Rabbits Run the Dodgers Ragged, 7-1

Tom Lasorda called them a “bunch of conejos .”

Don’t know what a conejo is?

“Go look it up in the flipping dictionary,” Lasorda said after the St. Louis Conejos , a/k/a Cardinals, made the Dodgers look like so many Elmer Fudds in a 7-1 loss Sunday afternoon before 36,313 fans who also recognize a rabbit when they see one, no matter what you call it.

The Cardinals, for whom the fast lane is the only way to fly, worried the Dodgers into making five errors, two by losing pitcher Orel Hershiser. They also stole four bases and advanced on three wild pitches while hunting and pecking their way to 13 hits, 12 of them singles.

Meanwhile, St. Louis left-hander John Tudor gave up three hits to Pedro Guerrero and four to the rest of the Dodger lineup to win his eighth straight game after starting the season 1-7.

“I got ‘turfed,’ I didn’t get ripped,” said Hershiser, whose chances for an All-Star Game berth may have vanished while the Cardinals played Ping-Pong with his sinker, bouncing it off the Busch Stadium rug almost at will.

“I had my best stuff, but they hit the ball, especially the top part of the ball,” he added. “They had 11 hits off me, and nine of ‘em looked like six-hoppers. It was just a frustrating day.”

It was no more frustrating for Hershiser than for catcher Steve Yeager, whose radar suddenly went on the fritz after he’d shot down two Cardinal runners on Friday night. Yeager’s day Sunday began with a wild pickoff throw to third that enabled Willie McGee to score the Cardinals’ first run after he’d reached safely on a ball that bounced almost as far vertically as it did horizontally.

“That ball must have gone 40 feet in the air,” Yeager said. “How are you going to throw out a guy who runs like the wind?”

Still to come were a double steal in the third and the three wild pitches, two of which originally were scored as passed balls charged to Yeager.

“I stunk,” Yeager said. “I was just plain, old All-American horsespit. No alibis, no excuses, just horsespit.”

This is how bad it went for the Dodgers: When Dennis Powell, the rookie left-hander the Dodgers called up to replace Steve Howe, made his major league debut in the seventh inning, the PA announcer introduced him as “Ken Powell,” which is the way they flashed it on the scoreboard, too.

“I sort of laughed on the inside,” said the 22-year-old Powell, who had been driving an ice truck for the Mid-South Ice Co. in Albany, Ga., before Dodger scout Tommy Mixon spotted him in a semipro game and signed him a couple of years ago.

But while Powell--whose name apparently was mixed up with that of Ken Howell--didn’t get much respect in St. Louis, the Cardinals didn’t much like what they were hearing from the Dodger clubhouse, either.

“We’re not the only team that benefits from playing on Astro-Turf, and I’m sick and tired of hearing it,” said shortstop Ozzie Smith, who had three hits, a walk and a sacrifice on Sunday. His two-run single in the sixth, which took a bounce over the head of first baseman Guerrero, made it 5-1. One batter later, and Hershiser was out of the game.

“Sometimes, the Cardinals get outplayed and lose,” Smith said sarcastically. “It’s that simple.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of hits you got. What’s important is that you got the hits and took advantage of them. . . . It’s not written in any book, ‘this is the way you’re supposed to win.’ The bottom line is to outscore the opposition. Yesterday, did you see the hits the Dodgers got? It’s something that happens to everybody.”

Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog laughed at the fuss, and poked a couple of jabs in Hershiser’s direction.

“He sure has become an awfully cocky young man for only his second year,” Herzog said with a chuckle. “The way he walks around out there, changes balls. He’s King Bleep out there.

“I’m sure he was a little frustrated, just like we were frustrated yesterday (in the Dodgers’ 8-3 win). The people who watched that game on TV aren’t going to believe this score today.

“But tell Orel I’ll take him any time Tommy doesn’t want him. He’s a damn good pitcher.”

But there was something else about Hershiser that Herzog didn’t like.

“He named his kid Orel . My name is Dorrell Norman, and I didn’t name any of my kids Dorrell .”

The Dodgers left Dorrell and his Eastern Division leaders with a split of their four-game series. They trail the first-place San Diego Padres by four games, but have retained the services of their batboy for Sunday: Jim Valvano, the North Carolina State basketball coach, who was making his big-league debut and will travel with the team to Pittsburgh.

“I did all that I could, put all those bats in a circle, but I’m 0 and 1. I’m very disappointed,” Valvano said.

He sat in Lasorda’s office while the manager calmly discussed Sunday’s defeat. Asked if he could be the same way after a loss, Valvano replied: “I’ve heard at times that he’s more vocal. But one hundred and sixty something games. I know I couldn’t be a batboy one hundred and sixty something games.”

Especially if they were all played against conejos .

Dodger Notes Pedro Guerrero’s three hits Sunday, all singles, raised his batting average to a season-high .312. In his last five games, Guerrero is 11 for 19, a .579 pace. . . . With a left-hander (John Tudor) pitching, Guerrero played first base, Bill Russell played left and Candy Maldonado played center, with Greg Brock and Ken Landreaux sitting out. It was Russell’s first start since he played second base against Houston on June 21. He had only one pinch-hitting appearance since. . . On Maldonado’s error in the sixth, when he picked up and then dropped Orel Hershiser’s wild throw, giving the Dodgers two errors on the same play, Lasorda said: “Maldonado looked like he was trying to impress Jimmy (Valvano).” Said basketball coach Valvano: “I thought he carried. That’s a turnover.” . . . Dennis Powell gave up a run and two hits in two innings in his major league debut Sunday. “It was nice to get my foot in,” said Powell, who has been with the Dodgers since last Monday but hadn’t pitched. While reporters spoke to the shy, soft-spoken Powell, catcher Mike Scioscia wandered over. “Do you want an interpreter?” Scioscia said, a reference to Powell’s thick Georgia accent. . . . On Powell’s third strike to Tito Landrum in the seventh, the pitch sailed past catcher Steve Yeager, who promptly paid a visit to the mound. Asked if he’d been crossed up, Yeager said: “I was looking for a fastball and he threw a curve ball over my head. How the hell am I going to catch it?” . . . Whitey Herzog on Cardinals pitcher Tudor, who had a 1.34 ERA in June and has allowed one run in 18 innings this month: “He was pitching a lot better than 1-7. He gave up one unearned run on Opening Day, then lost two games, 2-1 and 2-1. After he was 1-4 he pitched bad a few times, started pitching defensively, but now he’s using his fastball more. He has a wonderful knack for changing speeds.” . . . Cardinal shortstop Ozzie Smith was charged with his fourth error of the season on a sensational fielding play. Smith made a diving stop of Dave Anderson’s sixth-inning liner, then tried to throw him out while off-balance and on his knees. “That’s the way it goes,” Smith said. “I’m going to die trying.” At this rate, Smith would break Larry Bowa’s record for fewest errors in a season by a shortstop (nine), set in 1972. “I didn’t really give a whole lot of thought to it until people started talking about it,” said the Wizard of Oz. “It’s going to be kind of hard, because I go after a lot of balls.”