Dodger Homecoming Is a Study in Ineptness as Astros Breeze, 7-2

The Dodgers came home as something less than conquering heroes Wednesday night. By the time this 7-2 loss to the Houston Astros was history, they had given the crowd of 34,251 at Dodger Stadium reason to be relieved it was over, much the way people are glad to see an eccentric relative leave a family gathering.

The Dodgers, who may have been showing the effects of an 11-game trip, played this one in truly oddball fashion, showing a capacity to foul up all facets of the game while their lead over the second-place Cincinnati Reds was sliced to 6 1/2 games with 17 games left to play.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda ran out four relievers in an effort to stem Houston’s four-run seventh inning that broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Astros their eighth straight win.

Ken Howell, who has been scored upon in four straight appearances and five out of eight this month, gave up a double to Mark Bailey and infield single to Dickie Thon before Lasorda went to rookie Dennis Powell.

Powell threw a wild pitch and gave up a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single, and the Astros led, 4-2. Out came Powell. In came Bobby Castillo, who lasted four pitches--all balls, to Kevin Bass.

Bye-Bye, Bobby. Carlos Diaz was next, and he got a ground ball out of Jose Cruz. But it skipped past Greg Brock for an error and two more runs.

Another error by Mariano Duncan in the ninth gave the Astros’ their final run.

The Dodgers, who had just four hits off a struggling Mike Scott (18-7) and reliever Jeff Calhoun after averaging 7 1/2 runs a game on the trip, ran themselves out of one inning and scored their only runs on a bases-loaded walk and a double-play ball.

Lasorda, for one, dismissed the fatigue factor, even though the only interlude the Dodgers have in a stretch of 17 games on the road is this two-game stopover in Los Angeles.

“We played a good game last night,” Lasorda said, referring to the Dodgers’ 7-1 win at San Diego. “Weren’t you there?”

Lasorda continues to hope for a good outing from Howell, who started the sixth after Terry Whitfield pinch-hit for Rick Honeycutt the previous inning and drew a bases-loaded walk for the Dodgers’ first run.

Jose Cruz, the first Astro to face Howell, beat out an infield hit, but catcher Mike Scioscia threw him out attempting to steal, and Howell got the next two batters easily.

“That first inning when I got ‘em out, I thought it was going to stop right there,” said Howell, who had given up three-run home runs his last two outings.

But Howell fell behind Mark Bailey, the first batter in the seventh, 3-and-1 in the count, and he lined the next pitch to right for a double.

“Even then I said to myself that I’d get the next guy (Dickie Thon),” Howell said. “I got two strikes on him, made the pitch I wanted, but he hit the ball up the middle.”

Duncan gloved Thon’s ball but too late to throw out the Astro shortstop, and Houston had runners on the corners.

“I looked up and saw Lasorda coming,” Howell said. “I thought, ‘Not again.’ But by then the damage had been done.

“I don’t know if it’s contagious or what, but it seems to be spreading. I know what it’s like to be in a major league slump, but this one is lingering. And buddy, they’re no fun.

” . . . When Lasorda takes me out, he tells me to keep my chin up. He shows confidence in me, I just have to get my act together.”

Most of the Dodgers were still dressing in the clubhouse when the Reds took a 4-0 lead at Atlanta. And by the time they took the field against the Astros, the Dodgers only had to look at the scoreboard to know that the Reds had won their fourth straight game.

The Astros, making their usual September out-of-the-race push, have won 19 of their last 22.

And Houston starter Scott, who began the season with a career record 15 games under .500 (29-44), finally resembles the pitcher he was projected to be when he came out of Pepperdine as the Mets’ No. 2 draft pick in 1976.

Back in college, Scott didn’t have a split-fingered fastball, the pitch that has turned his professional career around. He learned that last winter from Roger Craig, the former Detroit pitching coach who Wednesday night managed his first game for the San Francisco Giants.

“Other than my fastball, I throw it more than all my other pitches combined,” Scott said. “It’s made all the difference. Last year, I used to rely on my slider, but it wasn’t breaking much. It was more like a fat fastball.”

The Dodgers’ two-run rally in the fifth, such as it was, consisted of three walks, a bunt single by Steve Sax, and a double play.

Honeycutt, who hadn’t pitched since going the distance in Atlanta eight days ago, picked two runners off-- Thon in the third and Bill Doran in the fifth--to quell Astro threats.

But Houston, which put the leadoff man on in six of the first seven innings, broke through to take a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Bass tripled to the 395-foot sign in right-center and scored on Cruz’s sacrifice fly. With two out, Honeycutt walked Phil Garner and Bailey, and Thon followed with a line drive that fell at the feet of left-fielder Len Matuszek.

Ken Landreaux’s shoestring catch on Scott’s sinking liner kept the inning from being more damaging.

“I can’t speak for anybody else, but I’m kind of exhausted myself,” said Bill Madlock, who was at the plate in the fourth when Mike Marshall was thrown out at third attempting to steal.

“I just have to get my second win. We have to stay aggressive, which we weren’t tonight. One thing about it, this game’s history, and at this time of the season, you’ve just got to forget about it and play the next one.”

Dodger Notes

Dr. Frank Jobe took another look at Pedro Guerrero’s sprained left wrist and reported little change in his condition. Guerrero missed his 13th game Wednesday since hurting his wrist. Guerrero had pounded Houston pitching for 8 home runs, 14 RBIs, and a .356 average this season. . . . Alejandro Pena pitched another simulated game Wednesday, in which he threw 55 pitches and gave up three hits while walking two. . . . Steve Sax’s bunt single in the fifth extended his hitting streak to 14 games. . . . Bill Madlock extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a second-inning infield single. Madlock started the night batting .354 for the Dodgers (23 for 65) since arriving here Aug. 31. . . . German Rivera, one of two players the Dodgers sent to Houston for Enos Cabell, is batting .206 in just 11 games for the Astros.