It’s Another Long Night for Dodgers

No matter the language, it’s still a farce. In French, the bottom line to the Dodgers’ 6-1 loss to the Montreal Expos before 14,289 in Olympic Stadium Tuesday night reads something like this:

There were the usual erreurs , five coups surs and only one point . Add them together, and the Dodgers took another tumble on their collective derrieres .

Acting the part of total strangers at the plate, the Dodgers might as well have been flailing away with hockey sticks. Not only couldn’t they hit Expo pitching, managing just those five hits off Bill Gullickson, for the second straight night they were outhit by Expo pitching, too.

Gullickson, following an intentional walk to Mike Fitzgerald that loaded the bases with two out in the fourth, delivered a two-run double off Dodger loser Rick Honeycutt to give the Expos a 3-0 lead. The night before, Montreal pitcher Dan Schatzeder had unloaded a two-run home run.

“Their pitchers have driven in more runs the last two nights than we have,” said Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, who found staring at the ceiling in the Dodger clubhouse infinitely more interesting than discussing his team’s sixth loss in its last seven games.

All three runs off Honeycutt in the inning were unearned, as the Dodgers became the first team in the big leagues to reach the 50-error mark in only their 39th game.

Honeycutt wasn’t the only one who paid the price for Pedro Guerrero’s eighth error, which opened the inning. Guerrero caught Andre Dawson’s rocket down the third-base line at a point just south of his belt buckle.

“Man, I was in some pain,” Guerrero said. “That ball was hit good, too.”

Guerrero approached the next ball hit his way by Hubie Brooks somewhat gingerly, lateraling it over to shortstop Bill Russell. Brooks was credited with an infield hit, and Honeycutt was in trouble that he could have dodged if he had succeeded in retiring Gullickson.

Gullickson, however, had other ideas, jumping on a 2-and-2 slider and sending it on one hop to the wall.

“With two out and the bases loaded, I’ve got to get the pitcher out,” Honeycutt said. “He (Gullickson) swings the bat all right. But tonight, you’d think he was a great hitter.”

Two innings later, Honeycutt’s fourth loss in six decisions became a lock when Tim Wallach belted a two-run homer over the left-field wall. Montreal relief ace Jeff Reardon relieved Gullickson with two on and one out in the seventh, threw a double play ball to Mike Scioscia and breezed through the last two innings for his ninth save.

The Dodgers’ only run came in the fifth, when Greg Brock doubled and moved around on a fly ball and groundout. Otherwise, it was the same sad-sack story.

Honeycutt, who departed after giving up 10 hits in six innings, was asked why he didn’t have an ice pack on for the pain in his shoulder.

“If it was for the pain,” he said, “it would be on my head.”

Leadoff hitter Steve Sax, who returned to the lineup from his leg injury by collecting 11 hits in his first 24 at-bats, has four hits in his last 41 at-bats.

“Things have got to start changing for him,” batting instructor Ben Hines said. “He’s swinging the bat pretty good, he just can’t keep hitting the ball at ‘em all the time. He just needs to get some seeing-eye dogs out there.”

The way things are going for the Dodgers, the dogs would probably bite him.

“We’re not getting any easy runs,” said Mike Marshall, who tried to bunt Guerrero over from second base with none out in the second and wound up bunting it right back to Gullickson.

“To say we’re not worried about it isn’t true. We have to be a little concerned. We haven’t scored more than six runs in a game all season. Something’s wrong, because we have the talent to do it.

“I’m as guilty as anybody. It seems we get a couple of guys on base, and nothing happens. Right now, Pete’s the only guy swinging the bat the way he’s capable of.”

And as the Expos could tell them, the Dodgers need more than one hot baton to win.

Dodger Notes

Vero Beach report: Bob Welch pitched three scoreless innings Tuesday night against Class-A Fort Lauderdale, allowing four hits while striking out three and walking none. Dodger Vice President Al Campanis, who was in attendance, relayed word that Welch looked “very impressive” and had “excellent command of his fastball and curveball.” Earlier, Campanis said he had lunch with Welch, and the pitcher told him he was without pain. But Campanis would not indicate how soon Welch would rejoin the Dodgers. When he does, Campanis said Tom Brennan would be “the logical man to go” to Albuquerque, N.M. . . . As to trade talks with Oakland, Campanis said, “I, personally, have not talked to the A’s” about outfielder Dave Collins. “It’s obvious they (the A’s) need pitching, and they’ve got hitting.”

Mike Scioscia, the Dodger player representative, and Rick Honeycutt will represent the Dodgers Thursday in Chicago at a meeting called by the players association. At that time, the players are expected to be asked to take a strike authorization vote. Scioscia’s reaction to the owners’ proposal for a salary cap: “They’ve got to be kidding.” Jerry Reuss, former Dodger player rep, after reading a mimeographed summation of the owners’ proposal: “What you’ve got there says absolutely nothing. Once again, they (the owners) are asking us to solve their problems. Why, all of a sudden, are they now bringing up something like this (salary cap)? They’re changing the framework of what they wanted to talk about. Are they just trying to stall, or I wonder if they had it in their minds all along that this is what they wanted to do.” Reuss’ primary objection to a salary cap is the way in which it would restrict player movement, especially by free agents. . . .When told that the owners want a salary cap, Pedro Guerrero said: “Bleep the owners.” When someone mentioned that Dodger owner Peter O’Malley wouldn’t be happy to hear that, Guerrero said: “Oh, no, we’re tight. I live next door to him. I mean, bleep the other owners.” Asked what he’d do if there were a strike, Guerrero said: “If we go on strike, it won’t do me any good. I’ll probably play in Mexico, me and Fernando.” During the 1981 strike, Dodger scout Mike Brito took Guerrero, Fernando Valenzuela and Pepe Frias to Mexico, where they played in three games. Guerrero said he was paid $3,000 for his jaunt south of the border.

There are as many ex-Dodgers (6) as Dodgers on the All-Star ballot this year. The former Dodgers: Steve Garvey, Alan Wiggins, Ron Cey, Jeff Leonard, Bill Buckner and Lee Lacy. . . . Mariano Duncan sat again Tuesday, as Bill Russell played shortstop. Asked if he put Russell in the lineup because he’s hitting, Manager Tom Lasorda: “No, I like the way he walks. And Mike Scioscia’s catching because he’s Italian, and Mike Marshall’s playing because I like his father, Frank.”