Guerrero Bustin’ Out All Over, Hits His 12th Home Run of June

These days, when Pedro Guerrero is sitting at home in Hancock Park with nothing to do, he flips on the television and watches his favorite program.

As yet it’s untitled, but “Warrior” would do for a working name. Or, for Latin audiences, “Guerrero,” which means the same thing in Spanish.

No need to tell you who plays the leading man. While Guerrero sits in his living room and watches video replays with his wife, Denise, the rest of the world can catch his act live at Dodger Stadium, where Sunday Guerrero matched the L.A. club record for most home runs in a month in the Dodgers’ 6-2 win over the Houston Astros before a crowd of 38,716.

“I watch it,” Guerrero said of his one-of-a-kind collection of greatest--not to mention longest--hits. “Yeah, I enjoy it.

“I love this game. This is my job, and it’s a job like any other job, but it’s a fun game. The way I feel, I get paid just to have fun.

“When things are going bad, it’s not really much fun. Last year, it seems like the fun was going away little by little. I was striking out two, three times almost every day. Last year, when I was going through a real bad time, it wasn’t fun at all.”

But that was last season. For the last three weeks, Guerrero has converted every stadium he enters into his private amusement park, where every thrill is more exhilarating than the one before.

His pleasure, of course, has been shared by the Dodgers, who went five games above .500 for the first time this season after winning their fourth straight game. They remain 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Padres, who also won their fourth straight.

“Shoot, it’s great,” said winning pitcher Rick Honeycutt, beneficiary of Guerrero’s latest show of power.

“Pete’s back to having that very confident, cocky feeling. He’s carried the club the whole month pretty much by himself. Every club has to have a couple of guys like that.”

Guerrero’s two-run home run off Astro rookie Ron Mathis with two out in the third inning was his 16th homer of the season and 12th in 18 games this month, with a week of June remaining. That tied the Los Angeles Dodger record held by Frank Howard, the 6-7, 255-pound gentle giant.

Guerrero, while putting his record-tying feat in writing on the ball he’d hit over the 370-foot sign in left, was asked if he knew of Howard.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “Big, old guy.”

Howard, a coach with the Milwaukee Brewers, is 48 now, but at the time he put a dozen balls in the seats for the Dodgers in July, 1962, he was a month shy of 26 years old, the same age as Guerrero today.

Guerrero, who walked in the first and fifth and lined out to short with two runners on in the sixth, reached base 10 times in 13 plate appearances against Houston this past weekend, and 18 times in 27 plate appearances in the last two weekends combined, during which the Dodgers have swept six straight games from the Astros while outscoring them, 41-9.

“It amazes me they’re still pitching to him at all,” Honeycutt said.

But pitching around Guerrero didn’t work Sunday, either. In the fifth, after Steve Sax singled and took second on an infield out, Mathis walked Guerrero with first base open. But Greg Brock, who had just one hit in his previous 17 at-bats, followed with a bounding single over the head of first baseman Enos Cabell for one run, and R.J. Reynolds followed with a two-run single that made it 5-0. The first five L.A. runs all were scored with two out.

In the sixth, after Jose Cruz’s two-run double made it 5-2, Sax singled in the Dodgers’ final run.

Honeycutt, who had been knocked out of the second inning of his previous start, struck out a season-high seven Astros before giving way to Tom Niedenfuer with two on and two out in the seventh.

“Pat Screnar (team therapist) said he was giving me the same stretch that he gave Fernando (Valenzuela),” Honeycutt said. “Pat said, ‘He got 14 strikeouts, don’t let me down.’ I just laughed about it.”

Niedenfuer faced the minimum seven batters the rest of the way for his fifth save.

“We’re getting some runs, we’re getting some hits with men on base and hits with two out, and we’re catching the ball,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “We’re also getting good pitching and the relief pitching has been outstanding.

“I’m very, very pleased with the way we’re playing. Not too many people are getting on us right now.”

Guerrero may not give them that chance.

Dodger notes Bob Bailor, who started the season on the disabled list, went back on Sunday. Bailor, who pulled a hamstring June 3 against the Mets, reaggravated it running out a double-play ball Tuesday. The Dodgers placed him on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Thursday and recalled Sid Bream from Albuquerque, the third time Bream has been with the team this season. Bream was hitting .344 for the Dukes with 6 home runs and 25 RBIs; he had a 13-game hitting streak broken Saturday night. . . . Bream left the field during the Dukes’ game Sunday; information originally relayed to the Dukes’ radio team from the clubhouse was that Bream had taken ill. Must have been air sickness, as Bream was headed to the airport in Portland. . . . Mariano Duncan’s error on Phil Garner’s sixth-inning grounder was the first by the Dodger shortstop since he made three against the Braves in Atlanta on June 9. Duncan has 15 errors in all. The Dodgers, after making 62 errors in their first 47 games, have made just 11 in their last 18. . . . Pedro Guerrero’s numbers for June: .371 batting average (26 for 70), 12 home runs, 3 doubles, 22 RBIs, 22 runs scored in 18 games played. Guerrero now ranks among the league leaders in average (.297) home runs (16), RBIs (38), slugging percentage (.551), on-base percentage (.391), hits (70), and walks (33). . . . Manager Tom Lasorda was picked off second base during the Old-Timers Game, but claimed that time had been called. Lasorda, pitching for the ’55 Dodgers, took credit as winning pitcher. “I’m 2-0 in old-timers games,” he said. That’s a lot better than his 0-4 lifetime record in the big leagues. . . . Jay Johnstone stuffed some towels in his shirt and parodied Lasorda on a visit to the mound during the old-timers game. “He had a sandwich in one hand and a book in the other,” said Lasorda in admiration. . . . Rick Honeycutt, whose record is now 5-6: “It’s good to bounce back after a game like the last one I had (in which he lasted just one inning-plus). The last couple of weeks my arm has felt super but I haven’t been throwing as good as when my arm wasn’t feeling as good.” . . . The club record for home runs in a month is 15, set in August, 1953 by Duke Snider.

Dodger Attendance

Sunday’s attendance 38,716

1985 attendance (31 dates) 1,268,979

1984 attendance (31 dates) 1,310,511

Decrease 41,532

1985 average per date 40,934