[PilotMan]

7/1 9-2 W over the Reds
Another good road win against the leading Reds. LA punished Bruce Berenyi for 5 in the first and 3 in the second. Mike Marshall homered in both innings (11,12). Sid Bream hit his 7^th in the second too. Tony Phillips was 3-5, and even Kelly Downs went 2-4. For his own part, he went 8.1 and Ken Howell came on to finish. We are tied for first.


7/2 6-5 L to the Reds
Should have completed the sweep. No question. Good Frank Tanana showed up today and went 8 innings, striking out 7 and allowing 1 earned run (2 total). LA opened the game up to a 3-0 lead in the 2^nd when Scioscia went deep for 2. His 4^th of the year. LA added another in the 4^th and 5^th, but Cincy clawed one back in the 8^th. We headed home with a 5-2 lead, and John Franco coming in. Franco gets Esasky to strikeout to start the inning, then allows a double to Danny Tartabull, followed by a walk to Bob Horner. Mike Stanley then came up and cracked a line drive over Tony Phillips head that scored Tartabull. Dave Valle was next and he hit a 1-1 pitch 403ft to left-center that sent the fans home happy. Terrible. Franco's ERA doubled to 2.60 with this outing.


7/3 7-4 (11) W over the Pirates
LA jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on a pair of HR's. One by Lynn (10), one by Stubbs (17). With Valenzuela up, the Pirates cut the lead to 1 on a Leon Durham 2-run homer in the 6^th. The Pirates tied it in the 7^th and Lasorda turned it over to the pen. Dwayne Murphy answered right away with a pinch hit blast (solo-homer) that put us back on top. In the 8^th LA loaded the bases and had John Franco come to bat, rather than replace him for the 9^th. He got out, we didn't get more runs. In the 9^th, Franco blew his 3^rd save of the year, and 2^nd in a row. He was replaced by Niedenfeur (3-6) who pitched the final 2 innings. In the bottom of the 11^th LA put 2 on and it was Fred Lynn again, putting the ball out of the park (11) to let us walk off and go home.


7/4 1-0 L to the Pirates
Mike Scott (6-9) threw a 3-hit shutout over the Dodgers. Sid Bream had 2 singles and Doug DeCinces had a double. Scott struck out 11 and walked 0. Rick Rhoden (12-4) takes the loss, but the only run was because of a Doug DeCinces error in the 8^th. He was right there throwing pills all game too.


7/5 4-2 L to the Pirates
John Denny pitched a complete game, striking out 7, but he was undone by the Pirate pitching yet again. Denny himself hit a triple and scored a run, and Lynn added 2 hits, but the Pirates did a better job of executing and making their hits count. LA was never really as close as the score tells. They were overmatched today.


7/6 4-3 L to the Pirates
And we drop 3 straight to the 5^th place team in the East. Unreal. The Pirates throw Cecilio Guante (3-1) on the mound to start and he goes 5 and we score 3. Then the rest of the pen came in. Downs (4-4) took the loss, didn't earn the quality start. Phillips and Lynn each went 2-4. This run is starting to fall off.


7/7 3-0 W over the Cardinals
We turned to Tanana (12-2) once again to stop the bleeding and once again, he delivered. Tanana pitched 7.2 innings of shut out baseball and struck out 9. Stubbs and Lynn both went 2-4 as we found out how to win without hitting a dinger. Niedenfeur came on in the 8^th inning and got 4 outs for his 1^st save of the year.


7/8 5-1 W over the Cardinals
LA put up 2 in the first helped by Tony Phillips and his 6^th HR of the year. Fred Lynn had a good day with a double in the first and an 8^th inning HR (solo) (12). Valenzuela (7-5) was an out from a shutout, but things fell apart in the 9^th. He still pitched a great game, with 7 K's. It's the kind of game that we need to see more of.


7/9 9-4 L to the Cardinals
Rick Rhoden is not on a good streak. He was hit 13 times in his 6 innings of work, and lucky for him, left with the game tied at 4. LA stayed close throughout thanks to a solo homer by Rhoden (1) himself. Too bad there wasn't anyone on base. Ron Kittle got the rare start and clocked his own solo homer in the 5^th (2). The wheels fell off late in the game when Niedenfeur and Franco combined for 5 runs allowed in 2 innings. Franco was completely useless again and his ERA is now up over 3.


7/10 3-1 (10) L to the Cubs
Young Cubs prospect David Cone is having an awful year and might need to go back to AAA, but the Cubs are also awful so it doesn't really matter. Today, he allowed 2 hits over 6 shut out innings. John Denny also threw zeros on the board for 6.2, before giving way to Ken Howell. In the 7^th, Howell served up a Mike Pagliarulo blast (15) that put the Cubs up. LA answered in the bottom with Sax coming around to score and it stayed like that. In the 10^th LA had John Franco (1-4) on the mound and with a runner on and 1 out, pinch hitter and prospect, Shane Mack came up and cleared the bases for his 2^nd career homerun. Franco is really having a rough go of it. It may cost him an All-Star spot.


7/11 5-4 W over the Cubs
Phillips, DeCinces and Marshall, the 2,3,4 went 6-11 with 3 RBI's in the winning effort. LA scored 3 in the first, the Cubs answered in the 2^nd, and LA scored again in the 3^rd. It looked like Kelly Downs was going to get the win until the Cubs tied it up in the 7^th. Alejandro Pena (2-0) came on and dominated. He struck out 4 in his 2 innings. Roy Smalley walked and took 2^nd on a wild pitch. Steve Sax hit the ball to the fence and Smalley scored to end the game.


7/12 3-2 W over the Cubs
It was Frank Tanana day in LA today. But at first it was old Frank who was back. He allowed 1 in the first, partially due to a Tony Phillips error. LA would answer in the bottom of the inning and push out to a 2-1 lead. The Cubs sent rookie starter Roberty Kennedy to the mound and his near 9 ERA. LA could only manage 5 hits all day off of him. Tanana did his job, until that is, he left the game in the 4^th with an injury. The crowed quieted and politely applauded, but you could just tell. Jim Beattie came on and pitched 3 shut out innings, then gave way to Ken Howell (2-4), who served up a HR to Joe Carter and blew another save, but he did end up getting the win when he was bailed out by a Kittle, pinch hit, solo homer to give us the winning edge. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 2^nd save. There's big concern for Tanana. Big concern.


The Pirates Leon Durham hit for the cycle in a 6-2 in over the Giants.


1986 All Star Rosters have been announced. Here are the current and former Dodgers who have made this years team:


AL
Dennis Eckersley – MN – 9-4, 2.45 2 AS
Sid Fernandez – SEA – 11-2, 2.78 2 AS
Jerry Reuss – DET – 2-1, 2.14 4 AS
Bobby Grich – TOR - .272/.368/.413 7 HR 8 AS


NL
Rick Rhoden – LA- 12-4, 2.57 2 AS (first in 10 years)
Fernando Valenzuela – LA - 7-5, 3.26 6 AS
Tom Neidenfeur – LA - 3-7, 2.58 4 AS
Doug DeCinces – LA - .271/.340/.498 20 HR 1 AS


Notable absences


John Franco – 1-4, 3.40, 15S – He was among the top 5 in votes for relievers. His horrible last few outings had to have kept him off the team.


Frank Tanana – 12-2, 2.42 – Straight up deserved this. It had been since 1978 since he's gone, and he earned this, but was shafted. The MRI on his shoulder was negative, so that was a huge relief. He's on the 15 day DL, but not expected to miss more than that. Very good news for us.


With Tanana heading to the DL, Lasorda said to expect Jim Beattie to get the spot in the rotation. To fill his spot in the bullpen, 2-time minor league, all star, and former A's prospect, Charlie Kerfeld was called up. Kerfeld is 0-2, with 9 saves in Albuquerque. His 6.33 ERA would be good for #2 on the team if he had enough innings. He's still young. At 22, the jury is still out on his future.


7/13 5-0 L to the Cubs
The Cubs just combined to 2-hit the Dodgers. This might be a new low. The Cubs have the worst record in the NL. They have a pitching staff that looks like it's straight from AAA and their team ERA is over 6. The pitchers they used were, Mark Vaji (6-9, 6.22), who walked 6. Rene German (1-2, 6.70), Doug Jones (0-0, 2.08), and Sixto DeLaCruz (0-0, 5.97). This group 2-hit us. Fernando (7-6) was doing alright. He was in solid control until the 8^th inning when the Cubbies got 4, somehow. Valenzuela would finish the game and strike out 8.


7/15 7-2 AL All Stars defeat the NL
Don Mattingly was the MVP going 4-4 including a HR. Rhoden threw 6 pitches to get his inning out. He even allowed a hit. Valenzuela struck out the side on 18 pitches. DeCinces went 1-3 with an RBI and started at 3^rd.