Cardinals Beat Dodgers by Leaps and Bounds : Spectacular Defensive Plays and a Seeing-Eye Single Give St. Louis 3-2 Win

For eye-catching sights, it was hard to top the show that went on here Thursday night. Stunt planes performed barrel rolls and suicide dives, parachutists dropped through the clouds, and even a rainbow split the sky in a dazzling imitation of the famous Arch itself.

And that was all outside Busch Stadium. Inside, the Cardinals were no less daring and just as flamboyant, wowing the Dodgers, 3-2, before a holiday crowd of 38,394.

The Cardinals, who should be performing on the Bonneville Salt Flats instead of the Busch Stadium rug, left their usual trail of vapor on the basepaths, stealing three bases. Rookie Vince Coleman, who leads the majors with 55 steals, doubled on Rick Honeycutt’s first pitch and bagged third on Honeycutt’s second.

That was the Cardinals’ first steal, for which Honeycutt later got even by picking Coleman off first base in the fourth.

The Cardinals’ last steal, by Terry Pendleton in the eighth, was followed by catcher Tom Nieto’s tie-breaking, RBI dribbler through the right side off reliever Ken Howell. And that was one score the Dodgers never did settle.

But the fleet feet of the St. Louis AC took a backseat Thursday to the Cardinals’ acrobatics afield, without which Joaquin Andujar would not be the major leagues’ first 14-game winner today.

Pendleton, the 5-9 third baseman, climbed high enough to polish Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s bald spot while grabbing Pedro Guerrero’s liner with one run already in and two on in the seventh.

Pendleton, who played on two Southern Section championship teams at Channel Islands High in Oxnard, says he can dunk a basketball.

Guerrero, who earlier had singled, stole second and scored the Dodgers’ first run on Greg Brock’s second-inning single, didn’t jump for joy when Pendleton proceeded to demonstrate. Instead, he flipped his bat higher than a baton twirler.

“I knew if I timed it perfect I could get it,” Pendleton said. “I don’t think he (Guerrero) was too happy, the way he threw his bat in the air, and I don’t blame him.”

While Pendleton caused Guerrero to flip, Coleman, the rookie left fielder, caused Whitfield to flop, barehanding Whitfield’s ninth-inning smash off the left-field wall and throwing him out at second despite his head-first slide.

Whitfield, who had broken an 0-for-21 slump in the seventh with a hit-and-run double that brought Steve Sax home to make it 2-2, just missed a game-tying home run with his drive in the ninth.

“Six inches,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Cardinal catcher Nieto, standing at the plate, already was figuring St. Louis would need its last at-bat.

“When it was first hit,” Nieto said, “I thought Vince would catch it. But halfway there, I thought it was gone. Then when it hit the wall, I thought it would carom all the way back to the infield and Whitfield would end up at third. It was just an unbelievable play.”

Whitfield, who showed more speed dressing after the game than he did on the basepaths, left the clubhouse before reporters entered.

Lasorda, who was witnessing the end of the Dodgers’ four-game winning streak, also saw his team drop five games behind first-place San Diego. He perceived a certain injustice in the way the Cardinals won: an infield hit off Howell’s glove by Pendleton, a stolen base, and Nieto’s self-described “seeing-eye hit.”

Lasorda, to a reporter in his office: “You saw how they scored the winning run, or weren’t you watching?”

Reporter: “I was here.”

Lasorda: “Did you see it?”

Reporter: “I was here.”

Lasorda: “I was wondering if you watched it. You saw the ball Guerrero hit, the ball Whitfield hit, and they were both outs. Their (the Cardinals’) hits really had eyes.”

So much for bad karma. For sheer perseverance, though, the Dodgers came away respecting Andujar, who walked five and gave up eight hits but was still there at the end.

Lasorda could have prompted Andujar’s exit in the eighth by walking Nieto with first base open, but said he didn’t want Howell pitching to a left-handed pinch-hitter.

“He’s learned how to pitch now,” Guerrero said of Andujar, his fellow countryman from the Dominican Republic. “He seems more patient. Before, he’d be wild and crazy.

“In a game like this, he probably would have been out of there by the fifth or sixth. But now, when he walks a guy or gives up a hit, he comes back and gets the next guy.”

Which is why, in the end, the Dodgers were the ones who took the 10-count.

Dodger Notes Besides the plays by Terry Pendleton and Vince Coleman, the Cardinals turned three other defensive gems. Shortstop Ozzie Smith scooped up a wild throw to second by pitcher Joaquin Andujar and still managed to get off his relay throw in time to nab Rick Honeycutt for a double play. The next batter, Dave Anderson, hit a ball off Andujar that caromed to second baseman Tom Herr, who barehanded it and threw out Anderson. In the sixth, Andujar took a flip throw from first baseman Jack Clark and tagged Mariano Duncan in the back just before he stepped on the bag. Duncan answered in the bottom of the sixth with an Ozzie-like play, grabbing Coleman’s chopper over the mound with his bare hand and throwing Coleman out. . . . Pedro Guerrero pulled his right hamstring slightly in the second inning while scoring on Greg Brock’s single but said he was OK. . . . When Willie McGee scored on Herr’s double in the fifth for the Cardinals’ second run, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda argued that McGee interfered with catcher Mike Scioscia. “He grabbed Scioscia while he was in the act of fielding the ball,” Lasorda said. “The umpire (Paul Runge) didn’t see it.” . . . Andujar, at his present pace, would win 30 games this season. “In his last eight outings, he’s had great stuff and great rhythm,” Cardinal catcher Tom Nieto said. “He had good stuff tonight, but he didn’t have his good rhythm.” . . . The Cardinals have a 20-5 record since Nieto, who graduated from Gahr High School in Cerritos, began playing regularly. Darrell Porter is out with a fractured finger. “What a guy,” Nieto said with a laugh. “They keep bringing that (the record) up, but look at our record when Jack (Clark) is playing. I’m just happy to have a chance to play every day.” . . . Dodger starter Rick Honeycutt was removed with none out in the sixth after giving up nine hits and two walks. “I was able to pitch out of some jams,” Honeycutt said, “but I was mad at myself for giving up several hits on breaking balls, which I think of as my third best pitch.” One, in particular, an 0-2 pitch in the second that Nieto lined for an RBI single, galled Honeycutt. . . . Terry Whitfield’s last hit before his two Thursday came on May 14. . . . Dodger broadcaster Ross Porter was in Shawnee, Okla., attending the funeral of his mother, who died Tuesday. Porter is expected to rejoin the team today.