After the First Two Games, Cards Aren’t in the Running

Remember just a couple of days ago, how Los Angeles was bracing itself for the invasion of the dreaded run-and-gun St. Louis Cardinals.

They’ll steal anything that’s not locked up or tied down. Hide the womenfolk and say a prayer for your catcher.

The only running the Cardinals did in L.A. was for the airport Thursday night, clothing flapping out of their suitcases.

After two games here in L.A., only one Cardinal managed to maintain his dignity and pride. But then Stan Musial always was a class guy.

The story of the first two games of the National League championship series was that the Dodgers ran the running Cardinals into the ground.

By late Thursday evening, Dodger third base coach Joey Amalfitano, whose job it is to windmill those runners around the hot corner, had a right arm a foot longer than his left.

It became infectious. When Manager Tom Lasorda came out to check on injured shortstop Mariano Duncan in the first inning, Lasorda even sprinted off the field.

With that kind of role model, what could the Dodgers do? They ran.

Steve Sax went from first to third on a bad pickoff throw.

Ken Landreaux scored from second on a line single to medium-shallow left field.

Orel Hershiser, who moonlights as a pitcher when he’s not working as a sprinter, scored from first on Landreaux’s double to left-center. Or did Orel hand the baton to Carl Lewis for the third-to-home relay anchor leg?

And all that action was in the third inning.

For two straight nights, the Dodgers made the local infield look like the Saugus Speedway. Was this part of the strategy? When in doubt, stretch it out?

“We had a meeting before the series,” Amalfitano said, “and Tom (Lasorda) told ‘em to be aggressive.”

It seemed to some veteran observers that the Dodgers were a little more daring than usual.

“I don’t agree with you,” Amalfitano said.

Really?

“That’s the way the Dodgers have played since I’ve been here,” said Bill Madlock, who stretched a single into a double in the key base-running escapade the night before.

And Steve Sax said, “We’re just playing our normal game. We’ve done a lot of hit-and-run and that kind of thing this year.”

This series is different, however, even if some of the Dodgers won’t say it. For one thing, the Dodgers went in feeling they could run on Cardinal catcher Darrell Porter, who has a history of arm problems and who threw out only 2 of 14 Dodger base stealers this season.

Even Pedro Guerrero is stealing bases.

And the Dodger scouting reports probably indicate that left fielder Vince Coleman, a marvelous rookie, is somewhat suspect in the throwing accuracy department.

Shoot, why not test the kid? The meek might inherit the earth, but they’ll watch the World Series on TV.

Basically, the Dodgers simply decided that no St. Looey hotshots were going to come into the Ravine and show up the home boys on the bases.

The spirit of Maury Wills and the old Go-Go Dodgers of the early and mid ‘60s is alive on this ballclub.

“There has never been anything said about our running,” Lasorda said. “I told ‘em, ‘I want you to be aggressive and daring, get good jumps, steal bases.’

“We’re playing the brand of baseball we like to play--aggressive and daring. We’re running because of our great base running and our speed.”

After two games, the only Dodger question mark is Amalfitano. Is he a one-dimensional third base coach? Sure, he can windmill ‘em home, but how is the guy’s stop sign? Nobody knows. Might not find out.

Will it be a different story when the series shifts to St. Louis?

Only if the Cardinals can regroup. Their lack of success on the basepaths became contagious. When Vince (Van No Go) Coleman hit a ground ball to second baseman Sax with two out in the seventh, Coleman, who owns the most feared pair of legs in baseball, decided to jog down the first-base line.

Maybe the Cardinals’ first base coach gave Vince the stop sign. Maybe Vince is saving it for Saturday afternoon in St. Louis.

One thing is sure: The series has taken a turn for the worse for Whitey Herzog’s once-hustlin’ Cardinals. Before the opener, Whitey was overheard commenting that the Dodgers, aside from their pitching, have a horse-bleep team.

Now, he’s probably thinking that the Dodgers, aside from their pitching, hitting, base running and defense, have a horse-bleep team.

Or maybe Whitey’s worried that, two games into the real season, the horse-bleep is on the other foot.