott Garrelts and Jim Beattie. Both guys pitched well, but this one came down to the bullpens. This one came down to a sac fly with one out and the bases loaded by Jim Vatcher against Frank DiPino (3-2). LA could only muster 2 hits in this one, walking 5 times and reaching on 1 error.


There are 20 games left in the year. The Phillies are 6 in front of the Mets for the other NL spot. In the AL, the O's are clinging to a 1 game lead over the Indians and 2.5 over the Yankees. While the Angels are 4 in front of the Mariners. The Dodgers are 36.5 games behind the Astros, 11 behind the 2^nd place Reds and .5 in front of the last place Padres.


9/11 Game 1 11-4 L to the Reds
A rain makeup for earlier this year and boy was it ugly. At one point LA had the tying run on 3^rd with Henderson coming up only to have him ground out to end the threat. He has been awful this year, but he hit a solo homer (9) after the game was out of hand. Reds rookie Nelson Lirano just destroyed us today. He had 8 total bases as he tripled in the 3^rd and hit his first career HR (1) in the 7^th off of Tanana in relief. This was a bad game for him too. He struggled through 2 innings allowing 6 runs and 2 dingers. Bryn Smith takes the loss (8-16).


9/11 Game 2 9-1 W over the Reds
Turnabout is fair play I suppose. LA pounded out 15 hits tonight. The last time they saw Reds rookie pitcher Doug Simons (1-1) he threw 6 scoreless. Tonight, 11 hits and 5 runs. It was a great start from Kirk Vuckso (1-1) he allowed 3 hits, and 1 run with 8 K's in 6.1 innings. In fact, LA pitchers allowed only 4 hits, but 3 of them were to Danny Tartabull. Vucsko helped his own cause too, going 2-3 with his first 2 career RBI's. Samuel and Hayes had 3 hit games.


9/12 5-4 W over the Reds
LA puts together another 10 hit night and finally gives Viola (12-17) some runs and helps him from closing in on that 20 loss season. Viola allowed 2 over 6, but patience was the key. LA drew 3 bases loaded walks off of Reds pitcher Davis Nied. Liriano continued his abuse of Dodger pitching going 3-3, while LA got 3 hits from Scioscia. Browning started and took the loss (6-15).


Really bad news for Royals starter Jack Morris. Morris signed a 2-year deal with the Royals in the offseaon and pitched 8 games going 4-2 before a major shoulder injury derailed his season in May. Well, bad news on his rehab, and he now needs a new surgery and will miss even more time. In fact, he may not be back until the end of 1990. So the Royals contract is now up to 526k per start. Ouch.


9/13 3-0 L to the Astros
Houston wins game number 99. Dave Stewart (18-5) once again, dominated LA, and Fred McGriff went 4-4 with a pair of RBI's to put him over 100 on the year. LA didn't get a hit until the 5^th and Henke had no problem picking up his 39^th save.


9/14 5-1 L to the Astros
Ho Hum, another loss to the future champs. Swindell (19-2) inched closer to his 20^th win with 7 strong. Jim Beattie (7-11) took the loss and left the game in the 4^th with some shoulder soreness. He might miss one start. LA got a great outing from John Denny out of the pen as he pitched 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball. LA was inching back into it, when Frank DiPino came on and ended that threat. The Astros lost Tom Henke to a sprained ankle and it looks like he might be done for the year. They will miss him, but their bullpen is insanely deep. Houston picks up win number 100.


9/15 3-0 W over the Braves
Bryn Smith (9-16) was on form today. Atlanta was no hit until the 7^th when 19-yr old Juan Gonzales smacked a single to break it up. Von Hayes became the 2^nd Dodger to break into double digits in home runs. That is SO BAD! Hayes has #10! Ugh. John Franco pitched the final 2 innings for his 30^th save of the year. We don't deserve him.

[PilotMan]

9/16 4-3 L to the Braves
Juan Samuel left with a hand injury and Daryl Boston came on and only went 4-4 and lead a come back that nearly got LA all the way back. LA had the bases loaded in the 9^th, but Dave Rhode struck out on a 3-2 pitch to end it. Vucsko (1-2) pitched 5, and took the loss. He wasn't good today. LA had 12 hits, all singles.


The Angels are the first team to crack a magic number of 10. They hold a 5.5 game lead over the M's as they stretch the lead in the AL West. They are 9-1 in the last 10 games.


9/17 3-1 W over the Braves
Frank Viola (13-17) came out on top tonight in the battle with the Braves Randy Johnson (13-12). Viola pitched into the 7^th, allowing 4 hits and striking out 6. LA scored in the first, but the Braves tied it up in the 4^th. LA would get the go ahead in the 5^th and insurance in the 6^th. Joe Price and John Franco (31^st save) finished the game off.


The Phillies are the next team to find their magic number under the number 10. The Phillies have a 5 game lead on the Mets in the NL East.


9/18 7-3 L to the Giants
Gregg Jefferies hit a 3-run HR (9) after the LA manager walked Jody Reed to get to him. LA got a late Von Hayes HR (11) but it wasn't worth anything. Ken Howell (8-14) takes the loss, while Kip Gross (6-10) gets the W.


9/19 8-0 W over the Giants
Bryn Smith (10-16) goes the distance for the shutout and becomes the 2^nd Dodger pitcher of 1989 to get his 10^th win. Smith threw 119 pitches, and got 5 K's and was never in trouble. The offense was there too . Von Hayes cracked his 12^th in the 2^nd to start the scoring, then found himself walked twice. No worries though, because Scioscia picked him up both times. Scioscia had 4 RBI's while Hayes went 2-2, with 3 runs and 3 walks.


Houston's Greg Swindell (20-2) and Philadelphia's Greg Maddux (20-7) both become the season's first 20 game winners. In other statistical news. In the NL, Phillies third baseman, Dave Magadan (.342) leads the NL in hitting. Houston's McGriff and the Padres Matt Williams are tied for the HR lead with 35. While McGriff and the Cardinals Will Clark are tied for the lead in total bases (337). In the AL, Red Sox third baseman, Wade Boggs (.357) leads in average, while Mark McGwire of the Angels leads in home runs with 37. Cal Ripken Jr's 309 leads the AL in total bases.


9/20 7-0 W over the Giants
The most unlikely pairing of pitchers combined to throw one of the best games of the year for the Dodgers. Jim Beattie (8-11) got the start and even though he would walk 6 guys, he didn't allow a hit until the 4^th inning. That was to Giants catcher Scott Kimball. That was it. The only hit the Giants would get. Beattie came out in the 7^th with 0 outs, and John Denny took over and thew 3 hitless innings for his first save of the year. Von Hayes went 2-4 with 4 RBI's and another HR (13). LA drew 8 walks on Giants pitching. Marty Barrett left the game with an elbow injury.
/
Barrett was placed on the 15-day DL, which will take care of most of the rest of his season. 3B/LF Dave Hansen was called up from San Antonio to take his place. Hansen was originally a 3^rd round pick by the Brewers. LA is his 3^rd team. He batted .309/8/67 with AA San Antonio this year. He is more of a contact hitter, with some reasonable discipline. He is the Dodgers #8 prospect in the organization.


9/22 4-0 W over the Padres
Wow. So LA has now held opponents scoreless for 27 straight innings. Where was this all season? Today it was Viola allowing 3 hits in 8 innings and running his record to 14-17 and a little bit safer from a 20 loss season. Viola might have gotten the shutout, but Abercrombie elected to go to Franco in the 9^th.


And now the Indians become the last team to get their magic number below 10. The Indians are holding down the East from the O's by a game and 2 over the Yankees. The Angels magic number is 3, and the Phillies number is 4.


9/23 9-3 W over the Padres
Von Hayes is hot, wow is he hot right now. Today was 3-5, with a double and 3 RBI's. Kirk Vucsko (2-2) started and got the win, and he helped himself with a big 2-run single that gave LA the lead. Lee Stevens hit a pinch hit double then came up lame on getting to 2^nd base, which is bad news as he's been hurt off and on all year long.


9/24 5-3 L to the Padres
LA fell behind early on as the Pads struck 4 times in the first 3 innings. LA clawed back thanks to a 2 hit game from Caminiti and a 3 hit game from Surhoff. Even Ken Howell (8-15) who took the loss came through with a 2-run double down the line. A Padres top prospect, Derek Lee, made his major league debut, and despite an early error in center, he homered for his first career hit and HR. Franco picked up save #32.


Astros pitcher Dave Stewart became the next 20 game winner in the NL, running his record to 20-5. Not sure if he'll contend for the Cy Young or not. There are a lot of good arguments out there.


I said Von Hayes was hot. He just won player of the week in the NL. It's the first win for a Dodger in a few years. He batted .538, with 3 HR's and 9 RBI's.

As I said before, the NL Cy Young race is absurd this year.



Greg Swindell, Houston (21-2, 2.09 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 5.8 WAR, 181 ERA+) Leader in wins, 2^nd in ERA, 3^rd in WHIP, 6^th in WAR, 6^th in K's per 9, 4^th in FIP
Greg Maddux, Philadelphia (20-8, 2.31 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 7.9 WAR, 168 ERA+) 2^nd in wins, 4^th in ERA, 6^th in WHIP, 2^nd in WAR, 3^rd in FIP
Dave Stewart, Houston (20-5, 2.70 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 4.6 WAR, 141 ERA+) 2^nd in wins, 7^th in ERA
Tom Candiotti, Houston (16-10, 2.21 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 6.7 WAR, 172 ERA +) 6^th in wins, 3^rd in ERA, 2^nd in WHIP, 5^th in WAR, 4^th in K's
Doc Gooden, New York (13-7, 1.50 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 9.8 WAR, 250 ERA+) 1^st in ERA, 1^st in WHIP, 1^st in WAR, 1^st in K's


Gooden looks to be on his way to his 5^th straight Cy Young, and possibly his 4^th MVP, but how bad is that 3.11 runs of support per game hurting him?


9/25 14-13 (15) W over the Giants
Wow. Talk about a game with everything! Terrible pitching? Check! Terrible fielding? Check! Drama? Check! Injuries? Check! A 6-hour game? Check! Yep, 6 hours. Jim Beattie started, but after walking 6 guys before the end of the 3^rd and allowing 7 runs he had to go. Check these scores. After 1, LA 2-1, Giants tie in the top of the 2^nd, LA pulls ahead 3-2 after 2. Giants score 6 in the third to go up 8-3, LA scores 4 to make it 8-7. Giants add another in the 5^th, then 4 in the 6^th to make it 12-7. LA gets 4 in the bottom of the 6^th, and another in the 7^th to tie it. Then nothing. No scoring for 7 innings. LA used 9 pitchers, both teams combined for 23 walks and 18 K's. Rickey walked 4 times. LA didn't steal a base and was caught 4 times, the Giants stole 6 and were caught once. Giants rookie Webster Garrision got his first career hit and stolen base. The Giants got a run in the top of the 15^th to go ahead, but LA opened with 2 singles, a pop out, a walk and another pop out, before Guerrero singled in the winning run. Frank Tanana (9-7) who won't be back inched closer to career win #200. Von Hayes was hurt in a crash at 2^nd and left the game. Sergio DelRosario threw 6 pitches before he left and it just goes on and on. Inky homered in the 6^th (6) and Scofield too (7). We keep the winning streak alive!


Tom Candiotti threw another shutout to keep his name in the Cy Young hat.


Lee Stevens has a strained back and won't go on the DL. Von Hayes has an oblique strain and will. That will end his season. Inky probably takes his spot in right.


The Phillies have clinched the East! Floyd Bannister (another former Dodger) picked up win #19 as the Phillies win game number 100 and lock out the Mets.


9/27 6-1 L to the Giants
Viola (14-18) falls in his last start of the year. What started out great, with no hits thru 3, and piling up the K's, ended in the 7^th with a couple singles, a wild pitch and 2 walked in runs. Bob Patterson came on and didn't help, with another wild pitch, and allowed hits that cleared the bases. All in all Viola was on the hook for all 6 runs, 6 walks and 7 K's in 6.1 innings. Dodgers prospect Dave Hansen got his first career ML appearance, taking a walk when he came on to play third in a double switch.


The Astros are now 31 games in front of the 2^nd place Reds in the West, and the last place Padres are 47 game back. What's worse? All all the last place teams in all of Major League baseball, the Padres are the best (.407). The Cubs are the worst (.302) and are 52 games behind the Phillies, who would be 11 behind the Astros.


9/29 1-0 L to the Braves
Gerald Perry hit a triple and scored on a Juan Gonzalez sac fly for all the scoring in the game. Tom Glavine (3-6) threw 7 scoreless. Ken Howell (8-16) pitched a complete game 2 hitter (both by Perry), walking 4 and striking out 6. LA had 6 hits and 3 extra base but couldn't get any of them home.


9/30 7-2 L to the Braves
Game 161 goes like the rest of the year. Schofield went 3-3, and Guerrero added another 2 hits, but it never matriculated into anything. Bryn Smith (11-17) gets beat up with the Braves young sluggers of Mo Vaughan and Juan Gonzalez going deep (12 and 5). Zane Smith (10-10) pitches an out away from a complete game and was in charge the whole way. One game of this miserable season to go.


Astros outfielder Dale Murphy has reached the #300 HR mark with a big shot in the first inning (8) off of Bruce Ruffin. Murphy's blast powered the 9-3 win of the Astros to their 112^th win of the season. Murphy, a 4-time All Star and 2-time Silver Slugger, found himself in a rotation role this year, getting 265 at bats, in 118 games. His output has fallen off, with a slash line of .238/.310/..358.


It'll be the California Angels against the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS this year. Both teams clinched their divisions today.


10/1 8-1 W over the Braves
A big W to close out the year. Jim Beattie (9-11) throws a great 7 innings of shut out baseball. He put the cap on a solid season. Not sure if his option will be picked up, but if it's not this is a good end to his time here. Dick Schofield, light hitting short stop turned murderer today. He homered in the first (8) AND slammed another home in the 9^th (9) to cap a 3-4 game with 4 RBI's. Every field player had at least 1 hit except Beattie.

[PilotMan]

Jim Rice, who started the year with 1997 career hits, found his last hit, a pinch hit, on the last day of the year to finally get to the magical 2000 number.


Journeyman pitcher, and former Dodger, Floyd Bannister got his first 20 win season with the Phillies. Good return on a 1 year deal.


End of Season Recap


What a long year. This team sucks and worse, they don't suck as bad as they could. I've looked at a couple reasons why, but it's clear that a number of guys, had monumentally bad years, as in had the worst years of their careers, or at the very least the worst in recent memories.


LA was the worst in the majors in cost per win, runs scored and WAR. Here's how our top players showed up this year:


Guerrero – After 5 years in Philly, Pete comes home and puts up a .283/17/72, 1.2 WAR season. He lead the team in HR's and RBI's and stayed healthy enough to play 146 games. Yet he only scored 53 runs. That was the lowest WAR in any season where he played more than 100 games.


Viola – 14-18, 3.77, 5.6 WAR, 101 ERA+. Viola was actually one of the better players on the team. He was saddled with a career low 2.78 Runs of support per game, yet still had a .667% for quality starts. His numbers were pretty much in line with his career numbers and why they brought him in.


Rickey – Played in a 156 games, scored 75 runs, stole only 31 bases. His slash line of .232/.343/.314. His was of 1.7 His numbers were his very worst since his rookie year in '79. It was the first time since '81 that he didn't hit double digits in HR's. Even worse, his defense dropped off from his career averages.


Bryn – 11-17, 3.45, 3.7 WAR, 110 ERA+. Smith, like Viola, put up numbers pretty much on par with his career numbers. He was only supported with 2.57 Runs per game, and had a .571% of quality starts.


Hayes – Lost about 40 games due to injury this year, which has been an issue for him throughout his career. He was 2^nd on the team in HR's with 13, but that was nearly half of what he had last year. Where he had a 6.9 WAR last year, this year it was 2.9, with a slash line of .267/.348/.396. His OPS+ is right in line with his career numbers though. He's should never be the front line of the offense.


Murphy – In 6 years with LA, he hasn't been a starter for the last 5. Painful contract. This year he got into 38 games, and started 7. His .231 average with 2 HR's and 5 RBI's was good for just about nothing.


Denny – A mil a year is a lot for an aging, mop up reliever. He might have been just as good as some of our starters though. He worked 57 innings in 36 games, some good, some horribly bad. His WAR of -0.0 was his worst since his first year with LA back in '84. Don't hope to see him back.


Beattie – In his 4^th year with the Dodgers of a 5 year deal, Beattie pitched like the 5^th starter he is. His 0.5 WAR, and 99 ERA+ are below his career average, however, his numbers were better than pretty much any other year in LA. His 3.83 ERA was good, his .379% quality start not so good. Even worse, his 2.07 runs of support per game were the worst of any Dodger starter. I really hope that LA doesn't pick up his option.


Scioscia – The career Dodger put together a solid, if unspectacular year. Sharing time at catcher with Surhoff, Scioscia started 106 games, batted .264, tied for 3^rd in team HR with 9, and had a 2.1 WAR. Most of his WAR was defense. His catcher ERA was 3.53, and he caught 33% of stolen base attempts. His OPS was about 50 points below his career average. He has another year left in his contract, but it's a player option, and right now, he's pissed. It will be hard to see him go.


Samuel – In the first year of his 3 year deal, he never realized the level of his earlier years. He lost almost half the year to injury, batted .213, hit 8 HR's, stole only 12 bases. His 0.7 WAR was the worst in any year, since he broke in with the Phillies in '82 and played 21 games. There's not a lot of good here. It was an awful year.


So those are the guys who cost the most, some better than others.


Of the other starters, Caminiti and Schofield were both offensive pariahs. Neither put together much of anything. Caminiti had a 0.9 WAR and Schofield a 2.9. Schofield was one of the best at SS once again. His 10.4 zone rating and 13 errors contributed strongly to that 2.9.


A couple of good stories did come out of this year. Chuck Jackson made it to the majors and had he started, could have been one of the best season's of any Dodger. He batted .297/.369/.463, with a 2.4 WAR and 136 OPS+.


John Franco was the best. Simply the best on the team. His 32 saves, 1.58 ERA, and 0.99 WHIP meant he was one of the best in the league closing a game out. His 5 years as LA's back end pitcher has moved him to #2 in career saves for the franchise. He will be arbitration eligible in the offseason so the team will get at least 1 more year, unless they trade him for some peanuts. Don't hold your breath.

[PilotMan]

1989 Playoff Preview


NL
Phillies v. Astros


The defending champ, Houston Astros, are primed for another title. They were 3^rd in the NL in runs and average, and 2^nd in HR's. To go with that killer offense, the team lead the NL in pitching.


The Astros boast a lineup where 7 of the 8 players have been All Stars at one point in their careers. Many multiple times. The only reason, it's not all 8, is because of an injury to Barry Larkin that took him out for the rest of the year. Otherwise, everyone. Lead by Fred McGriff (.318/39/131), Joe Carter (.282/35/114), Carney Lansford (.318/4/55), Benito Santiago (.264/14/68) and George Bell (.318/15/74) this team is just loaded top to bottom. Dickie Thon replaces Barry Larkin in the playoffs and at second, Randy Ready has replaced Steve Buechele who was brought over in a trade mid season.


The pitching staff is even better. It's so good that they traded Dennis Martinez mid season for Buechele, and Martinez went on to pitch even better for the White Sox finishing with a 15-6, and 2.20 ERA. But he's not here and they really don't need him. Scary. So scary, that they have 3 guys with Cy Young aspirations. There are 2, 20 game winners in Swindell (22-2, 2.04, 0.97 WHIP), and Dave Stewart (21-5, 2.69, 1.14). Then there's knuckleballer, Tom Candiotti (17-10, 2.13, 0.98) and then old fireballer, Nolan Ryan (16-8, 2.76, 1.11). They have more than enough firepower to dominate any team. The team lost closer Tom Henke (39 saves, 3.32 ERA) for the season, but Tim Burke (10-3, 6 S, 1.86) has stepped in just fine. They also have Alejandro Pena (2.25) who can take them home. No wonder they are the best in the majors.


The Phillies are the #1 hitting team in the NL. The team is lead by NL batting champion Dave Magadan (.344), and an entire starting lineup who is under 30. This team is young, and good. Julio Franco went out for the season with an injury, otherwise he would break that up, and they will miss his .320 batting average and his team leading 4.6 WAR. They also have Larry Walker (.288/28/104, 33 SB), Mark Grace (.332/19/88), Ron Gant (.287/17/54), and Kevin McReynolds (.300/13/91). The aren't quite as scary as Houston, but they can get it done.


The pitching staff isn't as fearsome, and the bullpen is the weak spot of the team. The rotation has Greg Maddux in a breakthrough year (21-8, 2.25, 1.04 WHIP), 21yr old Kevin Appier (14-9, 3.38, 1.34) and Floyd Bannister (19-9, 4.18, 1.34). The 4^th slot will be unable to keep up with Houston. In the bullpen there's Mike Schooler and his 37 saves, 1.72 ERA, in 74 games.


Advantage Astros.


AL


Indians v. Angels


The Angels get home field by a couple of games. They have the best pitching staff in the AL, but their offense is not. Ranked 9^th in runs, and 11^th in average, they can be shut down. They were 2^nd in HR's though and for good reason.


Mark McGwire is the power behind the team. He put up mammoth numbers again this year, with 38 HR's and 107 RBI's. His 6.9 WAR lead the team and he played in all 162 games for the Angels. He is paired with Eric Davis (.260/29/104, 20 SB). The team is without All Star SS Alan Trammel who is recovering from a broken rib. Former Dodger, Fred Lynn pasted another 27 HR's this year, but with a .218 average and .661 OPS, how worthwhile he is, is really up for discussion. His WAR was a -0.5.


The strength of this team is on the mound. Bret Saberhagen (18-8, 8.6 WAR, 2.53 ERA, 0.94 WHIP) is the ace. Behind him are Mike Witt (17-11, 3.48, 1.21, 5.3), and Jim Deshaies (16-14, 3.64, 1.29, 3.5). In the bullpen is the best closer in baseball, Larry Andersen. Andersen was signed just before spring training to a 1 year deal for next to nothing. At 36, he's only notched 39 saves and posted a 0.66 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP and a .190 OAVG. They also have one of the best set up men in baseball in Gene Nelson (3-3, 2.26).


The Indians are, no question, the worst team of the teams in the playoffs. They didn't come on to pass the Yankees and Orioles until late in the year, but they did win. They were 6^th in the AL in runs scored and 4^th in AVG, 5^th in HR's. Their pitching staff is the weakness. The team is 9^th in the AL in runs against, starters were 8^th and the bullpen was 14^th, dead last. Fielding was nearly as bad in 13^th.


The offense is lead by Kelly Gruber and his team leading 23 HR's and 4.6 WAR. Roberto Alomar (.329/7/75, 34 SB), Glenn Braggs (.293/17/105), Jerome Walton (.304/2/37) round out the lineup. There's a few guys who can hit, but nobody really strikes fear in opponents.


The pitching staff ace is 2-time, Cy Young winner Roger Clemens. Clemens is in line for a possible 3^rd straight award, with an 18-7 record, 2.33 ERA, 233 K's and 1.05 WHIP. Eric Hanson (16-10, 3.69, 190 K's, 1.19) isn't quite on his level, but is still strong. The bullpen is awful. Closer Jeff Parrett (36 S, 4.01) pitched in 75 games, and he's the top dog. Tim Crews (3.88) and Mark Fellows (6.52) keep him company out there.


I just don't see how the Indians will get hits off the best staff in the AL, and I don't see how, unless Clemens pitches every game, that the Indians can keep the Angel bats quiet.

[PilotMan]

ALCS Game 1
Angels 3-2 Indians
1-0 Angels


ALCS Game 2
Indians 7-3 Angels
1-1


Eric Davis (CAL) is done for the year with a concussion, running into the wall making a catch.


NLCS Game 1
Phillies 8-4 Astros
1-0 Phillies


NLCS Game 2
Phillies 3-2 Astros
2-0 Phillies


ALCS Game 3
Indians 4-3 Angels
2-1 Indians


ALCS Game 4
Angels 7-4 Indians
2-2


NLCS Game 3
Astros 6-1 Phillies
2-1 Phillies


ALCS Game 5
Angels 2-1 Indians
3-2 Angels


NLCS Game 4
Phillies 4-2 Astros
3-1 Phillies


NLCS Game 5
Phillies 6-2 Astros
Phillies win 4-1


ALCS Game 6
Indians 5-3 Angels
3-3

ALCS Game 7
Angels 6-1 Indians
4-3 Angels win


California Angels v. Philadelphia Phillies
1989 World Series

[PilotMan]

World Series
Game 1 in Philadelphia


Saberhagen v. Maddux


The Phillies score 3 times in the 2^nd, another in the 3^rd, and get a Ron Gant HR (2) in the 5^th to power out to a 6-0 lead. Maddux pitched 6 innings and the Phillies bullpen did the rest. Saberhagen had been tough in the ALCS, but gave up 8 hits in 5 innings and let the Phillies jump out to a 1-0 lead with a 7-2 victory.


Game 2 in Philadelphia
Phillies lead 1-0


Gregory v. Bannister


The Phillies took the lead again with a Ron Gant lead off HR (3) to start the game. The Angels tied it up in the 3^rd, only to see the Phils put 2 on the board in the bottom. The Angels answered, the the Phillies answered, then the Angles answered again and tied it in the top of the 5^th at 4 all. The Angels had closer Jeff Montgomery on the field in the bottom of the 9^th when Ron Gant took one to right center field 401 feet away (4) and sent the Phillies home winners once again. Gant went 3-5, hit 2 HR's, stole 2 bases, and scored 4 times. I can hear the MVP chants starting already.


Game 3 in Anaheim
Phillies lead 2-0


Appier v. Deshaies


The Phillies take the lead again. This time in the 2^nd, but the Angels had more in return this time, putting up 3 in the bottom and taking the lead for the first time in this series thanks to a Bill Doran 2-run HR (1). In the 5^th the Ron Gant's would respond as Gant slammed his 5^th post season HR, and 4^th of the World Series, but it was only a solo homer, and the Angels would again, answer with 3 in the bottom half. Jim Deshaies pitched 7 strong innings and the Angels would go home 8-2 winners.


Game 4 in Anaheim
Phillies lead 2-1


Miller v. Witt


The Phillies took a lead right off the bat in the first inning again. They've lead in every game so far. Then went up 3-0 in the 3^rd. Mike Witt got shelled, getting knocked out in the 5^th, and Willie Whitehurst didn't help him out. In the 6-run Philly 5^th, Magadan hit a solo-homer (1) and with the bases loaded.....yeah, it was Ron Gant yet again. Grand fucking Slam and his 6^th of the post season. Magadan went 3-5 with 3 extra base hits, and the Phillies just blew the Angels out 13-4. Philly is on the brink


Game 5 in Anaheim
Phillies lead 3-1


Maddux v. Saberhagen


I guess the Angels weren't going out like that. The home crowd was in it to win it, and boy did they get it. Four hits for Doran, 3 for McGwire, 2 for Lynn, who hit his 3^rd HR of the post season. Maddux was gone after 5 and Saberhagen pitched 1 out from a complete game. The Phillies lost Larry Walker to a strained oblique and the Angels crushed to the tune of 14-1.


Game 6 in Philadelphia
Phillies lead 3-2


Gregory v. Bannister


The Angels finally took the lead in a game with 3 in the first on a McGwire HR (2) off of Bannister, but the Phillies came right back with 2. The pitching took over from there and it stayed quiet as the Phills trailed. In the bottom of the 7^th the crowd came alive as Chris Hoiles and Kevin McReynolds each knocked in runs and the Phillies took the lead, with 6 outs to go. Mike Schooler would put them down 1-2-3 in the 8^th, and the Phillies were quiet in the 8^th. The top of the 9^th started with Brady Anderson leading off with a single. Tim Teufel flew out to right-center for 1. Bill Doran hit a 2-1 pitch over the short stop. Anderson didnt' stop and ended up on 3^rd. Sam Horn came on to pinch hit and after a swing and miss hit a ball out to short right field. Anderson was tagging all the way and just beat the throw to tie the game up. McGwire would go down to a ground out and send it to extras. On to the 11^th and Dave Staton hit a double down the left field line, and Doran followed that up with a single that scored Staton. Eric Show came on to face the Phillies and struck out all 3 to preserve the win and send this to a game 7.


Game 7 in Philadelphia
Series tied 3-3


Deshaies v. Appier


Both pitchers were on point in this one, and for once this series, the Angels vaunted staff pitched a good one. Deshaies and Appier both went 7 innings, and the only mistake either pitcher made was in the 4^th. After a Doran double, and Anderson ground out, Mark McGwire pulled a sharp line drive just over the fence in left to put the Angels up 2-0. Behind, in the 7^th, the Phillies lead off with singles. First and second with no outs, Keith Lockhart grounded into a double play and Chris Hoiles struck out to strand one at third. In the Phillies 8^th, McReynolds lead off with a single and Stillwell walked. Gene Nelson came on to face Mark Grace. He lines out to right, but McReynolds tags. First and third. Ron Gant steps in and on a 3-2 count, Nelson gets him looking. 2 outs. NL Batting champ Magadan comes up and after falling behind 0-2, Nelson gets him to ground out weakly to third to preserve the lead. In the 9^th, still 2-0, and Nelson still on the mound. Daulton leads off with a single. Keith Hughes grounds out to first, with Daulton takes 2^nd. Keith Lockhart flies out to left. Down to the last out, rookie Jeff Bagwell is called on to make it happen. Nelson gets ahead of the youngster 1-2 and induces a popout to 2^nd base. The Angels have done the impossible, coming back from a 3-1 deficit and the power of Ron Gant, they are the 1989 World Series Champions.

[PilotMan]

Offseason Notes and Awards


What a horrible start.


Buddy Bell, Ray Knight, and Keith Moreland all bid farewell to their baseball careers from the Dodgers minor league system. That's not the bad news though. The team has decided to extend the contracts of the GM, Ramon Ramirez, Manager Adam Abercrombie, Pitching Coach Luis Vasquez, and hitting coach Omar Bernal. Most, of not all of the managers and coaches in the Dodgers system are bottom of the barrel guys. The owner, hates to spend money and looks to cut corners where he can. In fact, the team actually lost over 4 million dollars last year, as attendance dropped to just a hair over 2 million after breaking 3 million just 2 years ago. The team has lowered ticket prices for the next year.


Hometown boy Mike Scioscia decides home is where the heart is and exercises his option to stay in town for one more season.


The team executes the buyout on Jim Beattie, who will not be back.


1989 Gold Glove Awards


AL


P Mario Soto – OAK – (1)
C Ron Hassey – TEX – (1)
1B Kevin Seitzer – BOS – (2)
2B Billy Ripken – DET – (1)
3B Terry Pendleton – KC – (3)
SS Tony Fernandez – TOR – (1)
LF Stan Javier – MIN – (1)
CF Albert Belle – TEX – (1)
RF Ruben Amaro – BAL (1)


NL


P David Cone – CHI – (1)
C Dave Valle – CIN – (2)
1B Rick Schu – CHI – (1)
2B Willie Randolph – MON – (1)
3B Carney Lansford – HOU – (1)
SS Dick Schofield – LA – (2)
LF Dave Justice – CHI – (1)
CF Dave Henderson – CIN – (2)
RF Paul O'Neil – CHI – (1)


Rolaids Reliever of the Year


AL
Larry Andersen - CAL – (5-4, 39/40S, 0.66, 59 GF)


Interestingly, the Royals rookie Mark Gardner came in 2^nd. Gardner started the year in the rotation, and ended it as the closer. His QS % was .667 over 12 starts, and he finished 41 games and 30/34 save chances.

NL
Mike Schooler – PHI – (3-4, 37/41S, 1.72, 60 GF)


John Franco of our LA Dodgers came in 2^nd in voting.


Silver Slugger Awards


AL


C Mickey Tettleton OAK (1) - .228/.355/.419 18 HR
1B Mark McGwire CAL (3) - .284/.417/.517 38 HR
2B Ryne Sandberg TOR (3) - .292/.351/.479 26 HR
3B Wade Boggs BOS (2) - .355/.441/.475 4 HR
SS Cal Ripken Jr BAL (4) - .278/.322/.496 35 HR
LF Barry Bonds CHI (5) - .307/.401/.570 23 HR
CF Kirby Puckett MIN (2) - .353/.406/.541 17 HR
RF Tony Gwynn SEA (2) - .333/.371/.436 7 HR
DH Wally Joyner TEX (2) - .311/.368/.437 13 HR


NL


P John Smiley CHI (1) - .268/.268/.339
C Brian Harper PIT (1) - .317/.339/.469 17 HR
1B Fred McGriff HOU (1) - .318/.404/.573 39 HR
2B Julio Franco PHI (3) - .320/.387/.430 7 HR
3B Kevin Mitchell NY (3) - .294/.362/.526 32 HR
SS Bip Roberts PIT (1) - .314/.374/.448 9 HR
LF Bobby Bonilla NY (1) - .297/.362/.496 29 HR
CF Joe Carter HOU (2) - .282/.309/.500 35 HR
RF Larry Walker PHI (1) - .288/.353/.485 28 HR


AL Rookie of the Year


2B Jeff King BOS .272/22/104


NL Rookie of the Year


1B Frank Thomas SF .309/16/78


Manager of the Year


AL
Bernd van den Heuvel CAL (1)


First year managing in the majors after coming up from the minors and he wins it all.


NL
Bill Virdon HOU (4)


Virdon has been in Houston for 14 years and wins this for the second time in a row. Has to be frustrated they lost to the Phillies in a very winnable series.


Cy Young Award


AL
Roger Clemens CLE (3) 18-7 2.33 233 K's 1.05 WHIP
3^rd straight win for Clemens who exercised is option to become a free agent this year. Bret Saberhagen was 2^nd and former Dodger Orel Hersheiser was 3^rd.


NL
Dwight Gooden NY (5) 13-7 1.46 221 K's 0.94 WHIP
Aside from the record, this was Gooden's best year of his career. He's won 5 straight Cy Young Awards and he's only 24. Greg Maddux was 2^nd and Greg Swindell was 3^rd.


Most Valuable Player


AL
Mark McGwire CAL (2)
McGwire wins the MVP for the 2^nd year in a row. Even though his year wasn't as good as '88, it was still the big man the team needed to win the Series. He is on pace to break the 200 HR mark next year. Clemens was 2^nd and Saberhagen was 3^rd.


NL
Fred McGriff HOU (1)
Another big year for the Crime Dog. He played in every game this year, in fact, he hasn't missed a game since '87. Hard to believe he was traded by the Yankees along with Jim Corsi and Mike Taylor for Brian Downing where he only played for 1 season. McGriff is locked up in Houston for another 6 years, with 2 chances for him to get out of his deal.

[PilotMan]

More Offseason Notes


LA avoids arbitration and signs the following players to 1 year contract extensions.


Eddie Vargas, Darryl Boston, John Franco, Ken Howell, Ken Caminiti, BJ Surhoff


The Expos bid farewell to franchise face Gary Carter after 15 years with the club. He is traded to the M's along with top Expos pitching prospect Juan Guzman for outfielder Mike Greenwell. Greenwell had come up in the Expos organization and was traded away in '88. Arguably, they paid more to get him this time than they got for him in the first trade.


Dodger Free Agents


At 31, after 10 years in the Dodgers minor league system, a career .311 average with over 1500 career minor league hits, Tom Beyers has opted to move on from the team. Beyers hit .346 in 32 games in the majors, but only played 3 games the last 2 years.


P Joe Price
P Frank Tanana
1B Pedro Guerrero
OF Dwayne Murphy
P Frank DiPino
P Jim Beattie
P John Denny


That's 7 roster spots on the 25 man roster that will be filled by new players for the 1990 season.


One of the top free agents are off the board. Minnesota Twins outfielder Kirby Puckett has signed a 5yr/13.2M contract to play the outfield for the Montreal Expos. Long time Expos outfielder Tim Raines is a free agent and they are not going to bring him back now.


Nolan Ryan returns home to California to play for the World Champion Angels for 1yr/1.6M.


Roger Clemens has left the Indians and will head west to Seattle. The Mariners have shelled out a 7yr/18.2M contract in the richest contract in baseball history. Clemens now heads up a staff that was #2 in ERA among starters in the AL last year. Clemens, Mark Langston, Mike Scott, Mike Moore, and Sid Fernandez.


LA has made it's first free agent signing of the offseason by signing 3B/OF Matthew Tyner to a 1yr/200k contract. The Dodgers are Tyner's 5^th team, and 3^rd in 3 years. Tyner hit 29 HR's in '85, but since has lost playing time. He played 70 games for the Royals last year and batted .180 with 4 HR's. Not much of a player in the field, the team must hope he can rekindle some old skills.


The Astros fill the void left by Nolan Ryan with Red Sox ace Bruce Hurst. Hurst has signed 6yr/14.9M contract 2^nd in value only to the Clemens deal.


On the same day the Expos lose first baseman Andres Gallaraga to the White Sox 6yr/6.1M the Expos sign first baseman Glenn Davis to a 3yr/2.6M deal.


1989 Rookie Draft


Dodgers first 5 rounds


OF Carl Everett (1^st, 7^th Overall)
1B Mike Busch (2^nd, 47^th Overall)
1B Jamie Ogden (3^rd, 75^th Overall)
IF Brad Tyler (3^rd, 87^th Overall)
OF Steve Gibralter (4^th, 105^th Overall)
IF Denny Hocking (5^th, 131^st Overall)


No real comments. We'll see. Not many big names considering how high up the draft list we were.


Former Dodger Steve Sax signed a 3yr/3.3M contract to play for the Cincinnati Reds.


LA dips into the Rule 5 draft again this year and pulls out 26 year old, Curtis Zucco, from the Royals. Zucco has been all over the minor leagues, and was once a Top Pitcher and MVP winner. Last year he made 2 appearances at AAA, other wise the rest of his career has been AA and below. If the team thinks that this guy can stay on the roster all year, then the plans for this team are in big trouble.


Frank Tanana, 36, signs a 1 year deal with the Angels for 1.1M to stay in SoCal.


Robin Yount joins Tim Raines in joining the Rangers.


LA and the Texas Rangers have made a trade. Leaving LA will be 25yr old C BJ Surhoff (.287/3/22) and pitching prospect Jose Cleto (3-0, 12S 1.22 ERA in Low A). In return, the Rangers are sending 27 yr old 1B Wally Joyner to the Dodgers. Joyner is in the last year of a contract, and could be a free agent after the season. He's a Gold Glove, All Star, and 2 time Silver Slugger. Last year he his .311/13/85, but it was his worst year in his last 4.


LA signs P Steve Bedrosian to a 1yr/160k deal. Bedrock pitched in 24 games for the Reds (33 in AAA) last season and posted a 5-2 record, 6 saves, and a 2.63 ERA. He could be a set up guy, but is more of a middle reliever. He's better than some of the guys on the roster right now, so it should be an ok signing.


1989 Hall Of Fame


This year 3 guys were selected to the Hall of Fame. They are:


In his first year of eligibility, with 94.4% of the votes, with 289 career wins, a 3.42 ERA, and over 4500 innings pitched, from the Chicago Cubs, he is Fergie Jenkins!


Also in his first year of eligibility, with 84.7% of the votes, he posted a career ERA of 2.74 in over 16 years of baseball and notched up 327 saves. From the Oakland Athletics, he is the man with the handlbar mustache, Rollie Fingers!


And, in his 2^nd year of eligibility, with 79.4% of the votes. This man spent over 17 years with the same team. He won 254 games in his career and threw over 3700 innings, and struck out over 2100 batters. From the Baltimore Orioles, Jim Palmer!


Joe Price signed a 1 year deal to play for the Expos.


Pedro Guerrero signed a 1yr/460k deal to play for the Blue Jays for the next year.


Frank DiPino signed a 1yr/160k deal to play for the Cardinals.


Fernando Valenzuela gets a 1yr/180k contract to play for the Reds. We'll see him more often this year.


Jim Beattie signs a 1yr/190k contract to play for the Phillies.


Dave Stewart is the last of the big names to get a contract. Stewart gets 2yrs/3.8M from the White Sox. Nowhere near where this back to back 20 game winner felt like he should be.


Joe Price is cut by the Expos, but picked up by the Mets for 170k.


John Denny joins the Mets for 1yr/190k.


Looks like poor Jim Beattie will miss another season of baseball. Beattie suffered a knee injury in a spring training game may be back by August if he heals well. Beattie missed all of the '87 season with an arm injury.


Opening Day is just around the corner!

[PilotMan]

Well, I couldn't bring myself to continue to post regular updates, and I really wanted to keep playing so I did. This is going to continue to be a little look inside as we struggle through some seriously mid-table Dodger teams. In the meantime here are some of the more interesting things that have happened in 1990 so far.

Currently it's mid July, and the Dodgers are slumping. They were strong contenders, as in 2nd place, even though they cannot compete with the Astros. The team is in 4th place, 4 games below .500. They've lost Wally Joyner for almost 3 months, and Lee Stevens simply cannot match his production in his place.

Bryn Smith (12-6, 2.28) is having a career year. Frank Viola (12-5, 2.99) gives the team a potent 1-2. Then things fall off. The bullpen is a mess. Even though John Franco is 15-15 in saves with a 2.81 ERA. The team is still throwing Steve Bedrosian out there even with his 1-4 record and 9.37 ERA.

The team is getting a look at 20yr old, #2 pitching prospect (#25 Franchise) Arthur Rhodes (0-2, 5.79) in the rotation out of necessity.

In other recent ML news -

Former Dodger Sid Fernandez tossed his 3rd career no-hitter.

Other No-No's from 1990 -
John Smoltz (MIN) against CAL PERFECT GAME

Roger Clements (SEA) against OAK 2nd career
Randy Johnson (ATL) against PIT
-Johnson also had a 17k, 1-hitter against the Padres


During the All Star game, Mark McGwire went deep in the 4th off of Randy Johnson to give the AL the lead. Johnson then hit Mickey Tettleton of the Yankees, who was up next, and Tettleton charged the mound. Both men were ejected in the ALL STAR GAME!

The Braves made quite possibly the worst trade ever. They sent closer Jim Acker (123 S for the Braves over 6 seasons) , 24yr old prospect Al Leiter (who they had gotten from the Phillies for Herm Winningham), and the #30 prospect in MLB and former #6 overall pick, Juan Gonzalez (.237 with 20 HR's for ATL before his 21st birthday). And who did the Braves get in this blockbuster deal? The Royals utility infielder, 25 yr old, former Cubs 3rd rounder, who signed a minor league deal with the Royals 2 years ago, none other than, Craig Grebeck. I don't know where to go with that. It's insane.

One pretty good blockbuster saw the Mets Darryl Strawberry, 5-time All Star, 2-time Silver Slugger, former WS MVP, who had been struggling and be dealt to the Indians for journeyman 1B, Randy Milligan and top pitching prospect Pedro Astacio. The trade paved the way for Reuben Sierra to take over full time starting duties along with Dykstra and Bonilla.

Former Dodger Pedro Guerrero (.297/9/47), who had signed for the Blue Jays in the offseason was shipped to the Pirates for Torey Luvullo (.185/1/5) straight up. Oof. We'd have taken him.

The White Sox are the best team this year. They are 65-27. The Mets are next at 61-32. Then the Phillies 57-36, Astros (57-38), Angels (57-38), Mariners (56-39) and finally the Yankees (53-38, who lead the AL East.)

[PilotMan]

Here's the story of one of oddest stat lines ever:


From my ongoing slow play alternate history universe:




August 25, 1990. Dodgers prospect and rookie Arthur Rhodes, pressed into ML service due to injuries, takes his 0-5 record into the game. Rhodes throws 8 no hit innings, and comes out for the 9th already having thrown over 130 pitches. Even with a 4-0 lead he proceeds to walk the bases loaded and has to be pulled for the closer John Franco never having allowed a hit. But you see, he threw 152 pitches, and only 73 were for strikes. You see Rhodes walked a MLB record 14 batters over 8 innings. Franco gave up 2 hits and the Mets scored 4 times to tie it up. LA would go on to win the game in the 15th. Rhodes is still winless for his career, despite the near no-no.



8IP, 0H, 2R, 2ER, 14 BB, 4 K 152P 73K


So close to infamy.

[PilotMan]

The 1991 Dodgers are, OMG, the worst of these Dodgers teams yet.


Dead last in the West and only a better record than the Expos. They've nearly been no-hit twice, and poor Arthur Rhodes is averaging 0.88 of run support per game in 10 starts. It's a travesty for LA fans everywhere.

[tucking fypo]

Good to see this dynasty is still alive.

[PilotMan]

Good to see this dynasty is still alive.


It heartens me to know that someone else is finding enjoyment from it! Thank you!


This goes for anyone. I know that my updates are pretty dead as I wander through, but what should I report, or what would people like to see updated?


Anything in particular?

[PilotMan]

Cheering for a losing team is an exercise in patience, and a complete acceptance of the Bob Uecker broadcasting in Major League. Let's look at what a complete clusterfuck of a year, 1991 has been so far:


Major League worst record of 31-70.

Last in the NL in:
Runs Scored
Avg
OBP
Runs Against
Starter ERA

Second to last in NL in:
HR's
SB
Bullpen ERA

So pretty much everything, last or second to last. Only fielding is 9th. (BRIGHT SPOT!!)

Pitching:

Frank Viola, 31: 4.69 ERA; 1.54 WHIP; 82 ERA+; 2.39 RS per game
- Graded as a 3-Star talent, Upper mid rotation quality

Danny Darwin, 35: 4.13 ERA; 1.21 WHIP; 93 ERA +; 1.76 RS/G
- Averages 4 2/3 innings per start; Graded as a 2.5-Star talent, Back end quality

Ed Wojna, 30: 2.96 ERA; 1.26 WHIP; 144 ERA+; 2.57 RS/G
- Waiver wire pickup from Philly. Made 10 starts; Graded as a 2-Star talent; Spot start quality

Peter Chapin, 32: 4.51 ERA; 1.37 WHIP; 85 ERA+; 2.35 RS/G
- Grades as a 1.5-Star talent, Spot start or possible back end quality

Arthur Rhodes, 21: 5.62 ERA; 1.81 WHIP; 68 ERA+; 1.41 RS/G
- Grades as a 1-Star talent, Spot start quality at best

Bob Patterson, 32: 3.53 ERA; 0.97 WHIP; 108 ERA+; 15/19 Saves, 17.6 IRS%
- Grades as a 3-Star talent; is the closer, but scouted to set up at best

Tomas Ubiera, 26: 3.78 ERA; 1.23 WHIP; 101 ERA+; 2S, 1H, 14 GF
- Grades as a 3-Star talent; Set up is ideal.

Sergio DelRosario, 26: 5.83 ERA; 1.55 WHIP, 66 ERA+, 5H, 11 GF
- 2-Star talent; can hit 100+ on the gun, scouted as a situational/mop up guy.

You can see the incredible lack of talent, and what they've done so far this year. The offense has been awful. The pitching has been below average with slightly above average at it's finest. {edit: I totally forgot to mention that Patterson, the closer, is #2 on the team in wins, with 5.}

The lineup right now....ugh.

Just at first base alone, the team has used Von Hayes, Pete O'Brien, Franklin Stubbs, Lee Stevens, Jim Presley and finally Carmelo Martinez. Stubbs was released and then resigned a few days later. It's been a total shitshow. Catcher has had the same problems.

The team has a .290 OBP, and 57 team homers. Only Inky is even in double digits in dingers. Albert Belle leads all of baseball with 36. They haven't been no-hit yet either, but they have been 1 hit, by Tom Glavine, twice. Once was a leadoff single, before Glavine set the next 27 down in order.

Here's the current positional outlook:


C Hector Villanueva, 45 GS, .629 OPS, 81 OPS+, 48.4% CS%
- 2-Star, marginal ML player. Waiver claim from Oak. Helluva cannon arm.

C Mike Bishop, 50 GS, .589 OPS, 68 OPS+, 40% CS%
- 2-Star, backup at best. Planned start to begin the year.


1B Carmelo Martinez, 12 GS, .807 OPS, 126 OPS+.
- 1.5-Star, borderline bench player. First is well documented above.

2B Geronimo Pena, 86 GS, .634 OPS, 79 OPS+, 10SB/13CS. .988 fielding
- 1.5-Star, starter all year, here for his defense.

SS Dick Schofield, 93 GS, .553 OPS, 58 OPS+, .968 fielding
- 1.5-Star, 2-time gold glove, here for his defense.

3B Ken Caminti, 96 GS, .633 OPS, 78 OPS+, 6 HR, 35 RBI, .963 Fielding
- 2-Star (3 Pot), pretty average all the way around.

LF Pete Incaviglia, 92 GS, .780 OPS, 117 OPS+, 17 HR, 54 RBI
- 2.5 Star, the only real damage producer in the lineup. Average starter.

CF Daryl Boston, 86 GS, .750 OPS, 111 OPS+, 16 SB
- 2.5- Star, somehow lost his role recently, considered a good starter

RF Lee Stevens, 69 GS, .659 OPS, 85 OPS+, 7 HR, 28 RBI.
- 2-Star (3 Pot), played a lot of 1B too, 2nd on team in HR. Borderline starter.

So that's the sad status of a terrible ballclub. The only bit of hope right now is that the Dodgers have the #4 farm club in all of MLB. They will have another high pick this year of course and these guys are close to needing to make the jump already.

Carl Everett, 20, (12th prospect) Playing A-Ball
Bobby Abreu, 17, (18th), High A Ball
Andy Pettitte, 19, (24th), AAA
Raul Rodarte, 21, (52nd), Low A
Damian Miller, 21, (55), High A
Shawn Estes, 18, (78), Rookie
Pat Rapp, 24, (94), AAA

You just know that someone from this list is getting called in September.

Anyway. It's rather pathetic to watch this team day after day. They lose, a lot. And the Expos are almost as bad. Kind of funny that just a few years ago, they both were dominating.

[PilotMan]

It was only a matter of time.

After multiple one-hitters, the Dodgers were finally no-hit this year, and by the Giants no less.

Greg Hibbard (5-12) lowered his ERA to 4.65, as the former 2nd rounder, and 40th overall pick threw his 1st no-no and 7th career shutout. Hibbard walked 3 and struck out 3.\


Arthur Rhodes (1-15) went the distance, allowing 1R, 4 hits and striking out 5.

[PilotMan]

August 17, 1991


If not for Dick Schofield knocking a single, LA would have been no-hit again. Greg Swindell was just killing us. I thought we were done. This is at least the 3rd 1 hitter this year, to go with the no hitter from just a few days ago. What a year of futility.



LA is now, sub .300 at 34-83. We are 37.5 games out of first place and 5.5 games behind the Expos for the next worst record in all of Major League Baseball.

[PilotMan]

September 8th, 1991


WTF?

Somehow this Dodger team has won 7 straight, and all 6 in September. They've run up and past Montreal for next worst team, but are still 6.5 behind the Blue Jays for the next place. Those 6 wins match the total the team had in June. That leads to an interesting thought. Those 3 teams played had 9 World Series appearances in the last 10 years, winning 3. Now they are the bottom 3 teams in the league.

LA pulled an aged Jeff Reardon (35) off the waiver wire and installed him as closer. He was 1-8, with 11 saves and 9 blown saves with a 6.15 ERA with the Phillies. Since coming to LA he's 1-4 with 5 saves, 2 blown and a 5.63 ERA.

[PilotMan]

That's that then.



Next game up, the Dodgers Frank Viola shut down the Pirates, while the Pirates Melido Perez struck out 14 in 7 innings of work. With 2 out in the 9th, and an out away from the shutout, Viola served up a game tying gopher ball to the Pirates George Bell (who they got off of waivers from Houston earlier in the year). The Pirates then pulled out the win in the 12th off of Arthur Rhodes (1-17) after he walked Brian Harper to lead it off, and then Damion Easley cracked a double down the line that Harper was able to score on. So much for the win streak.

[PilotMan]

Ok, forget everything I said. The Dodgers have not dropped 7 straight, with no wins since the streak. This most recent one was particularly Dodgers like.

Bottom of the 11th, Arthur Rhodes (1-18) came in and walked 4 straight for the literal walk-off loss.


:banghead:

[PilotMan]

End of the 1991 Regular Season

The Dodgers finished tied with the Expos for last place with a 54-108. That included a 14-13 September that had our 7 game win streak, the only month with a winning record.

I'm happy the season is over. It was a bit of a slog as a fan.

Danny Darwin (113) and Frank Viola (101) were the only starters to finish the year with a positive ERA+. Darwin over 34 starts held batters to a .238 average with a 3.42 ERA. While Viola had 36 starts, a .282 OAVG, and a 3.84 ERA.

Bob Patterson was the most valuable guy out of the pen. His 18 saves lead the team. Opponents his .244 and his ERA was a 3.56, with an ERA+ 109.

Among batters the most impactful players of the year were Pete Incaviglia (.241 avg/ 27 HR/ 78 RBI/ .743 OPS/ 107 OPS+), Daryl Boston (who eventually lost his starting job)(.264 AVG/ 22SB/ .725 OPS/ 104 OPS+), Lee Stevens (.261 AVG/ 15 HR/ 52RBI/ .718 OPS/ 101 OPS+) and Darren Lewis (who took Boston's job in CF)(.260 AVG/.343 OBP/ 18 SB/ 1.9 WAR/ 95 OPS).

That was it. Hard to win when that is the extent of your offensive pop and you really only have 2 good pitchers and a half decent set up guy you're using to close. Pretty brutal.

[PilotMan]

1991 Playoffs

NLCS

New York Mets (102-60) v. Houston Astros (99-63)

Mets

Most runs scored, least runs allowed, best record in MLB.

Lead by 30+HR bombers Bobby Bonilla (.300/30/96) and Reuben Sierra (.310/34/124) and a double play combo that has 8 gold gloves between them of Ozzie Smith and Robby Thompson. A pitching staff with Doc Gooden (16-7, 1.91 ERA). A reborn Jack Morris who missed nearly 16 months recovering from shoulder surgery the last 2 seasons only to put up a 2.55 ERA and throw 225 innings on his 36 yr old, reconstructed shoulder. Mike Morgan, whose only 2 winning seasons have been the last 2, and who probably wishes he'd made the All Star game putting up a 6.5 WAR. Then look at the bullpen where either Roger McDowell or Randy Myers can finish the night, and the team is free to use Charlie Liebrandt (2.93 ERA/ 221 IP/ 133 ERA+) now in the playoffs. This is the team to beat.

Houston Astros

NL Leaders in HR's, 3rd in offense, 2nd in runs against, and #1 defense.

Lead by Fred McGriff (.261/33/114), John Kruk (.324/18/91), Barry Larkin (.268/17/73), and Benito Santiago ( .274/20/88). The biggest blow is the recent loss of Lenny Dykstra to injury for the rest of the year, with a broken thumb.

This team has always had pitching, and this year it continues. Tom Candiotti (188 ERA+, 270 IP, 24-5, 2.03 ERA, 0.94 WHIP), Greg Swindell (2.11, 181 ERA+), Dennis Martinez (2.62, 146 ERA+), and Bruce Hurst (2.57, 149 ERA+). In the pen, it's Tom Henke (32S/ 2.08 ERA), trade acquisition Mark Eichhorn (the Expos former closer)(15S, 4.16) and Alejandro Pena (2.43, 5S, 157 ERA+).

The 'Stros aren't as stocked as they have been, but they are still dangerous.


ALCS


Baltimore Orioles v. Chicago White Sox
both at 101-61

Baltimore Orioles

2nd in runs, 5th in runs against, first in defense

A blasting offense with Griffey Jr (.328/32/134), Ripken Jr (.287/30/127), Wally Joyner (.280/27/101), Ellis Burks (.255/28/112). Both Delino Deshields (.314) and Kenny Lofton (.308) added offense.

The staff consists of Jimmy Key (3.18, 134 ERA+, 1.13 WHIP), Nolan Ryan (3.78, 113 ERA+, 1.34 WHIP) and closer Xavier Hernandez (36S, 1.83 ERA), who happens to be a rookie who was drafted by the Cubs and released by 3 teams before he got here.

Chicago White Sox

Best offense overall, 6th in runs against, 11 in defense.

This team has one of the best offenses of all time. They don't even need a pitching staff.

Barry Bonds (40/40; .335/45/137, 44SB, 206 OPS+, 1.096 OPS); Albert Belle (.315/58/171, 182 OPS+, 1.019 OPS), Paul Molitor (NL Batting Champ; .350/18/91), Todd Zeile (.305/29/102), Harold Baines (.276/22/82), and Devon White (.259/16/79; 41 SB).

Pitching? Who cares?

Only Jose DeLeon (107 ERA+) was above 100 as a starter. Lee Smith closes (29S; 2.33 WHIP, 182 ERA+)

I just want to say LA was dumb for trading Smith for Darryl Boston, even though Boston has added something to this loser team

And....AND!!! We have to talk about this trade that sent Belle from the Rangers to the White Sox THIS YEAR! On Feb 12, right before the start of spring training, the Rangers acquired OF Troy Neel. Neel at one point was the #74 prospect in MLB in '89, was selected to the AAA All Star game that year, and last year came off the bench for the Sox. Apparently, the Rangers thought he was hot shit. He did bat .277/20/82, with a 4.9 WAR and .800 OPS. Not awful, but my god, Belle had already homered 33 times in '89, then spent most of '90 in AAA where he won a Silver Slugger, but who would have seen what happened this year? Oh, and they also shipped Doug Jones, who had been an absolute bullpen horse for the Rangers, saving 30 in '88 and 19 in '89. In fact, he'd been important. With the White Sox, he only pitched in 74 games and threw 122 innings, with a 4.20 ERA, and a 1.27 WHIP. That has to be the worst fucking trade of the year.

[PilotMan]

1991 NLCS

Shocking.


The Mets were 7-5 against the Astros this season and came in as favorites to win the whole thing and repeat as World Champions. The Astros staff had other things in mind as they shut the Champs down.



1: 9-3 Astros
2: 4-2 Astros
3: 4-3 Astros
4: 5-1 Astros


It was tight overall, but the Astros were just that much better every game, and they only hit 2 homers the entire series. Former Dodger prospect Doug Jennings, who was starting for Dykstra played well, and John Kruk was the NLCS MVP.



ALCS

The offense was on display and we knew it would be. The Sox lead the

series 8-4 during the season and it continued here.



1: 8-3 Sox
2: 10-8 Orioles
3: 14-6 Sox
4: 9-5 Orioles
5: 3-2 Sox
6: 7-2 Sox



Where the entire Astros team only hit 2 HR's, the White Sox had 4 players hit 2 or more. Baines, Bonds and White all went deep 3 times in the 6 game series, while Belle added another pair. Griffey was held to a .222 average and the Orioles staff couldn't keep up. Harold Baines was ALCS MVP.



The White Sox are heading to their first World Series since 1959 to face the Houston Astros who won it all in '88.

[PilotMan]

1991 World Series

Game 1

Five lead changes, 3 blown saves (both closers and Doug Jones), and Tom Candiotti winning player of the game despite a 44 game score (lower than the Sox Witt, and he was knocked out in the 5th!). It should have been Eichhorn who was finally able to lock it down for the Astros after they took the lead in the bottom of the 8th.



Astros win 7-6.


Game 2

Astros pitching is again on display as Greg Swindell goes 7, with 7 K's while spreading 5 hits. Benito Santiago had 2, 2-out RBI singles, and that helped push the Astros to a 5-1 win. Bonds and Belle (Killer B's) have been kept totally in check so far. Astros lead 2-0


Game 3

The Sox carried a 3-0 lead late, only to have the Astros rally. Jose DeLeon was pulled in the 7th only allowing 1 hit. The Sox bullpen was on the hook after Doug Jones surrendered 4 hits, and John Henry Johnson couldn't keep them off home plate. The Astros once again used Henke in the 8th and after a lead off double by Jerry Browne, Eichhorn was called on again. A groundout, and a walk to Pagliarulo saw runners at the corners with 1 out. Oil Can Boyd was brought in to face Devon White. He fought back from on 0-2 count, but eventually flied out. One out away from a commanding 3-0 lead, Paul Molitor doubled on a gapper and Browne scored and put the winning run on 3rd. Bonds was walked to load them up for Belle, who singled in the winning run. Sox win 5-4.


Astros lead 2-1.


Game 4

A pitching duel? Bruce Hurst and Jamie Moyer go head to head and the Sox are the first to break a 1-1 tie in the 7th. Pena struggles out of the pen in the series continue and a 2-out double from Molitor propels the Sox to a 4-1 win over the Astros to tie the series up. Sox win 4-1.



Game 5

Tom Candiotti is so clutch. The reigning Cy Young and MVP walks 4 and allows 6 hits over 8, but nobody can score. The Astros get a 2-run jack from McGriff in the 6th and Henke closes to put the Astros on the brink with a 3-0 win as we head back to Houston.


Astros lead 3-2


Game 6

Pitchers duel? Again? Yep. Dave Stewart, who won 60 games over 3 seasons for the Astros got the start for the Sox, back in his old digs of the Astrodome. On the mound for Houston, was the game 2 killer, Greg Swindell. Neither pitcher would yield. It was zeros all night until the bottom of the 7th when a Fred McGriff drive found the seats in right field. Swindell struck out 7 over his 8 shut out innings. While in no less than 3 innings the Astros got the leadoff man on, only to have the next batter get doubled up. Tom Henke pitched a 1-2-3 9th and the Astros won again, 1-0.


Astros take the World Series in 1991.


Final Thoughts

The powerful White Sox got just one home run in 6 games. That stat alone defines this series. We've talked about just how dominant the 'Stros pitching was and that is the proof in the pudding. Bonds was held to .261/.346/.304. Belle was held to .250/.280/.292. Even Fred McGriff only hit .200/.292/.550, but it was that one HR that mattered. Greg Swindell won 2 games with a 0.60 ERA, walked none and struck out 14 to take home World Series MVP honors. He also went 2-3 with the bat. In the postseason he's a career .250/.273/.400 batter in 24 plate appearances. In the regular season he hits .105/.138/.130. Pitching is still a big deal, even if you've got a couple Killer B's.

[PilotMan]

The very first day after the Series, Frank Viola ops out of his contract. I can't say I blame him, and the team fires it's first year GM, then offers me the job. It's tempting, but I really want to keep this as a fan game.

LA heads into the offseason with the 2nd lowest payroll in baseball and at the very least, enough budget space to move them back up at least to the middle of the pack. The young prospects aren't ready for the run yet. I wonder how they'll figure this one out.

[PilotMan]

1991 Gold Gloves


AL


P Roger Clemens SEA (1)
C Mike Lavalliere MIL (2)
1B John Olerud NYY (2)
2B Roberto Alomar CLE (2)
3B Tim Wallach CAL (4)
SS Tony Fernandez KC (3)
LF Ellis Burks BAL (2)
CF Eric Davis CAL (1)
RF Roberto Kelly BOS (1)


NL


P Dwight Gooden NYM (2)
C Benito Santiago HOU (2)
1B Mickey Morandini CIN (2)
2B Willie Randolph MON (3)
3B Chris Sabo ATL (1)
SS Barry Larkin HOU (2)
LF Steve Finley SF (2)
CF Ron Gant PHI (1)
RF Lance Johnson STL (1)


Rolaids Reliever of the Year


Xavier Hernandez BAL 36/41 S 14/3 IR 21.4% IRS 1.83 ERA


Brian Harvey SF 33/40 S 18/2 IR 11.1 IRS 2.33 ERA
-2nd Award


Silver Slugger Awards


AL


C Mickey Tettleton NYY (2)

1B John Olerud NYY (2)
2B Delino DeShields BAL (1)
3B Todd Zeile CHI (2)
SS Cal Ripken Jr BAL (6)
LF Barry Bonds CHI (7)
CF Ken Griffey Jr BAL (1)
RF Jay Buhner TEX (2)
DH Albert Belle CHI (1)


NL



P Danny Darwin LA (1)
C Chris Hoiles PHI (1)
1B Fred McGriff HOU (2)
2B Julio Franco PHI (5)
3B Charlie Hayes NYM (1)
SS Matt Williams SD (1)
LF Ruben Sierra NYM (2)
CF Kirby Puckett MON (3)
RF Larry Walker PHI (2)


Rookie of the Year

AL



Javy Lopez BOS .305/12/75
- Chipper Jones and Mike Piazza were 2nd and 3rd respectively.



NL


Juan Guzman CIN 11-15, 3.71 ERA 218K's
- Jose Martinez was 2nd


Manager of the Year

AL



Joey Halford BAL (1)


NL



Bill Virdon HOU (5)


Cy Young

AL


Tom Gordon CLE (1)

- Lead the AL in ERA, K's, WHIP
- Jim Abbott NYY was the only other player to get a first place vote.



NL


Tom Candiotti HOU (2)
- Lead in W, IP, BABIP, 7 SHO
- All 26 first place votes


MVP

AL


Albert Belle CHI (1)
- lead league in doubles, HR's, RBI's, and SLG
- Bonds got 2 first place votes


Tom Candiotti HOU (2)
- Back to Back Cy Young and MVP. Historic.

- Tom Glavine was the runner up, Larry Walker 3rd with the other 5 first place votes.

[PilotMan]

LA avoids arbitration by coming to 1-yr terms with:
P Sergio DelRosario
C Tom Dodd
P Peter Chapin
P Bob Patterson
P Ed Wojna

3B Ken Caminiti
C Hector Villanueva

LF Pete Incaviglia

2B Geronimo Pena
1B Lee Stevens


LA announces that they have signed Mets GM Donald Withington to a 4-yr deal. He's been the architect of a team that hasn't won less than 90 games since '84. LA doubles his pay to get him from the Mets.


LA also makes a completely unconventional announcement. By signing HOF Pitcher Gaylord Perry as the team's new hitting coach. Interesting choice.

[PilotMan]

1991 First Year Player Draft


Last season LA grabbed a couple of good prospects, and this year we have the #2 pick in the draft. Let's see who this new hot shot GM decides to take.


1 (2) OF Richard Hidalgo - 16yo kid out of high school only wanted his slot bonus. The team couldn't afford the big name player with "The Franchise" on his head out there.

1 (32) P Chris Holt - 20yr old college kid who throws 5 pitches from a sidearm slot.

2 (41) SS Jeff Patzke - 18 yr old, could play a number of infield positions, might develop, or maybe not. Who knows?

LA rounded out the first 5 rounds with names like: Larry Sutton, D T Cromer, Rene Arocha, and Mike Moyle.


Not a great pool to be honest, not a great draft either.

[PilotMan]

Free Agency has been a bust so far. They've tried here and there, but all the names are walking.


C Rick Wilkins was drafted from the Mets in the Rule 5. He would be starting right away if nothing changes.



The team signed veteran outfielder, 4-time All Star, and Silver Slugger winner Lloyd Moseby from the Angels. Moseby hasn't played over 100 games in a year since '87. He's only his 22 HR's in the last 4 years combined. He gets a minor league deal to start.



Frank Viola signs with the Pirates for about 750k more per season than the contract he walked away from in LA.


Halfway through the offseason and nothing to show for it.

[PilotMan]

The 1992 Los Angeles Dodgers Opening Day Roster

The off season was not kind. As bad as LA was, they were 24th out of 26 teams in change in WAR. That's not good for looking ahead. You'll see the struggles that this team will face as we explore the roster. The only good news for the future, is that the Dodgers now have the #1 farm system in baseball, with the 7th, 8th, 10th and 12th top prospects in baseball, and another 5 in the top 100.

Pitchers

1. Rene Arocha - A 26yr old, 4th round pick who not only made the team as a rookie, but heads up the teams staff. Arocha is under a lot of pressure here. This is far beyond anything he had to be anticipating.

2. Peter Chapin - He's 33 now, and lost a league leading 19 games last year as the #3 guy. He was just above replacement player level last year. No reason to expect more from him this year.

3. Pat Rapp - He's a 24 yr old rookie, former 2nd round pick who went 9-11 with a 5.59 ERA last year in AAA. He's still the Dodgers #4 pitching prospect and in the top 100 league wide.

4. Arthur Rhodes - He's 22 with 2 seasons under his belt and you have to wonder if getting pressed into action has been good for him. He's posted sub replacement level stats, with a 4-28 career record and a 5+ career ERA. He needs to fix his major control problems.

5. Andy Pettitte - If you thought Rhodes was young, Pettitte is only 19 and the team's top pitching prospect. He bounced between AA and AAA last year. He did good, but this is way before his time.

RP David Peck - Had a rough year in 33 games for LA last season. His 7.83 ERA was turning heads for all the wrong reasons.

RP Lyle Swepson - One of the more reliable arms in the pen last year. Posted a 3.75 ERA in 32 games. His 1.58 WHIP wasn't awesome, but serviceable.

RP Tony McKinney - A good arm in AAA, who was just getting settled in with the main team when he lost time with an injury. In 30 career games at the ML level, he has a 3.54 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP.

SU Scott Baker - He has struggled with injuries, but been effective when he's been on. Gets to the upper 90's with his fastball, has above average stuff.

SU Joe Grahe - Grahe is transitioning from being a starter to the bullpen. The rookie, former 14th round pick, went 6-3 with a 4.84 ERA in AAA last year. Set up seems like a big role for him, but the bullpen is this as it is.

CL Bob Patterson - The anchor of the bullpen last season, and he'll have to do it again. He's got good stuff, very good control and a lively fastball. He got 18 saves last year. It would be better to have him setting up, rather than closing. He's the only lefty in the pen.

Catchers

Rick Wilkins - Rule 5 Draft Pick from the Mets. Wilkins split time between AA and AAA last year. He was a former 2nd round pick by the Royals.

Hector Villanueva - He worked his way into the starting lineup last year, was best known for his good arm, and occasional power.

First Base

Lee Stevens - Split time last year between first and the outfield, but now looks to be holding down the job at first. Was one of the more dangerous bats toward the end of the year. Enters his 3rd year of ML service.


Jack Clark - The Ripper is a 5-time All Star, and 2-time Silver Slugger, but he's also 36 now. His productivity dropped from 42 dingers to 15 and his average from .256 to .223. He can still get on base and has a good eye, and some pop in his bat.

Second Base

Geronimo Pena - He's an offensive liability with speed and some average defense. Replaceable, but there's nobody worthy enough to unseat him.

Jeffrey Wilson - Wilson is nearly 32, and is still pretty quick on the bases. He started for the Reds back in '88 and scored over 100 runs, but fell out of favor and only played in 131 games the last 2 years. His career .215 average isn't going to get him any awards.

Third Base


Ken Caminiti - He's been a regular fixture in the lineup for 4 years now enters his last contract year. He still hasn't lived up to his future projections, but he isn't hurting the team either.

Dave Hansen - Only used as a pinch hitter last year. Hansen only started one game. If he's pressed into a lot of action this are not going well for the team.

Shortstop

Dickie Thon - The departure of sure fielding and light hitting Dick Schofield opened the door for the spring training signing of the 33 yr old Thon. He still stole 20 bases, hit 10 homers last year. We are his 4th team in 4 years. He's still below average with the bat, and with the glove.

Dave Rhode - Rhode is the teams utility guy, and he moves around the infield where needed. His best attribute is his baserunning ability. He's not going to be starting anytime in the future.

Outfield

LF Ricky Henderson - That's right, Rickey is back, and he's here for 5 years and is the new highest paid player. Rickey was the only player LA could get in free agency, mostly because every other team had given up on him. Last year for the Yankees his average dropped 27 points, and slugging was down 47. He did walk a league leading 144 times and still stole 57 bases.

CF Darren Lewis - Lewis stole the starting job from Boston last year by playing good defense, possessing good speed, and using a good eye to get on base. He was a semi-reliable leadoff guy and won't hurt the team.

RF Pete Incaviglia - Inky was all the power last year. He hit 24, and struck out 134 times. He is a pretty poor defender, and in right that is going to hurt. It would be really nice if he could keep that power going this year.

OF Daryl Boston - We could be worse off here. Boston can do a little bit of everything. Decent defender, can hit an occasional homer, still runs with good speed. He's not going to get his staring job back, but he's got to contribute.

Who's Out -

Ed Wojna - for a moment it looked like he was going to be the ace, but he didn't even make the roster despite a decent spring.

Von Hayes - One of the highest paid players on the team, he's really dropped off the last couple years, and there are no openings in the outfield. He was more of a liability than a help last year.

Who's in the minors -

Dale Murphy - hit 16 HR's last year, but really struggled to stay consistent. He's 36. Not likely to make an impact even if he gets the call.

[PilotMan]

I'm still playing, but Rimworld sucked all my time for a few months. We're about halfway through '92 right now. I came across something kind of funny.

John Elway, without the pressure of football is still slaving away in the minors. He's been with the Yankees, Angels, Indians, A's. He held on with the Cardinals in '86 and got a couple extensions, but became a free agent again in '90. Reupped with the Cards one more time, and ended up with LA this year.

His career has been less than stellar. He's now 32 and riding the pine in AA San Antonio. He made it as far as AAA a couple times, but the most games he's ever played in any year, all levels combined is 109 back in '86. Still he hangs on with not trips to The Show.

A career WAR of 2.2, 32 HR's, 110 SB's in 555 games. His average is .223 with a career OPS of .649.

LA has a number of former stars riding around in the minors right now. Too bad they didn't have them at their peaks, because they could have used them.

Jack Clark (36)(1B) is a glorified PH for the main club. Two years ago he hit 42. He's got 0 in 37 at bats this year.

Mike Marshall (32)(1B) starting first basemen in Albuquerque. One time slugger and right fielder, who hit 25 with a 5.2 WAR back in '83 left LA in '87. He's been with the Red Sox, Rangers, Cardinals, Blue Jays, A's, Orioles, and Tigers since coming back to LA last year. He's rocking an OPS of .787 with 11 HR's.

Jesse Barfield (32)(OF) The former 2-time Gold Glover, All Star, and Silver Slugger hit 5 HR's last year for the Royals and came to LA on a minor league deal. He's got 187 career bombs, with high of 30 back in '83. His recent .211 average and .649 OPS with the Royals over 3.5 years didn't impress. He's starting in right for Albuquerque. With 11 HR's and a .244 average.

Lloyd Moseby (32) (OF) The former 4-time All Star, Gold Glover, and Silver Slugger came to LA in the offseason from cross town loser California. Last year he batted .192 with 4 HR's and a -0.4 WAR in part time duty. His last good year was in '87 when he lead the AL in runs scored with 143. His 163 career dingers and 228 steals are nice, but he's really fallen off from where he was. He's played well in limited duty for the Dukes, but he's not starting right now.

Dale Murphy (36)(OF) Another 4-time All Star, 2-time Silver Slugger, and Gold Glove winner from the 80's. Murphy has 11 HR's and leads the Dukes with 52 RBI's batting cleanup and batting as the DH. He played in Baltimore last year where his -1.1 WAR didn't impress and neither did his .224 average or 16 HR's and 120 K's. He's at 317 HR's for his career with a .774 OPS. He had some good years with Houston, but nothing close to what he did in Atlanta.

Nick Esasky (32) (1B) Esasky was once a massive bomber and All Star back in '86. His career high in homers was 37 for the Reds in '87. He's been in the LA system for 3 years trying to make his way back, but while he was in AAA 2 years ago, this year, he's been mostly in AA. Where he's been rocking a -0.4 WAR and .645 OPS with 8 HR's in 254 AB's.


With all those bats, the AAA Dukes are still in last place with a 41-52 record, similar to the main club, who are sitting at 45-59 early in August. We are not the worst this year though, like we were last year. Still, pretty back for a fan to endure.

[PilotMan]

LA Dodgers 1992 Year in Review

LA improved on last year's 100 loss season with a 68-94 record. Good enough for 5th place in the NL West, and 27 games behind the Astros, who won the division. It's hard to believe that there were any bright spots this year. The only thing this team did great was fielding. They lead the NL in Zone Rating, tied for second in Errors, and was 3rd in Defensive Efficiency. That fielding saved many games.

The LA Times Dodger Player of the Year was Rickey Henderson. Henderson played in 160 games, batted .272 (lead team) with 117 walks (lead team), a .399 OPB, and .794 OPS. Henderson lead the team in HR's with 15 and SB with 62. He was caught stealing 30 times though, posted a negative Zone Rating in LF, and had 4 errors. He was the runaway leader in WAR with a 4.6, double that of the next best player. Congrats to Dodger MVP, Rickey Henderson!

Here's the quick lowdown on how everyone else did this year.

Pitching

Starters

The best story was that of young rookie Andy Pettitte. He split time this year between the Show and AAA, with the bulk coming with the main club. He struggled getting any run support, getting 1.71 R/G while posting a 3.94 ERA, a 5-13 record, and OAVG of .227. He's clearly got talent for big things, even in some bad games, he was in control many times. Even at 20, he was the top pitcher for the team.

The rest of the starters were rounded out by Arthur Rhodes (8-12, 3.88, 145K's, 171 IP, only starter with more than 50% quality starts); Peter Chapin (10-9, 3.75, 185 IP); Pat Rapp (10-11, 4.85, 178 IP, only player with any awards, won Rookie of the Month in September); and Rene Arocha (9-16, 4.92, 179 IP, he started strong, but got weaker as the season went on). Don Robinson (very same one) was added mid season for two minor prospects, and he started 14, went 3-6 with a 4.96 ERA.

Bullpen

We should name this all about Bob Patterson. Patterson kept his job as closer and turned in the best season on the mound for any Dodger pitcher, before seeeing his season end prematurely. He posted a 1.83 ERA in 54 games, 22/25 in saves and lead the team with 7 holds. He was the only, only, only pitcher out of the pen with any success this year. The pen was crushed with injuries, and the starters made sure everyone got plenty of work. One of the best moves the team made was a mid June trade with the Rangers that send Inky away in return for another former Dodger farmhand in Jose Cleto and Gary Gaetti. Cleto is young at 23, and shows big promise with a 2.86 ERA in 20 games, bu only 8 for LA. He can hit triple digits on the gun. By the end LA had brought on 3-time All Star Jim Clancy, who had been released by the Phillies, and already announced his intent to retire after this year. Clancy actually shut opponents down in his 10 games. The rest were pretty awful. At one point, Scott Coolbaugh came on to pitch in a game. He got his inning, took a loss, and gave up 3 hits and 2 runs.

Batters

Speaking of Scott Coolbaugh, and this will be the last time you hear about him, but he came to bat 36 times this year, garnered a whopping 7 hits (.194) and 4 of them flew out of the park. He made the most of it I guess. Aside from Henderson playing in almost every game, we also had Lee Stevens (.251/.293/.387) and Ken Caminiti (.250/.306/.341) who saw lots of game time. Stevens played first and right, whilc Caminiti played mostly at 3rd, until injuries saw him move to cover second, while Gaetti moved to third. Speaking of Gaetti (.232/.273/342) he came over from Texas (still sucked, but did get his 1500th career hit with LA), we also were reunited with SS Ozzie Smith (.227/.307/.293) after he was placed on waivers by the Mets (he couldn't his for anything, but only committed 4 errors at short).

Darren Lewis (.266/.325/.334, 40 SB) was a nice addition and in spite of just how bad that line looks. He was the 2nd best weapon on the team. He started in CF, lost his job, got it back, then moved to RF for the end of the year.

Rookie Catcher, Rick Wilkins (.221/.286/.356, 14 HR's) found a home behind the plate. He's good defensively, but his offense wasn't amazing. The other big rookie was OF Carl Everett. Everett is the #2 prospect in the Dodger organization and he was called up, won the job in CF and then got hurt. So that's pretty much how things went this year. Everett did hit though (.326/.379/.403, 11 SB, 39 G). CF will be his to lose next year, and he looks very promising and exciting.

Geronimo Pena had been good at 2nd, but he was injured a lot and missed over 50 games. In spite of that he still stole 30 bases, and had over 100 hits.

Prospects

Richard Hildago (17) played rookie ball all year, didn't impress.

Carl Everett (21) you know how it went.

Andy Pettitte (20) you know.

Bobby Abreu (18) started in Low A, and moved up to high A and only got better. Was moved up to AA by the end of the year.

Ismael Valdez (19) played rookie and short A this year, looked good, but was lost in August to a shoulder injury.

Shawn Estes (19) started in Low A, but was demoted to rookie halfway though.

[tucking fypo]

Some good young talent you have, Pilot. Maybe another strong arm in the rotation and improved hitting by the youngsters will get you a shot at .500 ball next season.

[PilotMan]

Some good young talent you have, Pilot. Maybe another strong arm in the rotation and improved hitting by the youngsters will get you a shot at .500 ball next season.

We'll see, yes some good young guys, and what looks like the 3rd pick in this year's draft. I hope they can keep pulling. We do have the #1 farm system in baseball. The stupid owner prioritizes profit, and he's an economizer, which has made things hard, but the team is turning a profit now, and has some budget space. With very little loss projected this off season there's hope for next year for sure.

[PilotMan]

1992 Playoffs

NLCS

Houston Astros (95-67) v. Pittsburgh Pirates (101-61)

Houston Astros

2nd in Runs scored and against; 7-5 against the Pirates

The defending World Series champs have a chance to repeat, but are far from the dominant team they have been. The Astros topped the West by 4 games over Atlanta. This is their 4th straight appearance in the NLCS. They have more fantastic pitching lead by Tom Candiotti (15-8, 2.84); Gred Swindell (11-14, 2.78); Oil Can Boyd (19-7, 3.26); and Bruce Hurst (12-9, 3.18). The back of the pen is locked down by Rodger McDowell (9-6, 26S, 2.65). Dennis Martinez had held down the other spot, but he was lost a couple months ago with an old man, arthritic elbow.

Offense is set by CF Lenny Dykstra (.289/.360/.409, 59SB), SS Barry Larkin (.284/.357/.447, 20HR), Fred McGriff (.265/.346/.443, 27HR), Edgar Martinez (.285/.370/.430) and team HR leader Rob Deer (.213/.296/.419, 30HR). Not the dominant force that they once had, but there's plenty there to scare any staff.

Pittsburgh Pirates

7th in runs scored, 1st in runs against.

The Pirates put up the best record in baseball and plowed the Phillies by 14 games in the East. They have the best pitching staff in the National League and possibly the best in baseball. With the holes in their offense, they'll need every bit of it. Their rotation consists of Melido Perez (21-10, 2.52); Jack McDowell (18-7, 2.58); Doug Drabek (17-9, 2.55), and Steve Avery (12-14, 3.06). Even better is the bullpen with closer Mike Henneman (46S, 2.15); last year's Astros closer, Tom Henke (3.78), Paul Assenmacher (1.33), and Mark Guthrie (4.53). They can easily shot down anyone.

On offense LF Chili Davis (.261/.366/.386) lead the team in HR's with 15. Only 3 players had more than 10. A shortfall that will surely be a threat against the Astros. They do have guys who can get on through, with 2B Bip Roberts (.300/.349/.381), SS Tim Naehring (.296/.371/.371), C Brian Harper (.300/.337/.382), and CF Robin Yount (.304/.346/.419).

ALCS

Chicago White Sox (87-75) v. New York Yankees (96-66)

Chicago White Sox

1st in runs scored, 10th in runs against; 6-6 against the Yankees

The White Sox won on the last day of the year. The Mariners had lead all year long but stumbled to a 2-8 finish at the end, losing the last 4. The White Sox had to win 5 in a row to overtake them, then broke the hearts of the Rangers fans who had seen their team win 7 straight, and 9 of 10 to charge into the picture, only to be held off at the very end. It was something to see!

The Sox are hoping to get another chance after last year's loss to the Astros. With a loaded batting order, their pitching has been needed to be less than stellar. However, their pitching is still quality. Lead by Jack Morris (13-12, 3.67), Jose Guzman (16-8, 2.89), Bobby Witt (17-12, 3.75) and Luis Aquino (11-8, 4.64). The Sox pen has some big names, who had underwhelming seasons. They lost former Dodger closer John Franco to a shoulder injury, but still have. Doug Jones (19S, 5.00), Rick Aguilera (4.17) and Jeff Russell (4.48).

The batting order is next level, but even then, they lost the big bat in the lineup after 93 games with a broken kneecap Barry Bonds (.323/.399/.559, 20HR, 22SB). While the loss of Bonds hurts, they still have plenty of firepower. You don't get to be the #1 offense with one guy. Todd Zeile at 3B (.274/.343/.388), RF Harold Baines had a huge, resurgent year (.324/.380/.504, 30HR), LF Albert Belle (.298/.360/.541, 38 HR (lead the AL)), 2B Lou Whitaker (.303/.411/.466), DH Andres Gallaraga could be comeback player of the year (.283/.316/.466, 28HR), and C BJ Surhoff (remember him?)(.287/.318/.357).

New York Yankees

5th in runs scored, 5th in runs against

The Yankees are the hottest team in the playoffs. After fighting the Orioles all year, they pulled away winning 10 in a row to finish 4 up and take the AL East. Heading up the rotation is Bret Saberhagen (16-6, 2.85), Jim Abbott (14-10, 4.01), Kevin Gross (14-8, 4.45) and Kirk McCaskill (8-14, 5.24). Not satsified with a back end bullpen of Rob Murphy (3.99) and closer Lee Smith (25S, 3.40) they pulled a deadline deal for Angels closer Jeff Montgomery (40S, 3.08) and he took over the job.

There's plenty of spark up and down the lineup too. From LF Brady Anderson (.272/.359/.409), 2B Carlos Baerga (.350/.384/.468), 1B John Olerud (.329/.443/.506, 23 HR), C Mickey Tettleton (.248/.363/.455, 23 HR), DH Don Mattingly (.303/.338/.439, 17HR), RF Dave Winfield (.269/.307/.411) and former Dodger SS Dick Schofield.

[PilotMan]

1991 LCS

National

1: 8-2 Astros
2: 6-3 (12) Astros
3: 5-3 Astros
4: 8-3 Pirates
5: 5-0 Astros

Astros take the NLCS and advance to the Series to defend their title. Candiotti (2-0) was series MVP.

American

1: 6-0 Yankees
2: 9-5 Yankees
3: 5-2 White Sox
4: 7-2 White Sox
5: 4-1 White Sox
6: 8-1 Yankees
7: 11-3 White Sox

It'll be a rematch after the Sox come back and stun the Yankees with a game 7 wipeout in Yankee Stadium. Andres Galarraga was the Series MVP.

[PilotMan]

1992 World Series

Game 1

The Astros opened up a can of whoopass in game one. They got 18 hits, and 9 walks, for 27 runners, 10 came home to score. With a 5-5 game and a HR form McGriff and another from Darren Daulton in the 8th. Bobby Witt didn't stand a chance and Greg Swindell took another WS win pitching into the 8th. White Sox take game 1, 10-1.

Astros lead series 1-0

Game 2

It's beginning to look like the Chicago pitching staff cannot contain the Astros lineup. Houston got two in the first and three in the second to go up 5-0, helped by a Rob Deer HR. Reigning Cy Young winner Tom Candiotti goes the distance, throwing only 121 pitches. Meanwhile Jose Guzman couldn't get out of the 2nd inning, putting even more pressure on the Sox bullpen. Astros win 7-1.

Astros lead the series 2-0

Game 3

Desparate to make something of the series and at home, the White Sox plow through Oil Can Boyd for 6 runs in the first inning, knocking him from the game. They would add another in the 2nd taking a 7-0 lead. The Astros would not be denied though, answering with 6 in the 3rd and sending the Sox, Jack Morris from the game. This time though, the Sox pen would hold off the Astros and grab their first win of the series 8-6. Sox CF Devon White went 2-2, hit a first inning HR, and stole 4 bases in the game.

Astros lead the series 2-1

Game 4

Luis Aquino got the ball for the White Sox taking on Bruce Hurst of the Astros. Once again, things got ugly early and this time it was on a historical level. I mean, record setting, shocking, destructive and demoralizing. Aquino got Dykstra to lead off the game, then....double, double, single. Edgar Martinez strikes out for the second out. Then single, single, double and Aquino was gone. Once again the Astros got to the Sox pen early, and today it would all pay off. Dale Sveum would homer off of Kevin Cavalier before Dykstra would be out again. The Astros would jump to a 7-0 lead and this time that would not be all. At the end of 2 it was 8-2, then it was 10-2 after 3. The Astros would end with 14 extra base hits in the game, 4 of those homers. Fred McGriff would set a record, scoring 6 times. Both he and Edgar Martinez would put up 5 RBI's and Rob Deer would get 6. Bruce Hurst pitched into the 8th. At the end of the 5th inning it would be 17-2 and the Sox would have gone through 5 pitchers again. The 6th would be pitched by OF Ernie Young, the 7th and 8th by SS Eddie Pye and 1B Chris Pritchett, and the 9th by 2B James Mouton. None of them did well. White Sox pitchers threw 282 pitches in 9 innings of work. The Astros 129. When it was all said and done, the Astros had 25 hits, and 17 walks for a total of 42 baserunners, and of those 42, an unbelievable 33 scored. In the end, after 4 hours and 29 minutes, in front of 44,464 disgusted White Sox faithful, the Houston Astros won 33-2. OMG.

The Astros lead the series 3-1 and look completely unstoppable.

Game 5

For the final game in Chicago, the Astros sent Greg Swindell back to the mound in the hopes of one final wipeout of the White Sox. Bobby Witt headed up to the mound for the Sox. The Sox got on the board first when SS Gustavo Hernandez singled in Whitaker and Surhoff. The Astros answer with 2 in the 3rd on a McGriff single to tie it. The Sox answer again when Lou Whitaker fouled off 5 balls then caught a 1-2 pitch and yanked it down the left field line for another 2 run HR. The Astros answered again in the 4th to tie it back up on another Dale Sveum HR. All square again in the 6th, and Witt leaves for Luis Aquino. The Astros take advantage of an error by Galarraga and a Doug Jennings double that scored 2 to take a 6-4 lead. Bottom of the 7th Swindell gives way to Storm Davis and Hernandez opens up with a solo homer to cut the lead. Devon White gets hit and eventually comes around to score and give the Sox the lead they wouldn't let go. Despite 14 hits by the Astros the Sox bullpen manages to hold the Astros the rest of the way to claim an 8-6 win.

Astros lead the White Sox 3-2

Game 6

We head back to Houston, with the Astros on the brink. On the mound for Houston is Candiotti, a 3-0 post season record and 1.00 ERA. Against him is Jose Guzman (1-1, 6.23). In a game unlike we have seen this far in this series, both pitchers go toe to toe. The second inning starts off with Whitaker getting a professional at bat again, drawing a walk on 8 pitches. Galarraga singles, Surhoff singles to load the bases. Eddit Pye grounds into a double play, scoring Whitaker, and Guzman flies out. That got one home for the Sox and that was it. Guzman drove the rest of the way, going the distance, striking out 7, against 4 hits, in what goes down as one of the single most important pitching performances in baseball history. The Sox pick up game 6 with a 1-0 win in a nailbiter and somehow even the series.

The series is tied.

Game 7

In Houston, one last battle. The White Sox send 37 yr old Jack Morris against 19-game winner, Oil Can Boyd. Like other games in this back and forth series, the Astros would strike first, in the first, Dykstra would walk, steal 2nd, then score on a throwing error by Morris. Barry Larkin doubled in Jennings and the Astros were up 2-0 in quick fashion. Albert Belle answered right away in the top of the 2nd with a ripped ball into the left field seats to get the Sox on board, and cut the lead. The Astros would answer again, and Morris would struggle in the 2nd. With 2 quick outs and a Deer on 2nd, Dykstra singled, and Jennings singled to plate Deer giving the Astros a 3-1 lead. It would stay like that and Boyd would take control until the 7th when Baines and Belle would single back to back to give the Sox a threat. Two on, nobody out. Boyd then got Whitaker to flyout, Galarraga to fly out, and Surhoff to fly out and end the threat with none scoring. McDowell came on in the 8th and gave up a lead off single to Eddie Pye. Pye got to second on a fielders choice then tried to score on a Devon White single, but Lenny Dykstra threw him out at home plate. Zeile popped out and another threat was thwarted. McDowell had to face Mouton, Belle and Whitaker in the 9th and retired them all in order to give the Astros the 3-1 win and the title of ....

Back to Back World Champions.

Fred McGriff, The Crime Dog, was named World Series MVP. He batted .467/.556/.833 in 7 games with 2 HR's. It really could have gone to any number of players the Astros made the White Sox pitching look foolish with only Doug Jones and Jeff Russell posting sub-4 ERA's for the series. Rob Deer's line was .429/.600/.762 wtih 2 HR's. Morandini, Larkin, and Dykstra all hit over .300 in the series. And Dale Sveum, who only had 4 hits, and who hasn't hit a major league HR since 1988, hit 2 big ones. The White Sox big 3 of White/Baines/Belle all batted over .300 and hit 4 HR's, while former Dodger, BJ Surhoff hit .208.

That's it for this season. Stay tuned for this year's awards!

[PilotMan]

LA avoids arbitration by signing the following to 1-yr deals:

RP Sergio DelRosario
SP Peter Chapin
CL Bob Patterson
RP Scott Baker
2B Geronimo Pena
1B Lee Stevens

For lack of alternatives, I'd say those were smart choices. Patterson gets 1.2M in the deal, and is tied for the 2rd highest paid player on the team heading into next season.

[PilotMan]

1992 MLB Awards


Gold Glove Awards


AL


P – Rodger Clemens SEA (2)
C – Ivan Rodriguez MIN (1) (R)
1B – Bill Doran SEA (1)
2B – Jeff Cirillo BOS (1)(R)
3B – Tim Wallach CAL (5)
SS – Greg Gagne CAL (1)
LF – Junior Felix BOS (1)
CF – Lance Johnson MIL (2)
RF – Kenny Lofton BAL (1)


NL


P – Dwight Gooden NYM (3)
C – Don Slaught STL (1)
1B – Mo Vaughn ATL (1)
2B – Mickey Morandini HOU (3)
3B – Charlie Hayes NYM (1)
SS – Barry Larkin HOU (3)
LF – Ron Gant PHI (2)
CF – Carlos De La Rosa SD (1)
RF – Bernie Williams SF (1)




Rolaids Reliever of the Year


AL


Jeff Montgomery NYY (2)
- 5-7, 40/47 S, 3.08, 1.42 WHIP, .292 OAA


The Yankees Lee Smith was the runner up. Nice job of them snagging such a stud at the deadline. It almost got them over the hump to a new title.
NL


Mike Henneman PIT (1)

5-4, 46/48 S, 2.15, 1.09 WHIP, .208 OAA
Big numbers for the save leader in baseball for the 2^nd year in a row. He was a big part of why the Pirates nearly made the Series this year.






Silver Slugger Awards


AL


C – Mike Piazza OAK (1) .277/.334/.461 22 HR's
1B – Rafael Palmeiro MIL (1) .326/.432/.551 28 HRs
2B – Carlos Baerga NYY (1) .350/.384/.468 15 HRs
3B – Jeff Blauser BAL (1) .306/.397/.452 19 HR's
SS – Travis Fryman DET (1) .307/.383/.496 23 HR's
LF – Moises Alou OAK (1) .318/.366/.484 16 HR's
CF – Ken Griffey Jr BAL (2) .306/.391/.479 26 HR's
RF – Harold Baines CHI (1) .324/.380/.504 30 HR's
DH – Albert Belle CHI (2) .298/.360/.541 38 HR's


NL


P – Bob Ojeda SD (1) .250/.261/.294
C – Chris Hoiles PHI (2) .267/.353/.454 23 HR's
1B – Frank Thomas SF (1) .323/.444/.593 41 HR's
2B – Craig Biggio ATL (3) .299/.378/.448 18 HR's
3B – Robin Ventura SD (1) .328/.403/.495 21 HR's
SS – Barry Larkin HOU (4) .284/.357/.447 20 HR's
LF – David Justice CHI (1) .271/.374/.475 25 HR's
CF – Kirby Puckett MON (4) .331/.371/.449 10 HR's
RF – Larry Walker PHI (3) .295/.360/.451 15 HR's




Rookie Of the Year


AL


Jeff Cirillo BOS .311/14/91, was a unanimous pick with 28 first place votes.


Bret Boone, Ivan Rodriguez, and Carlos Delgado were the other vote getters.


NL


Manny Ramirez MON .244/14/70, got 27 votes, only Tim Pugh also from MON got another first vote.


Will Cordero, Jason Giambi and Tim Pugh were the other vote getters. Rick Wilkins also got a few votes at the bottom.






Manager of the Year


AL


Steve Trunzo NYY (1)


NL


Bill Virdon HOU (6)








Cy Young Award


AL


Rodger Clemens SEA (4) 20-5, 2.45, 198 K's, 1.09 WHIP, 9.3 rWAR


Clemens won the triple crown in the AL this season, but was not unanimous. Bret Saberhagen stole a first place vote from him.


NL


Melido Perez PIT (1) 21-10, 2.52, 230 K's, 0.98 WHIP, 8.7 rWAR


In what was the tightest battle for any award, Perez, who had a fabulous year, narrowly edged out Greg Maddux by 2 first place, and 11 overall votes. Here's Maddux's line for a comparison. Controversial. Candiotti was 3^rd.


21-8, 2.26, 223 K's, 1.04 WHIP, 10.0 rWAR




Most Valuable Player


AL


Rafael Palmeiro MIL (1)


Palmeiro played in all 162 games, put together an OPS+ of 175 and a WAR of 8.3. He narrowly beat (11/287) out John Olerud (7/257) and Harold Baines (4/252) for the win. Carlos Baerga and Albert Belle were the other first place vote getters. Palmeiro signed a 6-yr extension this year to he'll be with Milwaukee for a while.


NL


Frank Thomas SF (1)


Thomas, for whatever reason, didn't play full time last year, but he proved that he had plenty of reason to be there this year. Thomas was a force to be reckoned with. He got all of the first place votes except for one that went to Perez (?). Mo Vaughan and Robin Ventura were the runners up, but not close.

[PilotMan]

Early FA Season


Free agent day has come and gone, and for the Dodgers, and being young, they got a lot of guys still playing under their young contracts. The following players are back on 1-yr deals:


P Tony McKinney
P Lyle Swepson
P Arthur Rhodes
C Rick Wilkins
P Pat Rapp
P David Peck
P Chris Holt
3B Scott Coolbaugh
P Arbrey Lucas
P Jose Cleto
OF Darren Lewis
OF Carl Everett
IF Dave Rhode
P Andy Pettitte
3B Mike Busch
OF Bill Masse
C Jose Valdez
2B Pete Coachman
IF Craig Shipley
P Rene Arocha
OF Bobby Abreu
OF Michael House
P Joe Grahe


The following players signed one year deals through arbitration:


P Don Robinson


The following players were with the ML club and have filed for free agency:


P Jeffrey Salazar
1B Gary Gaetti
3B Ken Caminiti
SS Ozzie Smith
OF Lloyd Moseby
IF Dickie Thon


The following minor league players of interest signed extensions:


1B Mike Marshall
OF John Elway
P Mike Hartley


The following player was not offered arbitration and became a free agent:


C Hector Villanueva

[PilotMan]

1993 MLB Expansion Draft Preview



This year brings two new baseball teams to the Major Leagues, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies. The Marlins will join the NL East, while the Rockies head to the West. The expansion draft is where they fill out their rosters.


Here are the highest scouted players who are unprotected by LA prior to the draft:


P Scott Baker – 29, can hit 98mph, he's a 2.5 star player who can fill out a pen.
P Arthur Rhodes – 23, 2.5 star, coming off a good season. Young with room to develop.
P Lyle Swepson – 27, 2.5 star with good stuff, but poor control, hits low 90's.
OF Rod Brewer – 26, 2 star, 4 A-ish OF with a knack for getting on base.
3B Scott Coolbaugh – 26, 2 star, flashes power, but has yet to hit above .200 in limited roles.
P Mike Hartley – 30, 2 star, hasn't pitched in the majors since '84, but still has talent to contribute.
P Arbrey Lucas – 32, 2 star, longtime farmhand with 36 games pitched over last 2 years. Hits low 90's.
P Tony McKinney – 26, 2 star, bullpen staple last year, struggles with control, hit's low 90's.
P Dave Miller – 28, 2 star, started the year in the rotation, but was demoted. Pitched 16 G last season.
P David Peck – 31, 2 star, pitched 67 games for LA over last 2 seasons. Best of career last year.
P Dave White – 30, 2 star, minor league journeyman with a 4.56 ERA in AAA last season.


Other notable names:


OF Jesse Barfield
1B Nick Esasky
1B Mike Marshall
P Jeff Mutis
P Napolean Robinson
IF Craig Shipley
P Jerry Spradlin
OF John Elway

[PilotMan]

1993 Expansion Draft


The very first player, selected by the Florida Marlins is.....White Sox 1B/DH Andres Galarraga!


The first selection for the Colorado Rockies franchise is....Pirates SP, Frank Viola!


Here's how the first ten picks for each team played out.


Florida Marlins


1B Andres Galarraga
OF Reuben Sierra
2B Charlie Hayes
P Tim Belcher
P Bruce Hurst
OF Chito Martinez
P Greg W Harris
OF Kevin Bass
OF Javier Ortiz
P Andy Ashby




Colorado Rockies


P Frank Viola
3B Kevin Seitzer
1B Sam Chavez
2B Mariano Duncan
P Brian Holman
OF Bernard Gilkey
2B Andy Mota
P Kevin Ritz
P Wally Whitehurst
P Tommy Greene


Dodgers (former) players selected in the draft:


(Viola) COL
(Duncan)COL
(BJ Surhoff) FLA
Rod Brewer 18^th round, COL
Arthur Rhodes 35^th round, COL


The loss of Rhodes does nothing to help me feel better. He was just starting to come into his own, and losing him and his reliable, if not inconsistent, but sometimes dominant arm does not help the Dodger pitching situation. I thought we might have escaped, but nope, there we went with the very last pick of the entire draft.

[PilotMan]

1992 First Year Player Draft


Here are the first five rounds of picks for the team.


3B Scott Rolen – (1^st, 5^th overall)
OF Billy McMillon – (3^rd, 76^th overall)
C Julio Zuleta – (3^rd, 79^th overall)
P Billy Wagner - ( 4^th, 108 overall)
OF Willie Romero – (5^th, 136 overall)


I guess out of those five, if they can find a couple of players who can stick around and contribute it'll be ok, but I have to believe that drafting as high as we did, that there should have been more depth there.

Rule 5 Draft

In what has to be the oddest pick in Dodger history. The Dodgers select IF Rick Parker. If this sounds familiar it's because Parker was with the Dodgers last season. He got hurt at the end of training camp and spent well over half the season on the DL. When he did come back be was sent to Albuquerque, but he still managed 5 games for the Dodgers. He left via free agency and signed a deal with the expansion Marlins. Left unprotected, LA drafted him back. Now he has to remain on the main roster all season, or he returns to the Marlins. Given his history, you might think that seems slim, however LA is pretty weak having lost both Caminiti and Smith on the left side of the diamond. Could Parker earn a spot as a super utility guy? Maybe?

[PilotMan]

The 1993 Los Angeles Dodgers Opening Day Roster


A promising off season and the hope of a team looking to continue moving toward .500 baseball. The Dodgers finished the off season #11 out of 28 teams in change of WAR. The team also is still ranked as the #1 Farm System in baseball. They have the #3, #5, #11 and 7 overall players ranked in the top 100 in the MLB. Here's the rundown of who we have this season.


Pitchers

1. Don Robinson – At 35, Robinson threw over 200 innings last year and came back on an arbitration deal. He's average at best, with average skills and average pitches.

2. Rene Arocha – Now 27, his rookie year could've gone better, but he should still be able to eat some innings and keep games close-ish.

3. Pat Rapp – 25, posted replacement level stats last season and an ERA just below 5. An improvement would be nice. Plans to eat more innings this year.

4. Peter Chapin – 34, In his 4^th season pitching for LA, was the only pitcher with a winning record last year. Posted his best season since 1985 with his 104 ERA+.

5. Chris Holt – 21, one of LA's best pitching prospects split time between AA, AAA, and LA last year. Holt was a first round pick, flashes good control and a solid curve.

RP Bobby Castillo – 37, the LA native comes home on a minor league deal and makes the team. We haven't seen him since '81. He's pitched for 8 teams since then. Posted a 6.53 ERA for the Pirates and Cubs last season.

RP Scott Baker – 29, somewhat reliable, he will hit 98 on the gun and flashes a plus fastball. Still not much more than replacement level numbers however.

RP Edward Lindsey – 33, the 2-time All Star starter has struggled with major injuries the past few years and has been reduced to a spot starter and pen addition. He missed all of last season and only pitched 46 innings this decade. He could be reliable, or not.

RP Todd Worrell – 33, a former All Star, he arrived on an ultra cheap one year deal. Put up career worst numbers last year for Atlanta, but still threw 48 games. His stuff is above average if he can rebound he'll be worth it.

SU – Sergio Del Rosario – 27,. has electric stuff, and a plus plus fastball. Can his 102 on the gun. Injury prone to the max. Limited to 23 games last season. Could close.

SU – Jose Cleto – 24, even more electric stuff, and an even better fastball with a plus change. Can hit 100 on the gun. Is a power pitcher who could close. Injuries limited him to 20 games last year including time in Texas prior to trade.

CL – Bob Patterson – 33, career best numbers last year in saves and ERA. Uses a plus fastball, with good control to set batters up. Fastball registers upper 80's. Lefty who can shut down lefties.


Catchers

Rick Wilkins – 25, young, but looks to have the position locked down for the near future. Needs to improve on his .642 OPS. No other glaring weaknesses, or plusses.

Hector Villanueva – 28, makes over 5 times what Wilkins does to play backup. He's a solid backup, decent defensively, and occasionally hits it out of the park. Posted a higher WAR in 61 games than Wilkins did for the whole season.

First Base

Fred McGriff – 29, He's never won a gold glove, but is always a threat at the plate. The biggest offense weapon in LA since Fred Lynn. Will help fill the seats too as he is very popular.


Second Base

Geronimo Pena – 26, Missed over 50 games last year with injuries. An average fielder with good range. Has plus plus speed and an average bat.


Shortstop

Rick Parker – 30, more of a utility guy. Missed most of last year injured, but hit over .300 in AAA. Rule 5 pickup, looks to start for now. Probably a liability with the bat, but posseses good speed.


Third Base

Steve Buechele – 31, singed on a minor league deal. Was a starter in KC last year. Hit 14 HR's. Committed only 9 errors last year with a +5.9 ZR. Could play 2B. Average everywhere else. Could be an upgrade over Caminiti.


Scott Coolbaugh – 26, will cover first and short too. A big swing and hit or miss kind of guy. Average in the field. Has yet to see major success beyond a reserve role.


Dave Hansen – 24, used as a pinch hitter all season last year, he doesn't figure anywhere else on the depth chart. Good eye to make a pitcher work, average in the field, but a below average contact hitter.


Outfield


Rickey Henderson – 34, the vet on the squad and team MVP last year. Should benefit greatly from McGriff. Plus Plus speed, and a great eye. Makes solid contact with occasional power. Tends to be a clubhouse distraction however.

Lee Stevens – 25, the odd man out after McGriff came. Looks to be a primary backup at first, and all 3 outfield positions. An improved and solid defender, hit 44 doubles last year and is still developing his power.

Darren Lewis – 25, plus plus speed that can rival Henderson's. He's a very good defender covering the most space of anyone else. His numbers dropped some last year, but he's still got a good eye, and makes decent contact.

Carl Everett – 21, made a big splash after his call up, missed time with injuries however. Plus plus speed, can play all three outfield positions. Still a bit of an unknown with the bat. Has good potential, but for now it's unfulfilled.

Darryl Boston – 30, one of the few guys making over a million a season, he had a massive drop in performance and production. Still has above average speed, and average power, his defense isn't up to par, and his impatience at the plate can cost him.


Who's Out


P Joe Grahe – 25, Grahe suffered yet another major arm injury in spring training and won't be back until the fall.


P Lyle Swepson – 27, couldn't break in with the new arms, and despite being a reliable arm last year. If he clears waivers he could be back sometime this year.


P David Peck – 31, another heavily used guy from last year who didn't make it. Mostly a filler role here and there, may find it difficult to continue his Major League career in LA if he clears waivers.


2B Dave Rhode – 28, didn't make the main club and has more competition for the utility role than previous years. Rhode could get the call back. Only played 11 games last year, and you'd have to think it might be even less this year.


Who's In the Minors


3B Mike Busch – 24, A corner infielder who flashes a big bat. The acquisition of McGriff makes his ML tenure in LA unlikely. He could be called on if injuries mount.


1B Mike Marshall – 33, Last ML at bat was in '91. Plays the same as Stevens, but with less of everything. Still trying to keep the dream alive.


OF Jesse Barfield – 33, Just like Marshall, he still wants that shot. Hit 21 HR's in Albuquerque last year. Still has a cannon arm and good defense. You never know with this guy.


P Andy Pettitte – 20, pitched enough innings last year to get off the top prospects list. Somehow didn't make the ML team, despite being the most talented pitcher in the organization. Doesn't figure to be in the minors long.


P Matt Young – 34, Has 99 career wins, could fill in as a left/spot starter. Has good life on his fastball. Threw only 28 innings last season. Recently recovered from a partially torn UCL.


P Tom Bolton – 30, a Red Sox staple, signed a minor league deal this offseason. Not a starter any longer, this lefty should see action if someone like Lindsey can't stay healthy.


P Tony McKinney – 27, used a lot last season he starts the year in the minors. His stuff may not be quite good enough, but he still has fair control and decent movement on his pitches. Boasts a career WAR of -1.7.


Down On the Farm – Top Prospects


OF Richard Hildalgo (#3 ML, #1 Team) – 17, looks like a possible, legit, 5-tool player. Hit .257/.362/.324 in rookie ball last season. Starts the year in Rookie once again.


OF Bobby Abreu (#5 ML, #2 Team) – 19, tore through A ball last season. Lead Bakersfield to the title, and was runner up for the California League MVP. Won the Silver Slugger in the California League AND in the Florida League for RF. Playing A ball again for now.


3B Scott Rolen (#11 ML, #3 Team) – 18, first round pick from this season, starts his career in Rookie ball.


P Chris Holt (#36 ML, #4 Team) – 21, former first rounder starts the year in the Majors. Rose up from AA last season. Pitched well in 3 ML appearances. Might stick or might give way to Pettitte sooner or later.


P Shawn Estes (#40 ML, #5 Team) – 20, former first rounder has struggled to make progress. Starts in Rookie again after posting a 5+ ERA there last season. High hopes still exist for this lefty.


C Raul Rodarte (#72 ML, #6 Team) – 22, former first rounder was a catching prospect, however, he is developing at all the infield positions and center too. A good eye, quick and moved up from A to AA last year.


OF Pedro Valdes (#82 MLB, #7 Team) – 19, another first rounder. Has spent 2 years in Rookie ball and starts there again. Has put up good numbers though, look for him to move up this year.


P Ismael Valdez (#96 MLB, #8 Team) – 19, former 2^nd round pick, played Rookie and Short A last year and starts the year in AA. Needs to work on his control, but possesses a solid curve among his 4 pitches.

[PilotMan]

Both Swepson and Peck were claimed off of waivers so we bid them a fond farewell.


In the second game of the year, the Dodgers saw, not one, not two, but three pitchers leave the game early with injuries. Lindsey, Del Rosario and Baker. All three have issues. Only DR will miss any significant time right now.


Tom Bolton was called up to take his spot. No surprise there.


Not a good start to the season. We open against the expansion Marlins and get swept. Not only that, but swept with three straight walk off hits. One in extra innings. McGriff left so many guys on base and had zero RBI's. Geronimo Pena hit 3 dingers. He only had 4 all of last year. Great start guys. Way to get me excited for the year. Sheesh.


Fred McGriff took 56 at bats to hit his first homerun. It was off of this young pitcher named Pedro Martinez. It was the first time he'd seen him. It solidified our 3^rd win of the year. LA is off to a roaring 3-10 start.

[PilotMan]

April 1993

The more things change the more they stay the same. A fans life is never easy. We cheered hard for the boys in blue, we cheered hard for our new MVP first basemen and we were regarded with an 8-16 5th place record. Our bullpen got lit up in April like nobody's business. The starters were surprisingly efficient.

McGriff? Oh, McGriff....he had a slash line of .202/.288/.283. He came to bat 99 times, hit 1 HR, and had 13 RBI's. It's no secret that the Dodgers manager loves to run. He loves guys who can run, and he loves making guys run. McGriff has a career high of 6 stolen bases. He finished April with 3. Now, he has a lot of speed all around him in the lineup, so sometimes he has to run, but even still, that's a lot of running. Other than that, I would say, that this was a failure of a month for LA.

Team HR leaders are Henderson and Geronimo Pena (who you'll remember hit 3 in the first 2 games) with .... three. It's not been pretty.

We've already had injuries to deal with. The big one is Jose Cleto, who was started off really struggling with an 11.81 ERA in 4 games. He was basically ineffective. He tore his meniscus and at best he's back after the trade deadline. Edward Lindsey is lost for 6 weeks with more elbow problems. Don Robinson is also experiencing some elbow issues.

Chris Holt pitched well enough in 4 starts in April, but he was just shipped to Albuquerque and Pettitte was called up for his first work this year.

The only real bright spot happened after another injury. Rick Parker, who missed a lot of time last year, missed most of April straight away. In his place LA called up top SS prospect Denny Hocking from AA San Antonio. Hocking posted a monthly slash of .298/.397/.439, but his fielding has been weak. In one game, between Hocking and Pena, they committed 5 errors.

Bad month, but not the worst.

[PilotMan]

May 1993

LA improved with a nice little run in the middle end of the month to salvage what could have been another terrible month. However, a team that was supposed to finish with around 81 wins finds themselves flailing. LA posted an 11-14 record in May and a few things became apparent.

This team is dead last in nearly every offensive category in the National League. They are first in steals. A lineup that features Ricky Henderson and Fred McGriff should not be dead last in OBP, AVG, R, OPS, WAR, HR. It's god awful right now. I would say it shouldn't stay like that. But...Henderson posted a .227/.352/.318 slash line, but stole 12 bases. McGriff rebounded to go with a .291/.410/.547 hitting 6 HR's. So there is some hope there. Carl Everett, even at 22, is not looking like he's able to recapture some of that magic he displayed last year. His May was an awful, .207/.255/.283 and he's still looking for his first career dinger. In fact, I think the only person who is outperforming their career numbers is Denny Hocking, and that's only because he's a rookie. Hocking batted .226 in May.

The other shocker is that the pitching staff is throwing darts right now. And just like hitting, with a rotation of Pat Rapp, Don Robinson, Rene Arocha, Peter Chapin, and the recently called up Andy Pettitte, there's not a lot of, deep, anchor talent there that can simply shut people down.

Only Arocha has an ERA over 4 (4.15). Chapin is sub 3 (2.83), and Rapp leads the team in K's (60) in 81 innings. In fact, starter ERA is 4th in the NL, and despite the incredibly awful start the bullpen has had, they have rebounded to 10th, while dealing with major injuries throughout. Edward Lindsey is rehabbing right now in AAA, Joe Grahe probably doesn't come back until July. Same with Jose Cleto.

Ricky is leading the NL in steals (27). Geronimo Pena is up there with 18, while Everett is nearly leading in CS with 11.


Also, here's a cheat into early June:

In a series against the Braves early on, the Dodgers center fielder, Darren Lewis was the man to break up two(!) perfect games leading off the 7th inning. In back to back games, Randy Johnson and Tom Glavine took perfecto's into the 7th, only to have Lewis break them both up with base hits. That's a solid baseball oddity. It looked like LA was going to completely roll over in both games. I mean, we lost them both, but at least we got a couple hits!

[CraigSca]

Love seeing this again. Well done!

[PilotMan]

Love seeing this again. Well done!

Thanks! It's really encouraging when there's someone else with a vested interest in what's going on in the world. I'll have a June update coming here soon.

[PilotMan]

June 1993


So many injuries this month. This team has never had to endure a stretch like this in the 10+ years we've been following them. This season has been horrible and it's not like there's a plethora of talent to carry the load either. We're talking, guys who a filling a role, getting hurt, and guys who shouldn't be filling a role stepping in, or in some cases, getting hurt too.


We've seen the long injuries to talented guys like Grahe, Cleto, DelRosario, and Lindsey, but then again, these guys have had long, recent histories of injury problems so they shouldn't be surprising either. This month we added shoulder surgery for 38-yr old, journeyman reliever, Bobby Castillo (15g, 4.58 ERA), and even more recently, closer Bob Patterson (3-4, 11S, 7.23 ERA) for a month too. Those losses have lead to guys like 26yr old, former first rounder in 1987, Jerry Spradlin, 31yr old, career minor leaguer, Mike Hartley, who hadn't made a major league roster in 9 years, and last pitched more than one inning at the major league level back in his rookie year of '82 with the Cardinals, to get the call. Other guys like Tom Bolton, Tony McKinney, and Scott Baker to take more turns, when they likely would have been bypassed. Recently, Rickey left the game after a collision at first base. The National League's leading base stealer, and Dodger's only real hope to make an All Star game based on stats looked to be lost. Henderson had a small tear in his shoulder, and is gone until after the break now. Geronimo Pena was lost with an abdominal strain, that moves Buechele to second and not one week into his replacement gig, Scott Coolbaugh strained a hammy and he was off to the DL. LA has tried 3 different guys over there since; Dave Hansen (who was sent down eventually), Jose Oliva (who they tried to get rid of), and now are going with 21yr old prospect, and former 4^th round pick, Shane Andrews, who was called up from AA to make his major league debut. I mean, at least he was hitting .303 with 11 HR's in San Antonio.


Speaking of injuries in the world. Tom Henke at 35, announced his retirement from baseball after damage and swelling in his shoulder wouldn't allow him to throw a baseball any longer. Henke had been the 12^th pick of the expansion Colorado Rockies, but never threw a pitch for them. An All Star in '88 and Rolaids Reliever of the Year the same year, he was best known as the closer for the Pirates and Astros. Helping the Astros win the title in '91. He posted 230 career saves, in 600 games with a career ERA of 3.29.


With 10 days left in the month relievers Tony McKinney and Jerry Spradlin were both designated and placed on waivers. Getting the call up is #8 Dodgers prospect Ismael Valdez, who at 19, was only recently promoted to AAA. Also getting called up is #18 prospect Terrell Berthau, who also started the season in AA. Both men saw action on their call up day in an 11-0 blowout loss to the Astros. They combined for 5.1 innings, 7 hits allowed, 4 ER, 6 K's. Valdez will never, ever live down giving up his first HR of his career. The batter? El Presidente, Dennis Martinez, who at 38, had never hit one in over 385 at bats, and has a career SLG of .186.


Berthau was then optioned the next day and Ron Blazier was given his 3^rd call to the club. At 21, Blazier has never pitched below AAA. He's posted a career 2.95 ERA in 21 innings with 16 K's and a 1.03 WHIP. He was an 8^th round pick by the club in 1990. At Albuquerque this season, he's 5-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 11 starts.


And it is McKinney that is claimed as he heads to division rival San Francisco Giants. Spradlin heads to Albuquerque. Blazier threw a scoreless inning in an Astros game and was designated and placed on waivers for another new arm. This time for Shigeki Taguchi. Taguchi (23), a southpaw, is considered a decent prospect, in the kind of player to be named later kind of way. He was closing at AA San Antonio with 6 saves, and a 1.56 WHIP. He throws a low to mid 90's fastball and a curve.


We'll have the team update at the All Star break in about 10 days.

[PilotMan]

Boy that took a long time to get to. Just got playing other stuff. Without further ado, it's the break.

1993 All Star Break and mid season review


Let me start as a fan by saying that the only even semi-interesting thing that has been good for a Dodgers fan this year has been the All Star Future's game. LA had 4 of 9 starters on the NL roster. Raul Rodarte, Bobby Abreu, Scott Rolen and Richard Hildalgo were all featured with Rolen and Hidalgo both getting two hits each, while Rodarte struck out 4 times.


No LA players were selected for the All Star game. Kind of sad, but we deserve it. Of course, former Dodger, Ken Caminti is blasting the ball in NY for the Mets, made the All Star team and is starting at third after posting a slash line of .352/.388/.547 with 12 HRs. He would have been a huge part of our offense. Certainly would be better than his replacement Steve Buschele.


So let's take a look where LA is at this point in the year. For a team that was expected to finish at least somewhat close to .500, this isn't it. Last place in the West, 31-55, and 24.5 games behind the West leading Houston Astros. Even the expansion Rockies are ahead of us by 4 games.


The biggest issue with LA has been the offense. Currently last in the NL in every single offensive category. Every. Single. One. Except steals, and we lead in that. Imagine if we had some guys who could actually get on base! Rickey Henderson leads all with 28, followed by Denny Hocking and Darren Lewis with 21 each. Poor Fred McGriff has had to steal so much he's already got a career high 8 halfway through the season (he's only been caught once; loving those double steals!)


Where the hitting is, there is no way the pitching can do anything. The team is 8th in runs against, and the starters are 5th in the NL with a 3.69. Meanwhile, the bullpen is god awful, 12th with a 5.51 ERA. The defense is helping out well enough, FIP is 10th, and def efficiency and Zone Ratings are 5th.


Of the guys who are hitting (we use that term loosely around here), it's the currently injured Rickey Henderson leading the way. That's not a shocker, he was having a pretty decent season so far. He's slashing .280/.399/.383 with a 111 OPS+ and all his steals. His power is way under last season though, as he only has 4 on the year (he's been double digits the last 3). Next up is The Crime Dog, Fred McGriff. What a terrible start for a player with such high hopes. Slashing .252/.332/.420 with a team high 14 HR's and an OPS+ of 100 his career OPS+ is 149. He's well on pace for the worst season of his career. There's young prospect Carl Everett (.272/.322/.404; 93); Denny Hocking (.260/.321/.366; 83) and Darren Lewis (.266/.303/.348; 74) and it goes down hill from there. We won't even talk about how bad Daryl Boston, Steve Buschele or Lee Stevens are doing. This team sucks.


The pitching staff has been not awful, until you get to the bullpen, and then it depends on what day. With so little run support it's hard to imagine anyone doing anything good, but shock of shocks, that Rene Arocha leads the team with a 9-9 record; 125 IP, a 3.74 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 118 ERA+. Next guy up is high prospect Pat Rapp (3-11; 3.55, 114 IP, 1.35 WHIP and 124 ERA+). Peter Chapin (2-4; 3.39, 98.1; 1.26 and 130) is having the best year of his career despite his 2.3 RS/G. Rapp leads with 13 QS, and Arocha and Chapin are tied with 12 each. Andy Pettitte is getting 3.4 RS/G to lead the team, while poor Don Robinson is only getting 2.0.

The Bullpen. Good grief, it's bad. Losing closer Bob Patterson didn't hurt that bad. Patterson has blown 4 saves, and even though he's been better lately, his 6.86 ERA isn't charming anyone. Of the bullpen, it's been Tom Bolton getting the most work. He's pitched in 27 games, 36 innings, has a 6.00 ERA, a 1.53 WHIP and .248 avg. We'll bypass most of the pen. These guys are struggling. But there has been one bright and shining spot and that is the development of Sergio Del Rosario. Del Rosario has even gotten a couple starts out of the pen, but he's been the most reliable and dominant. Known for having some control issues he has only 5 walks against his 35 K's. His 3.64 ERA is best in the pen and so is his 0.98 WHIP. It's unknown if he's going to be the next starter, or closer. His problem is, and always will be his reliability. He's missed a month this year already with back and arm issues.


That brings us to injuries, and it sure feels like LA has dealt with more than our fair share. Rickey should be back in a couple weeks, and so should back end bullpen guy, Jose Cleto. Old guy Bobby Castillo will be back too, but not sure we're missing him that much.


It's going to be a long second half in LA. This team isn't going to make any waves, and I don't expect any major moves one way or the other. We need to see the guys we have start to do something like hit! I think there is more talent here, and they are just underperforming. It's the curse of LA.


Juan Gonzalez (KC) beat out Reds slugger Jose Canseco to win the HR Derby.


The All Star game was even held in LA. What a disgrace. The NL All Stars came from behind 4-0 to take home a 7-5 win. David Justice hit a double and a HR. The AL saddled Rod Beck with the loss and all seven runs.


Looking at the overall picture in ML baseball here's what we see.


The NL West is a two team race between the Astros and Braves who are 4.5 back. No other team is above .500.


The NL East is lead by the Mets and Phillies who are tied for the lead. The Pirates in 3rd are 10 games back.


In the AL West it tighter. The White Sox lead by 3.5 over the Twins, 4.5 over the Rangers, and even the last place Royals are only 11 back.


The AL East features the best team in baseball. It's the New York Yankees. Their 61-26 record and 14.5 game lead over the Orioles (?!) should keep them the AL East Champs this year. Carlos Baerga is hitting .411 at the break. John Olerun is hitting .395 and as a team they are hitting .295. They are a modern day baseball team. One other interesting thing is the bullpen in NY. It's all old guys who have been there and done that. Rodger McDowell (32), Jeff Reardon (37), Lee Smith (35), Randy Myers (30), Jeff Montgomery (31), and Storm Davis (31).


The Dodgers are tied with the Expos for the worst record in baseball. I am so ready to turn the page.

[CraigSca]

One other interesting thing is the bullpen in NY. It's all old guys who have been there and done that. Rodger McDowell (32), Jeff Reardon (37), Lee Smith (35), Randy Myers (30), Jeff Montgomery (31), and Storm Davis (31).
.

There's gotta be a nickname that would coined because of this. Glad to see you back to the grind!

[PilotMan]

LA makes their first trade of the year as we find ourselves a couple weeks from the deadline. Leaving is reliable starter Peter Chapin. Chapin pitched for LA for 4 years, going 28-41 with a 4.13 ERA and a 91 ERA+. He resurrected his career in LA. After a big rookie year with the White Sox back in '85, he struggled to stay up in the majors until he was traded to LA. He was a workhorse who started 105 games. Leaving with Chapin will be minor league prospect Rico Beltran. A former 10th round pick in 1990, Beltran pitched as high as AA this season. On the year, in 9 starts, he was 3-2, with a 3.17 ERA. The lefty showed a good low 90's fastball with an above average forkball to go with his slider and changeup. They will be going to the Florida Marlins and coming to LA is utility man Charlie Montoyo. Montoyo was selected in the 24th round of the expansion draft, and previously had been a 4th round pick by the Phillies in 1986. He play's all the infield positions ok, and hasn't started until this season. On the year he's hitting .266 with a .398 OPB and 100 OPS+. He play or sit, but I would hope the team would trade for players who start when they are trading a starter like Chapin. Montoyo looks like he will replace Denny Hocking at SS and Hocking will go to the bench.


On July 20th, the Dodgers got a 3 hit and solo-homer from Carl Everett, five innings from Sergio DelRosario, and 4 scoreless innings from the bullpen to stop the Philadelphia Phillies and their 18 game win streak. The Phillies have vaulted to the top of the NL East behind speed of Otis Nixon (44 SB), the batting of Roberto Alomar (.396) and the power of Matt Williams (26 HR's). The Phillies also feature the the brother combination of Greg (13-7) and Mike (24 S) Maddux.


Ricky Henderson made his return from injury on the 26th with a big 3-5, double and HR (5) game against the Giants to run the Dodgers win streak to 4. LA is 9-3 since the break. Fred McGriff has powered the Dodgers July run. We are no longer the cellar dwellars of the West. We're three full games up on the Rockies now with the Reds five ahead.


A sweep of the Giants has run the Dodger win streak to 6, which has to be the longest win streak in at least two years. In the 10 games since Montoyo has joined LA, he's slashing .308/.400/.436. Could he be the spark that the offense needed? I know that McGriff has had a good month, and getting Rickey back is crucial. The rest of the team needs to keep going too. The current Dodger bullpen only has one pitcher with an ERA below 5.00 (Todd Worrell, 3.34) and the starting rotation only has one pitcher with an ERA over 4.00 (Don Robinson, 4.39).


LA promoted injury prone Sergio DelRosario to the rotation with Chapin out the door. He's still building his endurance, throws triple digits, and is trying to develop a circle change as part of his repetoire. His four starts for LA are the first starts in his career, which dates back to '87 and 109 games of relief (20 this season).


The win streak was stopped at 7 on July 30th and the way it was done was ugly. Playing the Cubbies, LA jumped out with 6 in the first, and another pair in the 2nd and another pair in the 5th. Pat Rapp had been staked to a 10 run lead. He ran into big trouble in the 5th and and needed Valdez to get him out after the Cubs scored 6 thanks to two doubles, two triples, and a Mariano Duncan HR. They would come again with 3 more in the 6th to cut it down to a one run lead and all of LA fandom knew how this was going to end. LA squandered multiple chances to get on the board again but the Cubbie bullpen turned stout. It came down to closers in the 9th with the Cubs Fassero striking out the side. Bob Patterson came on and struck out the first batter before C Bret Mayne knocked a single to put the tying run on. Up next was former Dodger, Duncan one more time, and he teed off with a 2-run shot over the left field wall (2nd of the game, 4th on the season) to send the Cubs home as winners. Patterson blows his 5th save, gets his 5th loss and LA, despite a 10-0 lead, loses. Mercy please.


Willie McGee (Reds) has notched the 2000th hit of his career. The 3-time All Star hit 1086 of them for the Cardinals, who he left after the '88 season.


A flurry of trades at the deadline with the biggest for Dodger fans being the trade of Orel Hershiser from the Royals. Hershiser has played his whole career for the Royals after bring traded by the Dodgers back in '83 with Floyd Banniser for Roy Smalley. He's made over 5.5M in his career and now he will be heading back to SoCal......but not to LA. Instead he goes to the Angels. The Royals will get 28yr old rookie Jack Smith (.291/15/51) and minor leaguer Mike Cantu, a former 19th round pick playing A ball.


The other big deal was between the Padres and Rockies. A rare intra- divisional trade that was actually two trades together, but as a single deal it's impressive. The Rockies add 2B Carlos Garcia (.287/7/47), 24yr old minor leaguer Ray Harvey (12th round, A Ball), 20yr old minor leaguer Duane Singleton (14th rounder, Rookie ball), and 23yr old minor leaguer Rob Butler (6th round, A ball). The Padres will get SS Walt Weiss (.273/1/32) and pitchers Wally Whitehurst (7-8, 4.76) and Kent Bottenfield (2-1, 7.54).


Former Dodger, former ace, and now journeyman starter Dave Stewart (7-7, 5.59) was shipped with cash and minor leaguer Troy Percival (48th round, A ball) to the Red Sox, for young Gold Glover OF Junior Felix (.268/15/55).

[PilotMan]

July to August 1993


We're gonna start this off by saying that Rene Arocha was selected National League Pitcher of the Month. He was 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA. He made 6 quality starts, and got 4.7 RS/G. This is the first player of the Month for the Dodgers in years. This is kind of a big deal.


LA also put together the best month of the year in July. We had out long winning streak and went 15-11 for the month. LA currently sits at 43-59, 22 games behind the Astros. We're in 5th place in the West, five games ahead of the Rockies and three behind the Reds for 4th.


Dodgers #3 prospect (#11 Overall) Scott Rolen was lost for the rest of the year with Post Concussion Syndrome symptoms. He was batting .387/.461/.595 with Rookie team, Yakima.


Fred McGriff had a great month. Like I said before he found his swing. He slashed .330/.393/.631 with 9 HR's and 25 RBI's. Now all we need is a couple more guys to find their swings!


Steve Buschele continues to be an embarrassment. His OPS+ of 67 was the lowest on the team in July and he slashed .218/.320/.299 with 0 HR and 11 RBI.


The Phillies Matt Williams hit for the cycle against the Pirates. Williams has 32 HR's and 102 RBI's on the year.


The Sporting News has the Dodgers ranked 16th in the ML Baseball Power Rankings. The surging Dodgers are ahead of the Giants, Marlins, Reds, Expos, Rockies and Brewers in the NL.


LA has lost C Hector Villanueva the same way he was aquired, via waivers. Villanueva played 183 games over 3 seasons for LA. The most of any club he's played for. He heads to Chicago to play for the Cubs. He brought us some reliable power off the bench and an occasional spark on offense. He was not playing well this year, hitting .141 in his 34 games played. His roster spot looks to be filled by Jose Valdez, a young prospect who is currently in his second stint with the club.


The career of Gary Redus might also be running out of time. Redus has been on a roster for 11 years, and even though his best year was back in '83 when he stole 63 bases, he had been playing well at AAA Albuquerque. Redus was batting .309/.396/.422 with 11 steals. It appears that after his call to the Dodgers, he refused his assignment after he cleared waivers and the team gave him his release. Best wishes to you Gary Redus.


Midway through August and LA has been playing above .500 ball STILL! We now have 3 players in double digits for home runs. That's a huge accomplishment for this late in the year. While still in last in every single offensive category, we're still pitching better and better and it's helping us get some W's. LA swept the Padres and slipped past the Padres for 5th place in the West, passing up the Reds. The Padres are only 2.5 games in front of us now. Third in the West is the best we can hope for this year. It's all down the Braves and Astros now.


The Dodgers lost their top bullpen arm after Todd Worrell left a game early. It's a shoulder strain, possible rotator cuff damage, but for now he's expected to return later this year. Andy Pettitte was recalled to fill the spot on the roster.


Rough series for LA against the Braves. We were swept by the Braves on the road with game scores of 7-1, 1-0, and 10-0. That last game saw Cy Young Shoo-in Randy Johnson mow us down. He picked up his 19th win of the season, struck out 14 and NO HIT THE DODGERS. I know it's not that hard with this team, but this is the 2nd time the Dodgers have been no-hit in this dynasty. I've literally been expecting it all year long. This is Johnson's 2nd career no-no. It was the top pitching performance to date in baseball this season. Johnson now owns 5 of the top 25 pitching performances on the year. Only the Astros Danny Darwin with his no-hitter and one-hitter is the only other pitcher with his name on the list twice. His last one was in 1990 against the Pirates. We've disappeared below the Reds again. So much for that little rally.


Edward Lindsey, 2-time All Star with the Mets, 20 game winner, 2-time MLB Champion, who had three pretty good seasons before his body started falling apart, has to be done. He can't stay healthy to save his season. 1988 was the first year that he started experiencing injuries, as he missed time with three different injuries that year. He lost three months with three other injuries in '89. Needed reconstructive surgery on his elbow in 1990 after an April injury. He made it to the All Star break in '91 until his third injury, this one to his shoulder, ended his season. He missed all of '92 with his 2nd elbow surgery that happened at the end of spring training. This year he has had NINE separate injuries to his back and arm. Today his season mercifully came to it's end. This time to a torn triceps muscle. I feel bad for him, and at one point he was the most dangerous pitcher in baseball, but at the age of 34, he has to consider calling it quits.


Looks like we're going to lose Rickey for a while. he left the game today with something and we still don't know the extent of it. Damn. Can't buy an offense with this team.

[PilotMan]

End of August 1993


Ok, so we started good, and then remembered who the hell we were. We played August to a record of 13-15, the 2nd best month of the year. Overall, that puts us at 56-74 and 5th place in the NL West. We're not quite mathematically eliminated but it's really close. The Astros are leading us by 28 games. The Padres are 6 in front of us, and the Reds are 4 behind.


We need some good news, so let's discuss the pitching that we saw in LA in July. Bob Patterson came back from his injury and pitched 8 games, 9.1 scoreless innings, walked 2, struck out 11, and went 2-0 with 5 saves. The bullpen got some much needed stability. Both Ismael Valdez and Andy Pettitte threw over 20 innings, had sub 1.00 WHIP's, sub 2.50 ERA's. Pettitte had a OAVG of .163, while Valdez was .157. How's that for some young talent?


Young hard thrower Jose Cleto finally returned from his injury and gave us some decent innings. He will be needed to lock the back end down in front of Patterson. And overall, our starters were solid (well, except for Pat Rapp, who posted a 5.58 ERA and opponents his .302 against him.) Tom Bolton was terrible. Batters hit a crazy .348 off of him, and he posted a 6.55 ERA. Scott Baker had a rough month too. His ERA was 6.94, but batters only hit .209 against him. He's still trying to figure that one out.


Batters.......suck. LA.....still dead last in all offensive categories. Never thought that would be the case with the lineup that we started the year with. Fred McGriff is our player of the month. The Crime Dog, on the heels of a big July, kept it up in August with 8 more dingers, while slashing .290/.392/.570 and a team leading 154 OPS+. He was also forced to attempt 5 more steals (and was good for 3.)Carl Everett was next with a 112, and Rickey was third with a 104. They were the ONLY regulars over 100 for the month. That is so awful, but at least these guys tried.


How bad? Lee Stevens was 2nd on the team in HR's with 3. Darren Lewis was AWFUL, .198/.253/.233/31 OPS+. Charlie Montoyo was AWFUL, .180/.278/.240/40. Steve Buschele was AWFUL, .204/.250/.312/49. Geronimo Pena? AWFUL, .190/.274/.298/53.


For real. How does this team expect to have any sort of game? We are losing Henderson again. Still no update.


The end of August brings us one thing to look forward to, and that is roster expansion. Here's the rundown of the new faces on the roster.


C Rob Natal (27); played in 12 games for LA this year, batting .146. Hit .354 in 32 games in Albuquerque.


1B Larry Sutton (23) #13 LA Prospect; played in 38 games for LA this year, batting .226. Batted .333 in 57 games in Albuquerque.


1B/3B Shane Andrews (22); played 21 games for LA, batted .136. Hit 280/13/61 for AA San Antonio.


3B Dave Hansen (24); played in 9 games for LA, hit .208. Hit .200 in 33 in Albuquerque, and .298 in 49 at San Antonio.


3B Mike Busch (25) #15 LA Prospect; hit .333/19/99 this year for Albuquerque. Debuted last year.


SS Jose Oliva (22); hit .250 in 19 games for LA. .285 in 39 for Albuquerque.


SS Mike Mordecai (25); hit .329/5/50 at Albuquerque this year. This is his first time in The Show.


OF Bill Masse (27); played in 23 games for LA, batting .259. Batted .307 at Albuquerque.


RP Joe Grahe (26); missed most of the year with a shoulder injury.


SP Chris Holt (21) #4 LA Prospect; 0-1, 3.92 in 4 games for LA. 11-6, 3.89 for Albuquerque.

[PilotMan]

We lost Rickey for the rest of the year. He's down with a hamstring. Bummer. Lee Stevens will resume his role in left. He's started 27 in left this year while Henderson was out the first time.


I forgot to run down the divisional races in my recap.


Barry Bonds, at the tender age of 29, has hit the 300th home run of his career.


RP Scott Baker was lost for the rest of the season with a forearm strain. Baker threw a career high 47 games for the Dodgers this year. Not sure the team will miss his 6.40 ERA.


On September 5th the Dodgers were eliminated from the playoffs.


The Yankees are 24.5 games in front of the Orioles with a magic number of 3. In last, the Brewers, the worst team in baseball, are 49.5 games back with a month to play.


In the West, the White Sox are in a fight with the A's (3GB) and the Twins (5.5GB).


The NL East sees a big fight between the Phillies and Mets (.5GB).


In the West it's the Astros who are 7.5 in front of the Braves.


The season just keeps getting better for the Dodgers. In typical Dodger fashion against the Braves, we get good pitching from Don Robinson, but a couple homers and we're down in the 9th. LA gets a game tying HR from Carl Everett to tie it up. Patterson gives up his own dinger in the 10th, and Geronimo Pena gets it back with his own in the 10th to keep it going. Patterson locks down the 11th and LA manages to get the bases loaded in the 11th. Rob Natal comes up and hits a slow roller. Natal is a catcher, he can't run, but he busts his ass and legs out the single to walk off the win for LA. Natal is laying on the ground writhing in pain after he's called safe. Turns out, he awkwardly stepped on first and twisted his ankle. Check that....he broke his ankle, and he's done for the season.


LA loses McGriff to a broken rib after getting into a collision at second base. In the same game, Braves rookie IF Russ Davis made his ML debut. He was hit by a pitch and left the game with a potentially serious injury. McGriff probably won't be done for the year, but it'll be close, and it won't really matter in the end. Just another guy down who actually hits.


The next time LA saw Randy Johnson we didn't get our first hit until the 4th inning. That means that against LA, Johnson threw 12 straight no-hit innings. He also notched his 300th K of the year in that game.


The Yankees pick up win number 99, and become the first team to clinch their division. No other team is even close to a 10 game magic number. The O's are 25.5 back in 2nd place.


More bad news on the injury front for LA. Rene Arocha, the hands down, workhorse stopper on the team is done for the year. Shoulder pain forced him from a game and after the evaluation it was determined that he'd torn his rotator cuff. Post surgery, he's not expected to be back until possibly June next year. Just terrible news for the team.


Also lost, Jose Cleto again hits the IL after spraining his ankle coming off the mound poorly while making a defensive play. Don Robinson also left a game early, but his diagnosis was better, and no trip to the IL was needed. Todd Worrell has returned to take Cleto's place as the set up man. LA has also called up Shigeki Taguchi who posted a 2.31 ERA and 13 saves at AA San Antonio. So far, over 3 games, he's allowed one hit, while striking out five.


With Lee Stevens getting game time starting in place of Henderson, LA is using Mike Busch at first.


I gotta say, this iteration of the LA lineup is awful. No McGriff, no Henderson. No use.


The Houston Astros become the second team to clinch their division as they win the NL West. The Braves were the only team that could compete, but they find themselves 13.5 games back now.


Over in the AL West, the White Sox are 5.5 up on the A's, with a magic number of 9 and in the NL East, it's the Phillies who are up 5 on the Mets, and their magic number is 9.


If the White Sox take the West, they will have a chance to bet the Yankees. Both teams have been the AL rep the past 3 seasons.


Over in the NL, the last time it wasn't the Mets, Phillies, or Astros in the World Series, it was 1986. That's amazing. The NL has won five of the last 6 World Series'.


Major League veteran Nick Esasky announced his retirement from baseball today. He was only 33 and had spent the last three seasons trying to make the majors with the Dodgers. His last ML game came in 1990 with the Orioles. He played this season in Bakersfield at the Dodgers A level club, where he batted .271 with 10 HR's and did a perfectly respectable job for a guy over 30 in A ball. Esasky made the All Star team in 1986 with the Reds. He spent the majority of his career in Cincinnati and he retires with 203. He lead the majors in strikeouts in 1984 with 168 and lead the majors in RBI's in 1988 with 114. He finished 3rd in the 1982 ROY voting and earned over 2.7 million in his 9 year professional career.


Fred McGriff has returned from his injury with three days left in the season. Don't think it'll matter much.


The White Sox seal up the AL West and in the NL East, the Phillies have held on to their lead, although it's down to 2 games, with 3 to play. Both the Mets and Phillies have over 100 wins on the year. Two very good teams.


The regular season is over. I'm going to do a write up on the Dodgers season, because there's a number of somewhat interesting storylines with the team, despite how bad they are. Then a quick preview of the LCS teams and WS before we close the book on 1993.

[PilotMan]

Last year was a quiet year for OOTP gaming for me, but this game still lives. I'm coming to the end of 1994 now, and while the team isn't good, they are above .500 for the first time in years. We're leading the very, very weak West, and look to be heading to the playoffs for the first time in a long time.

Having said that, we've endured a thirty something inning scoreless streak and currently Rickey Henderson, who has missed substantial time with injuries this year is mired in an 0-29 streak in the last 9 games. {now 0-32 in 10} {0-36 in 11. wow}

We've lost Andy Pettitte to a shoulder injury, same with John Franco, who just came back from a major injury, Ismael Valdez was lost to a long term injury and aside from Fred McGriff, there is no power on this team at all.

The youngsters continue to improve, Carl Everett has been sidelined by 20 yr old Bobby Abreu in his rookie year, and the farm system has the deepest crop of talent in the majors.

If you happen to read this and have any interest, give me something you'd like to know about. I love digging into the storylines of the league.

[PilotMan]

So I wanted to give one huge update here on the team. I've gone through and written up the LA 40-man roster as it currently stands. Some of the younger top prospects still aren't on the 40 man, but this should give you a great idea of how the team looks at this point in 1994.

Be sure to check out the very first pick by the Dodgers when this Dynasty started back in 1982!! He's on the team now!

Terrell Berthau; 23, Rookie, 1990, 24th round LA
Real life never made it above rookie ball


13-6, 3.46 ERA 38g/19gs 1.25 WHIP ERA+ 122


He's emerged as the best pitcher this year, but he more or less backed into it.


Chris Holt; 22, 3rd year, 1991, 1st round LA
Real life ended up an inning eater starter for 4 years in the late 90's/early 00's.


10-11, 3.70 ERA 25/25 1.27 WHIP ERA+ 114


Nice H/9, but he's got some control issues. Pitching way above where he should be.


Mike Mimbs; 25, Rookie, 1989 9th round, MIN
Real life was a swingman in the mid 90's.


5-10, 5.19, 21/21 1.40 WHIP ERA+ 82


Came over in the Sergio Del Rosario deal along with Jose Vizcaino (1993). Has real gopher ball issues.


Bill Pulsipher; 20, AAA, 1991, 13th round LA
Journeyman swingman for about 10 years IRL


8-5, 4.58, 17/15 1.28 WHIP ERA+ 110 (AAA)


Made the PCL All Star game for 1994. Has been up for a cup of coffee.


Pat Rapp; 27, 3rd year, 1988, 2nd round LA
RL: Solid 10yr starter, over 1300 IP, 825k


6-12, 4.83, 25/25 1.52 WHIP ERA+ 88


He's been hot and cold, just not getting a lot of help either.


Paul Wilson; 21, Rookie, 1993 3rd round LA
RL: Early 00s starter; tossed 940 IP, 619k


2-0, 1.93, 2/2 1.21 WHIP ERA+ 219


Only got the call after Pettitte went down, but was doing alright at AAA in his first year.


Rene Arocha; 28, 3rd yr, 1991 4th round LA
RL: 4yrs in the majors mostly as a reliever. 331 IP


4-1, 3S, 3.72 36/0 1.45 WHIP ERA+ 114


Used as the set up man, he's been ok. Reliable at least in his first year out of the bullpen.


Matthew Dorin; 34, 12th yr, Minor League FA
RL: Never pitched above A ball in the early 80s.


0-0, 5.06, 4/0 0.75 WHIP ERA + 84


Has struggled through major injuries in his career. Mostly a mop up guy at this point.


Jeff Gray; 31; 6th yr, 1983 2nd round STL; acquired for 2 prospects.
RL: Had 3 seasons in the majors; late 80's to early 90's.


2-0, 4.21, 48/0 1.38 WHIP ERA+ 112 (CIN/STL/LA)


New via waiver trade. The bullpen needed any help it could get.


Arbrey Lucas, 34; 3rd yr, Minor League FA
RL: Never pitched above AA in the mid 80's


5-0, 5.19, 17/0 1.88 WHIP ERA+ 97 (AAA)


He's been a bullpen filler. Given his age, and career numbers it's likely his days are numbered.


John Martin, 38; 14th yr, Minor League FA
RL: 4yr career as a swingman in the early 80's


2-3, 2S, 4.70, 46/0, 1.47 WHIP ERA+ 90


He's been carrying the load for a lot of the bullpen this year, and he's just not very good.


David Peck, 33; 5th yr, 1983 48th round NYY, Acquired via trade with SF
RL: Pitched one season in Short A, 1984.


2-2, 5.91, 28/0, 1.56 WHIP ERA+ 80 (SF/LA)


2nd tour with LA after 8 yrs previously with the club. Solid reliver for LA in '92. Hope he finds it again.


Shigeki Taguchi, 24; 2nd yr, Minor League FA
RL: Never pitched above A ball in one season.


0-1, 3.12, 24/0, 1.10 WHIP ERA+ 136


Brutal on right handed batters from the southpaw side. He's been pleasantly surprising. Recently demoted to AA.


Billy Wagner, 23, Rookie, 1992 4th round
RL: You really ought to know. 15yr career, 2.31 ERA, 422 Saves, 903 IP, 1196 K


0-0, 0S, 3.21 ERA, 10/0, 1.43 WHIP ERA+ 132


Made the jump from AA this year. Started 21 games in the minors, but his control has held him back.


Dave White, 32; Rookie, 1983 5th round MTL
RL: Minor leaguer who made it to AAA in the late 80's.


0-1, 3.31, 9/0 1.10 WHIP ERA+ 128


A long time journeyman with 112 saves in the minors who has paid his dues and got a call, but is back in AAA again.


Jose Cleto, 25; 4th year, 1986 37th round SF
RL: A very, very short stint in rookie ball in 87.


2-6, 20S, 2.59 55/0 1.25 WHIP ERA+ 163


Talk about a career that's grown out of nowhere. He's had some injury issues, but looks like he's got a great career ahead of him.


Jerry Spradlin, 27, Rookie, 1987 1st round LA
RL: Solid career middle reliever in the mid and late 90s.


0-1 1S, 5.00 8/0 1.78 WHIP ERA+ 85


He's been up and down 3 times now, but is back in AA as a closer. It's unclear if he'll ever catch on at this point.


Jerry Brooks, 27, 6th year, 3rd round OAK
RL: 2 cups of coffee in the mid 90s. 17 games played.


.250/.302/.325 OPS+ 71 (1HR/4RBI)


Acquired via trade with OAK for a pair of prospects. He's been a productive sub on the bench and decent catcher. Can play other positions as well.


Jose Valdez, 25; 2nd yr, 1989 8th round LA
RL:Played one season in low A in 1990.


.225/.276/.338 OPS+ 67 (1/10)


He's been up and down over the past 3 years, but gotten a longer look this year. Then the team traded for Brooks, so it would appear that his ML playing days are numbered, and he's in AAA right now. But he's got an .800 OPS there, so he's still got some chance of coming back.


Rick Wilkins, 27; 3rd yr, 1986 2nd round KC
RL: Up and down 10yr career, played for a lot of teams, mostly off the bench. 720 career G, 515 H.


.209/.286/.337 OPS+ 69 (12/58)


Offensively he's hurting the team. Defensively, he's a monster. Cannon for an arm, caught 47% of base stealers this year. In his 3rd yr as the starting catcher. Arbitration eligible next year.


Mike Busch, 26; Rookie, 1989 2nd round LA
RL: One of those picks that mirrored real life. Busch came up in LA's system for real, was a top prospect but ultimately was just a AAAA player. Played parts of 2 seasons in LA over a 10 yr career with over 170 minor league homers.


.297/.354/.534 OPS + 127 (25/88) AAA


On paper he's ready for the show. Corner infielder who should be getting a look knowing there's not much blocking him above. He was called up for 1 game this year, so he's in his final option year.


Fred McGriff, 30, 9th yr, off season signed to a 7 yr deal in '92.
RL: Played 19yrs, nearly 500 homers, bonafide superstar.


.258/.336/.484 OPS+ 120 (29/91)


The only big hitter on the team. He's trying to carry the load, but his numbers are still sub career average right now, but up from last season. He's had a great career so far. A 3-time All Star, MVP, 2-time Silver Slugger, 3-time Champion, and 2-time World Series MVP. All that for the dynastic Astros. Would be nice to carry that into LA a bit longer.


Jose Oliva, 23, Rookie, 1987 5th round LA
RL: A former Dodger prospect who broke into the majors in the mid-90's with Atlanta and Stl, but only hit .178 for his career.


.296/.353/.708 OPS+ 211 (31/71) A


Played in LA for 22 games last season, but has been at A ball, Bakersfield for the entire season. A huge demotion. Not sure what they want him to do. He's crushing the poor A ball pitchers to his delight.


Larry Sutton, 24, Rookie, 1991 3rd round, LA
RL: A long, 12yr career, mostly journeyman and minor leaguer, 252G for 4 different clubs.


.286/.325/.486 OPS+ 118 (2/7)


He's been a pinch hitting sensation this year with 39 games played and 40 plate appearances. He's been a solid bench piece, but only plays first base, so his usefulness is limited.


Jose Hernandez, 25, No Service, 1986 2nd round TEX
RL: An incredible, 20yr career, with over 1500 ML games played, and 1166 hits and 8 ML clubs.


.333/.370/.462 OPS+ 114 (2/16) AAA


Since he's ripping the ball in AAA, one would think the team might send him up soon. But his path has been crazy to get here. He's played in the Rangers (released), Pirates (released), Angels (FA), and another now defunct minor league team organization in his short career. LA signed him in '88 and hasn't let him go.


Geronimo Pena, 27, 7th yr, 1986 Supplemental First round, NYY
RL: Utility guy for 7 years in the 90's in a 10yr professional career.


.282/.358/.472 OPS+ 124 (14/46)


His career has exceeded his real one by a long way. He's been the Dodger 2nd basement for 4 years now. His injury this year set him back (and the team) some. Unknown when he'll be back.


Kurt Stillwell, 29, 9th yr, 1982 first round LA
RL: Played over most of 13 years, mostly in the late 80's and early 90's. 998 G, 779 H


.241/.300/.353 OPS+ 78 (5/28)


HERE HE IS! Yes! The first pick of our Dodgers back when this entire dynasty began 12 years ago and it's his first year playing for LA. Are you not entertained?! Remember he was traded to San Diego for Tim Flannery? The biggest deal he was a part of saw him go to the Padres (again) from the Phillies along with Jeff Bagwell for Matt Williams. He's just a utility guy for LA now.


Dave Hansen, 25, 2nd yr, 1985 3rd round MIL
RL: 19yrs across all levels, was a ML super sub, Dodgers Pinch Hit King. 1230 G, 1793 AB, 466 H.


.180/.275/..279 OPS+ 44 (1/12) AAA


Out of option years, but nothing more than a bench piece occasionally for the team. Has played up for parts of the past 5 seasons.


Charlie Montoyo, 28, 4th yr, 1986 4th round PHI
RL: 9 years, almost all minors, but played 4 games for the Expos in '93.


.227/.341/.298 OPS+ 77 (3/38)


2nd full year as a starter. He's a terrible offensive liability and he's made 17 errors at third. Now awful, but bad enough. Not sure why he's the guy right now.


Brad Tyler, 25, Rookie, 1989 3rd round LA
RL: 12 years in the minors, many at AAA, never got the call. Had 141 HR's and 175 SB's in his career.


.301/.420/.526 OPS+ 143 (10/42) AAA


He was with the main club 15 days and went 1/7 in 8 games. His numbers suggest that perhaps he get a look. I hope he's get the September call, because we could use the punch right now.


Denny Hocking, 24, 2nd yr, 1989 5th round LA
RL: Up and down over 12 years, mostly with the Twins. Played in 954 games, got 591 hits.


.197/.262/.295 OPS+ 52 (1/8)


He's split time between Albuquerque and LA. A little disappointing after a solid rookie campaign. He's under LA control for a while longer to see if he develops more.


Mike Mordecai, 26, Rookie, 1988 4th round LA
RL: Had a 16 year pro career, with most of 10 being in the majors with Atlanta, Montreal, and Florida. 793 games, 333 hits.


.312/.370/.490 OPS+ 121 (11/51)


Looks like a solid prospect right now, started 2 games in LA, but currently in AAA. Another middle infielder to sort out in the mix. Age isn't exactly on his side right now.


Terry Shumpert, 28, 6th year, 1986 2nd round DET
RL: A pro career that spanned 17 years, was a solid utility guy for Colorado later in his career. 854 games, 497 hits.


.221/.242/.279 OPS+ 42 (1/10)


Presently in AAA, LA is his 3rd stop after Detroit and Seattle. He's arbitration eligible, and is just another middle infielder with some all around skills and prospects trying to win starting jobs.


Jose Vizcaino, 26, 2nd year, 1986 first round MIN
RL: a long 19 yr pro career, with trips to the majors over 17 of them he held down many jobs, played for 8 teams (LA was his first). 1820 G 1453 H


.294/.333/.370 OPS + 92 (0/27)


His injury and Pena's together really took a lot of wind out of the sails for LA. But he's back and starting again, and he looks to have the job locked down. The team getting him and Mimbs for the oft injured Sergio Del Rosario was one of the smartest trades the team has made lately.


Carl Everett, 23, 3rd year, 1989 1st round, LA
RL: A 16 yr pro career, with parts of 13 in the majors. Mostly with Boston, Chicago (AL) and Houston. 1405 G 1304 H, over 200 career HR's.


.277/.359/.435 OPS + 115 (5/21)


Personally, it's a shame that he's not on the field right now. He was a difference maker last season, but this year he lost his starting job to another rookie. He's filled in at all 3 outfield positions, so it's nice to have that flexibility, but we could be getting so much more from him I think.


Rickey Henderson, 35 16th season, LA FA Signing
RL: You ought to know. HoF OF, the Man of Steal, 3081 G, 3055 H, 297 HR, 1406 SB


.237/.365/.333 OPS+ 92 (4/29)


He's having a terrible year. His worst since his rookie year in 1979. He's hitting an amazing .059 in August, and even more amazing, an .059 SLG too. Not one extra base hit since he came back from his injury. He's played more games for LA than any other team in his career now,even though his numbers won't even come close to his real life numbers he's still a very valuable player on this team. He still has 2 more seasons left on his original 7 year deal.


Darren Lewis, 27, 4th season, 1987 SUP 1st NYY
RL: A 14 yr career, with parts of 12 in the majors, Lewis played for 7 different teams, played in 1354 games, and got 1021 hits in his career.


.260/.350/.358 OPS+ 94 (4/32)


Not flashy but he frequently gets the job done. Gets on base fairly regularly and is always a threat to steal, with a career high 43 already this year. In his 4 year as the Dodger center fielder, he's due to hit arbitration next year. Will he stay in favor of the club with the rising crop of younger players?


Lee Stevens, 27, 5th season, 1985 1st round CIN
RL: 14 year career, with 10 in the majors, Stevens played for 4 teams through the 90s, with plenty of starting roles on those teams. 1012 games, 847 hits.


.292/.351/.433 OPS+ 112 (1/21)


Originally came over from the Reds with Frank DiPino for Tony Phillips, Stevens has been a key bench and reserve piece for LA. He's lost his starting role with the arrival of younger players, but gets on the field subbing at first and in the outfield. He's currently in AAA and not too happy about it, expect to see him join the team at the roster expansion.


Bobby Abreu, 20, Rookie, 1990 1st round LA
RL: An amazing 23 year career, with 18 of those in the majors. Abreu played mostly for the Phillies and later with the Angels and Yankees. 2425 games, 2470 hits, 288 home runs, 400 stolen bases.


.270/.381/.457 OPS+ 128 (9/48)


He might be a rookie of the year candidate? He's won the right field job at the age of 20. He's considered the #5 prospect in all of baseball so the chance he's being given is pretty validated. It's hard to get him off the field for anyone. Would like to see a bit more power and production from him, but you know he's only a rookie and he's helped push the team to the top of the West.


Glenn Davis, 33, 11th season, Acquired for 2 low tier prospects from FLO.
RL: A monstrous slugger with 13 pro seasons, and 9 in the pros. He saw his career derailed by injuries. Played for Houston in his prime, Baltimore after it. 1015 Games, 965 hits, 190 HRs.


.326/.392/.717 OPS + 193 (5/11)


He was a cheap get, and he's torn the cover off the ball in his short run in LA, hitting over .400 in limited action. He's not pressing anyone for playing time, and looks to just be riding out his career on the end of the bench. In the meantime, he's still a dangerous hitter when he gets to the plate, no matter when that it.

[PilotMan]

I was today years old when I realized that Dodger third basemen, Charlie Montoyo is the actual, current, Toronto Blue Jays Manager.

[Poli]

That's awesome.

[PilotMan]

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Poor Charlie got fired today.

[PilotMan]

Somehow this is still going strong. Slowly, but still going.


Let's put it this way, the NL West was total shit in '94. But let's start at the top the Minnesota Twins won their 2nd title and the first since 1924. The Twins posted a regular season record 88-74, but defeated the A's three games to one, the Orioles four games to one, and the Pirates in a fantastic 7 game series. Pudge Rodriguez lead the team, slashing his way to a .345/.390/.570, with 25 HR's and a team high 181 hits. Kevin Tapani missed 8 weeks in the middle of the summer, but still lead the team with a 14-3 record and a 4.03 ERA. Paul Quantrill topped out the most innings with 216, the only pitcher on the team to clear 200.


The Dodgers missed the playoffs for the 7th straight season. However, well....they lost a playoff in game 163 to the Giants. Which, if you've seen how the past few years have gone that would be a good thing, but the team lost like 8 of their last 10 and could have clinched it, but failed.


Keeping with our team centric focus:


74-89; 2nd place in the West, 1 GB


McGriff had a resurgent year smacking 41 HRs and managed to stay healthy and played in 161 games. Rookie Bobby Abreu lead the NL with 13 triples. He slashed .263/.368/.447 with 120 hits, 10 dingers, and 28 stolen bases. Geronimo Pena rounded out the offense with 14 HR's (2nd on the team) while posting an OPS of .831. However he missed over 13 weeks with knee injuries, so his overall impact was stunted.


The pitching staff workhorse ended up being 2nd year pitcher Chris Holt who went 11-16 with a 3.67 ERA and 208 innings of work. Mostly the Dodgers got by with a rotation that looked like this most of the year:


Chris Holt
Pat Rapp (6-17, 186IP, 101k)
Mike Mimbs (7-14, 164, 113)
Andy Pettitte (10-5, 173, 109)
Terrell Berthau (16-10, 188, 100)


Pettitte started to come into his own, but he tore his rotator cuff on August 16, and missed the rest of the year.


John Franco was brought on to close, but he went down the end of June with a partially torn labrum and only managed 11 saves with a 2.25 ERA. Jose Cleto stepped up as the closer for LA the rest of the year and saved 23 of 26 with a 2.97 ERA in 66 innings of work.


So you can see, that in spite of a bad season, the team nearly made the playoffs with an unheard of 89 losses. Imagine what 1995 will bring!


It's opening day, the offseason is over and the team ready. This is the MLB Prospectus preview on LA this year.

[CrossroadsReb]

Glad to see this pop back up in my feed.

[PilotMan]

LA has a new manager, and he's not impressive.


Bryan Bennett isthe new head of the team. He last managed in the minors 10 years ago. He's a nice guy, conventional manager. But most importantly, he's cheap. His 115k a year salary has to be one of the cheapest in baseball. Can you tell our owner loves profits over winning? Hate that guy.


PITCHERS


Starters


Andy Pettitte, LHP, 3rd season, 22y/o
10-5, 3.12 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 128 ERA+


The ace of the staff? Maybe? Would love to see him all season and not be hurt. May still need more seasoning, but promising.


Ismael Valdez, RHP, 3rd season, 21y/o
1-2, 5.03 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 79 ERA+


Coming off of a shoulder injury that saw him miss almost all the the season. The former 2nd round pick is ready to make an impact.


Chris Holt, RHP, 3rd season, 23y/o
11-16, 3.67 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 109 ERA+


Ate a lot of innings last season, the former first round pick had good numbers, and we all want to see him repeat those numbers with some offense.


Terrell Berthau, RHP, 2nd season, 23y/o
16-10, 2S, 3.91 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 102 ERA+


Split time between the pen and starting, and pitched rather well for a guy who once was a 29th round selection.


Paul Wilson, RHP, Rookie, 22y/o
3-4, 4.66 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, 86 ERA+


Came up late in the year, he's a 3rd round pick, and the Dodgers 13th ranked prospect in the organization.


Bullpen


Lee Tunnell, RHP, 6th season, 34y/o
Out of baseball


Unbelievably made the team after being out of baseball last season and having last pitched in the majors in 1988 with the Red Sox.


Kevin Richards, RHP, 9th season, 36y/o
3-3, 4S, 6.41 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 69 ERA+


Last year played for the Braves and Brewers. LA is his 7th team. Going to be 37, but is a great guy in the dugout.


Zane Smith, LHP, 11th season, 34y/o
3-3, 3S, 4.00 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 111 ERA+


Two-time all star with the Braves. Has transitioned to the bullpen, but can still start if needed. Pitched for both the Mariners and the Rockies last year.


Edward Lindsey, LHP, 11th season, 35y/o
0-1, 2.63 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 149 ERA+


Two-time all start with the Mets. Has been wrecked with injuries through most of his career. Pitched for LA in '93. Still solid when he's healthy.


Pat Rapp, RHP, 4th season, 27y/o
6-17, 4.78 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 84 ERA+


Still a starter in his mind, he's lost out to start the season. 97 starts in the past 3 seasons.


Jose Cleto, RHP, 5th season, 26y/o
2-8, 23S, 2.97 ERA, 1.26 ERA, 135 ERA+


Injuries are still a major concern for him. Arm and shoulder problems were the issue last season. Still hits triple digits on the speed gun.


Rick Aguilera, RHP, 10th season, 33y/o
4-4, 28S, 3.02 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 135 ERA+


Big time free agent get. Two-time all star with the Angels and Phillies. Reliever oft the Year in with the Astros in '93.


BATTERS


Catchers


BJ Surhoff, 9th season, 30y/o
.209/5/29 .594 OPS


Former first round draft pick returns home. He's a reliable catcher and utility man now. But never made it through a year playing more than 138 games.


Mark Leonard, 8th season, 30y/o
.215/8/37 .655 OPS


Journeyman catcher and utility player joins after a year starting for the Blue Jays.


First Base


Fred McGriff,, 10th season, 31y/o
.263/41/121 .852 OPS


Three time All Star, Two time Silver Slugger, MVP Winner. Literally carried the offense last season. Lead the NL in homeruns and RBI's. Four years plus a team option left on his contract.


Larry Sutton, 2nd season, 24y/o
.259/2/8 .700 OPS


In his last option season, Sutton makes the team as a pinch hitter and reserve. Former 3rd round draft pick.


Second Base


Craig Biggio, 9th season, 29y/o
.294/17/90 .877 OPS


Four time All Star, Three time Silver Slugger (2 at C, 1 at 2B). The second big FA signing for LA this season. Signed a long 7-year deal, but can opt out after two years.


Jeff Patzke, Rookie, 21y/o
.271/2/10 .773 OPS


Makes the big jump from "A" ball to the majors. Former 2nd round pick. Dodgers 10th ranked prospect. Good defensive infielder.


Short Stop


Jose Vizcaino, 3rd season, 27y/o
.279/0/34 .685 OPS


Should have started last season, but missed a ton of time with an injury. Will get another shot this season,will help out on defense,but can he hit?


Third Base


Charlie Montoyo, 5th season, 29y/o
.210/3/41 .595 OPS


Started last year, but arguably one of the weakest spots on the team. Right now, he's just a placeholder for Scott Rolen.


Outfield


Rickey Henderson, 17th season, 36y/o
.230/7/36 .688 OPS


Coming off the worst season of his career. He's still under contract for another two years. Four time Gold Glove, Five time All Star, two time Silver Slugger. Still starting in left.


Darren Lewis, 5th season, 27y/o
.258/4/34 55 SB .686 OPS


He's been a reliable starter for LA in center. Still holding onto the job. Little injuries have been chipping away at him every year.


Bobby Abreu, 2nd season, 21y/o
.263/10/51 28 SB, .815 OPS


Coming off a great rookie season, he looks like the real deal for LA. Still missed 30 games with injuries. Former first round pick.


Carl Everett, 4th season, 23y/o
.266/6/25 .755 OPS


You have to wonder if he will supplant Henderson in left sooner rather than later. He's clearly got starting level talent, but for now, he comes off the bench.


Bill Masse, 3rd season, 28y/o
.273/0/6 .815 OPS


He's been up and down over 5 years with LA. He's out of option years, but this is probably his last shot to make a ML career. Above average runner and fielder, but guys like him in the clubhouse.




Top Prospects


Note: LA is regarded as the top farm system in the Majors. I guess losing all these years has paid off in one way.


1. Chris Carpenter, 19
#8 ML Prospect
5-7, 2.24 ERA, 101 IP 0.97 WHIP in Rookie and Class A
Starts in Low A


2. Scott Rolen, 19
#9 ML Prospect
.362/16/96 1.033 OPS in Rookie and Class A
MVP in Class A California League
Starts in AA


3. Richard Hidalgo, 19
#14 ML Prospect
.320/6/48 .846 OPS in Class A
Starts in Class A


4. Carlos Beltran, 17
#52 ML Prospect
First Round Draft pick (10th Overall 1994)
Starts in Rookie Ball


5. Raul Rodarte, 24
#53 ML Prospect
.275/11/66 .780 OPS in Class AA
Former first round pick, top catching prospect, running out of time, but now utility prospect. You can make a good argument he should be starting over Montoyo.
Starts in AAA


6. Sean Estes, 22
#79 ML Prospect
2-3, 3.02, 53 IP 1.23 WHIP in Class A
Starts in AAA
Could be primed to debut this season.


7. John Thompson, 21
#94 ML Prospect
12-4, 2.58 ERA 163 IP, 1.12 WHIP in Class A and AA
Starts in AAA


8. Brett Tomko, 21
#99 ML Prospect
Second Round Draft Pick (49th Overall 1994)
Starts in AA


9. Pedro Valdes, 21
#115 ML Prospect
.308/4/55 .736 OPS in Class A
Starts in AAA


10. Jeff Patzke, 21
#125 ML Prospect
.271/2/10 .773 in Class A
Starts in the Majors




Believe it or not. The preseason guides have LA penned as the NL West Pennant winners this season. Projected record is 86-76. After years of just terrible baseball, the team is still only 17th in league player payroll, but they have some young talent, and some aging talent. If these guys show up, good things might just happen. Something for a fan to look forward to in a long season of watching games at least.