Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Tag: Jeff Hamilton

Time’s up: 10 reasons the 1988 Dodgers won’t make it to the World Series

136_88_NLCS

Team of destiny, or team of doom?

By Jon Weisman

Well, here we are at the end of the 1988 regular season, and pennant fever is high in Los Angeles. And why not?

It’s been seven long years since the Dodgers went to and won the 1981 World Series. In the 26 years since Dodger Stadium opened, the Dodgers remain stuck on seven trips to the Fall Classic — barely one every four years — and a mere three World Series titles. That kind of drought just isn’t the Dodgers’ style.

Now, led by shutout streaker Orel Hershiser and the gritty but productive Kirk Gibson, the Dodgers are back in baseball’s Final Four, four games away from a National League pennant and eight games away from a parade. There’s no limit to what the Dodgers can do in the coming postseason.

But just as a reality check, here are 10 reasons that the Dodgers will have to wait another year to hang any banners. Take a deep breath and read on …

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May 2 pregame: Shutout relief is Wright on

LOS ANGELES DODGERS V ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Dodgers at Marlins, 4:10 p.m.
Dee Gordon, 2B
Yasiel Puig, RF
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Andre Ethier, CF
Miguel Olivo, C
Carl Crawford, LF
Chone Figgins, 3B
Josh Beckett, P

By Jon Weisman

Unsung hero of the Dodgers’ Thursday nightcap victory — Jamey Wright.

The 39-year-old shut out Minnesota from the ninth inning through the 11th, scattering a single and a walk and lowering his 2014 ERA to 2.70. It was the longest stint of his Grover Cleveland-esque Dodger career.

The list of recent Dodger relievers who have thrown at least three shutout innings is an interesting one. Before Wright, Chris Withrow was the only Dodger to do it since 2010, when Jeff Weaver and Ronald Belisario did it in the same game. Weaver accomplished the feat four times in all in 2009.

The last time a Dodger pitched four innings of shutout relief was June 2, 2010, when Travis Schlichting did so in the game won by a Garret Anderson walkoff single in the 14th.

But the longest shutout relief stint in Dodger history was turned in by Orel Hershiser, who put zeroes on the scoreboard from the 14th inning through the 20th in the June 3, 1989 game at Houston, which ended in the 22nd with a two-strike, two-out single by Rafael Ramirez off third baseman-turned-relief pitcher Jeff Hamilton.

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