He May Not Become MVP, but Finley’s Quite a Factor

A debate over which player is the National League’s most valuable, Mike Piazza of Los Angeles or Ken Caminiti of San Diego, continued here Friday with the Dodger manager, Bill Russell, clarifying an earlier statement on why he would vote for the latter. Russell now claims something was lost in the translation.

Some people, however, believe the MVP to be neither the Dodger with the Fu Manchu nor the Padre with the fuzzy goatee.

Ask many of the 51,217 fans who jammed Jack Murphy Stadium for Friday night’s game, and a number of them would vote for smooth-shaven, smooth-swinging, smooth-fielding Steve Finley, the man who once went to college at Southern Illinois studying to be a chiropractor. Some would contend that Finley has been the backbone of this Padre team all season.

The back-to-back homers Finley jacked out of the Murph were responsible for putting the Padres back in the thick of the National League pennant race, the Dodgers losing valuable ground, 4-2. Finley now has 27 homers, not bad for someone who slugged a grand total of 47 over his previous six seasons.

“My power stroke was working tonight, I guess,” said Finley, who made adjustments in his stance after mashing only 10 taters last year.

Finley is on fire, breaking Padre club records for runs scored and doubles, flirting with a .300 batting average--lifetime, he’s .278--and ranking among league leaders in hits. OK, so no way he will outpoll Piazza or Caminiti when the league’s MVP ballots are counted, but listen to XTRA all-sports radio on any given day and you’ll hear callers nominating Finley for friar of the year.

There might be a National League team with a better 1-2-3 top of the order than San Diego’s, but it probably played in Cincinnati in the year 1975.

Things started off for Tom Candiotti well enough Friday, when the Dodger starter slipped a knuckleball past Tony Gwynn for what was Gwynn’s 15th strikeout in 418 at-bats. Gwynn is a guy who could hit a hanging curve with a coat hanger, but Candiotti fooled him.

Next up was Finley, who wasn’t fooled a bit. He lined a low-trajectory shot over the center-field fence, which left the park faster than an L.A. fan in a rush to beat the traffic. Wayne Kirby jumped for it, but Michael Jordan couldn’t have gotten a glove on it.

Candiotti promptly struck out Caminiti, which meant that he had just fanned two of the National League’s most dangerous hitters, only to stand there on the mound after three batters, down by a run.

The 39-year-old Candiotti could theoretically have been making his last start for the Dodgers, since it is entirely possible that Bill Russell will use a four-man rotation over the remaining eight games, as well as in any playoffs. There is a year left on Candiotti’s contract, but Chan Ho Park’s place in the Dodger rotation could be secure by April.

Candiotti was sharp on his first trip through the Padre order, as was San Diego’s Joey Hamilton. With one throwing 65-mph knuckleballs, the other 95-mph fastballs, they whipped through three full innings in a snappy 39 minutes.

Then came the fourth inning, and Finley again. One of the best-kept secrets in baseball, Finley came to San Diego shortly after Christmas 1994 in the same package in which Santa (disguised as an Astro) also gift-wrapped Caminiti. If the man who made that trade for Houston is still working, the Dodgers should give him a call.

Xeroxing a homer to nearly the same spot as the last one, Finley gave the Padres a 2-0 lead.

It was only the game’s second hit, yet the end was near for Candiotti, who then gave up a ringing double by Caminiti down the right-field line. Caminiti stole third on the sleeping Dodgers, then scored when Wally Joyner shanked what should have been a harmless fly to left.

Once again, as has been the case all season, the Dodgers paid for their inability to keep baserunners from stealing.

Had they not cost themselves by neglecting Caminiti on the bases, the Dodgers could have tied this game in the eighth, when they picked up a cheap run on a hit by Todd Hollandsworth, a wild pitch and a couple of infield taps. The score at that point should have been Finley 2, L.A. 2.

Instead, the Padres put the game out of reach, Caminiti crushing one over the left-field palm trees. Russell says he meant Caminiti would be his MVP if he couldn’t vote for Piazza, but either way, they are two of the best players in the National League this season . . . two of the three best.

With apologies to Ellis Burks.