Dodgers Aren’t the Same Since Finley Jumped Fence

Watch the video. See the ball sail over the fence. Check out the guy sprinting behind the fence.

When Steve Finley brought down the heavens on that glorious October Saturday afternoon, a fan was there to pick them up.

Amazingly, after the Dodgers had clinched the division title with Finley’s ninth-inning grand slam against the San Francisco Giants, the fan brought the ball to the clubhouse.

Even more amazingly, Finley says the fan gave it to him for only a couple of autographed bats.

Last fall’s most valuable Dodger received nothing else from the good folks of Chavez Ravine until Friday night, when he made his return with the Angels.

And was handed boo, after boo, after boo.

“Aw, it doesn’t matter,” Finley said before the Angels’ 9-0 victory, when asked about possible jeers. “I can understand if they do. I play for the other team now.”

Ah, but it does matter. What Finley did last fall mattered as much as anything any Dodger has done in the last 16 years.

With two months, Finley gave the team its biggest victories since Game 5 in Oakland.

With one swing, Finley gave the team its biggest moment since Kirk Gibson.

“The best baseball moment of my life,” said Manager Jim Tracy.

“As far as individual accomplishments, it’s at the top of the list,” said Finley.

But memories around the Dodgers these days are shorter than your average Scott Erickson start.

Soon after the ball disappeared, so did Finley. It was a diamond-studded championship zing.

“I never had an opportunity,” he said about returning. “It was not happening.”

And so went one of the strangest parts of a strange off-season, from grand slam to goodbye to good heavens.

The formerly 12-2 Dodgers have won only two handfuls of games in the last month.

Even among the Paul DePodesta trekkies, the I-told-you-so’s are being replaced by the uh-ohs.

Thin at starting pitcher and invisible at third base, they could certainly have used the money that signing Finley -- instead of J.D. Drew -- would have saved them.

And it is still a wonder why a veteran would have waived a no-trade clause to come to a place where they would set him loose two months later.

“That’s kind of a gray area,” said Finley. “I’ll leave it at that.”

And so he came back Friday and had another huge swing, for entirely different reasons. In the fifth inning, with the Angels leading, 4-0, Finley lashed a hard line drive down the right-field line.

Vladimir Guerrero, running in his inimitable stumbling style from first base, never seemed to have a chance at scoring. But because there were two out, he was sent by coach Ron Roenicke anyway.

He slid awkwardly across the plate, being tagged out by Jason Phillips at the same time he jammed his left shoulder. If the news isn’t good for Guerrero, it could be a devastating blow to the Angel season.

Finley, who rescued the Dodgers last year, would again be in the right place at the right time, even if he does commute to his new job from his Del Mar home by train.

“You look at all the players who have come in here in the middle of the season during the last few years ... and he has as much, or more, impact than any of them,” said Tracy.

Fifty-eight games. Forty-six RBIs. Thirteen homers.

Every time you looked up -- and Dodger fans looked dizzyingly up for two months straight -- he was scrambling around the dirt or diving into the grass.

“Those were two months I’ll always remember,” Finley said. “One of those runs like we had, it’s hard to duplicate.”

The Dodgers obviously agreed, essentially blowing out both Finley and postseason winner Jose Lima on the same December day.

With Lima, who was a flashing-grin-in-the-pan, it was understandable.

With Finley, it was just plain weird.

He was 40 on opening day this year, certainly, but few in baseball are in better physical shape.

He would have required Milton Bradley to go back to right field, but this new Bradley wouldn’t have minded, would he?

More important than all of it, he would have signed for barely more than half of J.D. Drew’s eventual $11-million annual contract.

Hello, Adrian Beltre.

And if you don’t think Beltre is missed despite his struggles in Seattle, then you weren’t watching Friday when the Angels’ big inning was spurred by a ball that went under the glove of fill-in third baseman Mike Edwards.

At the time DePodesta cut Finley loose before an arbitration deadline, the general manager said, “Our most pressing needs are starting pitching, third base and catching.”

Well, um, two out of three are still pressing needs.

The Dodgers obviously thought they could get a better hitter than Finley, but didn’t.

They certainly thought they would have enough veteran leadership without him, and now, with the club struggling, we’ll find out.

“If you see him every day, you see how he always seems to get the clutch hits when we need them,” said Angel Manager Mike Scioscia. “He is a consummate professional.”

Finley had an awful start, but has rebounded to hit better than .300 in May and has six homers and 20 RBIs.

Drew, who also had a lousy start, has five homers and 16 RBIs.

But it was Finley who was cool enough last season to try something different when he couldn’t get Bradley’s attention while attempting to play catch before an inning.

Finley shrugged and threw a ball to a Dodger fan in the stands.

Finley then shouted, “Now throw it back!”

He and the fan played catch until the inning started, one of many special Finley moments, seen by many, remembered by almost none.