10/04

A MESSAGE TO ALL YOU PEOPLE WHINING AND BITCHING ABOUT RESETTING THE CLOCK:

Since Steve Finley's division-clinching grand slam, everyone is up in arms about resetting the "time since the last great moment" clock. While we respect your opinions (at least some of you), Gibson isn't going anywhere until the Dodgers win the World Series. First of all, this web site was formed a couple years ago to document the frustration of being a Dodger fan. Much (if not all) of that frustration comes from the fact that over the last 15 years or so Dodgers have had great players, great teams on paper, and great big contracts... yet haven't won the World Series since 1988. Hell, as we write this, they haven't won a playoff game since 1988. That's a frustrating streak. And until the Dodgers win the World Series, that frustration will continue—at least for us.

If you're satisfied just winning the division, and consider that a great accomplishment, you're not much of a fan. That's not to take away from the Dodgers' accomplishments this year, or their accomplishments on Saturday. The Dodgers' comeback was exciting as hell, and Finley's home run was pretty goddamn cool—cool, but not in the same league as Gibson's home run. Kirk was a gimp, it was his only at-bat of the World Series, the Dodgers were down by a run, two outs, full count, the greatest closer on the mound. True, it's doubtful that there'll be any Dodger moment in our lifetime that matches the beauty, magic, and thrill of Gibson's home run. But we'll let you in on a little baseball secret: it's all about winning the World Series. Gibson's home run isn't just about the brief moment that October night in 1988—it represents more. It represents a World Series victory.

Steve Finley's grand slam gave the Dodgers the National League west division championship. The division championship is terrific, especially for a team not expected to even contend, but it's not the World Series. And a sac fly would have done the same thing as a grand slam. Yeah, the grand slam was fun, it was sexy, and it put an exclamation point on the regular season. It was undoubtedly the coolest Dodger moment in a long time, but it DID NOT have the significance of Gibson's blast.

Maybe it's a matter of semantics. What qualifies as a great moment? If we were to put Finley's home run up there, why wouldn't we have changed the clock when Eric Gagne broke the consecutive saves record, or when Paul Lo Duca made the sliding catch into the dugout, or when Alex Cora fouled off 110 pitches before finally homering? Those were all great moments, right? And what happens if the Dodgers were to beat St. Louis and then win the NLCS on a big home run? Wouldn't that be even more significant than Finley's shot? We're not going to be changing the goddamn clock every week.

The whole point is that we're not going to be satisfied until the Dodgers win the World Series. That's the next great moment. Until then, the Gibson clock speaks of the pain and misery we've had to deal with as die-hard Dodger fans. It speaks of Darryl Strawberry's Dodger career. It speaks of Bill Russell's total lack of personality. It speaks of Todd Worrell's blown saves and Angel Pena's bloated belly. It speaks of Raul Mondesi's tirade, Guillermo Mota's DUI, and Darren Dreifort's fragility. It speaks of the Mike Piazza trade, the Fox regime, and Kevin Malone. For us, it speaks loud and clear.

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