81- The first lasorda win.

At the end of the 1976 season, third base coach, Tommy Lasorda took over managing the Dodgers for the last four games of the season as long tenured Walter Alston had decided to retire. Since he first became manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954, Alston had signed 23 1-year contracts. His record as a manager, 2040-1613. A .548 winning percentage.

Alston had won Brooklyn's first title in 1955 and LA's first in 1959. His teams also won in 63-65. His teams won seven pennants and four championships. In those 23 years, they had a losing record just four times. He was ejected from 37 games in 23 years. He would be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1983. Known as "The Quiet Man", he rarely showed his emotions on the field, but he was strong as a bull and no player on the team would ever think to physically challenge him.

Thomas Charles Lasorda on the other hand, was a personality who was 190 degrees different than Alston. He was a rah-rah type of manager. He had a fiery temper and a penchant for cursing that would shock some people. He had more than one episode in his career where he was caught on tape with some verbal tirades.

Lasorda had been a pitcher in the Dodgers system for years. He had been signed in 1945 by the Phillies, who were close to his birthplace of Norristown Pa. The Dodgers drafted him in 198 from the Phils in the minor league draft. He pitched parts of 3 seasons in the majors, 26 games and a 0-4 record. He was much more successful in the minors, 134-104, he was 110-63 at the AAA level. After a 2-5 campaign at Montreal in 1960, he retired as a player and was hired by scouting director, Al Campanis as a scout for the Dodgers.

He did that until 1965. In 1966, the Dodgers sent him to manage the Pocatello Chiefs of the rookie league. He then moved on to Ogden and managed them for three seasons. To encourage confidence in his players, he had them write the Los Angeles Dodger who played their position and tell them they would be replacing them one day. In 1969, he took over the Dodgers AAA franchise in Spokane. He stayed with that team when they moved to Albuquerque and became the Dukes in 1972. His 72 Dukes won the PCL Championship. He also managed very successfully in the Latin-American winter leagues.

After the success of his 72 team, Tommy joined Alston's staff in LA as his bench coach. Lasorda was very familiar with many of the young Dodgers now making it to the majors, several had played for him at AAA. Garvey, Cey, Valentine among others. He was highly regarded as Alston's heir-apparent and turned down several managing offers. Finally, with four games left in the 76 season, Walter stepped down and Tommy was made the interim manager. He went 2-2 and, in the winter, was signed as the Dodgers new skipper.

Most of us know, LA won back-to-back NL titles his first two seasons and lost both World Series. 79 was a down year as they finished under .500, but they had their first of four consecutive Rookies of the Year as Rick Sutcliffe took home the award. In 1980, they rallied the last three games of the season to tie Houston for the Division title, and forced game 163, which they lost behind Dave Goltz, one of their least productive free agent signings. Steve Howe won the ROY.

And a child shall lead them: Vin Scully would say that at the end of the 81 season. 1981. MLB had some labor issues that would eventually suspend the season for a while. The Dodgers had three front line starters in Jerry Ruess, Burt Hooton and Bob Welch. Goltz was supposed to be the #4, but circumstances would change. Ruess was scheduled to open the season against Houston at Dodger Stadium. But Jerry was injured just 24 hours before the game would start. In a surprise move, Lasorda named 20-year-old lefthander, Fernando Valenzuela as the starter. Valenzuela had come up at the end of the 80 season, pitched 17.2 innings of scoreless relief, and earned 2 wins and a save.

He pitched a 2-0 shutout over the Astros on opening day, the first ever Dodger rookie to do so. Valenzuela had one of the hottest starts in MLB history, 8-0, 7 complete games, 5 shutouts and an ERA of 0.50. Fernandomania was born. The infield was still intact, but this would be their last hurrah as after the season, Lopes would be dealt elsewhere.

Baker led the team with a .320 BA, Guererro hit .300 and Rick Monday hit .315 in 66 games as the 4th outfielder. Cey led the team with 13 homers, Guererro 12, Monday 11 and Garvey hit 10. They hit .262 as a team and had 82 homers scoring 450 runs. Valenzuela had 13 wins, Hooton 11, Reuss 10, and Welch won 9. Howe had 8 saves, Stewart 6 and Bobby Castillo had 5.

When the players went out on strike on June 12th, the Dodgers were 36-21 in first place in the west by one-half game. The Reds were second. Negotiations dragged on through the rest of June and into July. When an agreement was finally reached to re-start the season on August 10th, it was decided that there would be two winners, a first half winner and a second half winner. In the second half, LA was one game over .500 at 27-26. Houston with 33 wins edged the Reds by two games. Although the Reds had the best overall record, 66-42, they did not make the playoffs.

So, the Dodgers had to face the other half winner, the Astros, in a five game NLDS. Games 1 & 2 were in Houston, games 3-4-5 in Los Angeles. Ryan started game 1 for Houston against Valenzuela. Through 8 innings it was a 1-1 tie. Ryan retired LA in the 9th and Dave Stewart replaced Valenzuela. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, and one on, Stewart gave up a 2-run homer to C, Alan Ashby and Houston won 3-1. Jerry Reuss pitches 9 innings of shutout baseball, but Joe Neikro and then Dave Smith kept LA off of the board too. Steve Howe pitched a scoreless 10th and Smith did the same. Joe Sambito came in to pitch the 11th and gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs. Stewart again relieved for the bottom of the 11th. He gave up 2 hits and was pulled. Forster got one out and was pulled for Tom Neidenfuer. Neidenfuer got one out, walked a batter to load the bases and then gave up a game winning PH single to Denny Walling. LA headed home down 2-0.

Back in LA, Hooton got the start in game 3. Bob Knepper started for Houston. LA immediately jumped on Knepper for three runs in the bottom of the first. The big blow, a 2-run homer by Garvey with 1 out. Hooton cruised giving up just 1 run through 7 innings, a solo shot by Art Howe in the 3rd. In the bottom of the 8th, LA tacked on 3 more runs for a 6-1 lead off of Joe Sambito. Howe and Welch closed out the win with 2 hitless innings.

It was Vern Ruhle vs Valenzuela in game four. Both would go the distance. LA scored on a Guererro homer in the 5th and Russell drove home Garvey with a single in the 7th. Valenzuela held Houston scoreless until the 9th when the Astros got a run on a double by Puhl and RBI single from Tony Scott with 2 outs. Fernando got the third out and the series was tied 2-2.

Game five had Ryan against Reuss. It was a pitcher's duel for 5 innings. Then in the 6th, Landreaux flied out. Baker then walked and Garvey singled. Monday singled scoring Baker. Guererro made an out and then Scioscia singled scoring Garvey. Russell hit a grounder that got past Howe scoring Monday. Reuss made the last out. In the 7th, Smith gave up a single to Lopes and was replaced by LaCorte. With 2 outs, Garvey tripled driving in Lopes with the 4th and final run. Reuss pitch a shutout on 5 hits, 3 walks and 4 Ks and the Dodgers advanced to the LCS to face Montreal.

The NLCS in 1981 would be a five-game series. This time the Expos would have the home field advantage. The Dodgers had won 63 games and the Expos 60. The Expos had some very good players including 2 who are in the Hall of Fame, C Gary Carter and Andre Dawson. Between those two they hit 40 of the Expos 81 homers. The pitching was solid with staff ace, Steve Rogers, a 12-game winner. They had the league's top base stealer in Tim Raines who stole 71 bases and would finish 2nd in the ROY to Fernando. The had a solid bullpen led by Fryman and Jeff Reardon.

Game one in LA had Hooton against Bill Gullickson. Hooton went 7.1 giving up 6 hits and 3 walks but no runs. Welch went .2 innings giving up 2 hits and a run. Howe pitched the 9th giving up just a hit. LA meanwhile tagged Gullickson for 5 hits and 2 runs, both coming in the second inning. In the bottom of the 8th, LA scored 3 off of Reardon on a 2-run shot by Guererro and a solo blast by Scioscia. The 5-1 final put the Dodger up 1-0. On paper, game 2 looked like a mismatch, with Valenzuela facing Ray Burris. Burris though totally shut down the Dodgers. He allowed just 5 singles and both of LA's threats were ended on double-plays. Montreal managed to score 3 off of Fernado in his 6 innings for the 3-0 final. The headed to Montreal tied 1-1.

Ace Steve Rogers started game four. LA scored first in the 4th on a Cey groundout. It looked like Reuss might make that 1-0 lead hole up. But in the 6th, Parrish singled in the tying run and then Jerry White hit a 3-run homer and Montreal won 4-1. Now only one game from their first World Series. Game 4 was Gullickson vs Hooton. Both pitchers allowed just 1 run through 7 innings. In the 8th, Garvey hit a 2-run homer chasing Gullickson. LA tacked on 4 more in the 9th off of Fryman for the 7-1 win.

Game five was delayed a day due to bad weather. Valenzuela faced Burris again. Raines double in the first and then him scoring on a double-play had Montreal up 1-0. The Dodgers tied it in the fifth on a single by Monday, another single by Guererro and eventually scored on a groundout by Valenzuela. Burris left the game in the 8th when the Expos PH for him. Rogers came in to pitch the 9th. With two outs, and the count 3-1 to Monday, he hit a homer to dead center for a 2-1 LA lead. Valenzuela gave up a couple of walks in the 9th, but Welch came in for the final out and LA headed to the World Series against the Yankees. It would be the last postseason game ever played in Montreal. The next time the franchise would appear in a postseason game would be 31 years later as the Washington Nationals.

1981 World Series: New York Yankees Vs Los Angeles Dodgers

For the third time since he took over as manager, Lasorda's Dodgers would face the Yankees in the series. Bob Lemon was in his second stint as the Yankees manager having replaced Gene Michael. The Yankees had added slugger Dave Winfield to their roster on a 10-year 21-million-dollar contract. Along with Reggie, Greg Nettles, Bob Watson and 4th outfielder Oscar Gamble, they had some serious power. Ron Guidry, Tommy John and Dave Righetti were the main starters with Gossage coming out of the pen.

Game one: Guidry faced Reuss and it was over almost as soon as it began. Watson hit a 3-run homer in the first, the Yanks chased Reuss on a single by Pinella in the 3rd. Castillo walked four in the fourth for the fifth Yankee run. Yeager hit a solo homer off of Guidry in the fifth. Ron Davis relieved Guidry in the 8th and gave up two walks. Gossage relieved Davis and gave up an RBI pinch hit single to Jay Johnstone. Baker then hit a sac-fly for the second run. Gossage closed out the game and the Yanks had a 5-3 win. Nettles suffered a hairline fracture of his thumb. He played games 2 and 6, but missed all three games in LA.

Game two: John Vs Hooton. Old teammates faced off in a pitcher's duel. The Yankees pushed across a run in the 5th when Milbourne doubled in Randolph. Hooton pitched 6 innings and the Yankees scored 2 off of Howe in the 8th. John went 7 shutout innings, and Gossage closed it out for the 3-0 win. The teams headed to LA with the Yankees holding a 2-0 lead.

Game three: Valenzuela Vs Righetti. For the third game in a row, LA faced another Yankees lefty starter. Fernando made his first World Series appearance before a crowd of 56, 236 at Dodger Stadium. Lemon sat Reggie Jackson for game three. He was medically cleared to play since he had missed games 1&2 due to an injury. Lemon decided to sit him because LA was starting a lefty.

Valenzuela was not at the top of his form. He would be in trouble pretty much the entire game. He gave up two walks in the first but got out of the jam. LA pounced on Righetti in the bottom of the first capped by a Cey 3-run homer for a 3-0 lead. Watson homered and Milbourne singled in a run in the second to make it 3-2. Valenzuela stranded two runners that frame. NY took the lead in the third on a 2-run shot by C, Rick Cerone. The DH was not being used in this series, so that helped LA some since Yankee pitchers had to hit. In the third and fifth innings, Fernando walked the #8 hitters to get to the pitcher and struck them out both times. The Dodgers scored 2 in the fifth on a double by Guererro to score Garvey and then Cey scored on a double-play grounder by Scioscia. Scioscia then took over at catcher and it calmed Fernando down. Scioscia spoke Spanish and was better able to communicate with him than Yeager. The Yankees mounted one last threat in the 8th that ended when Murcer bunted in the air, and Cey caught the ball and doubled up Milbourne at first.

Game four: This game was a nail-biter. Neither starter would last long. Welch started for the Dodgers and did not record a single out, 3 hits, a walk and 2 earned runs and he was replaced by Dave Goltz. Goltz got out of the inning without any more damage. By the top of the third, Goltz had given up two more runs, one on a solo shot by Randolph and the other on a Cerone single. LA came up in the third down 4-0. Yankees starter, Rick Rueschel, ran into trouble in the bottom of the third. Lopes had an RBI single and another run scored on a Cey groundout. Now it was 4-2. May had relieved Rueschel in the 4th. He allowed a run in the 5th on a Garvey double and Cey's RBI single. In the top of the 6th, the Yankees made it 6-3 scoring 2 runs off of Tom Neidenfuer. Davis took over from May and immediately ran into trouble. With one out, he walked Scioscia and then gave up a 2-rin PH homer to Johnstone. Lopes then hit a fly ball to right that Jackson lost in the sun and dropped for an error with Lopes heading to second. He then stole third. Russell then singled him in for the tying run. Howe pitched a scoreless top of the 7th. George Frazier took over for the Yanks in the 7th. Baker got an infield single and then went to third when a line drive to center was missed by Bobby Brown when he tried to make a shoestring catch and Monday had a double. They walked Guererro intentionally and Lemon brought in John instead of Gossage to face Scioscia. Lasorda countered with Yeager who hit a sac-fly scoring Baker and sending Monday to third. Lopes infield single brought in Monday making it 8-6. John would strand Guererro and finish the game. Gossage never appeared. Reggie hit a solo shot off of Howe in the 8th, but that was it. LA won 8-7 and tied the series.

Game five: The game one starter's faced off again. The Yankees stuck first in the second on a double by Jackson. 1-0. As bad as he was in game one, Reuss was more like himself in this one. After the second, the Yankees never mounted a serious threat. Guidry was cruising pitching a shutout through 6. In the 7th, Guidry got Baker for the first out. as he returned to the dugout, Baker was seen talking to Pedro Guererro, the next hitter. Guererro then hit a homer off of Guidry to left center field. Yeager followed Guererro with another homer to almost exactly the same spot. LA now led 2-1. What had Baker said? He told both hitters to move up slightly in the batter box so they could catch that late breaking slider before the break. It worked. A scary moment occurred in the 8th when Gossage beaned Cey and he had to be removed from the game. He would be cleared to play game six since it was delayed a day by rain.

Game six: Due to the rain delay, the game was played on October 28th, making the latest ending series since 1911 which ended on October 26th. Tommy John against Burt Hooton. Randolph hit a solo shot in the 3rd giving NY a 1-0 lead. LA tied it in the 4th on a single by Yeager. In the bottom of the 4th, Lemon made a very controversial decision. Nettles doubled leading off the inning. Hooton got the next two outs and then walked Milbourne to get to John. No DH remember? Murcer pinch hitting, then flied out to end the inning. John was seen pacing the dugout after being pulled. George Frazier then started the fifth and things immediately went south. He gave up an RBI single to Cey and a two-run triple to Guererro. He would become the first pitcher to lose three times in a best of seven series, and the second pitcher to lose three times in any series. The first was Lefty Williams of the White Sox in the 1919 series. It was no better for Ron Davis in the sixth. With one out he walked Hooton and Lopes. Russell hit a short liner to left, Hooton unexpectedly headed home, Winfield slipped on the wet grass and uncorked an errant throw, with Hooton scoring standing up. Rueschel replaced Davis. Lopes and Russell pulled off a double steal, and Rueschel walked Garvey intentionally. Thomas hit into an RBI force out. Baker reached on an error by Nettles. Guererro then hit a 2-run single. The Yankees got one back in the bottom of the inning. Guererro capped the win with a solo shot in the 8th and LA won 9-3 for their 4th title in Los Angeles. Guererro, Cey and Yeager were named Co-MVPs. In 2001, Schilling and Johnson tied for the award for the D-Backs.

This series was the last games played for the Yankees by Reggie Jackson. Winfield had been signed by Steinbrenner as his replacement since his 5-year-deal was finished. Reggie would sign with the Angels and spend five seasons there before signing with A's in 87 and finishing his career there. Lemon would be replaced 14 games into the 82 season and never manage again. Davey Lopes was traded to the A's for Lance Hudson after the season and replaced in 82 by Steve Sax. Sax would be the 82 ROY giving LA four in a row. Sutcliffe, Howe, Valenzuela and Sax. The only member of the infield who played his entire career in LA would be Bill Russell. Garvey would leave as a free agent, and Cey was eventually traded to the Cubs. Tommy had his first taste of the fruits of victory. He would taste them again, but with an entirely different type of team. LA held Winfield to 1 hit in the series. Garvey led all Dodger hitters with a .417 BA on 10 hits, he scored 3 runs but did not drive in a single run.