Dodger Notebook : Pena, Under Gun, Shows Flashes of His Former Speed

They sat in a row on a raised wooden platform behind the plate of Diamond No. 1 at Dodgertown Wednesday morning, intently watching the pitcher on the mound.

Dodger scout Ralph Avila, sitting to the right of Dodger Vice President Al Campanis, squinted to check the reading of the radar speed gun he was aiming at the plate.

“Ninety,” Avila called out.

“Ninety, Tommy,” Campanis cried exultantly to Manager Tom Lasorda.

About 15 minutes later, after Alejandro Pena had finished pitching and was soaking his right elbow in ice in the trainer’s room, he was told how fast he had thrown that morning.

His face brightened. “Oooooh,” Pena said. “I’m happy like a dog, man.”

That feeling was a long time in coming, and no one was saying for sure that it would last. This, after all, was merely three innings in a “B” squad game against the Houston Astros, and the regular season is fewer than three weeks away.

But no one was about to deny this moment to Pena, who sat out all but 4 innings of the 1985 season with a burned-out right shoulder.

“I feel pretty good,” Pena said, still smiling. “I think I’m back.”

Pena, who used to break 90 m.p.h. regularly when he was the National League’s earned-run champion in 1984, attained that speed just once Wednesday, on a 2-and-0 pitch to former Dodger German Rivera. And one pitch does not make a comeback.

Pat Screnar, the therapist who has worked daily with Pena since Dr. Frank Jobe performed arthroscopic surgery on the 26-year-old right-hander a year ago last February, would be the first to agree.

“There were no expectations,” Screnar said. “Everything has just been based on his performance. We’ve just been taking it outing by outing.

“We’re extremely pleased the way he threw today. Without a doubt, this was as good as he’s thrown to date. He threw free and easy, and he felt no pain.”

Of the 44 pitches Pena threw Wednesday, he went as high as 89 m.p.h six times, according to Avila.

“Alejandro’s key is his mechanics,” Screnar said. “If he is throwing mechanically well, you can see the results in velocity. You don’t need the radar gun. You can tell when he pops the ball. You can see it.”

Pena was asked if he had noticed that most of the other Dodger pitchers--including Fernando Valenzuela, who acted as bat boy--had come out to watch him pitch.

He nodded. “I think it’s teammates--everybody pulls for everybody,” he said.

“I think the pitching staff we have, man, nobody can beat us. Nobody.”

Dodger Notes As a rookie last season, Mariano Duncan had six triples in 142 games for the Dodgers. In 11 exhibition games this spring, Duncan has eight triples, three of them Wednesday in the Dodgers’ 13-9 win over the Houston Astros here. Duncan had five hits in all Wednesday and is batting .421 overall. Duncan, still learning to switch-hit, batted only .224 left-handed last season, as compared to .286 right-handed, which is why the Dodgers are so pleased that he has hit six of his eight triples this spring left-handed. “I’ve been working every day with Manny Mota, especially batting left-handed,” Duncan said. “Right-handed is no problem.” With outfielders reduced to chasing balls up a grassy embankment rather than playing them off a wall, triples come easier here for Duncan. “I had 15 triples here in 1983,” said Duncan, who played Class-A ball here that season.

Steve Sax had four hits for the Dodgers Wednesday, and Greg Brock added to his team-leading RBI total with a two-run double, giving him 9 runs batted in for 10 games. The Astros actually outhit the Dodgers on this wind-blown day, 20-17, but the Dodgers got eight walks from Houston pitchers and the Astros also made three errors, one on a botched relay that allowed Duncan to score on his second triple.