Dodger Bandwagon Line Forms Here

‘Scuse me, is this the Dodger bandwagon?

Got room for one more? I’ll just jump on and squeeze in the back here, ride along for a spell, if you don’t mind.

Getting pretty crowded on this bandwagon, I see. What do you mean, where have I been? You expected me to jump on earlier? Did you see this team earlier?

This was the most boring team in baseball for the first couple months of the season, although I haven’t seen all the teams in the Japanese League.

Now the Dodgers are exciting . This is a team with pennant fever. I know, the season’s a long way from over. There are still 14 games left before the strike, otherwise known as the Midsummer Classic.

There’s a lot at stake for the teams that are in first place at the strike break. If the season ends Aug. 6, the players union will give all the players on the division-leading teams something real nice, like engraved commemorative money clips.

If they want to settle the strike, the players should open the door to the conference room and send Jack Clark steaming in. Clark is the Cardinals fullback/first baseman who tried to score a touchdown from short yardage Sunday and was stopped by Dodger linebacker/catcher Mike Scioscia.

Scioscia was knocked out cold but held onto the ball. He was taken to the hospital, where a team of surgeons operated to remove the ball from his glove. This is the kind of play the Dodgers are making now: Exciting, clutch.

Even though they lost Sunday, the Dodgers took three of four from the dreaded Cardinals, who break out in hives now when forced to play on real grass. The Cards salvaged one game Sunday, but even in losing, the Dodgers played exciting ball.

They played Little Ball. They got 10 hits, all singles. Steve Yeager, whose legs were condemned three years ago, filled in for Scioscia. In key situations, Yeager beat out an infield hit and beat out a base on balls.

OK, so Pedro Guerrero struck out with the bases loaded, and Tom Niedenfuer threw a gopher ball to a banjo hitter. But the Dodgers went down fighting.

Maybe it’s exaggerating to call this a team of destiny, but here’s what pitcher Orel Hershiser IV had to say after the game: “It’s special for us to come to the park now. This is like a team searching for its soul. There is the great Dodger tradition, but a lot of guys here have not been part of that tradition, have not been on a winning team.

“They’ve heard about the great Dodger teams, and now they’re trying to live it out.�

Two months ago, that statement would have been worth a chuckle, or a polite guffaw. What happened? What turned the Dodgers from stiffs to stars? This is a team Sports Illustrated rated the 14th best in the majors going into the season (the Cardinals were No. 15), and most experts picked them no higher than third.

Baseball--if I may be permitted a pithy and insightful observation--is a crazy, unpredictible game.

The main thing that happened to the Dodgers is Pedro Guerrero.

As Professor Hershiser explains, “When Pete got hot, he really established himself as a leader. That’s what this team needed, a leader. We have guys who were used to playing a role, letting other guys, the Garveys and Lopes and Ceys, be the star. We needed a leader to break us out so the others could follow.�

Pedro started hitting, the other hitters started hitting, and everyone felt so good about the whole thing that they decided to start fielding, too.

“What it is, is we’re playing good, solid baseball,� Yeager said. “We’re not giving up, we’re not giving in, we’re going hard from the first pitch to the last, we’re not surrendering. We’re an exciting team, we’re not boring.�

Quite the contrary. The Dodgers have even developed a flair for the dramatic. In the eighth inning Sunday, runners on first and third, no outs, Steve Sax was up, and Manager Tom Lasorda intercepted Sax on the way to the plate. Lasorda said something to Sax, and pointed to center field.

Sax stepped in against Kurt Kepshire and bounced a game-tying single to center field.

Eat your heart out, Babe Ruth.

Lasorda had a good day, but Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog had a better one. With bases loaded and one out in the ninth, Herzog removed a relief pitcher, Joe Boever (pronounced Bay-ver), with a 2-1 count on Guerrero. Why leave it to Boever?

The new pitcher, Jeff Lahti, fanned Guerrero.

After the game, Lasorda picked up the baby-blue phone in his office and phoned Herzog.

“I called to wish him a lot of luck, especially in San Diego,� Lasorda said.

Lasorda is feeling good. His team is going into the pre-strike pennant stretch drive in first place, strong and confident, about to get Guerrero back full time.

Above all, the Dodgers have made an amazing transformation, from boring to thrilling. They’re like a good book: you can’t put ‘em down.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just squeeze onto the old bandwagon here, and ride at least for another 14 games.