October 3, 2004
Comebacks way of life
DRAMATICS: The Dodgers; come-from-behind victory follows their season-long pattern.
By ALLAN STEELE / The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - Robin Ventura has seen a lot of baseball in his 15 major league seasons, so he may have been the only Dodger who didn't appear shocked following Saturday's seven-run, ninth-inning outburst against the Giants.
"I'm glad they make these games nine innings," said Ventura, trying to talk while champagne cascaded down his face, courtesy of celebrating teammates. "We seem to wait around enough."
The Dodgers have been an inconsistent bunch, struggling with their offense one day and trying to patch together an effective and healthy pitching staff the next. The one constant lately has been the team's ability to score runs late.
Thirteen of LA's past 14 victories have been comeback wins, and the Dodgers needed every one of those victories as the Giants closed ground in the West title hunt by winning 13 of 18 down the stretch.
It was another comeback Saturday, but it was easily the most dramatic. Steve Finley's grand slam capped the seven-run inning, sending LA to its first National League West title since 1995 with a 7-3 victory. Ventura, the active player with the most grand slams with 18, walked and scored in the wild ninth as the Dodgers earned their 53rd comeback victory of the season, setting a franchise record.
"The way it's been going . . . You thought it was crazy when we got five," Ventura said, referring to a five-run, ninth-inning rally Tuesday to beat Colorado.
"We just keep doing it," said outfielder Jayson Werth, whose single to right tied the score at 3-3, setting up Finley's heroics. "There's just something about this team. We never seem out of a game."
Saturday, Giants starter Brett Tomko kept LA's offense out of the game, holding the Dodgers to just four singles into the eighth inning. Trailing 3-0, LA appeared to have a chance in the eighth with runners on first and second, but Finley and Adrian Beltre each grounded out to end the threat.
Then came the wild and crazy ninth and, judging by the response later in the clubhouse, the Dodgers were just waiting for some drama.
"Yes, it's been that way since spring training," said pitcher Odalis Perez, who will start the first game of the playoffs. "Since day one, we've been able to come back."
Finley, who also had the winning hit in Tuesday's rally, wasn't taking credit for LA's current trend.
"Everybody, one game or another, has got the job done," said the center fielder.
"There's been a lot of different heroes," General Manager Paul DePodesta said, noting he witnessed a few pennant race histrionics while at Oakland. "But this has been pretty remarkable."
Saturday's celebration started almost as soon as Finley hit the ball. With one out, the Giants' outfield was up in preparation for a play at the plate. All Finley needed was to hit the ball deep enough for a sacrifice fly, but it ended up being the ultimate game-winner for the Dodgers.
"If there's somebody on the team you want up there, it's him or (Beltre)," Ventura said, wiping champagne off his hat. "We've just been battling."
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FINLEY SLAMS DODGERS TO WEST TITLE
Dodgers.com
LOS ANGELES -- Beating the Giants. Winning a division championship.
The Dodgers did both Saturday and how sweet is that?
They stuck to a pattern of desperation that is difficult for even them to believe. They fell behind, they battled back, they ultimately won, 7-3, with seven runs in the bottom of the ninth, capped by a dramatic, walk-off grand slam by Steve Finley that turned Chavez Ravine into pandemonium.
Prior to that, they scored one run on a bases-loaded walk to Hee-Seop Choi, another on an error by Giants shortstop Cody Ransom, who was inserted for defensive purposes. Jayson Werth tied it with a line single to right off former Dodger Matt Herges to set the stage for Finley, who took Wayne Franklin deep into the right-field bleachers.
The celebration took place right on the field. Finley was mobbed and the players milled around the infield as the sellout crowd made it clear the Giants had been dethroned.
That's 53 comeback wins and 26 in their final at-bat. So you can't blame them for believing they're a team of destiny. They ended an eight-year drought since their last division title, so the rookie management team of owner Frank McCourt and general manager Paul DePodesta must be thinking this winning stuff is pretty easy.
Jim Tracy knows better. He came through in his fourth year at the helm and the timing was pretty good, because in the last year of his contract, this season set up as a make-or-break acid test for a skipper who held things together despite a starting rotation that didn't. He'll be rewarded with an extension to be announced soon.
He had a most powerful weapon in Cy Young closer Eric Gagne and this time an offense that actually could score runs, thanks mainly to MVP candidate Adrian Beltre, who finally had the light bulb go on and figured out how to become the player everyone expected.
It didn't help that the Dodgers got only four wins from Opening Day starter Hideo Nomo and nothing from injured veterans Paul Shuey and Todd Hundley.
But for every disappointment there was a reclamation success like Jose Lima, Jose Hernandez and Giovanni Carrara, or an emerging youngster like Jayson Werth, Duaner Sanchez and Yhency Brazoban.
The Dodgers won it because of -- and in spite of -- deadline trades that dramatically changed the roster. They won it without Paul Lo Duca and Guillermo Mota because Finley's acquisition and Brazoban's arrival made them good enough to withstand the disappointing injury to Brad Penny and the disappointing bat of Choi.
Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs
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OCTOBER 2, 2004
Dodgers Stun Giants 7-3, Capture NL West
By JOHN NADEL, AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES - Steve Finley's grand slam capped a seven-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West, beating the San Francisco Giants 7-3 Saturday.
The Dodgers reached the postseason for the first time since making it as the wild card in 1996. They won the division the year before — now, they'll look to win their first postseason game since upsetting Oakland in the 1988 World Series.
It's still not certain who the Dodgers will play in the first round, though they will open on the road.
The stunning loss — keyed by three walks and a critical error — left the Giants in a precarious position.
Their division hopes dashed, the only way Barry Bonds and Co. can make it back to the postseason is if they beat the Dodgers on Sunday, Houston loses its home game to Colorado, and then they beat the Astros in a one-game playoff Monday in San Francisco.
The Astros beat the Rockies 9-3 Saturday night for a one-game lead over the Giants.
After it was over, pitcher Jose Lima took a victory lap around Dodger Stadium. Teammate Odalis Perez dumped a bottle of champagne over Lima's head near the backstop.
Four days after rallying for five runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Colorado 5-4, the Dodgers did it again — and then some.
Trailing 3-0, the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out on a single by Shawn Green and two walks by Dustin Hermanson.
Hermanson (6-9) was pulled after walking Hee-Seop Choi with the bases loaded to force in the first Dodgers run.
Jason Christiansen came on and got Cesar Izturis to hit a grounder, but shortstop Cody Ransom misplayed it for an error, allowing Robin Ventura to score. Jayson Werth followed with a single off Matt Herges to tie it at 3.
Finley, acquired by the Dodgers from Arizona at the trade deadline, connected off Wayne Franklin for a shot into the right-field seats and the celebration began immediately.
The 39-year-old outfielder was mobbed at the plate and the party continued for several minutes as the sellout crowd of 54,594 went wild. It was the Dodgers' league-leading 53rd comeback triumph of the year.
Yhency Brazoban (6-2) pitched one inning for the win.
Giants starter Brett Tomko blanked the Dodgers on four hits for 7 1-3 innings. Marquis Grissom homered and drove in all three runs for the Giants.
Grissom hit a two-out, two-run single off Elmer Dessens in the fourth to break a scoreless tie.
Dessens retired nine straight batters before Bonds drew a four-pitch walk with one out in the fourth. J.T. Snow followed with a single and, one out later, A.J. Pierzynski walked to load the bases. Grissom then lined singled.
Grissom connected off Duaner Sanchez leading off the seventh for his 21st homer, making hit 3-0.
Olmedo Saenz opened the Dodgers' eighth with an infield hit and, one out later, Werth singled. Reliever Scott Eyre retired Finley on a grounder and Hermanson got Adrian Beltre on another grounder.
Dessens, making his first start in 2 1/2 months, was relieved by Wilson Alvarez after allowing three hits and two runs in four innings.
The Giants put runners at first and second with one out in the first before Dessens got Bonds to foul out on a pitch that appeared to be out of the strike zone, and retired Snow on a grounder to second.
Tomko retired 10 straight before Alex Cora drew a one-out walk in the fifth. Grissom then dropped Brent Mayne's fly to left-center for an error, putting runners at second and third. But Alvarez, allowed to bat for himself, grounded to third and Izturis fouled out to end the threat.
Notes:@ It was the 27th sellout of the season at Dodger Stadium. ... Bonds walked three times, extending his single-season record to 231. ... Beltre (200) and Izturis (193) have teamed up for more hits than any Los Angeles duo since Steve Garvey (200) and Bill Buckner (193) had the same total in 1976.
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Finley's walk-off slam lifts Dodgers past Giants
BY BILL PLUNKETT
The Orange County Register
LOS ANGELES - (KRT) - Could it have ended any other way?
Shut out for eight innings, the Los Angeles Dodgers scored seven times in the ninth, capping their franchise-record 53rd comeback victory of the season with Steve Finley's grand slam to beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-3, on Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
``Winning would have been fun. But to do it in that fashion - unbelievable," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said.
``Everything about this was appropriate," left fielder Jayson Werth said. ``There's something about this team."
The grand finale was the Dodgers' 26th victory in their last at-bat this season including each of their past four victories. It clinched their first NL West division title since 1995, their first playoff spot since 1996.
``I wish we didn't have to come back 53 times, but I think the fact that we were able to do it is a credit to our offense and to our bullpen," first-year general manager Paul DePodesta said. ``Today essentially was a bullpen game.
``I guess we had them right where we wanted them going into the ninth inning."
DePodesta watched the clinching comeback from the manager's office, his usual station for home games.
Milton Bradley watched it from another part of the Dodger Stadium underground after spending the first eight innings in the owner's suite.
``It's our time. You knew something was bound to happen," said Bradley who will serve the final game of his five-game suspension today.
As the ninth inning unfolded, Bradley said he got the feeling ``that I've seen this before."
The Dodgers had shown little for eight innings. In their previous four games, they had hit a collective .163 (21 for 129).
That trend continued as Brett Tomko held them to four hits and handed a shutout to the Giants' bullpen in the eighth.
The Giants' nominal closer, Dustin Hermanson, was pitching in his fifth consecutive game, and Shawn Green started the ninth with a slicing single to left that dropped just in front of a sliding Barry Bonds. Robin Ventura fell behind 0-and-2 but worked Hermanson for a walk.
Alex Cora struck out, but pinch-hitters Jose Hernandez and Hee-Seop Choi also worked Hermanson for full-count walks, forcing in the Dodgers' first run.
``It was just like the other night - patience at the plate, whether we took a walk or fouled a ball off," Tracy said, referring to the five-run ninth-inning vs. the Rockies on Tuesday. ``Offensively, that's the biggest difference in our team. We don't make early-count outs. ... We constantly regroup and make adjustments. That's a sign of growth."
With the bases loaded and one out, Cesar Izturis chopped a ground ball to shortstop Cody Ransom. The ball was hit too slowly to turn a game-ending double play, but Ransom hurried and misplayed it for a run-scoring error. Werth was next, and he also fell behind in the count, fouled off three two-strike pitches and punched an RBI single to right field, tying the score.
The dramatic flourish was supplied by Finley. He turned on an 0-and-1 fastball from Wayne Franklin and sent it just over the wall in right field as the 27th sellout crowd of the season
erupted. ``I wanted this situation," Finley said. ``I thought about this the last couple weeks. I wanted to get the hit (to clinch the title). I dreamed about it.
``You just believe it's going to happen. It's been the trademark of this team, all the late comebacks."
