Al Downing, Jerry Reuss, Burt Hooton, Tim Leary, Jose Lima, Aaron Sele, Mike Morgan, Tim Belcher, Jim Gott, Wilson Alvarez, Pat Zachry, Terry Forster, Kevin Gross.   There are others and the list continues to grow – Major League pitchers thought to be past their prime or even washed up who the Dodgers took a gamble on.  The latest addition to this rather prestigious list appears to be Chris Capuano.

Chris Capuano is the latest of many who have had their careers resurrected after signing with the Dodgers.

All of the above mentioned pitchers had struggled with their previous organizations before coming to the Dodgers.  Many were considered to be done, washed up, with careers that were essentially over.  But then something happened.  They became Dodgers. They put on that blue and white jersey and crossed the lines at Dodger Stadium.  I think the reality of their situations is that they joined an organization that has always understood pitching.  Yes, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the one organization in baseball that year after year has turned out stellar pitching.

Al Downing was 5-13 in 1970 after splitting the season with the A’s and Brewers.  He was not seen as the same pitcher that he was early in his career as an up an coming star with the Yankees.  Much of it had to do with arm injuries and that loss of his blazing fastball. But in 1971, Al Campanis saw something in the 30 year old southpaw and dealt outfielder Andy Kosco for him.  Downing subtly emerged onto the scene as the ace of the Dodgers, going 20-9 with a 2.68 ERA and leading the league with 5 shutouts.  Downing finished third in Cy Young voting behind only future Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Tom Seaver.

What was it that made the difference?  Downing said they let him be and allowed him to pitch with the stuff he had.  “I could have got lost in some organization.  I was lucky.  I got a second chance,” Downing told Don Boykin of the Palm Beach Post during Spring Training in 1972.  “I didn’t know if the Dodgers would accept my style of pitching.  Oakland didn’t.  They took a look at me…saw that I didn’t have as good a fastball as they thought…and decided I couldn’t pitch.”

Downing claims that he never recovered his mid-90s fastball following an injury in 1968, a year where he says that he ripped some muscles in his left arm.  “When I came up, I depended on my fastball.  But after the injury I had to use more breaking stuff and off speed pitches.  The Dodgers accepted and encouraged my style.”

That’s the thing, I don’t recall the Dodgers ever really trying to alter a pitchers repertoire of pitches.  The organization has always allowed a guy to go with his best stuff – perhaps a tweak here or there, assistance with a delivery flaw, but never anything drastic.

The Giants, after signing Barry Zito to that monster $125 million contract, allowed him to completely alter his delivery in an attempt to increase velocity.  The Dodger organization would have never allowed that.  They would have insisted that he work within his limitations and tweak his former Cy Young award winning stuff.  The result was a Giants team stuck with pitcher who had lost his confidence and probably his career (and for A LOT of money).

Tommy John returned from the first ever ligament replacement surgery and was allowed to pitch at his own pace and within the limitations that his stuff allowed.  A journeyman pitcher bouncing around the Mexican Leagues named Vicente Romo, came up in 1982 and provided a push in the pennant stretch by simply being allowed to through the junk he was savvy enough to have developed over the years.  Jose Lima burst on the scene in 2004 by being given some rope to soft toss his way to 13 victories and an NLDS shutout win over the Cardinals.

The ever-charismatic Jose Lima holds court in the Dodger dugout. Lima was signed off of the ‘trash heap’ by the Dodgers in 2004 and won 13 games. He also had the only Dodger victory in the 2004 NLDS. Lima died suddenly of a heart attack in 2010 at the young age of 37. (Photo by Jon SooHoo)

The Dodger organization has had its share of top notch pitching coaches and instructors over the year such as Red Adams, Ron Perranoski, Dave Wallace, Rick Honeycutt, Charlie Hough, and even Sandy Koufax.  With such a pitching-rich tradition, maybe excellence and over achieving has come to be accepted.  You put that Dodger uni on and there is an expectation that comes with it.

I recall when knuckleballer Charlie Haeger got roughed up in his few starts with the Dodgers a few years ago.  A close friend of mine commented that he had never ever seen such a terrible string of starts by a Dodger pitcher ever.  He was right – we have been spoiled.  We have never really seen a streak of inept pitching for an extended period of time.  Sure, there have been bumps in the road and a few guys haven’t worked out.  But for every Scott Erickson or Don Stanhouse, there are five pitchers that come over to the organization to perform like Aaron Sele or Andy Messersmith or Tim Leary.

Some may say it’s luck, others that the success is the product of pitching in pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium.  Sure, there is some truth to the latter statement, but why is it that organizations from other pitcher-friendly fields haven’t developed the pitching rich tradition of the Dodgers?  Teams from other pitcher-friendly environments like the Giants, Mariners, Mets, Tigers, Padres have had their occasional stars, but not the longevity and tradition of being amongst the best pitching organizations in baseball like the Dodgers.

Chris Capuano and Ted Lilly are achieving like previous Dodger pitching greats right now.  Aaron Harang has shown signs and may join the duo as well – it is their expectation, they are Dodgers.  As fans, we’ve been spoiled by their success.  Hopefully things don’t change.  I’m fairly certain they won’t.