Gagne bids adieu to L.A., and it’s sadly too soon

Gagne over.

Has any Dodger ever flashed across the Chavez Ravine sky so brightly, then flamed out so quickly?

The sudden impact Eric Gagne brought to the ninth inning mirrored the sudden impact his career brought to Los Angeles.

He showed up for eight hair-raising minutes, then disappeared.

His brittle body no longer able to support his mound bravado, his team no longer trusting him with the ball, Gagne on Tuesday agreed to a one-year deal with the Texas Rangers for $6 million.

Thus ended one of the most tingling, yet temporary, eras of greatness in Dodgers history.

His “Game Over” magic changed the Dodger Stadium culture, spawned a historic marketing campaign, created memories for millions.

Yet, it lasted all of three seasons.

That’s it. Three seasons. Exactly 82 1/3 innings each season. Strung together, they add up to about 28 games.

A lifetime in one month.

But, man, what a month.

“It was such a short time,” said Dan Evans, the former Dodgers general manager who moved Gagne to the bullpen. “But in that short time, he changed the face of the game.”

From 2002 to 2004, that face became his face, with clunky goggles and scraggly goatee and salt-stained blue cap.

During those three years, Gagne set a major league mark with 84 consecutive saves, 30 more than the previous record.

He set a record for most saves in a three-year period with 152. He set a record for lowest single-season earned-run average for a reliever at 1.20.

“He was as flawless as any relief pitcher in history,” said Evans, now an executive with the Seattle Mariners. “His statistics were so incredible, you would look at them and think they were typos.”

During those three years he blew only six of 158 save opportunities, and how incredible was that? Last summer, the Dodgers blew 21 of 61 save opportunities.

He won the Cy Young Award. He captured a city’s heart. He ended a national joke by keeping the historically early-exiting Dodgers fans in their seats in the ninth inning.

“Those ninth innings were one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of,” Evans said.

Cool for three years. Then, just plain cold.

In the end, Eric Gagne was a testament not only to success, but to excess.

His body became too big. His workload became too much. This oak tree of a Dodger eventually broke down like an old piece of wicker.

His knee wobbled. His elbow broke. His back blew out.

He sat out most of his last two seasons here because of injuries that slowed his fastball, which took the edge off his curve, which turned him into something far different than Eric Gagne.

The Dodgers have more faith in Takashi Saito and Jonathan Broxton, so they did not pick up his option nor enter into a bidding war for his services.

The Rangers will be getting a pitcher whose old slogan comes with new punctuation.

Game Over?

Neither the Rangers nor Gagne were available for comment Tuesday because the contract is not official until he passes a physical exam, no small feat.

Ned Colletti, the Dodgers’ general manager, was upset that Gagne didn’t reveal last spring’s elbow soreness until the regular season began. Because Gagne was able to pitch only two games during the summer, giving him only 16 appearances over two seasons, it was clear the Dodgers could no longer count on him.

It was only out of loyalty that the Dodgers made him a $4-million offer. It would have been tough for both teammates and fans to watch him rehabilitate from the middle of the Dodgers bullpen. It is perhaps easier for everyone, including Gagne, that he is gone.

“He was disappointed in the way the year went,” said Colletti, saying that he felt bad for the pitcher. “I was disappointed in the way the year went.”

So why did it all end so soon?

Some will say that Gagne’s physical breakdown was a clear example of the damage caused by steroids. Gagne denied using steroids, but in a baseball environment where everyone showing a drastic increase in power was guilty, he was always surrounded by whispers of suspicions.

A more definitive reason for the breakdown is his prolonged use at the end of the 2004 season, after then-general manager Paul DePodesta traded away his setup man, Guillermo Mota, on July 31.

Two days after that trade, Gagne pitched three innings. A few days later, he pitched 2 2/3 innings. The Dodgers rode his back to the playoffs, but he was never the same.

“That closing job has such a short shelf life, it’s physically so difficult, emotionally so taxing,” said Evans, who converted Gagne to a reliever in the spring of 2002. “We were really fortunate to have Gagne be so good for as long as he was.”

Indeed we were.

One of Gagne’s last acts as a Dodger was to phone Colletti last winter and give him a long discourse about fixing the team. The shy kid who struggled with English had grown into a vocal leader.

One of his last acts as a Dodgers citizen was to notice Evans driving nearby on the 210 freeway, flag him over, and spend the next hour talking with him on a curb. The intimidating mound presence had become everyone’s friend.

“As great as he was as a pitcher, he is an even better human being,” Evans said.

We’ll miss his fist pump. We’ll miss his baggy pants. We’ll miss his wrinkled shirt and filthy cap and dorky eyewear and killer curve.

Mostly, we’ll miss his nightly entrance into a stadium that was transformed into a roaring jungle, Dodgers fans bonding together on late summer nights to witness the greatest throws on Earth.

His exit was not quite the same. They never are.

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

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