Dodgers Glad to Close Door on ’98 After Win

For Kevin Malone, it’s a beginning, not an ending.

Even as Dodger reliever Jeff Shaw clutched the ball smacked back to him by the Milwaukee Brewers’ Geoff Jenkins on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium and fired the ball to Matt Luke at first to end the wildest, most chaotic season in Dodger history, Malone focused on bringing calmness, stability and success to the franchise.

“There’s partly a sense of relief that this season is over,” said Malone, the team’s new general manager. “It’s been a season of transition, adversity and injuries. I believe the page has turned on 1998. It’s over now and we can focus on 1999.”

The final page of 1998 was an entertaining one for Sunday’s crowd of 46,696. They cheered the fans who won cars and vacations on fan appreciation day. They booed the virtual reality figure who made his debut on the video scoreboard.

And, oh yes, there was a game, which the Dodgers won, 2-1, to finish the season 83-79, five games worse than they finished a year ago. But their 48 victories at home are the most they’ve had since 1991.

Chan Ho Park (15-9) got the win, giving him a career high in victories for a season.

Shaw got the save, his 48th, also a career best.

Roger Cedeno drove in the first Dodger run Sunday with his second homer of the season in the fifth inning and Mark Grudzielanek brought home the game-winner with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly, tagging Milwaukee starter Bill Pulsipher (3-4) with the loss.

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The Dodgers, those who survive what figures to be a winter of change, will gather again at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., next year for spring training.

“After that it’s up in the air,” said publicity director Derrick Hall. “We have a great relationship with the city of Vero Beach. However, we are the only team in major league baseball that owns its own facility. It can be extremely expensive. So we are entertaining all options and offers.”