Dodger Notebook : Scioscia Hits First Spring Home Run

VERO BEACH, Fla. â€”  Here’s something for Dwight Gooden and the New York Mets to think about on the first day of spring:

Mike Scioscia’s game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning Monday in the Dodgers’ 6-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves was the first he has hit in spring training, dating to 1977, his first spring at Vero Beach, when he was 18 and barely out of high school.

“My first home run in Florida,� said Scioscia, who was pinch-hitting for pitcher Jeff Fischer when he connected off Atlanta reliever Tommy Greene.

“That’s counting everything--intra-squad games and exhibitions. But it’s not going to mean anything tomorrow.�

Hard to believe, Manager Tom Lasorda said, but it was only last October that Scioscia taxed Lasorda’s credulity to the limit, when he hit a two-run homer off Gooden in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the National League playoffs. That sent the game into extra innings, and the Dodgers won on Kirk Gibson’s home run in the 12th.

Scioscia’s homer, Lasorda has said repeatedly, was the single most important play of the postseason, not to mention the most improbable. Had the Dodgers lost, they would have fallen behind the Mets, three games to one, in the best-of-seven series.

How improbable was the home run?

Scioscia hit three in 129 games in the regular season in 1988. In 2,837 big league at-bats over nine seasons, the Dodger catcher has 35 home runs--an average of one for every 81 at-bats. In 71 postseason at-bats, Scioscia has two home runs, the other having been against Montreal in the 1981 playoffs.

So why shouldn’t Scioscia hit a home run off the hardest-throwing right-hander in the National League? He’s mildly annoyed that you should ask.

“Sure, I’m not a consistent home run hitter, but I hit them from time to time,� Scioscia said. “I’m a line-drive hitter, I never try for home runs. But he gave me a pitch to handle, I got the head of my bat on the ball, and I hit a line drive that went over the fence.�

It’s typical of Scioscia to downplay the impact of the home run, although he did concede that it was the highlight of his career--offensively. Defensively, he mentioned throwing out Tim Raines to end the Montreal outfielder’s consecutive base-stealing streak.

Kirk Gibson did not play Monday, a victim of a flu bug that also hit Mickey Hatcher and 20 minor leaguers, forcing the cancellation of two Class-A games. Rookie Chris Gwynn took advantage of Gibson’s absence to start in left field and go three-for-four, including a home run.

The three hits raised Gwynn’s average to .500, tying him with Alfredo Griffin--who had one hit in four at-bats--for the team lead. Gwynn has 17 hits in 34 at-bats.

Those kinds of numbers have the left-handed hitting Gwynn--who hit .299 with five home runs and 61 RBIs--pushing Franklin Stubbs for a reserve position on the squad. Stubbs’ versatility gives him an edge--he can play both first base and the outfield--and barring a trade, he figures to start the season with the team.

But Gwynn, 24, is making a run at joining brother Tony of the Padres in the big leagues.

“He’s hot and having a hell of a spring,� Lasorda said. “So you’ve got to give every thought to (Gwynn’s making the major league roster). What’s the sense of a guy having a hell of a spring and us not doing anything about it? We’ve got to give him every consideration.�