Dodgers’ Good One, Valenzuela, Shows His Grit in 6-1 Win

He appeared without the hype, the hysteria or the history that had accompanied the event of the day before, when the masses came to adore Dwight Gooden.

But while it is Gooden who summons forth the unrestrained passions of a Springsteen concert, it is Fernando Valenzuela--without the mania--who can stir the purist’s appreciation of pitching as precise as a Mozart piano concerto.

Gooden, at 20, is the prodigy, winner of 20 games this season and 14 in a row. Valenzuela, at 24, is the master, winner of 16 games this season and now nine in a row after his 6-1 triumph over the New York Mets Monday night before 43,063 at Shea Stadium.

Neither streak may end until the two duel face-to-face, as they have done twice already this season. A third showdown looms a week from Friday at Dodger Stadium.

In one vital sense, Valenzuela at the moment holds an edge over Gooden: The Dodger left-hander is pitching for a first-place team 7 1/2 games ahead of San Diego, a 4-3 loser to Philadelphia, in the National League West; Gooden toils for a second-place team in the National League East, now two games behind St. Louis, a 3-0 winner over Cincinnati.

Jay Johnstone, for one, was quick to notice the perks of the Dodgers’ exalted standing.

“I thought we just won the first game of the World Series,” said Johnstone, surveying the media swarm in the Dodger clubhouse. “I was wondering when the second game starts.”

Valenzuela, the artist as perfectionist, could not be entirely satisfied with his effort Monday night. The Mets, after all, did manage 10 hits off him.

“Almost all game,” he said, “they have men on base.”

But Valenzuela, as the reader of bottom lines, could exult in the fact that even with all that activity, the Mets still managed just one run.

“Ten hits and one run,” he said, “that’s great.”

And that, said Mike Marshall, who contributed a game-tying hit to a string of five straight Dodger singles in a four-run sixth, is what sets Valenzuela apart.

“Some guys just wilt under pressure,” Marshall said, “and you know it’s just a matter of time before you get them. Fernando just gets tougher with men on base.

“It’s his personality. He does not like to lose, and he doesn’t like guys to score runs off him.”

The Mets scored their only run when Tom Paciorek, the one-time Dodger playing with his fifth big-league team, blooped a single to score Rafael Santana in the third.

They threatened again in the ninth when they loaded the bases with one out and Valenzuela went 3-and-0 to Ray Knight, who had homered off Valenzuela earlier this season. With Tom Niedenfuer warming up in the bullpen, Valenzuela appeared one batter away from checking out.

Not so, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda insisted.

“He wasn’t coming out,” Lasorda said. “Even if Knight hit a grand-slam home run, he wasn’t coming out. You can bet your life he still would have pitched to Santana. He’s a closer.”

What about Niedenfuer, somebody asked.

“He was a decoy,” pitching coach Ron Perranoski said.

Valenzuela rallied to retire Knight on a shallow fly to center, then caught Santana’s weak liner himself to end the game.

“He’s the best control pitcher in the league,” said Met captain Keith Hernandez, who came into the game with a .341 lifetime average against Valenzuela but hit into a double play, bounced out and struck out before singling in the ninth.

Santana said Valenzuela threw him nothing but screwballs. Hernandez said he saw one screwball all night, the rest, mostly fastballs.

“That’s why you have to admire him,” Hernandez said. “He can throw five pitches over the plate for strikes. We had 10 hits, but we didn’t hit him hard at all.”

For five innings, the Dodgers weren’t hitting Met starter Ed Lynch, either, and a slump that first appeared at Philadelphia and followed them to Montreal threatened to tighten its grip here.

“But it was the same old thing with Fernando,” Marshall said. “They had a chance to score a few more runs off him, but he kept it 1-0 until we could get going.”

And when the sixth came, it was Lynch who burst.

“I was feeling good, on a roll, and it all just caved in on me,” Lynch said. “Five straight hits. I kept looking for the double play ball.”

It never came. Pedro Guerrero, 1 for 16 coming in, opened the inning with a single, the second of his three hits Monday. Greg Brock, who hasn’t hit a home run in a month, has only one extra-base hit on this trip and went through an 0-for-16 spin of his own, grounded another single just out of the reach of second baseman Wally Backman.

Marshall, who had just two singles since his four-hit, grand-slam game last Wednesday, smacked Lynch’s first pitch past shortstop Santana, and the score was tied. Mike Scioscia lined a single through the box to make it 2-1, Steve Sax singled to right and it was 3-1, and Lynch was on his way out of the game.

Valenzuela’s sacrifice fly off Terry Leach brought home Scioscia with the fourth run of the inning. In the seventh, Ken Landreaux doubled home cousin Enos Cabell for his first RBI since Aug. 14, and Guerrero shattered his bat with a bloop single and a 6-1 lead.

A big September from Brock and the other struggling hitters, and the Dodgers will be all the more likely to be playing well into October. And the bungling bunch that left ‘em laughing here in May is now a faded memory.

“They were all pitching and no offense earlier in the year,” Lynch said. “Now they have a great attack. Now I can see why they’re leading their division.”

And, by watching Valenzuela, so did New York, New York.

Dodger Notes

Fernando Valenzuela’s last loss came on June 27, when he dropped a 5-4 decision to the Padres in San Diego. . . . With an off day Wednesday, the Dodgers are skipping Rick Honeycutt’s turn in the rotation and bringing Valenzuela back to pitch Saturday against the Phillies in Los Angeles. . . . Dodger Vice President Al Campanis said the Dodgers may add a pitcher from Albuquerque when rosters expand to 40 on Sunday. Right-hander Brian Holton, who made only two starts in 1984 because of elbow surgery but apparently has recovered nicely, figures to get the call, barring a trade for an experienced pitcher. “It’s tough to make a deal unless some club will give up a veteran for some prospects,” Campanis said. “We’re not going to mortgage our future.” Last week, the Dodgers sent scout Ed Liberatore to take a look at ex-Dodger Dave Stewart, whom the Rangers are shopping around, but Stewart was hit hard by Baltimore. Campanis said the Dodgers no longer have interest in third baseman Bill Madlock, though he acknowledged receiving a call from the Pirates indicating that Madlock is available. Campanis said the Dodgers had been interested in the four-time batting champion a month ago, but that was before they made the deal for Enos Cabell. . . . Steve Sax took exception to the rolling slide used by the Mets’ Len Dykstra when Sax turned a double play in the eighth. Dykstra, though out easily, came in hard against Sax’s left knee. When the Dodgers threw the ball around the infield after the play, Sax fired it at third baseman Cabell. “I was concerned about my leg,” Sax said. “I think he overdid it a little bit.”