Dodgers Beat Cardinals, 2-1, Still Lead by Half-Game

The Dodgers, best in the West, met the Cardinals, best in the East, and if it wasn’t exactly the best game ever played, it was at least one of the closest.

That the Dodgers finally survived their own hilarious base running to win, 2-1, Thursday night means that the National League’s two division leaders meet again tonight. With the victory, the Dodgers maintained their half-game lead over the San Diego Padres, who also won Thursday.

Although the Cardinals, the best hitting team in the National League with the No. 1 and 2 hitters in Willie McGee and Tommy Herr, normally put teams away with offense, it was their pitching that threatened to overpower the Dodgers before a sellout crowd of 46,484 at Dodger Stadium. Joaquin Andujar, the man too proud to pick up leftover innings in an All-Star game, had the Dodgers in check until his finger began to blister.

Certainly the Cardinals were going to have to win on pitching, if they were to win, especially as the Dodgers’ Orel Hershiser (9-3) was also pitching according to form. He allowed only two extra-base hits in his seven innings of work and one of those, a triple, was more than a single only because an outfielder committed himself to a diving catch.

That is one way to neutralize the Cardinals’ tremendous speed--keep them off base to begin with. The Cardinals, who lead the league in stolen bases, got two more Thursday night, but they didn’t count for anything.

As it turned out, the really exciting base running was provided by the Dodgers. But that’s a different story.

Andujar finally left the game in the sixth inning after developing a blister on the middle finger of his throwing hand. It was in that inning, while Andujar was raising a blister that the Dodgers were also raising hope, tying the game, 1-1, on Greg Brock’s single.

Up to then, about all the Dodgers could raise was laughter. Possibly the Dodgers could have chased Andujar sooner but for some comic base running in the fourth inning. It was then that the Dodgers put men on first and third, with no outs, setting the stage for a fire drill that finally ended with a double play.

With Terry Whitfield on third and Mike Scioscia on first, Steve Sax grounded to third. Third baseman Terry Pendleton tagged out Whitfield on a rundown, which was bad enough. A fielder’s choice was how it looked at that point. But Pendleton looked up to see Sax on his way to second, there to join a confused Mike Scioscia. So Scioscia joined in the chaos and headed for third and got nailed in a rundown. Sax, the culprit in all this, returned safely to first and stood there looking innocent. Hershiser made his out, and the inning was over.

Up to that point, the only excitement had been Vince Coleman’s no-account stolen base, his 64th, in the third inning.

The other excitement was Whitfield making a dive on McGee’s shot to left field, and missing. McGee got a triple out of it and went on to score when Herr dribbled one back to the pitcher. That was all the Cardinals could get off Hershiser.

Not that the Dodgers were making a fool out of Andujar. Aside from Dave Anderson’s lead-off double in his final inning, the Dodgers weren’t exactly roughing him up. The Dodgers waited until Ricky Horton replaced him two outs later to do any roughing up, and that was on the minor side. Brock singled Anderson home to even things up, and Mike Marshall singled behind him to chase Horton.

Bill Campbell came in to get the Cardinals out of the inning, but he didn’t do so well in the next. Scioscia led off with a double down the right-field line, and then Bill Russell, replacing him on the base paths, scored after Sax sacrificed and pinch-hitter Len Matuszek followed with a sacrifice fly.

Dodger Notes

Pitcher Alejandro Pena, out all season after shoulder surgery, threw for 12 minutes Thursday. . . . Pedro Guerrero, disabled with a severe back sprain, is coming along well, according to the Dodgers. He is expected to hit on Sunday and could play next week. . . . R.J. Reynolds, out with a pulled rib muscle, was put on the 15-day supplemental disabled list, effective July 13. . . . Mike Marshall, out after surgery for appendicitis, made his first appearance in a game Thursday, starting in right field. . . . Tonight’s pitchers: the Dodgers’ Bob Welch (3-1) vs. Danny Cox (11-4).