Solution: The Lasorda Code

Here's the solution to the VORP #3. First, you had to determine the relationship of the players listed. You'll notice first that they are all in order by their uniform number

Lasorda - 2

Sax - 3
Nomar - 5
Loney - 7
Mota - 11
Cora - 13
Ishii - 17
Gilliam - 19
Gibson - 23
Beltre - 29
Piazza - 31
Dreifort -37
Shaw - 41
Ashby - 43
Orosco - 47
Drysdale - 53
Mota - 59
Park - 61

They're all prime numbers! If the prime numbers are applied sequentially to the flavortext, a intelligible message can be deciphered. The second letter is a "W", three letters after that is "H", etc.

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I was home for a typical evening game. Lasorda was up in the booth giving this bombastic speech about all time dodger greats like Sax and Nomar.

Who? Did he just misspeak?

Meanwhile, Loney picked a short hop for the second out of the frame. His story soon moved to Manny Mota’s pinch hitting then Alex Cora’s memorable marathon at-bat.

“Just my hearing, I guess.” I made a mental note to get it checked out.

But then, in an inexplicable moment, he was rambling about Kazuhisa Ishii!

Is my mind playing tricks on me? What about Jim Gilliam or Kirk Gibson? Even Beltre had the one great year! I doubt I’m alone in wanting to remember Piazzas as opposed to the Dreiforts of Dodger history. Now, Vin, he can make even a Jeff Shaw interesting. Or even Andy Ashby if he really worked at it. The man had called games seasons even before Jesse Orosco was born!

That got me thinking. Was the skipper really trying to teach me that being able to see one like Don Drysdale in Dodger blue, it’s worth waiting through 100 Guillermo Motas? “Hey, that’s deep for such an old blowhard,” I thought. So, will there be some eventual cosmic payoff for watching the game when Park served up two slams in an inning?

“Better be damned good” I muttered.

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The message we have decoded is "WHO CAUGHT MORE GAMES IN OOs", to which the answer is Paul Lo Duca, by 39 games over Martin. Congratulations to those who answered correctly. The initial standings will be posted shortly.