Marshall Hits Slam to Start Dodgers on 22-Hit Romp, 15-6

The Dodger sitters became hitters Wednesday night at Veterans Stadium in the most offensive showing here by a team without helmets and shoulder pads.

The Phillies should have punted, five batters into the first inning, when Mike Marshall hit a grand slam that set off a Dodger hit riot--22 hits in a 15-6 win that set a record for the most runs scored by a Phillie opponent in the 15-year history of the Vet.

The Dodger regulars, to be sure, did their part:

--In addition to his grand-slam, Marshall had two singles, a double and a total of five RBIs, thereby proving that running into fences--as he had done the night before--may be hazardous to your health but won’t necessarily mess up your swing.

--Pedro Guerrero hit his first home run in 11 games and 29th of the season, the kind you track with radar instead of a tape measure.

--Steve Sax had three hits.

But this was a night when almost everything that came out of the Dodger dugout came out swinging like a certain South Philly pug. On this night, Rocky had nothing on:

--Candy Maldonado, who had the first five-hit game of his major league life with a home run, a double, and three singles, including one that traveled 410 feet, bounced off the center-field wall but couldn’t advance Guerrero any farther than from second to third. Maldonado, who came into the game batting .188, raised his average 25 points to .213 with five swings.

--Bob Bailor, who had four singles and a walk and spent more time circling the bases in nine innings than he had in his previous 114 games as a Dodger.

--R.J. Reynolds, who had a single, triple, sacrifice and scored two runs.

“The All-Sit Squad,” Steve Yeager said approvingly. “Maldonado, Yeager, Whitfield, Reynolds, we pride ourselves on being able to do something.”

And everybody in the starting lineup, with one exception, did something right at the plate. Even the winning pitcher, Fernando Valenzuela--who got more support in one game Wednesday than he received in 13 starts last season--had two hits, including an RBI double.

“It’s easy,” said Valenzuela, who had leads of 5-0 after one inning, 7-0 after two, 12-3 after five and 15-3 after 7 1/2 but failed to close out his 15th win and eighth in a row when ex-Dodger Derrel Thomas hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.

For only one Dodger, it was anything but easy. And that was Yeager himself. On a can’t-miss night, Yeager went hitless in six trips, popping out twice, bouncing into a double play, and, in his last at-bat, striking out on three pitches.

“Boomer hit into some tough luck tonight,” said Manager Tom Lasorda, while losing a battle to keep a straight face.

“Claude Osteen (the Phillies’ pitching coach) said to me, ‘Tell Boomer if he needs one more hit to lead the league he can get it tomorrow.’ Poor Boomer.”

The Dodgers hadn’t collected this many hits in six years--when they had 22 against the Phillies on July 24, 1979 in L.A. But even though the Phillies ran in five pitchers, beginning with 42-year-old left-hander Jerry Koosman and winding up with rookie David Shipanoff, Yeager never did find an offering he could hit.

“It’s not like I wasn’t trying,” he said. “Damn, I was trying. What the hell, I’ll probably come back tomorrow and get a base hit to knock in a couple of guys.

“Hey, I had fun watching ‘em, even though I wanted to join ‘em. I stuck down the fingers, they got the base hits.”

With the game long out of reach, when catcher Ozzie Virgil left with a bruised left wrist, Phillie Manager John Felske sent Thomas in to catch, something Thomas hadn’t done since he was with the Dodgers five years ago.

Not only did Thomas manage to stick down a few fingers without hurting himself, he took Valenzuela deep for his fourth home run. Thomas reacted almost as if it had been a tie game instead of 15-3, clapping his hands as he rounded first.

“He’s going to tell his grandchildren he hit a home run off the great Fernando,” Lasorda said. “That’s the one he’ll talk about the rest of his life.

“He’ll say, ‘You know, son, I hit a home run once in Philadelphia off that Hall of Famer, Fernando Valenzuela. Me, Grandpa Derrel.’ ”

It was a night the Dodgers could afford to laugh off three-run home runs (Von Hayes also hit one for the Phillies). Even Yeager.

“That’s Derrel,” he said.

Dodger Notes

The L.A. Dodger club record for hits in a game is 24, set on Aug. 20, 1974, against the Cubs in Wrigley Field. . . . Mike Marshall’s grand-slam was the fourth of his career, which leaves him one short of the L.A. record held by Ron Cey. “If they keep playing (Pedro) Guerrero and (Greg) Brock ahead of me, I’m going to get a lot of chances,” said Marshall, who connected off Jerry Koosman. The next batter, Candy Maldonado, also homered. “I’m hitting in a great spot. It was nice for me personally because they’re pitching around Pete. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and I have to make them realize if they do it, they’re taking a chance.” . . . The bald eagle lives: Guerrero, who didn’t hit a three-run home run until Aug. 2 this season, now has hit three in a row and has a total of four. Eighteen of Guerrero’s home runs have come with the bases empty. Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, you may recall, once described the three-run home run as “extinct, like the bald eagle.” . . . Maldonado said his 410-foot drive in the fourth, which would have gone for extra bases except that Guerrero had retreated back to second, thinking it would be caught, said it “was the longest single of my life, including street ball.” His last five-hit night, he said, came in Class A ball. “I appreciate the confidence Tommy had in me, still putting me in there.” Maldonado, who said he is relaxing more at the plate, also said Vice President Al Campanis called batting coach Manny Mota with words of encouragement for him. . . . Bob Bailor is now 8 for 27 in the seven games he’s played in place of Enos Cabell.