National League Roundup : Cardinal Pitching Stops Padres--Again

People laughed last spring when Manager Whitey Herzog of the St. Louis Cardinals said he had the best pitching staff. They all figured that without bullpen ace Bruce Sutter, Cardinal pitching would be Whitey’s nightmare.

But, as baseball reached the All-Star break, the Cardinals have the major league’s most effective pitching staff. Cardinal pitchers have yielded an average of 3.02 earned runs per game. The Cardinals also have first place in the East.

After what the Cardinal staff did to his Padres, San Diego Manager Dick Williams, who will direct the National League in the All-Star Game Tuesday night at Minneapolis, probably wishes he was taking some Cardinal pitchers with him.

In losing three of four games and being knocked out of first place in the West, the Padres scored only six runs. The only game they won was against the majors’ top winner, Joaquin Andujar.

Andujar was an All-Star selection, but he became angry when Williams did not name him the starter. One of the few pitchers in modern times to win 15 games in the first half of a season, Andujar felt his selection should have been automatic.

In the final game of the series Sunday at St. Louis, the Padres found the Cardinals’ fourth starter, Kurt Kepshire, more than they could handle.

Kepshire held the Padres to five hits in eight innings and became a 2-1 winner when Tito Landrum singled in the winning run with two out in the eighth. Ken Dayley and Jeff Lahti, two of those making up for the loss of Sutter, got the last three outs.

Lahti got the final out for his ninth save. He has given up only one hit and no runs in his last 10 outings, covering 8 innings.

It was a scoreless battle between Kepshire and Eric Show until the seventh, when Terry Kennedy, Carmelo Martinez and Kevin McReynolds hit consecutive singles to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the inning Terry Pendleton ended an 0-for-22 slump with his third home run of the season--and his first that wasn’t a grand slam.

Dave Dravecky took over for the Padres in the eighth, and rookie Vince Coleman greeted him with a double. Dravecky disposed of Willie McGee and Tommy Herr, the top two hitters in the league, then gave Jack Clark an intentional walk. Landrum, batting for Andy Van Slyke, looped a single to right, and Coleman, who appeared to have third stolen on the pitch, scored easily.

“We call those things quails,” Landrum told UPI after his game-winning hit. “You go up there to make contact.

“Whitey has conditioned me to accept the pressure. I’m used to the make-or-break opportunities.”

Atlanta 12, Philadelphia 3--It has been a long, difficult struggle but Bob Horner has finally made it all the way back. The Braves’ slugging infielder has recovered completely from a wrist injury that has plagued him for almost two years.

In the last two games at Atlanta, Horner has put on an awesome display of power hitting. Saturday night Horner, shifted from third to first base earlier in the season to ease the strain on his wrist, hammered out four hits--two doubles, a triple and a home run. He came right back in this one to hit two home runs and a single and drive in five runs as the Braves completed a four-game sweep of the Phillies.

Horner’s thunderous hitting enabled Pascual Perez (1-7) to win his first game since the final day of last season. Although he needed help in the fifth inning, Perez departed with a 6-3 lead that only got bigger when Horner hit a two-run homer in the sixth and a three-run blast in the eighth.

With four home runs and 11 runs batted in in the series, it was the Horner of old, a slugger who three times hit 30 or more homers in a season. Despite missing 20 games, he has 15 homers and 47 RBIs this year.

As recently as last week, Horner’s wrist was hurting and he sat out four games.

“I feel great now,” he told UPI. “I just wish we could keep right on playing. I don’t need the time off.”

New York 1, Houston 0--Dwight Gooden will be at the All-Star Game, but don’t expect to see too much of the Mets’ young fireballer.

In this game at Houston, Gooden pitched a five-hitter and struck out 11 to improve his record to 13-3. It was the Mets’ 12th win in the last 12 games.

The only run of the game, in the eighth inning, scored on second baseman Bill Doran’s wild throw to first in an attempt for an inning-ending double play. It made a loser of Bob Knepper (8-6).

It was the fourth shutout for Gooden, who has 143 strikeouts on his way to another title in that department.

San Francisco 7, Pittsburgh 3--They may be the two worst teams in the league, but there’s still fight in the Giants and Pirates.

In the seventh inning at Pittsburgh, the game erupted into a brawl when the Giants’ Dan Gladden charged the mound and tackled Rick Rhoden after the Pirate pitcher hit him with a pitch. As in most baseball fights, no damage was done. Rhoden and Gladden were ejected.

David Green and Chili Davis hit home runs to help Bill Laskey (2-11) end a two-month losing streak. It was a painful win for Laskey, who strained his back and had to leave in the sixth inning.

Cincinnati 5, Montreal 4--Dave Parker, a major reason why the Reds are in the race in the West, singled home Cesar Cedeno from second base with one out in the 10th at Cincinnati to move the Reds within four games of first place.

Dave Concepcion drove in the tying run in the ninth with a bloop single to center.

Pete Rose was 0-for-4 and has only two hits in his last 23 at-bats.