[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