Seemingly mired in mediocrity but still very much alive in the National League West, the 2008 version of the Los Angeles Dodgers needs a hero. They need someone to make the big plays, get the big hit and will his team to victory on nights where defeat seems almost certain.
The 2004 NL West division winning Dodgers had no such problem. That team's season long success was largely due to the efforts of third baseman Adrian Beltre, and the slugger's magical campaign was on display four years ago today at Dodger Stadium.
Beltre picked a great time to have his career year, as his 48 homers and 121 RBI helped the free agent to be secure a multi-million dollar contract from the Seattle Mariners in 2005. The Dodgers had 12 walk-off wins in 2004, and Beltre was the provider of the big hit on this night when the Dodgers beat their rivals to the south, the San Diego Padres, by a 3-2 score.
The game started out as a pitcher's duel between another Dodger 2004 star, Jose Lima, and San Diego's Brian Lawrence. Lima, who came into the game with a 9-3 record overall and a 6-1 mark at Dodger Stadium, held the Padres to two runs in eight innings but trailed 2-1 as the Dodgers came to bat in the bottom of the eighth. Lawrence held the Dodgers to a single run and three hits in seven innings, but left after yielding a leadoff double to Juan Encarnacion to start the inning. Alex Cora was up next, and reliever Akinori Otsuka helped the Dodgers cause by throwing away Cora's sacrifice bunt allowing Encarnacion to score with Cora moving all the way to third base. Otsuka righted the ship however, retiring the next three Dodger batters and leaving Cora stranded at third with the score 2-2.
After Eric Gagne navigated through the top of the ninth the Dodgers came to bat against old rival Rod Beck, formerly with San Francisco but now with the Padres. Beck retired Paul Loduca on a fly to right, but Beltre ended the game with a towering home run that sent the Dodger fans hope happy. Beltre's homer was the only hit in four career at bats he'd have against Beck but in 2004 when everything Beltre touched turned to gold, it was par for the course.
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The Dodgers had a chance to get Beltre back, bur weren't interested. I guess they would rather platoon at 3rd and hope DeWitt can get the stroke back that he had early in the season. It will be interesting to see if the Dodgers get a power hitter before the trade deadline. I'd love to see them get Holliday, but that's a distant dream.
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