Great moments in Dodger history Part 2 1980-2000

The Dodgers entered the 80's with the infield still intact, but the team was getting old. All but one of the starting 8, CF Rudy Law (23), were 31 or older. Six players who were reserves were also over 30 with the oldest being Manny Mota who appeared in 7 games for LA at age 42. Another 40-year-old was OF Vic Davalillo who was 40 and appeared in 7 games. Garvey, Cey and Baker all had 20-plus homers. Reggie Smith appeared in 92 games and hit .322. Four of the five starting pitchers were also 30 or older, only Bob Welch, 23, was in his 20's. They would get their second ROY in a row when Steve Howe, 22, won 7, lost 9 and had 17 saves. One of the season's highlights was a no-hitter by Jerry Ruess against the Giants in San Francisco on June 27th. He allowed just one baserunner in an 8-0 win. Bill Russell made an error with 2 outs in the first.

The next really critical moment's came in a 3-game season ending series against the first place Astros. LA was 3 games back in the standings. In the first game, Don Sutton battled Ken Forsch. Sutton gave up a run in the 2nd and another in the 8th. LA had scored a run in the 4th off of Forsch. Garvey drove in Monday with a double. In the bottom of the 8th, Monday got his 3rd hit a double, Law ran for him. After Baker and Garvey made outs, Cey singled driving in Law. Valenzuela, a 20-year-old rookie from Mexico, relieved Sutton. He pitched scoreless ball allowing 2 hits over the next 2 innings. Joe Ferguson, who had been reacquired by the Dodgers from Houston in July of 78, then led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk-off homer off of Forsch. LA was now 2 games back with 2 to play. Jerry Ruess, who was 17-6 at the time, faced off against Nolan Ryan who was 11-9. Garvey singled and scored on a single by Derrell Thomas in the 2nd. The Astros got a run on a single by Howe in the top of the 4th, scoring Joe Morgan. In the bottom of the 4th, Garvey hit his 26th homer, a lead off solo shot to left and that ended the scoring. Ryan pitched 7 innings allowing 6 hits, striking out 9 with no walks. Ruess threw a complete game striking out 7, walking 1 and allowing 7 hits, all singles. Game 3 featured Vern Ruhle against Burt Hooton. Neither pitcher made it past the 2nd inning. Hooton allowed 2 runs, 1 earned on 3 hits, a walk and his own error. Ruhle pitched 2 innings, allowing just 2 hits and no runs. He was replaced by Juaquin Andujar. Bobby Castillo replaced Hooton and pitched 4 innings allowing a run in the 4th on a double by Terry Puhl. In the bottom of the 5th, the Dodgers got one back off of Andujar when Lopes drove in Thomas. They got another in the 7th when Mota drove in Guererro against Joe Sambito. In the 8th, Frank LaCorte replaced Sambito and with 1 on and no outs, Cey slugged a 2-run homer, his 28th to deep left with Garvey aboard. Valenzuela, 2 innings, Howe 1.2 innings, and Sutton, .1 innings kept Houston scoreless and the teams were tied at the end of 162 games with 92-70 records. The next day, game 163 was played at Dodger Stadium. Dave Goltz against Joe Neikro. Goltz was charged with 4 runs in 3 innings on 8 hits, and 2 errors. Rick Sutcliffe would get one out and be charged with 3 runs. LA scored just 1 off of Niekro who pitched a complete game allowing 6 hits and just 1 run, which was unearned. Hoston advanced to the LCS to play the Phillies. Valenzuela won 2 games and made 10 appearances. He was destined to play a much bigger role in 81.

1981: I recently profiled this season. But here is a recap. It would be a strike shortened season split into two halves. The Dodgers won the West in the first half and the Astros in the second. The big story of the season was the performance of 20-year-old rookie, Fernando Valenzuela. Valenzuela, subbing for injured Jerry Ruess, pitched a 2-0 shutout on opening day. He went on to win 8 games in a row, 5 by shutout. He would finish the season 13-5 with a 2.48 ERA and 8 shutouts, that would win him the ROY and the Cy Young award. The only player in MLB history to win both in the same season. He was LA's third ROY in a row. He would go 3-1 in the playoffs and World Series as LA won all 3 for their 4th championship in LA. It was indeed the year of Fernandomania.

1982: The first member of the infield to leave the Dodgers was Davey Lopes, who was traded to the A's in the winter of 81. His replacement was Steve Sax. The Dodgers would end up losing the West by 1 game to the Braves. They went 19-10 in August and entered September with a 1.5 game lead. A 7-game winning streak put them up by 3.5 games on September 17th. They then lost 9 of their next 11 games to fall 1 game back of Atlanta. The Braves matched them over the last 3 games, and that is how the season ended. LA went 11-7 vs the Braves that year. Sax would win the ROY, LA's 4th in a row with a .82 BA, 49 steals. He had been moved from his original position, SS, to 2nd because of a really bad case of the yips.

1983: Two more members of the infield departed after the 82 season. Steve Garvey was allowed to leave via free agency and signed with the Padres. Ron Cey was traded to the Chicago Cubs. They were replaced by Greg Brock and Pedro Guererro. LA would win the West by 3 games over the Braves and then lose in 4 games in the LDS to the Phillies. Guererro was the hitting star with a .298/32/103 line. Sax stole 56 bases but was caught 30 times to lead the league. Valenzuela and Welch each won 15 games, and Howe had 18 saves.

1984: A lot of changes as the roster got younger. Baker left as a free agent and signed with the Giants. Mike Scioscia took over as the starting catcher, and Dave Anderson started most of the games at SS as Bill Russell was injured for part of the season. Candy Maldonado took over in right. Guererro was the only player to hit .300. But his power and RBI numbers dipped. LA finished in 4th place with a 79-83 record.

1985: The team had a new SS in Mariano Duncan, who had been signed out of the Dominican Republic. He would finish 3rd in the ROY voting. Anderson moved to 3rd and Guererro became the left fielder. He would hit .320/33/87 to lead the team. They won 93 games and finished 5.5 games in front of the Reds. 26-year-old RHSP, Orel Hershiser went 19-3 and led the NL in winning percentage, he finished 3rd in the Cy Young vote. Niedenfuer had 19 saves but gave up the game winning homers in games five and six in the LCS.

1986-87: These two seasons featured teams that finished with exactly the same 73-89 records. The 86-team finished 5th, and the 87-team 4th. One of the reasons the 86-team finished so bad was the injury to Pedro Gurerro in spring training. He got hurt on a slide into third and would play in just 31 games. The hitting star was Sax, who hit .322. Stubbs led the team with 23 homers. Valenzuela won 21 games to lead the league and had 20 complete games. He finished 2nd in the Cy Young. In 87, Guererro returned to form hitting .338/27/89 in what would turn out to be his last full season as a Dodger. Hershiser won 16 but also lost 16. He led the league in innings pitched with 264.2 and finished 3rd in the Cy Young despite that. Bill Russell, the last man standing from the infield, retired after the 86 season and became a coach.

1988: I also profiled this season recently, but I will recap what happened. In 1987, Campanis had made some statements during an interview that caused him to have to resign as GM, they were racial. Fred Claire took over as the GM. That winter, Fred went to work. He engineered a 3-team trade with the Mets and A's that brought Jay Howell, Alfredo Griffin and Jesse Orosco to the Dodgers. Bob Welch was the biggest name they traded. He signed OF, Mike Davis, a power hitter from the A's. Soon afterwards he signed Kirk Gibson, the Tigers slugging outfielder. But he stated that he signed Gibson for an attitude change. It worked. Gibson brought a football players mentality to the clubhouse. LA won the West with a 94-67 record. They then best the Mets who owned them in regular season winning 10 of 11 games. Two big homers won game four, a shot by Scioscia off of Gooden to tie it and Gibson's solo shot in the 12th for the win. Hershiser, who won 23 games and lost 8 during the regular season, plus throwing 8 shutouts, would win 1 and save 1 in the series. He would then win both his starts in the World Series against the A's. Gibson won the MVP award; Hershiser won both the NLCS and World Series MVP awards and the Cy Young in the NL. The series most memorable moment was Gibson's 2-run walk-off homer in the 9th off of Dennis Eckersley.

1989-1993: From 89 to 93, LA finished 4th, 2nd twice 6th and 4th. In 1990, Valenzuela pitched a no-hitter against the Cardinals in June at Dodger Stadium. It was the second no hitter pitched that day, the first one was by former Dodger, Dave Stewart. The score was 6-0 and Fernando allowed 3 baserunners. At the end of the game Vin said, "If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky". Stephen Nelson, the teams TV voice when Davis is working for Fox, said the same thing after Freddie's homer won game 1 of the 24 series, which was played shortly after Fernando passed away. The team finished just a game back in 1991, so it was a little shocking that they lost 99 games in 1992. Karros won the Roy that year. Kevin Gross pitched a no-hitter in August against the Giants, a 2-0 win. In 1993, Mike Piazza would win the ROY and set records for the most homers and RBIs by a rookie. Bellinger would set a new HR record for a rookie in the NL with 39.

1994: 1994 was a strike year. When the season was stopped on August 11th, the Dodgers were 3.5 games up on the Giants with a 58-56 record. When the two sides could not reach an agreement, the post season was cancelled. For the first time since 1904 there was no World Series. The impasse would last until the following year, and the 1995 season would start in late April and be a 144-game season. Raul Mondesi was the NL ROY unanimously, he hit .303 with 16 homers. LA's third ROY in a row.

1995: 95 may have been shortened, but there was plenty of drama and news from LA. They signed Japanese pitcher, Hideo Nomo to a contract. He would open the door for many of the Japanese players who followed. On the field, LA would win the division by 1 game over the Colorado Rockies, who were the surprise of the league. The Rockies had joined the NL in 1993. Nomo would win the ROY with a 13-6 record, and he led the league with 236 strikeouts. On July 14th, Ramon Martinez just missed a perfect game against the Marlins when he walked a hitter with 2 outs in the 8th inning. LA won the game 7-0. On June 3rd, His brother Pedro, now pitching for the Expos, had a perfect game through 9 innings but it was broken up on a leadoff single in the 10th. He won the game 1-0. No two brothers have pitched no-hitters except Bob and Ken Forsch, and never in the same season. They lost 3-0 to the Reds in the LDS.

1996: The major event that shaped the Dodgers season did not happen on the field. On June 23rd, LA beat the Astros 4-3. The next morning, Tommy Lasorda drove himself to the hospital complaining of stomach pain. In reality, he was having a heart attack. That win against the Astros would be the last MLB game Tommy would manage. He finished his career with 1599 wins. Bill Russell took over the team and they ended up finishing 2nd with a 90-72 record. They lost 3-0 to the Braves in the LDS. LA did have its 5th ROY when Todd Hollandsworth took home the trophy.

1997: For the second time in team history, the Dodgers had four players with 30 homers or more. Todd Zeile 31, Eric Karros 31, Raul Mondesi 30 and Mike Piazza 40. Piazza drove in 124 runs, Karros 104, Zeile 90 and Mondesi 87. They would finish 2nd, 2 games back of the Giants. 97 was also Bill Russell's only full season at the helm. Those four players hit 132 of the Dodgers 174 homers, so there was not much pop behind them. Piazza became the first catcher in MLB history to have 200 hits. He finished with 201. Nomo and Park won 14 games each. Behind the scenes, Peter O'Malley was in talks to sell the team, which he did in March off 1998 to Rupert Murdoch's Fox corporation. He stepped down from his club presidency to become Chairman of the Board, a post he would resign from after the season, Fox execs then took over that job. Piazza would be in his walk year in 98.

1998: Just prior to the start of the 98 season, the sale of the Dodgers to Fox Corp was finalized. By the end of April, the team was 14-12, 5 games out of first place. Behind the scenes, a small drama was being played out. Piazza had turned down what he considered a low-ball offer for his services. The rumor was that he wanted 105 million dollar for seven years. Supposedly the Dodgers offered 76 for six. Piazza blasted the team in the media, and Vin Scully in particular, when his demands were criticized by the fans and media. Without the knowledge of general manager, Fred Claire, the Fox execs worked out a trade with the Marlins that sent Piazza and Zeile to Florida for Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich and Manuel Barrios. That happened on May 15th and it shocked fans. Piazza's stay in Miami was short, he was there for five games and was shipped to the Mets for Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and minor leaguer Geoff Goetz. Mike would hit .328 with 32 homers and 111 RBIS, becoming the first major leaguer ever to hit 30 homers when appearing for 3 different teams. Meanwhile, the Dodgers kept floundering. On June 21st, after their 38th loss against just 36 wins, Bill Russell was fired and replaced by Glenn Hoffman. The team went 47-41 under Hoffman finishing 3rd, 9.5 games back of the Padres. Mondesi led the team with 30 homers and 90 driven in. Sheffield hit .316 in 90 games with 16 homers and 57 driven in. Sheffield was the only player in the trade who stayed with the team past 98. Bonilla, Eisenreich and Johnson were all gone in 1999. Park led the team with 15 wins. Lasorda was named interim GM in June and famously traded future star 1st baseman, Paul Konerko, and LHP Denys Reyes to the Reds on July 4th for closer Jeff Shaw. Konerko was later traded to the White Sox where he spent 16 years crushing 406 homers and driving in 1383 runs. I believe Konerko belongs in the Hall.

1999: The winds of change blew in Los Angeles that winter as Fox and Claire parted ways in 98 when Lasorda was the interim GM and Kevin Malone was hired as the GM. Malone famously said there was a new sheriff in town. His first hire was a new manager, Davey Johnson, the former Mets skipper took over. Johnson was traded and LA got Todd Hundley to take his place. Rookie Adrian Beltre took over at 3rd, the big signing was Kevin Brown, who got 105 million over 7 years. He became the first player to get a 100-million-dollar contract. In hindsight, the money would have been better spent on Piazza. Brown led the team with 18 wins, but the team finished under .500 at 77-85 in 3rd place.

2000: The new millennium started off with some more changes in players. Raul Mondesi was traded to the Blue Jays for Shawn Green. Alex Cora took over at SS. Sheffield hit .325/43/109, his 43 homers tied Duke Snider for the franchise high. Green hit .269/24/99 and Karros hit .250/31/106. Hundley 24, and Beltre 20 gave the Dodgers 5 players with 20 or more. Kevin Elster hit 14 in a reserve role. Park led the team with 18 wins, Brown 13 and Dreifort 12. Matt Herges won 11 pitching in relief, and Jeff Shaw had 31 saves. Did not matter, the team finished 2nd in the west, 11 games back of the Giants. The 2000's would see two different ownerships, several managerial changes, some records set, and a lot of great baseball, and some bad.