[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.