[PilotMan]

8/16 7-6 L to the Giants
LA lost and Tanana (10-8) allowed 3 more dingers. The most important was a go ahead, 2-run homer by Tony Perez. Perez, at the ripe age of 45, hit his 400^th HR. The Giants are his 6^th team in 6 years, and it was his first of the year, and only his 2^nd since '83. Perez was signed in May, and his slash line this year is .231/.250/.308. He is the oldest active player in baseball. Sax went 2-4, and Tony Phillips hit his 13^th HR of the year. Down by 2, LA got a run and Lynn hit the final ball to the fence, but came up just short of tying it.


8/18 9-4 L to the Expos
Valenzuela (13-8) served up 4 HR's to the Expos in the first 5 innings. Three of them went to Andres Galarraga (28,29,30). Gary Carter (15) and Mike Greenwell (2) also homered for the Expos. Inky was the high spot going 2-4. The Expos are nearly out of the playoff race. This just shows they can still get one over on us.


8/19 8-6 W over the Expos
Andre Dawson smashed 2 HR's (21,22) and sent Kelly Downs to an early shower. The Expos took a 5-3 lead into the 9^th with Quiz (1-6) on the mound. Tony Phillips lead off with a walk, and BJ Surhoff pinch hit for pitcher. Surhoff smashed a 2-run HR for his first career homer and tied it up. LA wasn't done though. Henderson singled, Bream doubled him in next. LA would add another to make it 8-5. New closer, Don Robinson came on and Hubie Brooks homered, then Robinson settled down and finished it off for his 4^th save.


Rick Rhoden has been put on the DL with an illness. Michael Cunningham was promoted from Albuquerque to take his place. Cunningham, 26, has been pitching in Albuquerque off and on for 6 years and this is his first promotion to the Majors. This season he was 11-9, with a 5.11 ERA, in 176 innings of work. He's a hard worker, with a curve, change and knuckleball. He gets lots of movement, it's just that we don't really know where it's going. The team could have gone with Dravecky in the rotation, but that would have left them without any lefties in the bullpen.


8/20 7-6 W over the Expos
I cannot say enough good things about Rickey and what he means to this team right now. He and Sax lead off the day with back to back doubles and LA batted around and put up 3, leaving the bases loaded. John Denny did not have a good day, and despite getting 5 runs of support, a Gary Carter 2-run homer (16) in the bottom of the 7^th tied the game and he left with the result out of his hands. Niedenfeur (2-2) pitched the 8^th and his first batter, pinch hitter, Don Baylor, homered to left (2) to put Montreal on top. Joe Hesketh (2-1), who is not the closer, came on for the 9^th and it was Rickey, once again, who lead off with a big HR down the line (17) to tie it back up. That also happened to be Rickey's 100^th career round tripper. Two batters later, Inky hammered another ball to left-center (24) to give LA the lead. Don Robinson pitched a 1-2-3 9^th for his 5^th save, lowering his ERA to 5.97. Steve Sax went 4-5.


8/21 9-1 W over the Phillies
The Phils sent former Dodger Milt Wilcox (5-6) to the mound and it didn't end well for him. LA scored in each of the first 4 innings to send him to the shower with 7 runs on the board. LA didn't need much, but from there, but it got a complete game from Frank Tanana (11-8) who still had to be himself and serve up a gopher ball to another former Dodger, Pedro Guerrero (24) and who still has a 21 game hitting streak, thanks to that hit. The Phillies only got 4 hits off Tanana. Meanwhile, Fred Lynn hit #32, and Ray Knight went 4-5 with 3 runs, 3 RBI's and his 12^th HR of the season. Sax stole base number 31 and Henderson stole 3 to give him 50 on the year.


The Cardinals Andy Van Slyke hit for the cycle against the Reds. Not only that, but he tied the NL record for RBI's in a game with 8. His HR was a grand slam.


8/22 15-9 W over the Phillies
Rookie Michael Cunningham gets his first ML start today and opened it up by striking out 2^nd basemen, Juan Samuel and LF Pedro Guerrero in a 1-2-3 first inning. Then came the 2^nd where rookie of the year candidate, Larry Walker hit the ball 420 ft (32), he walked Balboni and the other ROY candidate, catcher Bob Melvin homered again (14) to put the Phillies on top. LA gave him 6 runs of support, but Samuel would get revenge on his 3^rd look with a 3-run HR (18) to ultimately ruin the journeyman's debut. Cunningham had wild pitch and 2 hit batters too. Dave Magadan had to leave after getting hit. LA wasn't done though. Dravecky (3-5) pitched 2 and struck out 5 and LA scored 2 in the 6^th to tie the game, helped by Phillips 14^th HR. Larry Parrish hit a pinch hit 2-run HR in the 7^th (3) to put LA on top for good. LA totaled 4 in the 7^th and another 3 in the 8^th as the Phillies had to empty the bullpen. LA bashed 18 hits with Sax and O'Brien getting 3 each. Even Bream got a 2-run pinch hit single. This game also saw the first career homerun for another Phillie rookie, Mark Grace. LA also cooled Guerrero's 22 game hitting streak.


8/23 4-3 W over the Phillies
LA was stymied by young Phillies starter Greg Maddux (13-10) for most of the game. Valenzuela (14-8) matched him inning for innings, but the Phillies build up a 3-1 lead heading into the 8^th inning. Two rare outfield errors in the same inning, one by Dave Clark and one by Larry Walker opened the door for LA to put 3 across and take a 4-3 lead. Valenzuela went 2-3 in the game and scored twice. Don Robinson loaded the bases in the 9^th and it looked like it was going to be bad, but he figured it out and finished the game without allowing the tying run. His 6^th save of the year, and lowering his ERA to 5.80.


8/24 4-3 (11) L to the Mets
Both teams come into the game in first place. Both teams have identical records. The series is split between them. It's about as even as it gets. Kelly Downs ended up walking 5 and striking out 7 and he had a 3-1 lead going into the 8^th, but he couldn't get out of it, and by the time he left it was tied up. The Mets have an incredible bullpen and LA tried to match it, but couldn't. Dave Dravecky (3-6) gave up a hit, and walked the bases loaded in the 11^th. Then strike out 2 before he would walk in the winning run for the Mets. Frustrating.


8/25 2-1 W over the Mets
John Denny (14-9) and Ron Darling (7-12) had a great pitchers dual totday. LA didn't get a hit until the 5^th inning. LA struck first on the back of a Incaviglia 2-run HR to left (25). The Mets clawed one back, but LA held on. Don Robinson pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 7^th save. His ERA is down to 5.65.


8/26 8-7 L to the Mets
A see saw affair, that saw LA fall behind 6-4, then with 3 solo home runs in the 6^th inning by Lynn (33), Knight (13) and Phillips (15) the Dodgers took the lead. Inky had homered in the 4^th (26), but Tanana was on the mound today and he gave up 3 of his own and only lasted 3 innings. Dravecky (3-7) pitched 3 good innings in relief, but it was the 4^th inning that hurt. Carmelo Martinez pinch hit for the pitcher and homered to give the Mets the lead and ultimately the win.


8/28 7-3 L to the Expos
Bryn Smith (16-10) gets his league leading 16^th win, but he has himself to thank for it. A career .118 hitter, Smith homered in the 2^nd inning for his first career homer. He would add a single and another RBI later on. Valenzuela (14-9) was not his best today. He allowed 10 hits in 5 innings of work. Fred Lynn homered in the 9^th (34) as a consolation. Rafael Montalvo made his ML debut, retiring the Expos in order.


Scioscia sprained his ankle sliding into 2^nd base and he's heading to the DL. LA promoted C/IF John Debus to back up Surhoff. Debus is regarded as a good defensive catcher, who started most of the year in AAA Albuquerque. His slash line was .284/.355/.443 with 7 HR's and 32 RBI's. He's been in the Dodgers farm system for 7 years, and this, at 28 years old, is his first call to the Majors.


8/29 6-1 W over the Expos
Downs (12-8) pitched 8 and struck out 5 to get the Dodgers the win today. LA didn't have any extra base hits, but relied on 2 hit games from Sax and Knight. The Candy Man, once a feared opponent, got a rare start for the Expos. His stuff isn't the same now. He walked 5 in 4 innings and was touched for 4 unearned runs (2 earned). Don Robinson pitched another scoreless 9^th to lower his ERA to 5.50.


8/30 7-5 (11) L to the Expos
Denny had a rough first inning thanks to Gary Carter and his 3-run HR (18). LA would fall behind 5-0 before they would start the comeback. It started in the 6^th when Surhoff his #2 to put LA on the board. Inky added another 2-run shot (27) that brought us to 5-3. Quiz (2-7) took the mound in the 9^th and after allowing the first 2 on, got Ray Knight to ground into a DP. One on, 2 out, 2-2 pitch to Tony Phillips and he hit it out (16) to tie it up. Don Robinson (0-5) pitched the 11^th and loaded them up before Molitor hit a 2-run single. LA went down meekly in the bottom half to end it. Robinson's ERA ballooned up to 5.82 with the loss. C John Debus made his ML debut and went 0-2 from the 7^th inning on.


8/31 8-2 W over the Phillies
Big day for LA as they pound Milt Wilcox (5-8). Tony Phillips went 3-3, Sax 3-5, and Surhoff 2-4 and who also hit his 3^rd HR of the season. LA put up a 6 in the 2^nd and that pretty much took care of that. Tanana (12-8) managed to pitch 7 innings without allowing a single HR. Not so much for Niedenfeur who served up a gohper ball to Bob Melvin (16) in the 9^th.