Dodgers Stay Hot as Giants Stay Cold, 5-1

the death rattle for the San Francisco Giants grew louder here, the Dodgers rolled on, winning their eighth straight game Friday night, this one 5-1 before 20,952 fans at Candlestick Park.

Rookie Mariano Duncan had his first four-hit game as a Dodger--three singles and a two-run homer, his fourth home run of the season. The man behind him in the Dodger order, Bob Bailor, walked and doubled twice, driving in two runs while filling in at third base for the injured Enos Cabell.

Pitcher Jerry Reuss, meanwhile, ran his record to 11-7 with a yield of only six hits and a fifth-inning run. Ken Howell pitched the last three innings and recorded his 12th save, matching Tom Niedenfuer for the team high.

In the last 70 innings, Dodger pitching has allowed just five earned runs, an ERA of 0.64.

The Giants, with the exception of rookie Chris Brown--who had two hits and a potential third taken away by shortstop Duncan--went down quietly, which has been their wont in a season that has seen them lose 71 games and fall 26 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.

Bob Lurie, the Giants’ owner, remains eager to unload the team. And last week, when the strike was settled, several Giants said they were sorry it hadn’t lasted longer.

The crowd, almost 10 times larger than the one that showed up for a day game Thursday against the Houston Astros, had more than its share of Dodger fans. How could you tell?

“There are more Dodger jackets than 49er jackets,” one observer noted.

While the Dodgers continue to tutor Duncan in the art of switch-hitting, which explains his .215 average from the left side, the rookie has raised his average to .316 from the right side, where the swinging comes easy. He is 36 for 114 right-handed.

Duncan nearly lost his home run in the fifth when he came within a step or two of passing Steve Sax on the basepath. Sax, who was on first after drawing a walk from Vida Blue, apparently thought that right fielder Joel Youngblood had a chance to catch Duncan’s drive.

As Youngblood kept drifting back, Sax went back to the bag to tag up. The ball finally cleared the fence just as Duncan arrived at first.

“I saw him,” Sax said.

First-base coach Manny Mota wasn’t so sure.

“It was very close,” Mota said. “It scared . . . me. It was by a foot.

“I thought it (Duncan’s home run) was going out. Saxie must have thought he was going to catch the ball. But on that play, he’s got to be halfway (toward second).”

Someone mentioned to Duncan that had he run past Sax, he would have lost the home run and been credited with a single, instead.

“Oh, my God,” he said, taking off his cap. “I don’t know what Saxie was doing.”

Sax gave the Dodgers something else to puzzle over with two out in the ninth when he threw away Jose Uribe’s grounder.

“I laid back on it too much and I had to hurry, and I threw it away,” Sax said. “The grass is really slow here.”

Duncan, who had complained of dizziness the day before and was taken to the hospital for blood tests, singled and scored in the first. He took second on a walk to Bailor, third on a passed ball and came across when Pedro Guerrero grounded into a double play.

In the seventh, pinch-hitter R.J. Reynolds walked and went to third on Duncan’s third hit, a single that knocked out Blue.

“I felt down yesterday--my stomach was bothering me,” Duncan said, “but I felt fine today.”

Bailor, who had been credited with a double in the fifth when Youngblood lost his sinking liner in the lights, kicked up chalk with his second double, this one down the line in right off Giant reliever Greg Minton.

Before Friday, Bailor had driven in just four runs.

Reuss, who allowed six hits and three walks in six innings, had a swollen left thumb after fouling off a bunt try in the fourth.

Reuss, 10-4 in his last 17 starts, is on a pace to win more games than he has since 1982, when he went 18-11. He won 12 in 1983 and just 5 in 1984, when he was hurt much of the season.

The 36-year-old left-hander, who thought his career might be over after he underwent surgery on both heels last fall, now says he hopes to pitch until he’s 40.

“That depends on two factors,” he said recently. “Whether I’m able physically and whether I want to mentally. There’s a lot of things I just don’t know, but mentally I have as much desire as ever--in some ways, more.

“There were times I wondered. After the doctor told me I may never run again, I thought to myself, ‘What a way to end it.’ When I was propped up on crutches, I thought about it (retiring), but I don’t think about it now.”

The conversation turned to one of Reuss’ peers, 40-year-old Tom Seaver of the Chicago White Sox. Seaver says he enjoys pitching more now than when he was young.

“I can relate to that 100%,” Reuss said. “You know more about pitching, for one.

“But you also don’t have to worry about the things that bother you when you’re in your early 20s--whether you’re going to get sent back to the minors, or wondering if you’ll ever be more than the No. 5 starter.

“You get to the point where you don’t worry about those things anymore. You’ve established what you can do. You understand that a couple of bad games isn’t the end of the world.”

Reuss, 0-2 with an 8.18 earned-run average against the Giants in three seasons, hadn’t beaten San Francisco since his 5-1 win over Bill Laskey on Aug. 16, 1983.

But with the help of David Green, who is an embarrassing reminder for the Giants that they traded MVP candidate Jack Clark to St. Louis, Reuss escaped trouble in both the second and fourth innings. Green, who has only 14 RBIs this season--four fewer than Dodger leadoff man Duncan--struck out with runners on first and third to end the second and grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the fourth.

After Brown’s leadoff double in the sixth, the Giants left him stranded, Green bouncing out to end the inning.

Dodger Notes Reliever Tom Niedenfuer, who had saves in three of the last four games, said he was available to pitch again Friday night. In the past, overwork has taken its toll on Niedenfuer’s elbow, but he insisted that he hadn’t extended himself in the 4 innings he had worked during the week. “Maybe I’ll hit a home run to win tonight’s game,” Niedenfuer said. The way things have been going for the Dodgers, that would not be an upset . . . Third baseman Enos Cabell missed his third straight game with a pulled muscle on his left side. He had planned to test the injury but chose not to work out. “Too cold,” said therapist Pat Screnar. . . . According to player representative Mike Scioscia, union chief Donald Fehr will meet with the team when it plays in New York, at which time a vote will be held to ratify the new Basic Agreement. . . . While the Dodgers drew an average of 39,365 for their four-game series, the Giants drew an average of 3,359 for their three-game set with the Houston Astros. Said Chili Davis after Thursday’s game: “Hey, what can you expect? We’re not in a race, and it’s a noon game. You think somebody’s going to go up to their boss and ask for the day off? The boss will ask what for, and the guy says he’s going to go see the Giants. Think he’ll get the day off? Are you kidding?” . . . Giant outfielder Jeff Leonard was scratched because of an inflamed muscle in his rib cage.