[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.