[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.