Spring Training / Dodgers : Valenzuela Wild Again--Briefly

The most obvious reason Fernando Valenzuela was a 17-game loser in 1984 is that he pitched in 13 games in which the Dodgers scored one run or less.

A less obvious reason is this: Valenzuela led the National League in walks with 106. Only four pitchers--Valenzuela, Tim Lollar of San Diego (since traded to the White Sox), Craig McMurtry of Atlanta, and Ron Darling of the New York Mets--walked as many as 100. None of them won more than 12 games, only Darling (12-9) had a winning record, and McMurtry matched Valenzuela with 17 losses.

The league’s top control pitcher, Bill Gullickson of Montreal, walked only 37 batters in 226 innings, an average of 1.47 walks per nine-inning game. Valenzuela, with 106 walks in 261 innings, averaged 3.6 a game. In 1982, the year he won 19 games, Valenzuela had 83 walks in 285 innings, which is 23 fewer walks in 24 more innings.

In Valenzuela’s first spring game Sunday, he walked three batters in the first inning. Thursday, in the Dodgers’ 3-1 loss to Houston, it started out as more of the same: Valenzuela walked leadoff batter Ty Gainey and also threw a wild pitch, allowing a run to score.

From that point on, however, Valenzuela’s control was sharp--he did not give up another walk, which is why he was satisfied with his four-inning stint, despite his second loss.

“I’m throwing more strikes,” Valenzuela said afterward. “I’m working on my control very hard. Last year, I walked too many.”

Pitching coach Ron Perranoski has suggested that Valenzuela tries to be too fine with his pitches. “Maybe he’s right,” Valenzuela said, “but sometimes I have trouble with my fastball. I feel too strong and I can’t throw it over the plate. But I feel good.”

And he looks as trim as ever--well, as trim as last season, anyway. When he stepped on the scale in the training room after his outing, he weighed 196 1/2 pounds, just over his listed playing weight of 195. For Fernando weight-watchers, that’s still well below the estimated 215 pounds he carried in his rookie season, 1981.

Dodger Notes Pitcher Rick Honeycutt threw 15 minutes of batting practice at lessened velocity, then received an injection for bursitis in his left shoulder. It was the first shot since last September for Honeycutt, who underwent surgery the day after the season ended. At that time, Dr. Frank Jobe shaved off the tip of Honeycutt’s clavicle, where it meets the shoulder, an area that was affected by arthritis for much of last season. “I’m concerned because it’s setting me back,” Honeycutt said. “I need to be pitching in games here, getting my work in. But it’s nothing permanent. It’s an area that can be worked on.” Of course, it’s also the same area that has bothered Honeycutt since he came to the Dodgers in 1983. It may be a week before Honeycutt pitches in a game . . . Update on Franklin Stubbs, who was struck in the right eye by a pitch in Wednesday’s B squad game with the Samsung Lions: There is no limitation of vision, and the swelling has subsided some . . . Steve Howe is scheduled to pitch batting practice Monday . . . A reporter recently observed Pedro Guerrero weighing in at 199 1/2 pounds. When Guerrero took off his gold chains and watch, he weighed 197 1/2 pounds. Asked about the two pounds of gold, he said: “I’ve got to spend it somehow.” . . . The Orel virus claimed new victims. Pitcher Tom Niedenfuer, minor-league instructor Kevin Kennedy, and non-roster infielder Hector Rincones all came down with the stomach virus that has been making the rounds since Orel Hershiser first contracted it last week . . . A swarm of bugs invaded Holman Stadium, distracting players and spectators alike. Terry Reynolds, general manager of the Vero Beach Dodgers, said it was the worst swarm he’d seen in six years. “We call them blind mosquitoes,” he said. “They show up two or three times a year.”