[PilotMan]

8/2 3-2 W over the Reds
LA got 2 hits in the first, and one of them was Mike Marshall crushing another homer to left (19). His 3-run shot put us in front early. We'd only get 2 hits the rest of the game. Rick Rhoden (14-6) scattered 8 hits over 6 innings and the bullpen took care of the rest. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 4^th save. Dwight Evans was hurt on a defensive play in the 3^rd inning. Kittle came on to replace him. No word yet on the nature of it.


8/3 5-4 W over the Reds
I find it amusing that the final out was John Franco striking out Dave Anderson to get his 5^th save of the year. As I'm sure you know, in real life, in 1985, they were on opposite teams in a similar situation at some point. Tanana gave up a run early again, so we were playing from a hole. Evans was out, with Kittle in right in his place. We got the lead in the 4^th on a Roy Smalley, 2-run HR. His 11^th. Then we tacked on 3 more in the 6^th when we hit a bases loaded double. Smalley finished 2-2 with 4 RBI's, a HR, and 2 walks. Tanana (6-6) spread 10 hits to get the win.


Dwight Evans has a torn thumb ligament and he's on the DL. The timetable for his return is early September. Ugh. August is going to be a long month. Tony Brewer (.309/9/33, in Albuquerque) is called up to take his spot. Mike Marshall is going to slide over to right with Kittle taking over in left. The good news is that Kittle can still give us that power punch, but he can't get on base like Evans can, and we lose another big defensive weapon. Evans has a cannon.


8/4 3-2 (10) L to the Reds
Danny Tartabull hit a walk off home run (15) off of Ken Howell (0-4) to end the game. I had a bad feeling when he stepped up too. The Reds had been close all game long, and their line up is dangerous throughout. Both John Denny and Tom Browning pitched well. Roy Smalley hit another homer, this was a solo home run (12) that put us in the lead for a very short while. He went 2-3 on the day. Gary Maddox had come on as a defensive substitute, and then had to leave after he got hurt making a catch. It didn't look too serious.


8/5 3-1 W over the Braves
LA bashed out 12 hits off of Bob Walk (8-13) and Bob McClure. Four players had 2 hits in the game. Fernando Valenzuela (13-4) walked 6 in 7 innings of work. It was sloppy, but it got the job done. John Franco got the final 8 outs for his 6^th save of the year.


8/6 13-6 L to the Braves
Jim Beattie (0-6) strikes again. Seven runs allowed in 3.2 innings of work. Jerry Reuss did some crappy relief work. Sid Bream went 2-3. Ex-Dodger Candy Maldonado hit his 12^th of the year, off of Beattie. The Braves 1-4 hitters went 11-18 with 8 runs scored, 5 SB's, 1HR and 10 RBI's. That is the fearsome lineup of Milt Thompson, Brad Komminsk, Brook Jacoby, and Candy Maldonado. Sad.


8/7 8-5 W over the Braves
Neither Rhoden nor Rijo made it out of the 5^th inning. By the end of the 3^rd inning Rijo had thrown 109 pitches and had walked 10 batters. Yet LA only got 6 runs out of that. LA walked 13 times in the game. Mike Scioscia went 3-5. Both Randolph and Bream walked 3 times. Then there was Marshall, 0-6 with 4 K's. Roy Smalley tacked on another run in the 8^th when he hit his 13^th homer of the year. Alejandro Pena (4-2) got the win. Ken Howell got the last 8 outs for his 7^th save.


8/8 1-0 W over the Reds
Frank Tanana (7-6) was amazing, unstoppable, dominant. He went 8 innings, allowed 2 hits, no walks, and struck out 8. LA only got 4 hits all game, 2 from Scioscia and 2 from Randolph. Stubbs had the only RBI. John Franco pitched the 9^th for his 7^th save. Roy Smalley was knocked out of the game in the 2^nd inning after a collision at 2^nd base. His condition is under review.


8/9 7-0 W over the Reds
The Big Red Machine really is hitting this year, and we just shut them out over 18 innings. That's a very good sign. Even better it was with Tanana and Denny (8-11). Denny struck out 9 in 8.1 and Lasorda wouldn't let him finish even with the comfortable 7 run lead. LA also whacked 4 home runs that accounted for all the scoring. In first it was Randolph with his 3^rd. In the 2^nd it was Bream (11). In the 3^rd it was Marshall (20) and in the 6^th it was Buck Martinez (3). Both Randolph and Martinez went 3-4. We just got production from really unlikely places, but we'll take it!


With that win LA has moved back into 2^nd place. We're 7-3 in our last 10, we've won 3 in a row, and we're only 1.5 games behind the Padres. Lets GO DODGERS!


There's some bad news again though. Roy Smalley is done for the year. He ruptured a tendon in his finger in the collision and he's out at least 3 months. He hit .222 with 13 HR and 52 RBI's for us. His slash stats were .222/.310/.346. Not awesome. Tony Phillips (.296/.397/.468 in Albuquerque) was called up to replace him and should do a commendable job. Initially it looks like Lasorda plans to platoon Phillips against righties and White against lefties, even though Phillips is a switch hitter and White is god awful at short stop.


8/10 4-3 W over the Reds
Woohoo! Valenzuela should have gotten the win. He went 7.2 innings and struck out 13, and walked only 1. He was in control to say the least and he left with a 2 run lead. John Franco (1-1) blew his 2^nd save, but in the 9^th it was the Reds Greg Harris that started by walking the bases loaded, then after a strikeout, gave up the game winning single to Mike Scioscia. Scioscia was 3-5, with 2 Rbi's. One more game to go for the sweep.


8/11 6-4 W over the Reds
Jim Beattie is still winless. He had 2 bad innings where we fell behind, but otherwise was able to go 7. It was Frank White, only playing because Nettles had left with an injury earlier in the game after a collision with the 2^nd basemen trying to break up a double play, who popped a 3-run hr off of former Dodger pitcher Joe Beckwith, that gave us the lead. It was his 5^th. Scioscia had hit a 2-run HR earlier in the 8^th (9) to put us within striking distance. Ken Howell (1-4) got the win and Steve Howe got his first save of the year in the 9^th.


8/12 4-1 W over the Braves
LA jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Stubbs (14) HR in the 4^th. Atlanta answered, but LA came right back. They got an insurance run in the 7^th. Rhoden went 8, and got the win to run his record to 15-6, while Franco pitched the 9^th for his 8^th save.


Cincinnati shut out the Padres, and with LA on a 6 game win streak, we've move into a percentage point lead for first in the West!!!!! Fuck yeah! Get going guys!


8/13 6-3 L to the Braves
There goes the win streak. Frank Tanana (7-7) takes the loss in an ugly game. LA committed 4 errors and their first hit was a Stubbs solo shot (15). Toby Harrah started at third as Nettles injury is still undetermined and looks worse every day. High spot was Reuss going 3 innings and striking out 4 in relief.


8/14 3-2 L to the Braves
LA got no offense against Larry McWilliams (9-10). Denny (8-12) allowed 3 unearned runs thanks to his own error. LA got back into it with a 2-run homer from Sid Bream (12) with 2 out in the 9^th, but it was too little, too late.


The word on Nettles is a broken thumb and he's out for 6 weeks. That puts us right at the end of the regular season for his availability. That's now 6 starters on the DL long term. Sax was recalled from AAA (.324/.383/.439) to take his roster spot. Toby Harrah is planning on taking the starting job at third.


8/15 6-3 W over the Braves
Series split was the best we could hope for tonight. Valenzuela (14-4) got the W, but barely made it 6 innings before he gassed out. LA jumped all over Bob Walk (9-14) early and gave Fernando the support he needed. LA got a 3-4 show from Ron Kittle, and 2-3 from Stubbs with 2 doubles. Franco pitched a 1-2-3 9^th for his 9^th save.