Comeback Signals Return of Glory Days

By Bill Plaschke

Oct. 3, 2004 12 AM PT

Biggest hit since Gibby, and I never saw it land.

Sweetest revenge since Bobby, and it just disappeared.

The ball soared off Steve Finley’s bat, was sucked into sunlight and screams and 115 years of a baseball tradition that today pounds its chest again, and all you could see were Dodgers.

Dodgers streaming out of the dugout. Dodgers dancing down the baselines. Dodgers hugging and flopping and weeping.

Thousands more in the stands, untucked Dodger shirts, crooked Dodger caps, screaming and stomping and shaking the grand old lady awake after all these years, turning Chavez Ravine into one soulful roar.

Somebody said the hit dropped over the right-field wall. Somebody else said, yes, yes, look at the scoreboard, mercy, mercy, it was a grand slam.

By then, Finley had crossed home plate underneath a mob, Jim Tracy had skipped to home plate in a giant, tearful embrace, it was too loud to hear, everyone was too stunned to speak, and who cares about a little ball?

Saturday afternoon’s 7-3 National League West Division-clinching victory over the San Francisco Giants was not about the swing of a bat, but the rebirth of a culture.

It has taken 16 years, five managers, three owners and perhaps the most incredible ninth inning in franchise history, but the Dodgers are the Dodgers again.

A team that epitomizes the relentlessness of its city. A team as tough as a morning commute, as lingering as a beach sunset, equal parts Hollywood Boulevard and Hollywood Squares.

A team classy enough to celebrate on the field with its fans, and regular enough to do it with Budweiser instead of Moet.

A team that scored the runs, then led the cheers, grabbing the microphone and shouting at the thousands who remained.

Shouted owner Frank McCourt: “You can never quit! They showed us what that means!”

Shouted rightful MVP owner Adrian Beltre: “We’re going to the World Series!”

Sounds crazy, but so do 26 wins in their last at-bat, and 53 comeback victories among their 93 wins.

Sounds crazy, but so was Milton Bradley going into the stands again Saturday, but this time, during the postgame celebration, to slam down a little love.

And, oh yeah, one thing about the Giants:

Take that, Bobby Thomson.

You can have your little 1951 Shot Heard ‘Round The World.

This was Seven Shots Heard ‘Round The World, all in the final inning, all with one out, all of it starting with the Dodgers trailing, 3-0.

This was seven shots that probably knocked the Giants out of the playoffs while surely sending their bullpen back to Throw A Stinking Strike school.

And to think, the Dodgers didn’t have to steal any signs to do it.

“Our players were not afraid to get dirty, they were not afraid to hustle, they were not afraid to sacrifice themselves,” said McCourt, wearing an oversized cap and T-shirt, finally looking like just another Dodger. “Our players have worn the Dodger uniform proud this year.”

Kirk Gibson would have loved this, Finley’s homer soaring in the same general direction, but to the left, of his 1988 homer.

Gibson would have been jealous, though, because, unlike in 1988, there were no brake lights flashing in the right-field parking lot when Finley’s ball went out.

With this Dodger team, everyone has learned to stay until the end.

“I thought I’d never see it like 1988 again,” said John Shelby, the Dodgers’ first base coach who was on their last title team. “But this is unbelievable. I can never remember dramatics like this.”

The unbelievable started, as it usually does in this game, with unselfishness. Leading off the ninth against closer Dustin Hermanson, Shawn Green reached out and poked a single to opposite, left field.

“This is what I thought about when I came here,” Green said. “Moments like this.”

Robin Ventura, down 1-and-2, then showed veteran patience by looking at three consecutive balls for a walk.

After Alex Cora struck out, Jose Hernandez then showed more extraordinary patience, especially for a pinch-hitter, by drawing a six-pitch walk to load the bases.

“At one point, I stepped out of the batter’s box and looked around and heard the crowd so loud and thought, ‘This is nice,’ ” Hernandez said. “I would do anything to get on.”

Next up, pinch-hitter Hee-Seop Choi, the most bedraggled of Dodgers, with no hits and no impact in 11 previous pinch at-bats this season. Somehow, some way, he drew an RBI walk, taking three balls after two strikes.

“That might have been the biggest at-bat of the inning,” said Paul DePodesta, the general manager, with a sly grin, and we know why.

Next up, Cesar Izturis, who hit a grounder directly to a Giant mystery, a backup shortstop with a poor fielding average, Cody Ransom, who was inexplicably inserted into the game for defensive purposes.

The Dodgers can send Felipe Alou a thank-you note later. For now, Izturis ran joyfully to first as Ransom botched the grounder, allowing another run to score.

Jayson Werth then fouled off three pitches with two strikes before lining a ball to right field for the third run.

“I’m thinking, I’m not going to give in,” he said.

Do any of them?

That left it for Finley to take one strike from Wayne Franklin and then hit a ball that will be remembered forever, even by those who never saw it land.

Later, amid the postgame party, somebody casually mentioned to a beer-soaked Werth that this sort of thing doesn’t happen every day.

He raised his eyebrows. He laughed the quiet laugh of a champion, of a Dodger.

“Yes it does,” he said.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

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Division leaders

NL West titles since divisional play began in 1969:

Dodgers 9

Cincinnati 7

San Francisco 6

Atlanta 5

Arizona 3