SAVING GRACE

The opened bottle of champagne stood inside Todd Worrell’s locker, but there was no celebration. Many of his Dodger teammates, in fact, were oblivious to the achievement.

No matter. Worrell had just saved his 40th game of the season, a personal and team high. In fact, before Worrell came along, no Dodger pitcher had saved even 30 in a season.

“Sometimes, it’s hard for me to even believe,” Worrell said. “I never lost hope, but realistically, I didn’t know whether this was possible. I’ve gone through a lot, but it’s all paid off.”

Worrell, who turns 37 in two weeks, was one of the premier closers in the National League in the mid-1980s, then needed major reconstructive elbow and rotator-cuff operations. He went two seasons without pitching in the big leagues and 34 months without a save.

Yet few looked beyond his performances and unfulfilled expectations the first two years of his Dodger career.

Few realized, or cared, that he is as genuine a family man as anyone in the game. Or that he organizes prayer meetings and chapel services each week for his teammates. Or that he counsels younger players and helps prepare them to one day take his job. To that extent, he has taken rookie reliever Darren Dreifort into his home to live with him the rest of the season.

Worrell’s early struggles on the mound left fans so disappointed that they booed him during the 1995 opening-day introductions at Dodger Stadium.

Now, a year after helping the Dodgers to the National League West championship for the first time since 1988, Worrell has played a key role in getting them back into first place and vying for another title.

“People forget what a truly amazing story Todd Worrell is,” said Fred Claire, Dodger executive vice president. “This is a story of a guy who never gave up on himself, but because of his outstanding ability and outstanding competitive spirit, he has been as good as anyone in the game.

“For him to come back and do what he’s done is truly remarkable.

“Let’s put it this way: We would not have won the division last year or be [contending] this year without him.”

Perhaps most impressive, Worrell is pitching better now than ever before.

“To me, it’s not so surprising what he’s done but what he’s had to endure and overcome from the media and the fans,” first baseman Eric Karros said. “The first two years here, the media and fans were brutal on him.

“That’s the thing about this game. People have short memories. They forget the frustrating times he’s had to overcome.”

The expectations surrounding Worrell’s arrival were stratospheric. He signed a three-year, $9.2-million contract on Dec. 9, 1992, and was considered the last piece to the Dodgers’ potential championship puzzle. Instead, in only the second game of the season, he strained his right forearm. He was gone for seven weeks, then only two weeks later, was put on the disabled list again because of pain in his right elbow.

Claire was criticized for not having Worrell undergo a physical before signing. It didn’t matter that Worrell’s forearm strain had nothing to do with his previous elbow problem. Or that he was 2-0 with a 0.49 ERA the final three months of the 1991 season for the St. Louis Cardinals. Or even that if the Dodgers had not signed Worrell, the Braves were ready to grab him.

“I took a lot of heat for that,” Claire said. “It was impossible to even see the name Todd Worrell in the paper without reading that Fred Claire did not make him take a physical. I also knew that we desperately needed a closer, and Todd was the best guy out there.”

Worrell was fully recuperated the next season for the Dodgers, but his relationship with Manager Tom Lasorda was rotting. Worrell believes that a closer should work only the final inning, except for rare occasions. Lasorda believed that the closer should come into the game whenever needed. The manager prevailed, of course, and Worrell pitched two full innings in nine games, which might have contributed to his eight blown saves in 19 opportunities.

“My battles were with Tommy, more than [with] the fans or media,” Worrell said. “We had our confrontations, but that’s going to happen. No one is always going to agree with their boss. We had the same goals and objectives, but sometimes those are lost when egos and personalities clash.”

It reached a point before the 1995 season, Worrell said, that Claire asked him if he wanted to be traded.

“I wanted to stay,” Worrell said. “I didn’t want to give up. And I sat down with Tommy. I told him that I want people to believe in me, and when a manager has confidence in you, that means all of the difference in the world.

“I said, ‘Just leave me out there. If I mess it up, I mess it up. But I guarantee you if you do, you’ll like the percentages.’

“And to be fair with Tommy, he was right. I had a hard time getting my act together. I started pitching better, Tommy left me out there, and I think we ended up learning something from each other.”

Said Lasorda, “We came to an understanding and everything worked out just fine. I think the biggest problem was just getting him healthy.”

Worrell since has saved 74 games in 86 opportunities.

“I know we wouldn’t be where we are without him this year,” Dodger pitching coach Dave Wallace said. “I’m just not talking about his saves, but what he means to everyone else in that bullpen. It’s like having another coach down there the way he helps everyone.”

Said Lee Thomas, the Philadelphia Phillie general manager who, as the Cardinals’ farm director, was responsible for converting Worrell from a starter to a closer in 1985: “It’s absolutely amazing what he’s done and come back from. I mean, it’s one thing just to come back and pitch, but to be as dominant as he has been the last two years is unbelievable to me.

“You just look at him now, and you see that killer instinct.”

Yet, through the booing, the arguments with Lasorda and the arm problems, Worrell never publicly expressed his anger or frustration.

Even today, he refuses to gloat.

“As much as things got bad for me my first couple of years in L.A., and with everything I’ve been through, I couldn’t let that get the best of me,” Worrell said. “It goes with the territory, and I’ve accepted that. I never allowed that to be a distraction.

“You can’t fight that. The player is in a no-win situation. You will never have the last say. Guys in New York have shot off their mouths, and they got run out of town.

“The only recourse a player has is to shut your mouth and do it on the field. If you’re not performing well, the fans will let you know you’re not meeting their expectations, and believe me, no one has higher expectations than myself.”

It’s this confidence that has Worrell believing the Dodgers could return to the World Series for the first time since 1988. This is why he signed a one-year, $4-million contract, with a $3.75-million option, in 1997 with the Dodgers instead of going back to St. Louis. And this is what continues to drive him.

The closest Worrell came to a World Series ring was his rookie season, 1985. He was the man on the mound when first-base umpire Don Denkinger missed the call at first base, calling Kansas City Royal outfielder Jorge Orta safe in the ninth inning of Game 6. It cost the Cardinals the game, and ultimately the World Series. Worrell still has a picture in his St. Louis home of the throw beating Orta to the bag.

“It probably hurts more now than it did then because I didn’t realize what it takes to get there,” Worrell said. “Now I do. The only thing missing in my career is a world championship. And I feel this team has a chance to get it.

“Now, that would be a story, wouldn’t it?”

‘I said, “Just leave me out there. If I mess it up, I mess it up. But I guarantee you if you do, you’ll like the percentages.” And to be fair with Tommy [Lasorda], he was right. I had a hard time getting my act together. I started pitching better, Tommy left me out there, and I think we ended up learning something from each other.’

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Save Leaders

MAJOR LEAGUE

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No. Player, Team Year 57 B. Thigpen, White Sox 1990 53 Randy Myers, Cubs 1993 51 Dennis Eckersley, A’s 1992 48 Dennis Eckersley, A’s 1990 48 Rod Beck, Giants 1993

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DODGERS

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No. Player, Team Year 42 Todd Worrell 1996 32 Todd Worrell 1995 28 Jay Howell 1989 25 Jim Gott 1993 24 Jim Hughes 1954 24 Jim Brewer 1970

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Winning Form

L.A. Dodger save leaders on other division or pennant winners:

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Pitcher, Year IP H BB SO ERA W-L SV Clem Labine, 1959 84 2/3 91 33 43 3.93 5-10 9 Ron Perranoski, 1963 129 112 43 75 1.67 16-3 21 Ron Perranoski, 1965 104 2/3 85 40 53 2.24 6-6 17 Phil Regan, 1966 116 2/3 85 24 88 1.62 14-1 21 Mike Marshall, 1974 208 1/3 191 56 143 2.42 15-12 21 Charlie Hough, 1977 127 1/3 98 70 105 3.32 6-12 22 Terry Forster, 1978 65 1/3 56 23 46 1.93 5-4 22 Steve Howe, 1981 54 51 18 32 2.50 5-3 8 Steve Howe, 1983 68 2/3 55 12 52 1.44 4-7 18 Tom Niedenfuer, 1985 106 1/3 86 24 102 2.71 7-9 19 Jay Howell, 1988 65 44 21 70 2.08 5-3 21 Todd Worrell, 1995 62 1/3 50 19 61 2.02 4-1 32

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Worrell’s Saves

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Year Sv 1985 5 1986 36 1987 33 1988 32 1989 20 1990 0 1991 0 1992 3 1993 5 1994 11 1995 32 1996 42 Total 215*

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*--17th all-time