"I Don't Believe What My Eyes Just Saw"...
1988 Los Angeles DodgersHome Fields: Dodger Stadium
World ChampionsHit: #6 R, #4 BA
W - 94 L - 67 (.584) 7 GAPitch: #2 RA, #2 ERA
Manager: Tom LasordaDef: #2 FA

The Dodgers ended the 1987 season in 5th place 17 games behind the hated Giants who won the division.  During the off season GM Fred Claire tinkered with his roster, which looked to be aging.  His key acquisition was 1984 World Series MVP Kirk Gibson, who the Tigers thought was finished.  The Dodgers seemed to find ways to win, but yet never got anyone's notice, nor their respect.  People started noticing late in the season as Orel Hershiser broke Don Drysdale's consecutive scoreless inning's pitched streak.  Orel became "the bulldog" and the Dodgers now had the ace in the rotation that they could hang their hat on.  The regular season ended with LA 7 games ahead of the Reds.  They were the feel good story of 1988, but everyone expected the mighty Mets of Flushing to crush them in the LCS.  During the regular season the Mets dominated the Dodgers taking 11 of 12 games.  Nobody game LA a chance, not even guest NY Post columnist David Cone who predicted his team to win in 5.  The lightly regarded Dodgers battled teh Mets heroically, but still lost tow of the first 3 games.  Trailing 4-2 in the 9th inning of game 4, the Dodgers shocked Dwight Gooden with a two run homer by Mike Scioscia.  With that blow, the momentum swung almost palpably.  The Dodgers went on to win game 4 and took game 4 the next day.  The Mets captured game 6 to force a a game 7 showdown.  With Orel Hershiser taming the NY batters the Dodgers took advantage of shoddy Met fielding to win game 7 and the unexpected pennant.  The surprises didn't stop there.  The Dodgers were behind 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning of game 1 of the World Series vs the juggernaut Oakland A's.  Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley retired the first 2 batters, then walked light hitting pinch hitter Mike Davis.  Kirk Gibson, who was basically on 1 leg due to an injury in the LCS, stepped to the plate.  Eckersley looked to blow him away and Gibson looked terrible in his swings.  "The Eck" couldn't get Gibson out on fastballs and tried to slip a curve by him.  Big mistake !  Gibby who couldn't get around on the fastball lined a homer into the right field pavillion and the Dodgers walked of victorious.  Jack Buck couldn't believe what his eyes saw.  The Dodgers never turned back and put the mighty A's down in 5 games.  Truly a team effort.



1988 LOS ANGELES DODGERS TEAM ROSTER
Pitchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
41 Belcher, Tim P R R 6'3" 225 10/19/1961
44 Brennan, Bill P R R 6'3" 200 1/15/1963
52 Crews, Tim P R R 6'0" 195 4/3/1961
-- Havens, Brad P L L 6'1" 197 11/17/1959
55 Hershiser, Orel P R R 6'3" 195 9/16/1958
51 Hillegas, Shawn P R R 6'2" 225 8/21/1964
-- Holton, Brian P R R 6'0" 195 11/29/1959
-- Horton, Ricky P L L 6'2" 197 7/30/1959
52 Howell, Jay P R R 6'3" 215 11/26/1955
43 Howell, Ken P R R 6'3" 230 11/28/1960
44 Krueger, Bill P L L 6'5" 215 4/24/1958
36 Leary, Tim P R R 6'3" 220 12/23/1958
38 Martinez, Ramon P R R 6'4" 184 3/22/1968
50 Orosco, Jesse P R L 6'2" 200 4/21/1957
32 Pena, Alejandro P R R 6'1" 200 6/25/1959
-- Sutton, Don P R R 6'1" 185 4/2/1945
-- Tudor, John P L L 6'0" 185 2/2/1954
34 Valenzuela, Fernando P L L 5'11" 200 11/1/1960
Catchers
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
24 Dempsey, Rick C R R 6'0" 195 9/13/1949
20 Reyes, Gil C R R 6'2" 212 12/10/1963
14 Scioscia, Mike C L R 6'2" 205 11/27/1958
Infielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
12 Anderson, Dave SS R R 6'2" 184 8/1/1960
4 Griffin, Alfredo SS B R 5'11" 167 10/6/1957
28 Guerrero, Pedro 3B R R 6'0" 199 6/29/1956
-- Hamilton, Jeff 3B R R 6'3" 207 3/19/1964
6 Sax, Steve 2B R R 5'11" 189 1/29/1960
26 Sharperson, Mike 2B R R 6'3" 205 10/4/1961
19 Stubbs, Franklin 1B L L 6'2" 209 10/21/1960
63 Woodson, Tracy 3B R R 6'3" 216 10/5/1962
Outfielders
No. Name Pos Bats Throws Height Weight Born
--
 Davis, Mike -- L L 6'3" 185 6/11/1959
12 Devereaux, Mike -- R R 6'0" 195 4/10/1963
23 Gibson, Kirk LF L L 6'3" 225 5/28/1957
38 Gonzalez, Jose -- R R 6'2" 200 11/23/1964
9 Gwynn, Chris LF L L 6'0" 220 10/13/1964
-- Hatcher, Mickey -- R R 6'2" 200 3/15/1955
-- Heep, Danny -- L L 5'11" 177 7/3/1957
-- Marshall, Mike RF R R 6'5" 215 1/12/1960
-- Shelby, John CF B R 6'1" 175 2/23/1958

 

1988 LOS ANGELES DODGERS TEAM BATTING STATS
Player AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K HBP SB CS GDP OBP SLG OPS
Guerrero, Pedro 0.298 59 215 24 64 7 1 5 35 25 33 3 2 1 2 0.374 0.409 0.783
Hatcher, Mickey 0.293 88 191 22 56 8 0 1 25 7 7 2 0 0 7 0.322 0.351 0.673
Gibson, Kirk 0.290 150 542 106 157 28 1 25 76 73 120 7 31 4 8 0.377 0.483 0.86
Marshall, Mike 0.277 144 542 63 150 27 2 20 82 24 93 7 4 1 17 0.314 0.445 0.758
Sax, Steve 0.277 160 632 70 175 19 4 5 57 45 51 1 42 12 11 0.325 0.343 0.668
Sharperson, Mike 0.271 46 59 8 16 1 0 0 4 1 12 1 0 1 1 0.29 0.288 0.578
Leary, Tim 0.269 36 67 4 18 3 0 0 9 1 26 1 0 1 0 0.286 0.313 0.599
Shelby, John 0.263 140 494 65 130 23 6 10 64 44 128 0 16 5 13 0.32 0.395 0.715
Scioscia, Mike 0.257 130 408 29 105 18 0 3 35 38 31 0 0 3 14 0.318 0.324 0.642
Dempsey, Rick 0.251 77 167 25 42 13 0 7 30 25 44 0 1 0 4 0.338 0.455 0.793
Woodson, Tracy 0.249 65 173 15 43 4 1 3 15 7 32 1 1 2 4 0.279 0.335 0.614
Anderson, Dave 0.249 116 285 31 71 10 2 2 20 32 45 1 4 2 9 0.325 0.319 0.644
Heep, Danny 0.242 95 149 14 36 2 0 0 11 22 13 1 2 0 4 0.341 0.255 0.596
Hamilton, Jeff 0.236 111 309 34 73 14 2 6 33 10 51 4 0 2 8 0.268 0.353 0.62
Stubbs, Franklin 0.223 115 242 30 54 13 0 8 34 23 61 1 11 3 4 0.288 0.376 0.664
Crews, Tim 0.200 42 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 0.2 0.4
Griffin, Alfredo 0.199 95 316 39 63 8 3 1 27 24 30 2 7 5 3 0.259 0.253 0.513
Davis, Mike 0.196 108 281 29 55 11 2 2 17 25 59 0 7 3 6 0.26 0.27 0.53
Valenzuela, Fernando 0.182 23 44 2 8 2 0 0 1 1 5 0 0 0 0 0.2 0.227 0.427
Gwynn, Chris 0.182 12 11 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0.25 0.182 0.432
Hillegas, Shawn 0.133 11 15 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 0.188 0.133 0.321
Hershiser, Orel 0.129 36 85 1 11 2 1 0 6 1 18 0 0 0 1 0.14 0.176 0.316
Devereaux, Mike 0.116 30 43 4 5 1 0 0 2 2 10 0 0 1 0 0.156 0.14 0.295
Reyes, Gil 0.111 5 9 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0.111 0.111 0.222
Sutton, Don 0.087 16 23 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 6 0 0 0 0 0.125 0.087 0.212
Gonzalez, Jose 0.083 37 24 7 2 1 0 0 0 2 10 0 3 0 0 0.154 0.125 0.279
Belcher, Tim 0.071 36 56 2 4 2 0 1 3 0 28 0 0 0 0 0.071 0.161 0.232
Team Totals: 0.248 160 5431 628 ## 217 25 99 587 437 947 32 ## 46 118 0.31 0.35 0.66

 

1988 LOS ANGELES DODGERS TEAM PITCHING STATS
Player ERA W L SV G GS CG ShO  IP H R ER HR BB K RATIO BAVG
Holton, Brian 1.7 7 3 1 45 0 0 0 84.2 69 19 16 1 26 49 1.13 0.228
Pena, Alejandro 1.91 6 7 12 60 0 0 0 94.1 75 29 20 4 27 83 1.08 0.218
Howell, Jay 2.08 5 3 21 50 0 0 0 65 44 16 15 1 21 70 1 0.188
Hershiser, Orel 2.26 23 8 1 35 34 15 8 267 208 73 67 18 73 178 1.05 0.213
Tudor, John 2.41 4 3 0 9 9 1 0 52.1 58 16 14 5 10 32 1.31 0.284
Orosco, Jesse 2.72 3 2 9 55 0 0 0 53 41 18 16 4 30 43 1.34 0.215
Leary, Tim 2.91 17 11 0 35 34 9 6 228.2 201 87 74 13 56 180 1.13 0.234
Belcher, Tim 2.91 12 6 4 36 27 4 1 179.2 143 65 58 8 51 152 1.08 0.217
Crews, Tim 3.14 4 0 0 42 0 0 0 71.2 77 29 25 3 16 45 1.31 0.278
Martinez, Ramon 3.79 1 3 0