Remembering 1992
Over the last several years, we Dodger fans have been very lucky to have a winning franchise. 8 consecutive division titles, 3 trips to the World Series, and a World Championship. Cy Young award winners, MVPs. A couple of ROY winners and a lot of exciting baseball. For most seasons, the Dodgers have been very successful in Los Angeles. Oh, there have been some losing seasons, like 1958, their first
Over the last several years, we Dodger fans have been very lucky to have a winning franchise. 8 consecutive division titles, 3 trips to the World Series, and a World Championship. Cy Young award winners, MVPs. A couple of ROY winners and a lot of exciting baseball. For most seasons, the Dodgers have been very successful in Los Angeles. Oh, there have been some losing seasons, like 1958, their first year after moving from Brooklyn. But that team was loaded with aging stars and players just passing through. But none of those losing seasons was as bad as 1992.
How can a team that had a lot of talented players on it lose 99 games? So far, no Dodger team in LA has ever lost 100. If you check the top 12 players from that year in WAR, 9 of them are pitchers. Only one was an everyday regular, Brett Butler who led the team with a 4.9 WAR. The other 2 position players? Mike Sharperson and Mitch Webster.
Sharperson was the utility guy, and Webster was the 5th outfielder. Or at least he was supposed to be. The team had the rookie, Eric Karros at 1st, Lenny Harris at 2nd, Jose Offerman at SS, and Dave Hansen as the starting 3rd baseman. The outfield consisted of… or was supposed to be, Eric Davis in LF. Butler in CF. and Darryl Strawberry in RF. Scioscia was the starting C. Things went south pretty fast. Davis played in 76 games but was nowhere near the All-Star caliber outfielder he was with the Reds. Strawberry only played in 43. And they lost him for the season when his drug addiction was discovered.
So others who filled the void were Webster, Henry Rodriguez, Billy Ashley, Kal Daniels, who only appeared in 35 games, Tom Goodwin and Stan Javier who they acquired in a trade. Webster got into 135 games and did a decent job. He also had duties as a pinch hitter. Todd Benzinger got into 121 games, but he did not hit much, and Sharperson, who was their version of Chris Taylor, played in 128 games. Sharpie and Butler were the only Dodgers to hit .300.
Butler led the team with a .309 avg. Carlos Hernandez was the backup catcher most of the season. He hit .260 with 3 HRs and 17 RBI’s. Scioscia, who was 33 and slowing down, hit .221with 3 and 24. Late in the year a kid came up for about 21 games but was not all that impressive. But 1993 would be his year to shine, Mike Piazza! Eric Young, Juan Samuel, Dave Anderson, and Rafael Bournigal all did time in the infield. None of them had very good years.
The starting pitchers were all in their 30’s except for Ramon Martinez and Pedro Astacio. Hershiser, Candiotti, Gross and Ojeda were the main guys. None of them had a plus .500 win record. Candiotti led the staff with 11 wins, and Orel added 10. None of the others had more than 8, and Astacio was 5-5. McDowell led the relief corps, if you could call it that. Corpse would be more like it. Only Gott and Candelaria had sub 3 ERA’s. Astacio had a 1.98 which led all the pitchers. Orel, Candiotti, Gross, Martinez and McDowell all lost in double figures with Candiotti and Hershiser both losing 15. McDowell had 14 saves, Gott 6, Candelaria 5 and Jay Howell had 4.
They had a team ERA of 3.41, which was 6th in the league. They Allowed 82 HR’s, but the offense only hit 72 which was lowest in the NL. They were towards the bottom of the league in most offensive categories. There was a young pitcher who got into a few games, he would become pretty famous after he left LA, Pedro Martinez.
The team had losing records against every opponent except the Padres, 9-9 and the Cubs, 6-6. They finished 35 games out, 9 behind the 5th place Giants. The Braves won the division by 8 games over the Reds. Surprisingly, they had one winning month, May when they went 13-10. After that, they were simply put, horrible. They actually were 13-14 in blowouts, games decided by 5 runs or more.
As bad as their offense was, I find it surprising that they won that many games by a margin of 5. On June 1st they were 23-23. They had just won 6 in a row. It was the last time they would be at .500. A 10 game losing streak from June 10th to the 21st pretty much finished any chances they had. There would be changes coming in 93. Strawberry was no longer a regular and was released in May. He then signed with the Giants. Davis played 104 games and was a little better than the prior season, but he would be traded to the Tigers for pitcher John De Silva on the 31st of August.
Piazza took over as the starting catcher and had a ROY season. Hitting .318 with 35 long balls and 112 driven in. The HR mark would stand as the most by a Dodger rookies until Bellinger beat it in 2017. The Dodgers struggled to a 81-81 mark that year, putting the bad taste of 1992 behind them. Fans have short memories when it comes to really bad years. About the only thing you will ever hear them mention about that season is Karros winning the ROY, as the first of 5 consecutive ROY winners for the team.
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Discussion (114)
Disagree, not disagreeable
For me right now there is no more confounding Dodger than AJ Pollock. His ABs are nearly unwatchable. He’s a complete “rollover” right now, almost never battling to get the count into a competitive count and swings wildly without a game plan at all. Sit his butt down Doc…………………please.
Stats suggest McKinstry and Pollock would make a good platoon.
I figured a long time ago that Lux and Pollock would be the weak links in the starting lineup.
One more strikeout and it’s free Jumbo Jack.
I agree with Mookie. BAD!
Ugh….. Lux botches it again.
Score tied.
Crap.
Bad managing by Doc so far in the series against the Marlins.
Just to give two examples Reed had no business pitching in a tight game today and Souza had no business starting yesterday.
And, according to Monday, Lux follows the physical error with a mental error, failing to get in proper position for a cutoff, thus allowing a hitter to get second. (Team game, of course, but Lux has also messed up reliever Jake Reed’s ML debut, too.)
Oh, Dylan Floro now warming up.
He’d probably like to beat his old team.
My ass puckered when that ball came off the bat from Alfaro
NorCal hit it on the head “pollock is unwatchable” . For me he just looks so lethargic just no fire. He can’t hit a righty slider and he can’t hit fastball up and in. He swings at pitches out of the zone refuses to walk. But, Betts is about as bad along with Bellinger. I have been a big supporter of Bellinger but man he will try your patience. Betts as an all star is embarrassing but it is a fans game. I don’t watch them and if I did I wouldn’t want to watch Betts strike out.
Who are these guys?
Starling Marte hit by a pitch. Ugh. Buhler hit him a couple days ago with two outs in the 3rd–and it turned into a big inning.
I have a bad feeling about this.
But if AF wants to upgrade the offense from the right side, Marte could be a longshot consideration. Supposedly wants to sign longterm with Marlins–he must really like Miami–but they could trade him.
As an offensive weapon, I’d rate him over Taylor, Pollock, Lux, McKinstry, Beatty. Look at it this way: He takes Souza’s spot. Possible lineup would put him at CF, with Belli shifting to 1B, and Muncy to 2B. Taylor and Lux could platoon at SS until Seager returns. (I think he has experience at 2B too.)
Odds of this happening are very slim. But of all the proven bats that might be available, he really stands out.
Holy crap how have the Marlins not moved yet?!??!?!?
Just seeing Mattingly reminds me of the lamentable McCourt, Colletti and Mattingly days.
I’m sure Don is better in his field than the other two, but he’s not my cup of tea.
Feels like a walk off for the Marlins. Alexander pitching on back-to-back nights after just coming off the IL. Gotta bad feeling about this.
Another one run loss! Hard to believe this team is 20 games over .500 getting nothing from Seager and Bellinger and very little from Betts!
They win a few in a row and they all start patting each other on the back
You know what Harvey Keitel would say
Going into Miami thinking there in the catbird seat
I hope the bullpen can bail our offense out
Smith got a gift by the passed ball hitting the umpire’s shin guard and then throws a ball away in in the 10th. Someone should tell him to drop his ass and be a backstop and play the freaking ball off the chest. For all of the full season offensive comparisons to Piazza, his defense flat out sucks.
Smith screwed the pooch there was no reason for him to throw the ball in a hurry we had two outs. He should’ve never tried to back hand the ball in the first place
If you’re watching the Dodgers on SNLA. You got a love Jerry Harriston’s passion
UGH. What a sucky game.
A lot of screw ups in this one. Just heard the bit about Turner failing to run on a blast to the wall–that he thought he had an HR and wound up with a single. Terrible. And terrible leadership too.
My gripe re Roberts: Why, as the visiting team, try to sacrifice in the 10th with a runner at 2B? Why try to cede the out when Taylor could have singled in the run?
Even if the math slightly favors playing for one run, the Marlins could still easily tie the score, or win, when they come up. What is the one-run advantage when the opponent starts with a runner on 2B? If you’re the home team, playing for one makes a lot more sense.
Unlike many people here, I like the extra-inning rule change. It adds instant suspense and forces the action. It’s still baseball. (The OT solutions for hockey and soccer really don’t seem like those sports at all–more like a glorified drill.)
That was a team effort losing this game. But, geez JT, you got to smother that throw. I agree that Will shouldn’t have thrown it in the first place and I don’t like him dropping to one knee either. Who freaking teaches this?
How do you only score one run with 9 hits and 5 walks?
It seems like that early start on the 4th really messed with them. They’ve played like crap two games in a row.
Dodgers have called up Darien Nunez. He is 5-0 at OKC with a 2.70 ERA. I believe MT predicted a couple of weeks ago he would be up at some point this year. MT’s head is now going to get bigger than it already is…..just kidding, but good luck to the kid. We’ll see him tomorrow and we should probably see Smith sitting his ass on the bench watching some Steve Yeager and Mike Scioscia “how to block the pitch in the dirt” videos.
Vesia–3 more Ks
Knack–6 scoreless IP
Ward–still balling
6 pitchers used out of the pen last night and a bullpen game coming up today. Even with all those up and down roster moves this will backfire at some point.
And it is becoming painfully obvious that Bellinger has been figured out by opposing teams.
2 more 1 run defeats against an inferior team. What is our record now in 1 run games ? I dread to look it up but must be really, really bad.
Only positive thing beside catmans pitching the Giants lost again.
Cartaya with another bomb last night. When will they promote him to high A ball ?
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bad game all the way around, but your offense cannot continually leave men on base like they have the last two nights. Their at bats with men on base have been forgettable. Lux cannot hit lefty’s and should not be in there against them. But we all knew this team had holes. The bullpen did their job, the defense let them down.