Dagger to the Heart

At the request of one of our readers, I shall endeavor to bring back some not so good, and some good moments in Dodger history, the close, but not close enough games, and the ones where we snatched victory from defeat. And we will go back a few years to do so, and bring back some good, and not-so-good memories.

The Dodgers won pennants in 1916 and 1920. They played Babe Ruth’s Red Sox in 16, and the Cleveland Indians in 20. They lost both series but were never really close to clinching in any of the games. Memorable moments were the beginning of Ruth’s world series record scoreless inning streak, and an unassisted triple play pulled off by Indians’ second baseman, Bill Wambsganss. That happened in Cleveland’s 8-1 win in game 5. They won the series 5-2. For the next 21 years, Brooklyn was mostly a second-division team. They at times had good players, but not very good teams.

In 1941, led by Leo Durocher and their star CF, Pete Reiser, they won the pennant by 2 1/2 games over the Cardinals. The Yankees won the series 4-1, but there was a very pivotal play in game 4. With 2 outs in the 9th, no one on base, Hugh Casey threw a pitch that Tommy Henrich swung at and missed, but the ball got by Mickey Owen the catcher and opened the door for the Yanks who capitalized and scored 4 9th inning runs and won 7-4. Had that not happened the Series would have been tied. Instead, the Yankees were up 3-1 and ended the series the next game.

In 1946, the Dodgers tied the Cardinals for the pennant, and the first-ever playoff was held. They had lost 4-0 to the Braves on the last day of the regular season, had they won that game, they would have won the pennant by 1/2 game. They had a tie, and they ended up playing 157 games including the 2 playoff games. They lost both, and the Cardinals went to the series.

The first dagger to the heart came in game 155 in 1950. Playing Philadelphia’s Whiz Kids, the Dodgers were a game back, playing the Phil’s at Ebbets Field. Robin Roberts against Don Newcombe. The teams battled for 9 innings to a 1-1 tie. In the top of the 10th, the Phil’s got 2 runners on. With 1 out, Dick Sisler, son of Hall of Famer, George Sisler, hit a 3 run shot over the left-field wall to put the Phillies up 4-1. Brooklyn had no answer in the bottom of the 10th, and the Phillies went to their first Series. They would be swept by the Yankees.

1951, Dodgers cruising. On August 11th, the Dodgers were ahead of the second-place Giants by 13 games. What happened after that led to the playoffs against the Giants. New York got red hot. The Dodgers would go 26-22 over their last 48 games. The Giants caught them on September 28th when they lost to the Phillies, then they won the last 2 games of the year, but so did the Giants.

Game 1 of the playoffs was at Ebbets Field and the Dodgers lost behind Ralph Branca 3-1. Of note was a 4th inning 2 run HR he gave up to Giants 3rd baseman, Bobby Thompson. Game 2 at the Polo Grounds was not even close as Brooklyn clubbed the Giants 10-0 behind Labine. Game 3 at the Polo Grounds, Brooklyn scored in the first and the Giants tied it in the bottom of the 7th. In the 8th, the Dodgers scored 3 runs off of Sal Maglie. Newcombe got the Giants out in the 8th. The Dodgers went down without a run in the 9th, and the Giants came to bat.

The Giants quickly got a runner on, Alvin Dark. The Dodgers, were not playing for the double play, and Don Mueller singled to right.. Irvin made an out, then Whitey Lockman doubled off the wall sending Mueller to 3rd and scoring Dark. Mueller when he slid, hurt his ankle, and Clint Hartung ran for him. Dressen went out and pulled Newcombe from the game. He had two pitchers warming up, Carl Erskine and Ralph Branca. Both pitchers were ready, but Erskine had just bounced a curve in the dirt, so Dressen opted for Branca. Willie Mays was the on-deck hitter and had struck out 3 times against Branca in game 1. But Dressen opted for Branca to pitch to Thompson. Branca’s first pitch was a strike. Then he threw a fastball on the inner half that Thompson sent over the short left-field wall winning the pennant for the Giants. It was a dark day in Flatbush.

In 52 and 53 they went to the series losing both times to the Yankees. But the 52 series was not without drama. In Game 7, the Yanks were leading 4-2 in the 7th inning. The Dodgers loaded the bases with one out. Stengel replaced Vic Raschi with lefty Bob Kuzava. Kuzava got Snider out. Two outs Jackie Robinson at the plate. The runners took off and Robinson hit a pop up to the right of the mound, Kuzava hesitated, but Billy Martin charged in hard from his position at 2nd base and caught the ball at his shoe tops. Had it dropped, the game would have either been tied or all 3 runners would have scored. Kuzava then shut the Dodgers down in the 8th and 9th and the Yankees won their 4th series in a row. They would do it again in 53 for 5 straight.

The biggest moment in 1955 came in game 7 of the World Series, and it was not a hit, but a fielding gem that saved the day. In the 6th inning, the Yankees had 2 runners on base with one out. Yogi Berra was the hitter. Yogi slashed a ball down the left-field line at Yankee Stadium. It looked like a sure double, but Sandy Amoros, who had replaced Jim Gilliam in left field raced over stuck out his glove, and caught the ball. He then turned and fired the ball to Pee Wee Reese who relayed it to Gil Hodges and Hodges tagged Gil McDougald out before he could get back to first.

3 innings later, Elston Howard grounded a ball to Pee Wee who threw him out and the Dodgers won 2-0 behind Podres. Thus earning their first World title. Hodges drove in both runs with a single and a sac fly. The next season they would win the pennant again. But their time in Brooklyn was winding down. Unable to get a new stadium built in Brooklyn, owner Walter O’Malley moved the team west after the 1957 season. Major league baseball on the west coast began.

1958 was a down season. They would finish 7th. The team was getting old. Jackie had retired, Campy was paralyzed in a car accident in January. Snider, Hodges, Gilliam, Reese, Erskine were all still there. Newcombe was not the same guy, and he would be traded to the Reds. There was some new blood coming, but they were not much help. And they played in a converted football stadium, so the dimensions were crazy. 251 feet to the left-field screen which was 30 feet high. The right-field fence was 390 away, bad news for Snider. Centerfield was about 410.

If they were going to contend in 1959, they would need an influx of new talent. They got some solid years from their vets, and contributions from a couple of players acquired in trade, most notably, Wally Moon. Maury Wills took over at SS mid-season. Reese had retired, and Zimmer was playing very badly. At the end of the season, they were tied with the 58 pennant winner, the Milwaukee Braves. So for the third time in their history, there would be a playoff. Game 1 was in Milwaukee and they won 3-2 with Larry Sherry getting the win. Game 2 was at the coliseum.

The Braves were leading 5-2 going into the 9th. But the Dodgers got off of the mat and tied the game with 3 in the 9th. Stan Williams came in and pitched the 10th, 11th, and 12th innings allowing only 3 walks. In the bottom of the 12, Bob Rush, the Braves pitcher got 2 quick outs. But then he walked Hodges and Pignatano singled. Carl Furillo came to the plate. He had entered the game earlier and was playing right field. Furillo hit a grounder up the middle that was fielded by Braves SS, Felix Mantilla. Mantilla hurried his throw to first, but it sailed past Adcock and Hodges scored from second sending the Dodgers to their first series in LA. Furillo was credited with a single and an RBI.

We have discussed the events of 1962 numerous times, so I will not rehash them again. Needless to say, another heartbreaking playoff loss. 63 and 65 Championship years, 66 a pennant winner, but no drama at all in the Series as they get swept.

A few down years followed. Koufax and Big D retired, all of the former Brooklyn players were gone. New GM after Bavasi left for San Diego. New kids in the system. And the draft in 68 would yield a ton of future stars. From 67-69 the team finished in the second division. In 1970, they finished 2nd, 14.5 games out. In 1971, they finished 1 game back of the Giants. They won 5 of their last 6 but only picked up 1 of the 2 games they needed to tie the Giants.

They finished second again in 72 and 73 before cracking through and winning the Division and the Pennant in 1974. They beat the Pirates 3 games to 1 in the playoffs, and of course, lost the series to the A’s 4 games to 1. 1975 and 76 belonged to the Big Red Machine and the closest they got was a 10 game deficit in 1976.

Alston retired, Lasorda took over, and for the next 2 years, the NL West was their domain. They won 193 games and lost 131 in those 2 seasons. Beating the Reds by 10 games in 77 and 2.5 in 78. In 1979, they finished 3rd, 11.5 games back.

In 1980, Houston led for most of the year. Houston came into LA with a 3 game lead and 3 to play. On the 3rd of October, they went into extra innings and Joe Ferguson hit a walk-off HR with no outs off of Ken Forsch. Valenzuela, a rookie, got the win. The next day, Jerry Ruess pitched a complete game 7 hitter winning 2-1. That set the stage for game 3. The Dodgers had to rally from 3 runs down, and took the lead on Ron Cey’s 2 run blast off of Frank LaCorte in the bottom of the 8th. Steve Howe got the win, but Don Sutton got a save pitching 1/3rd of an inning and the teams were tied. A one-game playoff on Monday, the 6th of October would settle the issue.

The Astros scored 2 before the seats were warm. Dave Goltz, the starter gave up 4, and Rick Sutcliffe 3 more, and the game was basically over by the 5th inning. LA managed one run off of 20 game-winner, Joe Niekro, yeah, Phil’s kid brother.

In strike-shortened 81, the Dodgers had a win against Montreal in the NLCS that was won on a late HR by Rick Monday. They lost the first two games of the 81 series in New York, but won the next 3 in LA, all by one run. Valenzuela won 5-4 with a complete game, then 8-7 with Howe getting the win in relief. Jay Johnstone hit a clutch 2 run HR off of George Frazier to tie the game, they got 2 more off Frazier in the 7th. Jackson hit a solo shot off of Howe in the 8th, but that was it. In Game 5, Jerry Ruess pitched a complete game 5 hitter to beat Louisiana Lightning, Ron Guidry. Both the Dodgers runs were on solo shots, first Guererro, then Steve Yeager’s solo shot was the game-winner. Back in New York, they blasted the Yanks 9-2 for the series win and their 4th title in Los Angeles.

In 1982, they were neck and neck with the Braves, who were still in the West at that time. 1 game back in game 162. They had beaten the Braves and then won 2 against the Giants to get to that point. Since the game was on the West coast, they knew early in the game that the Braves had lost. A win would force a playoff. Bill Laskey started for the Giants, and Fernando went for LA. Fernando allowed 2 runs on 2 hits, striking out 9 but walking 5. Laskey allowed 2 runs on 6 hits, striking out 2 with no walks. The big blow against him was Cey’s 24th HR, a 2 run shot in the 2nd inning.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, Tom Neidenfuer came in for LA. He got one out but allowed 2 hits. Terry Forster came out of the pen, he got his first hitter, then former Reds star, Joe Morgan came to the plate. 2 outs, Forster hung one and Morgan hit it over the RF fence to put the Giants up 5-2. The Dodgers scored 1 more in the 8th, but the Giants had knocked them out of the race.

In 1983 and 1985 they would win the division again, only to lose in the NLCS. First to the Phillies in 83, 3-1. And then a really heartbreaking loss to St Louis in 1985. They won the first two games fairly easily and then lost the next 3 in St. Louis. Game 5 on a walk-off by Ozzie Smith of all people. Then in game 6 in LA, Tommy Lasorda, sticking with Neidenfuer, who had surrendered the Smith blast, chose to pitch to former Giant, and now Cardinal slugger, Jack Clark. The Dodgers were up 5-4. There was an open base, and Andy Van Slyke was on deck. He was also 0-4 in the game at the time. Needless to say, Clark ripped one deep into the left-field seats and the Cardinals won 7-5. Even years later Lasorda would say he would have still pitched to Clark. Me, I would have walked him. He was the one guy you did not want to beat you. It was Clark’s only HR of the series, and he was hitting .381 for the series at the time. Van Slyke was hitting .091.

In 1988, they signed Kirk Gibson as a free agent, and he would go on to have an MVP season. They got great pitching from Orel Hershiser, who won the Cy Young with a 23-8 record. Facing the Mets in the playoffs, it seemed a mismatch. The Mets owned the Dodgers during the season going 10-1 against them. They had Ron Darling, David Cone, Sid Fernandez, and Doc Gooden in their rotation.

They split the first two games in LA. And the Mets won game 3, scoring 5 runs in the 8th to erase a 4-3 lead. Game 4 was started by Doc Gooden. The Dodgers countered with mid-season pick-up, John Tudor. Tudor allowed 4 runs in 5 innings giving up 2 HRs. John Shelby had driven in 2 Dodger runs in the first. Leading 4-2 going into the 9th, Gooden went back out to the mound. Shelby singled, bringing up Mike Scioscia. Scioscia connected for a game-tying HR to deep RF and after getting the next hitter, Gooden was out of the game.

Randy Myers pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless ball and was replaced in the 11th by Roger McDowell. Alejandro Pena pitched the 9th, 10th, and 11th innings not allowing a run. After getting the first two outs, McDowell served up a pitch that Gibson blasted into the Right center field seats and LA led 5-4. Tim Leary came in to pitch the 12th. He got one out, but gave up 2 hits. With the Mets threatening, Orosco came in and got an out. Lasorda then went to his ace, and Orel Hershiser got the last out for a save.

They won game 5, 7-4 behind Belcher. Lost game 6, 5-1 and won game 7, 6-0 behind Hershiser to advance to the Series. We all remember what happened in game 1. Gibson’s walk-off shot against Eckersley. It would be their last World Series for many years.

In 1991, they would finish 1 game back of the Braves. They lost 3 of their last 5 games to finish 1 back after leading by 1 on the 1st of October. After two bad seasons, they were leading the NL West when the strike came in 1994. At that time they were in the midst of their run of 5 straight Rookies of the Year. In another truncated season after the strike was settled, they finished 1st but were knocked out in the NLDS 3-0. In 1996, Lasorda was replaced as Manager mid-season after a heart attack and Bill Russell took over. They lost the NLDS again to the Reds in 3 games.

The managerial carousel started in 1998. Russell was let go and Hoffman took over in the interim. FOX now owned the team and traded Piazza. Davey Johnson took over as the skipper in 99 and Kevin Malone became the new GM. But the results were not good. After 2 years of Johnson, Jim Tracy took over in 2001 and Dave Wallace became the GM. They finished 3rd in 01, 3rd in 02, and 2nd in 03, but they were 15.5 games out. No drama there. Finally, in 2004 they returned to the playoffs winning the West by 2 games. There was some drama though. They were trailing the Giants, 3-0 in the next to last game of the season. In the bottom of the 9th, they scored 7 runs to pull 3 games ahead and clinch the division. Steve Finley, a mid-season pickup hit a walk-off Grand Slam to win it. Again they were punched out in the NLDS 3-1 by the Cardinals. They also had a new owner, one LA fans would come to despise, Frank McCourt.

In 2006 they made the playoffs via the wild card. Grady Little was the new manager, and Ned Colletti had become the GM. Some new blood was filtering into the system and players who would have an impact were being signed and traded for. They got beat again, this time by the Mets, 3-0.

2007 they could not repeat as division champs and after the season, Joe Torre became the manager. In 2008 they won the division, mainly because of a mid-season trade that brought slugger Manny Ramirez to LA. Mannywood became a “THING” and his explosive bat helped LA win. They beat the Cubs in the NLDS and then faced the Phillies in the NLCS. Down 2 games to 1, they were ahead in game 4 in LA, 5-3 going into the 8th. The Phillies scored 4 to take the lead, the last 2 on a 2 run shot by PH Matt Stairs off of Broxton. It was his only at-bat in the series. The next day they lost 5-1 and the series was over.

In 09 they won the division again, and lost to the Phils in the NLCS 4-1 again. 10, 11, and 12 they finished 4th, 3rd, and 2nd. Mattingly had become the manager in 2011. In 2013, they started the run they have been on for the last 8 years, There have been some bumps in the road, a couple of daggers to the heart. Losing Ramirez in the playoffs after being hit by Joe Kelly in 13, Matt Adams 3 run shot off of Kershaw in game 4 of the NLDS when he was cruising through 6 against the Cardinals. Murphy’s 6th inning solo shot in game 5 off Greinke giving the Mets the win.

But the last couple have been feel-good shots, Culberson’s walk-off in Scully’s last broadcast at Dodger Stadium. Walk offs on three straight days in 2019 against the Rockies by 3 rookies, Beaty, Verdugo, and Smith. Smith’s first career HR, a walk-off against the Phillies. Bellinger’s go-ahead and winning shot against the Braves in the NLCS, Kike’s game-tying shot the same game. And finally, Betts solo blast in game 6 of the World Series to put LA up 3-1 and help get them their ring after 30 plus years of waiting.

There you have it, some good and not-so-good endings. Over the years I have been able to see many. And I have seen all 7 of their championships. So that puts me way ahead of long-suffering Cubs fans.