Even Dodgers Can’t Stop Dodgers : On a Bad Day, They’re Still Good Enough to Win, 5-4

The way the Dodgers are going right now, it seems they can do no wrong.

Don’t think they didn’t try Saturday.

The club:

--Committed five errors, including two on one play, to tie a season high.

--Surrendered a run on an obstruction call at home plate.

--Saw Steve Sax bunt into a double play on a squeeze attempt.

--Lost one ball in the sun and lost numerous scoring opportunities on the bases, leaving nine men stranded.

--Saw the end of Pedro Guerrero’s consecutive on-base streak.

Yet despite it all, they emerged with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs, their fifth straight win and eighth in their last 10 games to remain 4 1/2 games ahead of the San Diego Padres in the National League West.

“They didn’t play that well,” Cub third baseman Ron Cey said, “but they were lucky offensively. They had a lot of cheap hits, but when things are going well, you still expect to win. They played a ragged game defensively. It wasn’t pretty, but they got the job done.”

One way or the other.

The winning run crossed in the seventh inning on a pop fly single to center by catcher Mike Scioscia that dropped in front of Bob Dernier. That scored Pedro Guerrero, who had moved to third on an error by Ryne Sandberg.

Dernier and Sandberg were involved in a play in the eighth inning that epitomized the Cubs’ frustration.

With Dernier at first and nobody out, Sandberg hit a sinking line drive to right that appeared to put the tying and go-ahead runs on for Chicago.

That is not, however, the way it appeared to Dernier.

Right fielder Mike Marshall dived for the ball and gloved it, but it slipped onto the grass as he rolled over.

“It looked like a catch,” Marshall said, “but as I rolled over and switched it to my throwing hand, it fell out.”

All Dernier could see was Marshall’s back, so he retreated to first, rubbing shoulders with Sandberg, who was on his way to second.

The umpires ruled Dernier out at second and left Sandberg at first.

They blew it. By their own admission.

“We messed up,” plate umpire Bruce Froemming said after the game. “We should have called the guy out for passing the runner and left Dernier on.”

That left Sandberg (28 stolen bases) alive rather than Dernier (19 steals), but that didn’t make a difference. A moment later, Sandberg was thrown out trying for steal No. 29.

There was another controversial play Saturday, but in that one, Froemming made no apologies.

It came in the sixth, with Sandberg on third via a single, a throwing error by third baseman Enos Cabell and a stolen base.

Gary Matthews lofted a fly ball into short right. Second baseman Sax went after it.

“I called him off right at the last second,” Marshall said. “But I just lost it.”

By the time Marshall saw it, the ball was lying on the ground, and Sandberg was streaking for home. Marshall picked up the ball and fired it to Scioscia, who applied the tag--and got a palms-down safe sign from Froemming for his effort.

“He hit the runner before he fielded the ball,” the umpire said.

“I have a different interpretation,” Scioscia responded. “I was making the play on Sandberg. The ball got there at almost the same instant. My only alternative was to let the ball go to the backstop. I had to come up and get the ball. If I didn’t think I was right, I wouldn’t have argued.”

It was a day for arguing.

Chicago first base coach John Vukovich didn’t make it past the second inning after engaging first-base umpire Bob Davidson in a running argument over a close play on an infield single by Cabell in the first inning.

But of one fact, there can be no argument. The Dodgers, on good days and bad, in close games and routs, continue to hit.

They had 13 hits Saturday, the 10th time in their last 13 games they have been in double figures.

And they weren’t all of the cheap variety.

Marshall slugged his 12th home run of the season, this one into the Dodger bullpen in the third inning with Greg Brock aboard. It gave him two homers and six RBIs in his last two games. And Brock collected two more hits, including a run-scoring single in the seventh.

But the most dominant Dodger hitter of late, Guerrero, had to settle for a single, a couple of long fly balls and a groundout.

It was Guerrero’s hitting that many in the sellout Dodger Stadium crowd of 46,092 had come to see.

When Guerrero came to the plate in the first inning, runners at first and third, he had history on his mind. He was bidding to reach first base for the 15th consecutive time. That would have left him just one shy of Ted Williams’ major league record, set in 1957.

Instead, after fouling off four pitches from Chicago starter Scott Sanderson, Guerrero had to be content with a long fly ball to center.

Since it brought Cabell home from third, it didn’t count as a time at bat. But it also wasn’t a trip to first. Thus, end of streak.

“There was no pressure,” Guerrero said. “Why should I have pressure? I got a couple of good pitches to hit. I hit it good. There is nothing you can do about it.”

He had no sympathy from the Cubs. Their frustration was just beginning.

Dodger Notes

Orel Hershiser (11-3) got the victory. Ken Howell pitched the final two innings for his 11th save. . . . Scott Sanderson had to leave with an elbow problem while facing his first batter in the second inning. George Frazier (5-4) took the loss. . . . On the play in the eighth inning, Ryne Sandberg was originally credited with a single, but that was later changed to a fielder’s choice on a ruling by the league office. . . . When Ron Cey hit one out in the seventh inning, it was his 13th homer of the year, but his first in 43 games and only his second RBI in his last 39 games. . . . The four-game series with Chicago closes out today beginning at 1:05 p.m. when the Dodgers’ Dennis Powell (0-0) makes his first major league start against Cub right-hander Rick Sutcliffe (8-7).