[PilotMan]

8/1 9-3 L to the Braves
Rhoden (13-7) was pitching alright until a rain delay. The Braves had his number after that and the game evaporated with the Brook Jacoby 3-run HR (17) in the 7^th. Jeff Pico (1-5) got his first win of the year, and his 2^nd career win. Sax, Surhoff and O'Brien, the 1-3 hitters, combined to go 7-13. Yet barely any production from anyone else.


8/2 8-4 W over the Braves
The Braves still knocked 12 hits off of LA pitching, which is still not up to standard. Down 3-1, LA took the lead with a 3 run 5^th. Tony Phillips hit #11 in the 2^nd, and Fred Lynn hit #27^th in the 8^th. Sax, Knight and Lynn batted 1-3 and they combined to go 8-12, with 6 RBI's and 5 runs. The rest of the team combined for 4 hits. Kelly Downs (9-8) got the win, but not because he had a good game. Don Robinson lowered his ERA to 6.59.


8/3 6-2 L to the Reds
Important game, and Valenzuela (12-7) can't handle the power of the Reds. LA got 10 hits, but struck out 10 times against Browning (12-7). Pete O'Brien homered (19) in the 6^th that tied the game, but the Reds got a 3-run shot from Eric Davis in the bottom of the inning. That was that. Scioscia, O'Brien, and Knight all had 2 hits.


Mike Schmidt got his 2000^th hit as a member of the Yankees.


8/4 6-4 W over the Reds
We get one back. Tanana (9-7) true to form served up another gopher ball, but pitched well enough to go 8 innings and leave with the win. We faced off against former Dodger, Ted Power (9-8) Phillips homered (12) in the 2^nd to give us a 3-2 lead, and after the Reds tied it in the 3^rd, Pete O'Brien homered again (20) to put LA up for good. Franco pitched the 9^th for his 17^th save. Ron Kittle has 5 HR's in 7 games and 27 at bats for the Rangers. He's got 20 in 168 at bats on the year.


Rickey was activated from the DL. To make room, Chuck Jackson was optioned back to Albuquerque. LA has seriously struggled without him.


8/5 8-5 L to the Reds
Are the Reds our new nemesis? Are they the best in the West now? Maybe so. Denny (11-9) was touched for 5 in the first, and even Reds starter Jack Morris (1) homered off of him in the 4^th for his first career HR. LA slowly dug out of the hole. Dravecky made his LA debut with 2 scoreless innings. LA cut the lead to 6-3 in a Sax triple in the 6^th, then 6-4 in the 7^th. Fucking Eric Davis homered in the 3^rd game in a row (29) to keep that lead open. Incaviglia finally got his first HR since his DL return (22), but it was too little, too late. The big news should have been Rickey's leadoff double in the first and his 3-4 game, but it was overshadowed by everything else.


LA has dropped down to 3^rd now. Three games behind the Reds.


8/7 5-1 W over the Braves
Rhoden (14-7) goes 3-4 with the bat, and goes the distance never giving the Braves a chance. Pete O'Brien also added a 3-4 game with a 2 RBI triple. He's batting .432 with 3 HR's in 9 games with LA. An offensive punch that the team is grateful to get from first base.


8/8 9-4 W over the Braves
LA has found the swing the last 2 night, blasting out 29 hits. Even Valenzuela helped out with his 2^nd HR of the year in the 2^nd inning. Valenzuela (13-7) allowed only 3 hits and struck out 8. Except they were all HR's and that totaled all 4 runs for the Braves. That lead to an early shower for Fernando, but the team picked him up. Inky went 3-5. Lynn, Phillips, Scioscia and Sax all had 2 hits each. Don Robinson lowered his ERA to 6.37.


8/9 6-2 W over the Braves
The hit machine quieted down some, but 7 and 8 hitters, Scioscia and Phillips went 3-6 with 4 RBI's. For the third game in a row the pitching came through. Downs (10-8) went the distance for the W.


8/10 7-3 W over the Reds
Fred Lynn goes 3-4 with 2 HR's (28,29) and 5 RBI's single handedly takes out the Reds. Rickey lead off the game with his `4^th HR to give us the lead. John Denny (12-9) became the third Dodger pitcher in a row to throw a complete game. This sudden pitching effort is really paying off in the win column. The West is a mess. The Astros are 9-1 in their last 10 and have matched our 4 game streak to claim the lead, with both the Reds and Dodgers .5 game back.


8/11 7-3 W over the Reds
LA scored 2 in the 4^th and 3 more in the 5^th when Lynn hit HR #30. Mike Scioscia went 3-3 and scored twice. He's been solid lately and his average is creeping closer to .300. LA has 5 starters with batting averages over .295. Tanana (10-7) pitched alright, but got tagged by both Tartabull (24) and Daniels (23). Typical Tanana. Don Robinson pitched a good 9^th to lower his ERA to 6.16.


Tom Burgmeier has been released, throwing 14 innings in 10 games, with a 5.79 ERA.


8/12 3-2 (11) L to the Reds
Mike Scioscia went 2-3 and hit his 5^th HR in the 7^th inning to give Rick Rhoden a lead. Rhoden went 8 and struck out 9 in a game he should have won. John Franco gave up a leadoff triple to Eric Davis and Davis scored on a Tartabull sac fly to blow it for the 2^nd time this year. Don Robinson (0-4) replaced him and he did great in the 10^th, but in the 11^th Ex Dodger Dusty Baker, who had subbed into right, smacked a single that scored Donnell Nixon. Gossage shut the Dodgers down for his 23^rd save. Robinson lowered his ERA to 6.06.


8/13 3-2 (10) W over the Reds
Valenzuela got the start and had major control problems. In 7 innings of work, he only allowed 3 hits, but walked 6 and struck out 10 along with a wild pitch. The upside was the batters didn't know where the ball was going either. Rickey went 2-3, stole a base, and knocked in the game tying RBI in the 5^th. Niendenfuer pitched 2 innings of relief and struck out 6 in a row. Franco pitched most of the 10^th, but left the game early, hurt. Dravecky (2-5) threw 1 pitch. In the bottom of the 10^th, Roy Smalley came off the bench and put the ball in the left field seats to walk off with a win (2).


It's bad for Franco. The word comes back almost immediately and the team announces the next day that Franco has a torn labrum in his shoulder. He's done for the year. Lasorda plans to use Robinson in closer duty. He's 3 of 3 on the year. The team promoted 7-year Dodger farmhand, Rafael Montalvo to the roster. Montalvo played his first year at AA this year, his highest level in his career. For San Antonio, he pitched 37 games, went 4-2, with 13 saves and a 1.85 ERA.


The team also parted ways with last year's first round pick, and top prospect Butch Henry. Henry went 2-6 with a 4.00 ERA in low rookie ball.


8/14 12-2 W over the Giants
Rickey started it all off with a lead off homer (15). He would finish 3-3 with 3 walks, 4 runs, and added another solo homer in the 9^th (16). Sax went 3-6 with his own 3-run HR (4) and Lynn homered too (31) in the first. LA walked 10 times against 6 strikeouts. Kelly Downs (11-8) pitched a complete game for the win. Rickey now has the highest HR total of any season for his career. He's also on pace to score 117 runs in 130 games if he stays healthy the rest of the way.


8/15 8-1 W over the Giants
The streaking Dodgers win again. Backed by a complete game victory for John Denny (13-9) the offense rolled up 13 hits. Sax lead off the game with a big triple, and Henderson knocked him in. Inky finally got a HR (23) and he went 3-4 with 3 RBI's in the game. Pete O'Brien also went 2-4 with his 21^st HR in the 3^rd inning and 3 RBI's.