[rpriske]

April 12th, 1985

Castino maybe Oberkfell's replacement at 2nd, but today it is Fran Mullins. We never played together in the spring so I hope this goes okay.

We are in L.A. to face Rick Honeycutt and the Dodgers. We have Mike Krukow going.

On the road means I lead off the game. I grounded out to Darrell Evan at 1st... not so fast! I outran him to the base and got an infield single!
I got thrown out at 2nd on a Chris Brown fielder's choice.

I led off the 3rd with us up 1-0. I flew out to Mike Marshall in right.

The Dodgers took the lead 3-1 that inning.

In the 5th I came up with Ken Smith on 2nd and one out. While I was up Kenny surprised everyone by stealing 3rd. I knocked the ball past short and got an RBI single! After Brown flew out I stole 2nd - my second stolen base of the year. I then scored from 2nd on a Chili Davis single, tying the game.

That held until the 6th when the Dodgers pulled back ahead 4-3.

In the 7th I came up with the base empty and one out. Honeycutt struck me out. Thankfully the guys after me did their jobs, ending on a Rob Deer 3-run homer to put us up 6-3.

Mark Davis came in to pitch the 7th for us and Frank Williams pitched the 8th.

I didn't have a defensive play until the 8th when I was the pivot on a Mullins - Priske - Deer double play.

I led off the 9th and got clipped by a pitch from Alejandro Pena. No intent.
A couple of double switches had Eddie Vargas hitting behind me and playing right. He smacked a double and I moved to 3rd. They walked Chili to load the bags and brought in Tom Niedenfuer to try and pitch them out of this. He struck out Deer and got Jeff Leonard to hit a weak groundball that ended me at the plate. We got nothing.

Ron Davis came in to close... and he did. We won 6-4.


April 13th, 1985

David Linton was getting his first start ever and the Dodgers answered with Orel Hershiser. Back to John Rabb at 2nd. (They said it would be Castino. What's going on?)

Hershiser struck me out to start things off. That inning went well for us, as we scored 3 times, mostly on a Terry Harper 2-run double.

I got into the action on defense a little sooner today, handling a Mike Marshall grounder for the 2nd out.

In the 2nd I came up with none out and Ken Smith on 3rd and Dave Linton on 2nd. While I was up Hershiser uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Kenny. I struck out again. Chris Brown ended up knocking Dave home and we were up 5-0.

With Darrell Evans at 1st in the 2nd I tool a throw from Kenny Smith to gun him out trying to steal. A batter later I snagged a lien drive off the bat of Dave Anderson for the 2nd out.

In the 3rd I was the pivot on a Rabb - Priske - Deer double play.

In the 4th I came up with 2 out and Dave Linton on 1st. Dave moved up a bag on a wild pitch but Hershiser struck me out again. That is 3 times in a row.

Dave got into trouble in the 4th, giving up 5 runs to tie the game. It would have been more but I relayed a Jeff Leonard throw to gun down Mariano Duncan trying to score from 1st on a double.

In the 5th Dave was clearly gassed but they left him in to give up a solo shot by Pedro Guerrero before bringing in Curt Brown.

Not a good debut for my roomie.

Terry Harper stopped them from pulling further ahead with a great catch to end the 8th with Rich Dauer standing on 3rd.

In the 7th I came up with Kenny Smith on 2nd and one out. We were facing Alejandro Pena now so hopefully he doesn't have my number like Hershiser did... but no. Nestor Pena called me back. He decided to play the percentages and have lefty Tom O'Malley hit for me.

Disappointing, but that is the game.

It didn't work but we DID score before the inning was up, to tie it 6-6. (No Loss for Dave.)

John Rabb knocked in Rob Deer in the 8th and we won 7-6.

We are 3-1 so far.