'88 LA and '61 Bombers split series

Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, The Yankees and Dodgers faced off in the first of a four game set. The Yankees drew first blood with a run in the second inning. The Dodgers came back with a run in the bottom half of the second inning as pitcher drove in the first of his three runs with a sacrifice fly. Roger Maris hit a two run homerun in the top half of the third to give the Bronx Bombers a renewed 3-1 lead. Los Angeles tied the game in the bottom half of the third and took the lead in the fourth inning with two runs. The Dodgers added two more runs in the 5th and that was all they would need. The Yankees added a run in the ninth to make the final score 6-4 in favor of Los Angeles. Tim Belcher pitched 6 innings and gave up 4 runs but earned his 3rd win of the year against 2 losses. Sheldon got the start for the Yankees and got hung with the loss. Sheldon's record stands at 1-2.

Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, Fernando Valenzuela got the rock and very short rest but hung in there for 5 1/2 innings of no run 2 hit ball. Fernando hung around just long enough to get the win(2-3). The Dodgers scored the first run of the ballgame in the 5th inning with an RBI single by Rick Dempsey. The Dodgers plated three more runs in the 6th inning to increase their lead to 3-0. The Yankees avoided the shutout with Yogi Berra's solor homerun in the 8th inning, his 6th of the year. Final score: Dodgers 4...Yankees 1.

Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, Bill Stafford and Tim Leary took the mound in the third game of the series and it looked to be a good pitching duel. Both pitchers threw well. Stafford threw a complete game for the Yankees and Tim Leary threw 8 innings of 2 runs. Fortunetly for Los Angeles scored 4 runs for a 4-2 victory. Steve Sax connected for his first homerun of the year to aid in the Los Angeles victory. Tim Leary improves to 2-2 on the year and Jay Howell pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 3rd save of the year. Stafford fell to 3-3 on the year.

Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, The Yankees scored early and held onto the lead to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers. Hard luck pitcher Orel Hershisher served up a two run homerun to Roger Maris in the first inning and that was all New York would need in defeating Hershiser and the Dodgers. All year, the Dodger offense has been unable to support Hershiser. The Dodger righthander is 1-4 on the year. Hershisher pitched a complete game while only surrendering 3 runs on 7 innings. On the other side of the mound Ralph Terry pitched great as he pitched 7 innings and improved to 4-1.