<i> Biff</i> , Take That! <i> Buff</i> , Watch Out! The Dodger Bullpen Awakens

Forget about a program. What you need to tell your Dodger bullpen heroes is this handy pocket guide to nicknames. Clip and save.

Bub is Brian Holton. Because when you greet Holton, he always says, “Hiya, Bub.”

Bunsy is Ken Howell. Because, let’s just say he has a solid center of gravity.

Bates is Tim Leary. Because he looks like Tony Perkins, who played Norman Bates in “Psycho.” “I don’t want to talk about it,” Leary said when asked about his nickname. Perfect. That’s what Norman Bates would say.

Beach is Mark Cresse, the bullpen coach. Because the man has a tan that would shame George Hamilton.

Blankhead is bullpen catcher Todd Maulding. Because, well, I’m not sure why. I do know his real nickname is not quite suitable for use here.

Buff is Tom Niedenfuer. Because he has a big head, buffalo size. He keeps a buffalo hat in his locker.

Biff is Matt Young, the hero of our tale today. Because “Biff” is the bully in the movie, “Back to the Future.” And Beach decided Biff would be a perfect nickname for Young.

“We figured he looks like a bully,” Beach said. “That’s the image I want him to have, anyway.”

And Sunday, in the most dramatic pitcher-batter confrontation at Dodger Stadium since Bob Welch struck out Reggie Jackson in Game 2 of the 1978 World Series, Biff bullied the Birds.

With Cardinal runners on first and third in the ninth, Biff struck out Jack Clark, who had already hit two homers, Willie McGee and pinch-hitter Tom Pagnozzi to protect a 7-6 lead and pick up his first Dodger victory.

Whiff , whiff , whiff for Biff.

Sunday, sports fans, might go down as the day Matt Young, the Dodger bullpen and the team turned the corner.

Until that ninth inning, Dodger Stadium was the House that Jack Broke. Clark, remember, started the Dodgers and the Dodger bullpen down the road to ruin in 1985 by hitting a dramatic playoff home run off Buff to deny the Dodgers a trip to the World Series.

Friday night, Clark the Shark was 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs. Sunday, he hit a home run off starter Bob Welch, then off reliever Bunsy. The three-run stupendo blast off Bunsy, a shot that tied the game, carried deep into the Dodger bullpen, where Biff, who was warming up, made the catch.

That reinforced the rap against the Dodger pen--good field, no pitch.

“Everybody was like shellshocked,” Beach said, describing the reaction to Clark’s homer. Then Matt Young, Biff the bully, stepped into the action.

What ensued was a truly glorious, triumphant performance for the bullpen, which refers to itself collectively as the Killer Bees. Until Sunday, though, they mostly specialized in suicide.

OK, the pen has been showing signs of life the last couple weeks, but nothing you want to alert the Hall of Fame about.

Still, the guys out there were not giving up. If nothing else, they had each other.

“Years ago, when we had a lot of great arms out there, we called ourselves Canned Heat,” Cresse said.

This year’s bullpen squad, and last year’s, could have called itself Canned Meat. Alpo city.

Last year’s pen blew 34 save opportunities, and this season they blew five of the first six save chances. This wasn’t a bullpen, it was a leper colony. One recent game, Tom Lasorda went with Orel Hershiser in relief rather than call on the pen.

Saturday, when Fernando Valenzuela was in trouble almost every inning, Lasorda placed no telephone calls to the pen.

“Don’t call us, we’ll call you,” he seemed to be saying.

In the sixth inning Sunday, however, Lasorda nervously summoned the bullpen to action. Biff and Bunsy were warming up with Beach and Blankhead.

But the bullpen didn’t exactly radiate a feeling of confidence to fans around the ballyard. For some time, this has been a group in need of a morale boost.

“We decided,” Beach went on, “since we have no set roles, we have no Goose Gossage, we decided rather than compete, we would all pull together. We decided to call ourselves the Killer Bees.”

Cresse had T-shirts made up in San Francisco, and a good time was had by all. If nothing else, this group had camaraderie. They had to stick together, they had no one else.

“Let’s face it,” Beach said, “we haven’t done real well the last couple years. It was getting to the point (with those outside the pen) of ‘Here we go again.’ ”

Young was supposed to help change that. When the Dodgers got Biff from Seattle, for Dennis Powell, then Dodger General Manager Al Campanis (remember him?) called the deal a steal.

Until Sunday, though, it wasn’t clear which team was the stealer and which the stealee.

Going into Sunday, Young was 0-4 with an 8.71 ERA and two saves. The entire bullpen had a measly 4 saves, compared to 13 for the San Francisco Giants’ pen.

When Young lost his third game, in mid-April, he said, “I doubt I’ll go 0 and 30.”

Not and live to tell about it. Young did go 0 and 4, however, and was struggling. A lot of it was bad luck and clinkers that fell into gaps.

“There have been maybe three balls hit hard off him all season,” Beach said.

One school of thought was that Young was trying too hard to impress his new fans and teammates. Maybe Sunday’s dramatic, overpowering performance put Biff over the hump. Maybe now he’ll become the strangler he was in the American League, where he was feared by hitters like Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs. Maybe Young will become the King Bee.

“He’s our closer,” Beach said. “He’s the best we’ve got, and everyone knows that.”

The Bees aren’t out of the woods yet, but Sunday Matt Young closed like crazy.

Biff was boffo as the Bees beat the Birds.