Ramsey’s First Night as Dodger a Big One : Rookie Outfielder, Known for His Glove, Gets Pair of Hits Off Scott

HOUSTON —  The line in the box score shows that he drove in one run, scored another and had two hits in four at-bats Monday night.

It wasn’t enough to prevent the Dodgers from losing their National League opener to the Houston Astros, 4-3, but it was a line worthy of a Brett Butler or Gary Redus or Lloyd Moseby or Gary Pettis, all of those center fielders the Dodgers have reportedly pursued at one time or another.

The line belonged to Michael James Ramsey, who has put the trade talks on hold and Ken Landreaux in reserve, though Landreaux played left field in the opener because of Pedro Guerrero’s absence.

Ramsey was going to start Monday night even if Guerrero had played.

Landreaux, who had started every opener since 1981, wasn’t going to start this one.

Manager Tom Lasorda said he made that decision a week ago, though Ramsey wasn’t told until he arrived at the Astrodome.

“We know he’s an outstanding fielder with a super arm,” Lasorda said. “We just don’t know if he can hit.

“The only way to find out is to play him, and that’s what we’re going to do.

“For a kid who has never played higher than Double A and was playing in his first major league game against the Cy Young winner, I have to say he did very well.”

Enhancing a storybook spring, Ramsey had two hits off Mike Scott, who emerged from the 1986 season as the National League’s best pitcher.

Ramsey also made a strong and accurate throw that would have nailed Kevin Bass attempting to score from second in the sixth inning if it hadn’t taken a high bounce off the synthetic surface, allowing Bass to elude Mike Scioscia’s sweeping tag.

A big night?

“I’ve been waiting eight years for it,” said the 26-year-old Ramsey, who made his minor league debut as a pitcher in 1979. “Sure it was a big night. It could have been my last. I’m approaching every game as if it’s my last.”

He approached this one with the anticipated butterflies. A .310 average in the Grapefruit League is one thing. Becoming the first non-roster player to make the Dodgers’ opening night lineup since Jim Lefebvre in 1965 is another. So much for anonymity.

“Did I go to spring training thinking I might be here tonight?” Ramsey said, incredulity in his tone. “No way. I went to spring training thinking I wanted to try and make the Triple A team.

“I’ve tried to do my best, that’s all, and good things have continued to happen.”

Among the best was a fifth inning single to center, the third hit off Scott and the first in the big leagues for Ramsey, who will retain the ball. A balk and ensuing single by pitcher Orel Hershiser allowed Ramsey to score the run that made it 1-1.

An equally good thing happened in the sixth, after Scioscia was given an intentional walk with a runner at second and two outs.

Ramsey drilled the next pitch to center for his second single, giving the Dodgers a temporary lead of 2-1.

“I’m surprised getting two hits off the best pitcher in the National League,” Ramsey said, “but I was just trying to be aggressive, to go after the first pitch I could hit. You can’t let Scott go deep in the count or you’re in trouble.”

Pleased? Definitely, Ramsey said.

Satisfied? Comfortable? That’s another story.

“I’ll be satisfied if I’m hitting .300 at the end of the year,” he said.

“Then I’ll be be able to tell ‘em that I knew all along I could do it. I’m confident I can hit, but I know they’re still worrying about it. I know I have to take it a day at a time, that I can never be comfortable about it. I know that one game doesn’t prove anything, that you have to work harder to stay here than to get here.”

Ramsey knows, too, that he would never have made it as a pitcher. He was obtained by the Dodgers in the 1982 deal that sent Ted Power to Cincinnati and moved to the outfield in 1983, when a rash of injuries struck down his Lodi teammates.

Ramsey said he loved the move, but wrestled with the new task of switch hitting.

“It slowed me down,” he said, “but now I know it will work to my advantage.

“I gave myself three years to make it, and this is the fourth year.

“I’ve never considered quitting because I’ve felt that I’ve continued to make progress.”

One measure of it is that he will be interviewed today by a reporter from an Augusta, Ga., newspaper. It’s Masters week, but there’s still space for the resident of nearby Harlem, Ga. The reporter told Dodger publicity director Steve Brener that Ramsey is the first area product to reach the majors in 20 years.

The esteem of his teammates is another measure.

“He can go get ‘em with the best of them and that’s all we want right now,” Bill Madlock said of Ramsey’s defense. “The pitchers love having him out there. He’s got a super arm and can run it down in the gap.

“We know he can play defense. If he can put the ball in play, he’ll hit .250 or .260, but right now we just want to hide him, we just want to let him relax.

“There’s no reason for him to feel he has to carry us. If Pete (Guerrero) and (Mike) Marshall and myself don’t hit, we’re not going to win, anyway.”