Make Way for the Miracle Dodgers

Less than two weeks ago, they were in dead last place. Wednesday, they moved within neck-breathing distance of the first place Astros.

Wednesday they got a stolen base from Bill Madlock. They got two home runs from Len Matuszek. The Dodgers are serving notice.

But can they win it all? Here are 10 reasons why they will.

(1) Injuries. If the Dodgers had been healthy all season, they’d probably still be in last place. Timely injuries have led to the discovery of people like Franklin Stubbs and Len Matuszek, to name two.

Injuries haven’t hurt the Dodgers, with the possible exception of the Pedro Guerrero knee. Watch. Mike Marshall will have a big August because he’s well rested. Same with Mike Scioscia. They timed their injuries beautifully.

(2) Steve Sax. Look, the guy’s having a league MVP-type season. You read it here first. The last Dodger to win that award, by the way, was Sax’s hero, Steve Garvey, in ’74.

Sax is in the league’s top 10 in batting (.326), stolen bases (25), doubles (21), hits (131) and on-base percentage (.387). On defense, he has located first base on his radar screen.

And in a lineup of easygoing fellows, Sax is so hyper they have to pack him in ice after a game to calm him down. He has the metabolism of a 6-year-old. You gotta have this kind of enthusiasm to win a pennant.

(3) Len Matuszek. When he hit his second homer of the game in the seventh inning Wednesday, the fans serenaded him with a huge “Tooooz! Tooooz!” Or were they saying “Whoooo? Whoooo?”

This guy is a journeyman who is playing his cleats off, having the season of his life at age 31. Three seasons ago, Len was a Portland Beaver. You can bet the Beavs are sorry they let this guy go just when he was learning the game.

(4) Fernando. If they dropped the bomb on L.A. today, the only life remaining would be the cockroaches, the rats and Fernando’s left arm.

The Dodgers made a serious mistake by not making Valenzuela an everyday player, an outfielder or first baseman, years ago. Remember the Babe?

Still, Fernando as a pitcher isn’t bad, and he could give Sax a strong challenge for MVP.

Am I putting too much pressure on these fellows? Naaa. Ballplayers don’t read the papers.

(5) Mike Marshall. Moose has already had his annual freakish major medical incident behind him and should be healthy for the stretch run, unless he suffers something like a hyperextended earlobe.

The pressure of carrying the team’s slugging load in the absence of Guerrero hasn’t gotten to Marshall, although for a while, a bad back did get to him. If I have to choose between having Marshall or Guerrero back, I’ll take Marshall.

(6) Mike Scioscia. Try hitting .300 without resorting to gimmicks such as speed or power. Give this guy the foot speed of Tom Lasorda and he hits .380.

Wednesday, Scioscia hit into a double play. The pivot man pumped three times, stumbled, checked the ball for scuff marks, tossed a handful of grass into the air to gauge the wind, and threw Scioscia out by 10 feet.

Still, other than Gary Carter, whom do you want catching your team?

(7) Franklin Stubbs. One of the great baseball names, and, as it turns out, one of the fine home-run swings. It’s nice to go to your bench and find a guy who can hit 30, 35 home runs and do a nice job in the outfield. Maybe you can win a pennant without an exciting home run hitter, but what fun is it?

(8) Mariano Duncan. Three errors Wednesday. Don’t worry, kid, Willie Davis made three in one inning.

Some fans booed him Wednesday, but Mariano said: “Let me tell you something--I no play for the fan.”

The thing about Duncan is, unless last season was a complete fluke, his hitting and fielding have to improve, especially after a recent no-nonsense pep talk from a Dodger official.

(9) The competition. If you’re in third place, who better to have in front of you than the Astros and the Giants? What two clubs have a grander tradition of finding ways to blow the big ones?

Following these two is like drafting in a bicycle race. You stay behind the leader and wait till he runs out of gas, which these two teams have been known to do. No offense, guys.

(10) Lasorda. The Dodger manager is at his blustering best these days.

“I told my players about the 1914 Miracle Braves, with Wee Willie Keeler, who were 15 games out in August and won,” Lasorda pontificated after Wednesday’s game.

Someone looked it up and discovered that Wee Willie Keeler finished his career in 1910.

“Maybe he was the manager in 1914!” Lasorda said.

Lasorda went into a grand oration about positive thinking.

“If we finish on top,” he said, his voice rising, “there will be millions of people who say, ‘Let’s go to Dodger Stadium instead of going to see Our Lady of Lourdes!’ ”

By this time next week, we’ll know if this is all hot air. The Dodgers go on the road now for 10 games, in foreign countries named Cincinnati, Houston and San Francisco.

They have 21 games left at home, 34 left on the road. So far this season they have been a terrible, embarrassing road team, worse than the club Napoleon sent to Waterloo.

But if the 1914 Braves can do it, so can the 1986 Miracle Dodgers.