Brock Shines in ‘Duel in the Sun’ : His Two Homers Help Valenzuela Defeat Gooden and Mets, 6-2

NEW YORK —  Pitchers have bad elbows. So do tennis players, basketball centers and barflies.

First basemen, on the other hand, are supposed to have biceps. Or as they’re used to seeing in Los Angeles, forearms the size of watermelons.

That, of course, was before the arrival of Greg Brock and his matching set of bad elbows. Dodger Vice President Al Campanis said that before Brock, he’d never seen an injury that traveled from one elbow to the other. Call it migratory elbow-itis (but don’t look for it in your medical dictionary).

But now, Brock, who two weeks ago couldn’t prop himself up, is suddenly carrying the Dodgers. His two home runs and five RBIs in the Dodgers’ 6-2 win over the New York Mets Saturday afternoon gave him five home runs in a week and eclipsed the heavily hyped “Duel in the Sun” between Dr. K and Senor Smoke. Or as they’re otherwise known, Dwight Gooden and Fernando Valenzuela.

“This is what we needed,” Manager Tom Lasorda said, basking in the second Dodger three-game winning streak of the season. “Just what the doctor ordered.”

That doctor must have been someone other than the aforementioned Dr. K, who was cruising along with a 1-0 lead until the fifth. That’s when he walked Pedro Guerrero and threw a changeup.

Had the changeup been thrown lower, Brock might have lunged into the first- base box seats. But the pitch was up, and though Brock was a little in front of the ball, he still managed to muscle it down the right-field line, just 338 feet away.

“I didn’t hit it great,” Brock said, “but I hit it to the shortest part of the ballpark. I tried to blow it out.” Gooden, too, was looking for a favorable breeze.

“I figured it was gone,” he said, “but I was hoping the wind would take it foul.”

The ball struck the blue padding above the fence on the fair side of the foul pole, and the Dodgers led, 2-1. In the sixth, Steve Sax’s single, a balk and Ken Landreaux’s second of three hits made it 3-1.

An inning later, Gooden was lifted for a pinch-hitter. And in the ninth, when Brock crushed a three-run home run more than 400 feet off Doug Sisk, Gooden’s third loss in nine decisions was assured, even though he struck out nine batters, including every Dodger in the lineup but Landreaux.

“Doc made one bad pitch, a changeup in a bad location,” said Met Manager Dave Johnson, trying to weather New York’s fourth loss in a row. “That’s his third best pitch, and he got beat on it.”

Grounds for an apology? Hardly. But there was the 20-year-old Gooden in the Met clubhouse after the game, issuing just that. “I thought they got a pretty good show,” he said, referring to the Shea Stadium crowd of 40,052 and a national television and radio audience. “I’m just sorry I let ‘em down.”

For Valenzuela, a rare supply of runs means never having to say you’re sorry. He did admit, however, to a rare anxiety attack at the start of the game when the first three Mets hit shots off him. After Mookie Wilson lined out to right, Kelvin Chapman lined a single to center and scored when left fielder Terry Whitfield momentarily froze on Keith Hernandez’s liner that went over his head for a double.

“In the first inning I had a problem,” Valenzuela said through interpreter Jaime Jarrin. “I wasn’t relaxed. I was a little tight.

“The game didn’t start on time--there was a little delay--and I think I had too much time between warming up in the bullpen and the start of the game.

“But as the game went on, I was more relaxed.”

And the more relaxed he was, the more he effective he was. Singles by Howard Johnson and Hernandez were all the Mets got until the ninth, when Gary Carter singled and scored on Johnson’s opposite-field triple.

But when Rafael Santana tapped to shortstop Bob Bailor for the final out, Valenzuela had his league-leading sixth complete game. He also went over .500 for first time, raising his record to 5-4, while his earned-run average actually climbed four-hundredths of a point, to 1.68.

Asked if he thought the folks were watching back in Etchohuaquila, Mexico, Valenzuela smiled. “Maybe,” he said. “I’ll call later.”

But did he admit that beating Gooden for the first time after losing twice to him last season meant something extra? Not a chance.

“Just another game,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who’s pitching. I have to face the other hitters, not the other pitcher.”

And for a change, the Dodger hitters are delivering for him. “It’s not going to be the first time or the last time they get me some runs,” Valenzuela said.

And how long would he have to wait?

“Next time out,” he said with a laugh.

These days, every time out has been a smash for Brock, whose revival has been as startling as it has been welcome. He was batting .189 with one home run and four RBIs entering last Sunday’s game against Philadelphia. That, incidentally, also was the day that Sid Bream, the Dodgers’ opening day first baseman, returned from the minors.

Since then, Brock has raised his average to .227 by going 7 for 22. Two of his five home runs last week were three-run homers, and his 10 RBIs in the last six games give him 14, just one less than Guerrero. He has hit one less home run than slumping team leader Mike Marshall, who has more at-bats (152-75) but who was benched Saturday.

“It’s hard to explain stretches like this,” Brock said. “It’s something that at certain times every home run hitter goes through.”

Dodger batting instructor Ben Hines, who has been working closely with Brock since the start of spring training, calls the difference in Brock a “confident aggressiveness.”

“His confidence level is back,” Hines said. “A lot of times when you have doubts, it makes a difference in the way you’re swinging the bat.

“And he’s also healthy. What was he out for, 20 games (actually, 21)? To think he’d come back swinging on the first day was whimsical.”

Only flight of fancy could have predicted a streak like this, although Brock has had them before. A year ago last April, he hit home runs in four straight games against San Diego.

“I’m impressed with him,” Lasorda said. “He’s very aggressive, and he’s not behind in the count as much. He’s picking his pitch and hitting it.

“This is the power we knew he had, and the power we expected him to give us.”

Those expectations may be here to stay.

“You have 7 1/2 hours to live up the glory,” catcher Steve Yeager said to Brock in the clubhouse. “If you remember it tomorrow, it doesn’t mean a thing.”

Dodger Notes Greg Brock isn’t the only rejuvenated Dodger hitter. Outfielder R.J. Reynolds, getting a chance to play every day with Al Oliver on the disabled list, had two hits Saturday and has had seven hits in his last 23 at-bats. Reynolds, who began the trip batting .224, is up to .256. . . . Ken Landreaux, who was batting .170 on May 17, has 11 hits in his last 26 at-bats and is up to .228. . . . Greg Brock’s home run was the fourth allowed this season by Dwight Gooden. The others were hit by Jack Clark of St. Louis, Dennis Walling of Houston and Kevin McReynolds of San Diego. . . . This was the second two- home-run game of Brock’s career. The other came on May, 18, 1983, when he hit two off the Expos and had a career-high of six RBIs. . . . Manager Tom Lasorda will appear on “CBS Sunday Morning” with Charles Kuralt today at 8 a.m. . . . Met reliever Doug Sisk, who had 15 saves and a 2.09 ERA last season, continued his disastrous spring. Sisk, just recently recalled from the minors, now has an ERA of 7.77 after giving up Brock’s three-run homer in the ninth. Before this season, Sisk had not given up a home run in 100 innings pitched in Shea Stadium.

BROCK SHOWS SOCK DODGER FIRST BASEMAN GREG BROCK HAS HIT FIVE HOME RUNS IN HIS LAST SIX GAMES. HERE ARE HIS STATISTICS DURING THAT SPAN:

Date Game AB R H BI Home Run Result (Season)

May 19 at Philadelphia 4 1 1 1 HR (2) Dodgers won, 3-2 May 20 at Montreal 3 0 0 0 NONE Dodgers lost, 9-1 May 21 at Montreal 3 1 2 0 NONE Dodgers lost, 6-1 May 22 at Montreal 4 1 1 3 HR (3) Dodgers won, 4-0 May 24 at New York 4 1 1 1 HR (4) Dodgers won, 4-3 May 25 at New York 4 2 2 5 HR (5) Dodgers won, 6-2 HR (6)

AB R H BI AVG. SIX-GAME STATISTICS 22 6 7 10 .318 STATISTICS BEFORE STREAK 53 3 10 4 .189 SEASON STATISTICS 75 9 17 14 .227