[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.