Dodgers Score 9 for Fernando; One Was Enough

HOUSTON —  Fernando Valenzuela was in the pitcher’s usual post-game posture, with his elbow deep in a tub of ice, when a reporter commented on the Dodgers’ unexpected offense. “Nine runs,” the reporter said, meaning, wasn’t it about time he had some support and wasn’t he awfully grateful for it.

Valenzuela, winning pitcher in the Dodgers’ 9-0 victory over the Astros here Sunday, didn’t need team interpreter Jaime Jarrin to figure the direction of this question and he quickly deflected it, and in perfect English. “Nine zeroes, too,” he said.

Well, yes. There is that. All this Dodger offense, as nice as it may be for the pitchers, may be getting entirely too much attention, especially if it detracts from their own achievement. After all, Valenzuela’s six-hit shutout was the second in the Dodgers’ three-game sweep of the Astros and culminated 25 scoreless innings thrown by Dodger pitchers.

Pedro Guerrero can bang away all he wants--and he banged lots yet another game, smashing his seventh home run in as many games--but the Dodgers don’t win unless they get the pitching from their starters. Three complete games in a row, as the Dodgers climb into second place, three games behind the divisionleading San Diego Padres, whom they will now face at home, beginning tonight. A reliever hasn’t crossed the lines in a week.

It was Valenzuela’s third shutout and his sixth complete game and it raised his record to 6-7 and lowered his ERA to 2.20. It was a game almost typical of him, of course. But more meaningful for the Dodgers, it was typical of the entire starting rotation. It followed Orel Hershiser’s shutout and Jerry Reuss’ win in a 10-2 game.

But this is the way it’s supposed to be in the Dodger scheme of things. Said catcher Mike Scioscia: “Our pitching is not a question mark. We’re sure our pitchers will hold up.”

As they have held up, it is no wonder their achievements have been overlooked in favor of the hitting. “Our hitting and fielding, that was the question mark,” said Scioscia.

And then this trip. And then, especially, this series in Houston. Twenty-two runs in three days and not an embarrassing error in the whole series.

As he has been this seven-game trip, Guerrero was the force Sunday night, slamming an RBI double and a two-run home run. The Dodgers’ Gang of One has now hit 9 of his 13 home runs in the 12 games since he left the mental demands of third base for the outfield. In that span he has 19 hits in 48 at-bats with 17 RBIs. He has also hit home runs in four consecutive games, tying a club record held by eight Los Angeles players and four in Brooklyn.

Manager Tommy Lasorda, who has been watching this every day for two weeks, thinks this performance is strictly a phenomenon of nature, or something. It goes way beyond any strategy of his. “I don’t think it’s because he’s playing the outfield,” he said. It’s practically mystical.

Guerrero, whose double in the third was seemingly caught at the top of the wall (it popped out of center fielder Kevin Bass’ glove; luck helps), admitted even he was amazed at his production. “How many home runs I hit?” he asked. Nine in 12 games somebody said. “That’s too many, but I love them,” he said.

What does he think about as he keeps rounding base after base, night after night? “I think it is just a little bit hard to believe,’ he said. “Especially the way I hit them here. How many have I hit here, three?” Told he had hit all of one, lifetime, in the Astrodome before this series, he seemed amazed. In three games he had hit four more. “Hard to believe,” he admitted.

Lasorda said: “He’s the kind of guy who can actually carry the club and that’s what he’s doing.” Of course, not even Lasorda expects Guerrero to average a home run a game, even if he gets to finish the season playing outfield.

If the Dodgers are to continue their ascent, they’ll need to keep getting offense from others, too. Like Sunday, when Ken Landreaux, Mike Marshall and Mike Scioscia all hit doubles. And they’ll need to get the kind of fielding they have gotten this series. Sunday, shortstop Mariano Duncan flew behind second base to snare Enos Cabell’s grounder. His throw was not in time but had the ball gotten by him, Bill Doran would surely have scored from second. Duncan, you may remember, had had a three-error game this trip.

And, of course, the Dodgers will have to get the starting pitching they’ve been getting. Valenzuela has been providing a lot of it, but it wasn’t always well rewarded. His first five starts were backed with eight Dodger runs and five of those were in one game. For the month of April, for example, Valenzuela was 2-3 despite a 0.21 ERA. But Guerrero was playing third base then.

Sunday, if you didn’t look at the line score, you might have thought Valenzuela was having an off-day. It seemed there was always somebody on base after the fifth inning. “But Fernando, he makes the pitches he needed to make,” Lasorda said. “He’s very cagey, very clever on the mound. He knows just what to do with the baseball.”

Plus he can hit it, as he proved with a single in the sixth. “Nine zeroes,” he had said. “One hit, too.”

A man has his pride.

Dodger Notes Pedro Guerrero thought maybe his four home runs in the Astrodome were as a result of the Astros bringing in the fences this year. Then he reconsidered. “They’d be home runs anywhere,” he said. None of them were cheap, that’s for sure. Guerrero on the home run pitch: “It was a split-fingered something. Whatever it was, it went out.” He was steaming at the plate his second time up because he he had struck out in the first inning with two men on base. “Right now, I never believe anybody can strike me out. With men on base, unbelievable.” . . . The Dodgers return home for a series with San Diego Padres. They will be home for 12 of their next 15 games. . . . Tonight’s match-up: Rick Honeycutt (4-5) vs. Eric Show (4-4).