Dodgers Huff and Puff but Blow Last Chance

SAN FRANCISCO —  The Dodgers finally ran out of breath here Saturday, their late-season sprint exacting its toll as they stumbled for a third consecutive game and helped the Cincinnati Reds become champions of the National League West.

Before a jeering crowd of 31,843 at Candlestick Park, the Dodgers lost to the San Francisco Giants, 4-3, to eliminate themselves from the National League West race.

The Reds lost to San Diego, 3-1, in a game called in the seventh inning because of rain. But by failing to capitalize on a Red loss for the third time in 11 days, the Dodgers are five games behind with four remaining.

On the same field where Joe Morgan doomed the Dodgers on the final day of the 1982 season, the Dodgers’ chase of the Reds ended 158 games after it began.

And 140 games after most thought it would end--when Dodger pitcher Orel Hershiser had shoulder surgery.

And 65 games after everyone was sure it had ended, after they fell 13 1/2 games behind the Reds on July 23.

“Who would have ever thought, and I mean who would have thought . . . that it would take them 158 games to get us out?” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Mike Sharperson sighed and said: “I don’t know how anybody else felt about us. But we sure believed we could do it. We always believed.”

It was typical of their patchwork season that in their final game that counted, the Dodger pitchers who gave up the runs were rookies Jim Neidlinger and Dave Walsh, and the last out was by reserve Chris Gwynn.

Neidlinger had given up two runs before leaving the game in the fifth inning with runners on first and second. Walsh relieved him and gave up a two-run single to Will Clark to make the score 4-1.

The Dodgers closed to 4-2 in the sixth, then nearly tied it in the eighth. Gwynn tripled and scored on Lenny Harris’ grounder, Kirk Gibson walked and Eddie Murray singled to bring up Hubie Brooks against relief pitcher Steve Bedrosian with two out.

Brooks was the Dodgers’ opening day star with a three-run homer in the eighth inning against San Diego. But that was six months ago. He flied to right field on a 1-and-1 pitch to end the inning.

“Just popped it up,” Brooks said with disgust. In 11 major league seasons, he has yet to be on a championship team.

The Dodgers had a final chance in the ninth after Juan Samuel hit a two-out double. But with the crowd standing and cheering, Gwynn fell behind on two quick called strikes. Then he reached out, swung at a bad pitch and lined it to first baseman Clark, who pumped his fist twice in celebration.

Said Harris: “There was always a little light at the end. We always saw a little light. But we just couldn’t get to it.”

It is the fourth time in five years, the longest such drought since the early ‘70s, that the Dodgers will not end the season as West champions.

“And you know, I don’t think they beat us as much as we beat us,” Lasorda said of the Reds.

Said Gwynn: “We made a good run . . . we just couldn’t sustain it.”

The Dodgers will remember how, on Aug. 21, they blew an 11-1 lead after seven innings to Philadelphia.

They will remember how, on Sept. 4, they blew a 7-0 lead after three innings to Houston.

They will remember how, on Sept. 19, they blew a 4-0 lead after four innings to San Diego.

“When we got it down to 3 1/2 games (three times), I thought we were going to catch them, I really did,” Lasorda said. “But we just could never get it done when we had to.”

Since Aug. 19, the Reds have lost seven times when the Dodgers failed to capitalize by also losing. If the Dodgers had won only three of those games, they would still be in contention.

“Happened all season,” Harris said. “They lose, we lose.”

Two of those losses featured poor pitching by Fernando Valenzuela, Sept. 3 against Houston and Sept. 19 against San Diego. In those two important starts, he gave up nine runs in eight innings.

Two other losses were a result of poor relief pitching. Jay Howell gave up a ninth-inning single to give Montreal a 2-1 victory Aug. 19, and Jim Gott and Dave Walsh gave up four runs in 2 2/3 innings in a 10-8 loss to Houston Sept. 4.

Another loss featured poor hitting. The Dodgers got three hits against Montreal’s Chris Nabholz, Tim Burke and Steve Frey in an Aug. 31 loss.

Then there were the final two losses this weekend against the rival Giants, who are one game behind the Dodgers in the race for second place.

The Dodgers blew two leads in the 7-6 defeat Friday, finally losing on a wild pitch by Gott. They stranded four runners in scoring position in the last five innings Saturday.

“It is always tough to play here because of the rivalry--they and their fans are always wanting to knock us off,” said Neidlinger, who grew up in this area.

Roger Craig, the Giants’ manager, said, “Our pleasure doesn’t come in knocking them out of the race, but more in catching them for second place,”

Second place? The last thing the Dodgers are thinking about is clinching second place.

“I always thought you should play for first place,” Brooks said quietly, another season having ended before he was ready.

Dodger Notes

Lenny Harris acknowledged that he has been playing despite a sore right wrist for two weeks, and will have the wrist examined today with a chance that his season could be over. “I tried to do too much, I should not have tried to play with it, and I may have hurt the team,” said Harris, who has three hits in his last 25 at-bats. “The wrist is swelling now, this could be it for me this year.” Harris is batting .302, including .318 as a leadoff hitter.

Because of injuries, and because they used Trevor Wilson Friday, the Giants will start Rick Reuschel today in the series final. Reuschel, who had arthroscopic knee surgery July 9 and is still complaining of soreness in his surgically repaired left knee, was not supposed to pitch the rest of the season. Of 16 pitchers on the Giant roster, six are done for the season because of injuries--Don Robinson, Mike LaCoss, Scott Garrelts, Jeff Brantley, Mark Thurmond and Eric Gunderson.

Ramon Martinez’s final chance to get his 20th victory will come Monday in Dodger Stadium against San Diego. Martinez is 2-0 against the Padres this season with a 1.78 ERA and two consecutive complete-game victories. Martinez is attempting to become the youngest Dodger to win 20 games since Ralph Branca, 21, won 21 in 1947.