Dodgers Have No Defense for Cards’ Cue Shots

Whitey Herzog let his rug rats loose on the Dodgers Tuesday night, and somebody forgot to call an exterminator.

While Herzog’s Cardinals ran riot across Busch Stadium’s artificial carpet, cueing ground balls into hits with the uncanniness of a Willie Mosconi, the Dodgers reacted with all the grace of Soupy Sales trying to dance with Ginger Rogers.

“I almost got killed out there,” said third baseman Pedro Guerrero, and he wasn’t alone.

The Cardinals, scoring five runs with two out in a sixth-inning rally that started with--what else?--an infield hit, cruised, 6-1, over the Dodgers, who ran their string of scoreless innings to 19 before Terry Whitfield, in a rare start, homered off Joaquin Andujar in the ninth.

“You could have wiped the blood off those balls,” said Mike Ramsey, the newest Dodger and one-time Cardinal, referring to the infield bleeders that left Dodger pitcher Jerry Reuss in need of a transfusion. Ramsey pinch-hit and struck out to end the game.

While Andujar, 0-9 against the Dodgers in the last eight years, ran his record to 4-0--which accounts for half of the Cardinals’ wins in 1985--Reuss was pinned with his third loss, one that might have been avoided with more acceptable defense.

True, Reuss contributed to his own demise when he fumbled Ozzie Smith’s bases-loaded comebacker in the second, then threw wildly to first while a run scored.

But Reuss also managed to dodge further trouble until the sixth, when Ozzie Smith beat out a two-hopper to second that Bob Bailor juggled just for an instant, but long enough for Smith to collect the Cardinals’ fifth infield hit.

Reuss struck out Andujar, who failed to sacrifice for the second out, then got St. Louis rookie Vince Coleman to hit a little line drive that left-fielder Al Oliver played cautiously into a single instead of catching for the third out.

Lonnie Smith followed with a ground-ball double between Guerrero and the third-base bag for two runs, a 3-0 lead, and the end for Reuss. Tommy Herr tied up center-fielder Ken Landreaux with a line drive over his head that turned into a triple, Jack Clark nearly removed Guerrero’s head with a one-hop smash for a double and Willie McGee skidded a ball up the middle to finish off reliever Bobby Castillo and the Dodgers.

“The game they (the Cardinals) played tonight shows why they’re perfectly suited for this stadium,” Reuss said. “They did everything right.

“Defense and running. That’s their style of game. Our style of game is to hit the ball out of the park and get good pitching.”

But good pitching, of course, is easily undermined by haphazard defense. Reuss agreed that there were a couple of balls in the sixth that could have been outs, but he delicately stayed away from fault-finding.

“When the people who put this ballclub together were designing the club, they found players to certain jobs, because of the way the situation is. You don’t get players to do all jobs, because they’re just not available unless you give up something.

“But that’s not my area of expertise. My job is to get hitters out and keep my mouth shut. I can’t comment on what the people upstairs are doing. They’re doing the best they can.

“If we don’t score runs, we have to look around for other ways to still win ballgames. We have a pretty good pitching staff.

But is that enough to win?

“I don’t know,” Reuss said. “Over the long haul you hope that it is, if we score enough runs. Who knows? All of a sudden the game may turn around, and we’ll suddenly start scoring runs.

“Then you’ll give the pitchers a chance to work and the people in the field a chance where every play isn’t one that will turn the game around. When you have to play under that kind of tension, it makes the game more difficult than it is.”

Nothing is coming easy at the moment for the Dodgers, who were 27-45 last season against teams in the NL East and are 0-1 after the first of 32 straight games against Eastern teams.

If nothing else, the Cardinals will be tough to catch: The double steal pulled by Coleman and Lonnie Smith gave St. Louis 25 steals in a row.

Dodger Notes A rumor circulating in the Cardinal clubhouse had Pedro Guerrero being traded to St. Louis for several players. Guerrero heard the rumor first-hand from his friend Joaquin Andujar, the Cardinal pitcher who hails from Guerrero’s hometown of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. “He (Andujar) called me on the phone last night and said, ‘Don’t be surprised if you’re playing for us tomorrow,”’ Guerrero said. “I said, ‘Really.”’ Guerrero immediately checked out the rumor with Dodger publicist Toby Zwikel and Manager Tom Lasorda. Said Lasorda: “I told Pete to tell Andujar to find himself another witch doctor.” Guerrero discounted the rumor, but added: “With baseball, you never know. I just hope it doesn’t happen.” . . . Guerrero, who has a sore right shoulder, told Coach Monty Basgall could he play third in an emergency. Said Lasorda: “I told Monty to go back and tell him it’s an emergency.” . . . First baseman Greg Brock tested his sprained elbows in batting practice but did not start. He pinch-hit in the seventh and singled. “There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with his elbows,” said Dodger Vice President Al Campanis, watching from behind the batting cage. Added Campanis: “I’ve never seen an injury where it goes from one elbow to another. I have to stay up with the times. I guess it’s a new era.” Lasorda said Brock will start this afternoon. Said Brock: “I feel physically fit. I’ll play if they’re not sore when I wake up tomorrow.”

Infielder Mike Ramsey, signed by the Dodgers before the game, said he first contacted Campanis about a job right after he was cut by the Montreal Expos on April 6. “Last week Campanis gave me a call and said, ‘If we make a move, I’ll have a spot for you.”’ When Dave Anderson and Bob Welch went on the disabled list, Campanis got back to Ramsey, who said he has been hitting in a batting cage the last three weeks but hasn’t taken any ground balls. The Dodgers signed Ramsey for the major league minimum $40,000, although he’s also getting about $275,000 from the Expos for the last year of a guaranteed contract. How long Ramsey will stay with the Dodgers is uncertain; Campanis said Ramsey, who turned 31 on March 29, is willing to play on the Triple-A level.