APRIL 6, 1969:
NL PREVIEW: DODGERS by John Wiebusch (Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES - The Dodgers had a 59-77 record on Sept. 1 last year and team morale was sagging. "How can a team with a pitching staff like that be in last place?" people asked, but those people had not seen the defense.
Zoilo Versalles was at shortstop and Bob Bailey was at third and seldom in the history of baseball have so few mishandled so many for a pitching staff.
The Dodgers' team earned-run average hovered between 2.50 and 3.00 all season but the defense gave away an additonal half-run a game and the losses multiplied.
Manager Walter Alston made the change just before Labor Day. He put Bill Sudakis, a young man of 22 who had hit .294 at Albuquerque, at third base, and Paul Popovich, a utility infielder, a shortstop.
The Dodgers had other contributors to be sure. Willie Crawford, the man who received $100,000 from the club in 1964, began to hit after five years of inconsistency and Jim Lefebvre and Ron Fairly, inactive through much of the season with injuries, began a resurgence back to respectability.
The team finished with 18 victories in 27 games and rose from tenth place to tie for sixth.
It is significant, consequently, that the men who make the odds in Las Vegas placed the Dodgers only slightly behind San Francisco in their wagering alignment for the National League's Western Division. Cincinnati and Atlanta both finished ahead of Los Angeles last season.
The reason for the new respect are pitching and, just as important, defense.
The Dodgers' starting pitching staff of Don Drysdale, Bill Singer, Don Sutton and Claude Osteen may be the finest in the major leagues.
Drysdale, who missed the month of of September with an arm injury, is, at 32, still the anchorman. He has won 204 major league games and his streak of 58 consecutive scoreless innings last season stands as one of baseball's monumental individual achievements.
Osteen, 29, is the only lefthander in the foursome. The man who has a 2.96 earned-run average for four seasons with the Dodgers has added another pitch, the screw ball, this season. His curve ball is still one of the best in the National League.
Singer, 25, and Sutton, 24, have arrived as established major-league pitchers. Singer, the master of the fast ball, had 227 strikeouts in 257 innings last season; Sutton, whose best pitch is the curve, ranked among the league's earned-run leaders at 2.60.
Alan Foster, a 22-year-old righthander, will be the club's fifth starter. Foster has the potential to become one of baseball's premier pitchers.
The bullpen, with the exception of lefthander Jim Brewer (2.49 ERA in 54 games), is the staff's uncertainty.
Other likely saviors are Pete Mikkelsen, a veteran of four previous major-league teams who had a 16-4 record at Tulsa last season; Joe Moeller, who has shuttled between the Dodgers and Spokane for six years; John Purdin, who pitched well in the first half of 1968, then faded near the finish, and Art Darwin, a 25-year-old righthander with a blazing fast ball who was drafted from the Baltimore organization last winter.
The Dodgers' main problem this spring has been finding a power hitter of consistency. Andy Kosco, acquired from New York, hit 15 home runs with the Yankees and could supply the needed punch.
Los Angeles' lineup is set - or reasonably set - at three positions. Tom Haller will start behind the plate, Sudakis at third base and Crawford in left.
Two rookies - outfielder Bill Russell and second baseman-shortstop Ted Sizemore - could start on opening day. Russell, 20, is an exciting prospect with great speed but it is questionable whether he is ready to jump from the California League; Sizemore, 22, is an aggressive hitter who was converted last winter from catcher back to the positions he played in high school.
The other infield candidates are Lefebvre and Popovich. Wes Parker, in all probability, will be the first baseman, but Kosco could be switched to the position to buoy the offense.
Fairly, Len Gabrielson and Kosco are Russell's challengers for the remaining outfield positions, although Willie Davis will be the center fielder when his broken arm heals.
If pennant contenders are made of pitching, defense and speed, then Dodgers are indded contenders in 1969. They will not score a lot of runs... but perhaps they won't have to.
DON DRYSDALE