Dodger Streak Hits Seven as Fernando Tops Cardinals, 3-0

Pedro Guerrero can be seen nightly limping about in a leg cast. Bill Madlock is on the disabled list. Greg Brock can’t hit left-handers. Only Steve Sax is batting above .300.

Dodgers doomed, no doubt.

But good things happen to those who wait, or is it to those who play the Pirates, then the Cubs and now the Cardinals?

Yes, the Dodgers were at it again, this time turning Fernando Valenzuela loose on the poor St. Louis Cardinals Saturday night before a sellout audience of 47,200 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers walked away with a 3-0 victory, their seventh win in a row, which just happens to be the longest streak in the majors. It also marked the first time that the Dodgers (13-13) have reached the .500 mark since April 10, when they were 2-2.

Back then, no one knew that the Dodgers would begin a fall that wouldn’t stop until a week ago. They were 6-13, in last place in the Western Division and in trouble.

Then came a win over the Atlanta Braves, two over the Pittsburgh Pirates, two over the Chicago Cubs and now two over the sagging Cardinals.

Entering Saturday night’s game, Pittsburgh, Chicago and St. Louis were a combined 9-21 in each of their last 10 games.

“When we’re going the way we have been, you know, six in a row, and then you get Fernando going out there, you’re looking for that seventh one,” Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Valenzuela (4-1, 1.98 earned-run average) allowed just five hits during his fourth complete-game victory this season. There was only one extra-base hit (a first-inning double by Tommy Herr), and only one runner reached third. That was that.

The only scare of the evening occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Valenzuela, upon singling to left, grabbed his left leg shortly after reaching first base. The last time Lasorda sprinted that fast to first was during his playing days.

Valenzuela was OK, though. “No problem,” he said. All he did in the eighth inning was strike out the side.

“He hit his knee some way,” Lasorda said. “I don’t know how he did it.”

As Lasorda attended to Valenzuela, he asked, “Are you sure you’re OK?”

Said Valenzuela: “Just don’t give me the steal sign.”

As he recalled the exchange, Lasorda laughed, something he can do these days, what with everything coming up roses for the Dodgers.

“We’ve got the momentum going for us,” he said. “Unfortunately, we got off to a tough start. We could have been very easily 8-2 (after the first 10 games) rather than 3-7. We’re happy that we’re getting the timely hits now; we’re getting good play in the field, and we’re getting good pitched ballgames with it. That’s been the difference.

“When we were 3-7, they (Dodger players) never doubted that they weren’t going to turn around and win. They believed that. And that’s a great attitude to have.”

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to play the Cardinals, who are 1-10 in their last 11 games. Tim Conroy (1-1) made the first National League start of his career and held the Dodgers to just four hits and one run during his six innings. “Ninety pitches . . . six good innings, that should have been enough,” Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog said. “But there’s only nine people that can do it, unless you can get a few shutouts. Then you might get some ties.”

Herzog is the same guy who, when asked about his team’s lack of offense, said: “I’m not sure J.C. could win right now.”

It wasn’t assumed that he meant Jack Clark.

“I was having such a bad year once (in his playing days) that I’d make an out and my average went up,” Herzog said. “We’ve got a few guys like that here now.”

The Dodgers scored a run in the third when Mariano Duncan singled to left with one out, reached third on a double by Steve Sax and, after a walk to Enos Cabell, scored on a force-out by Mike Marshall.

Normally, one run isn’t much to fret about. But the Cardinals, who now have been shut out in six of their last 13 games, could never equal the single run.

They did have a chance in the third, but Dodger center fielder Reggie Williams made a diving catch of a Terry Pendleton line drive to end the inning, stranding Ozzie Smith at third base.

The Cardinals had only one other runner get as far as second base the rest of the game.

Just to be sure, the Dodgers added two more runs in the eighth innning. Sax doubled again, raising his average to .324, and scored when Cabell, taking Greg Brock’s place in the lineup, hit a slicing line drive to right field. Cabell went to second base on the throw to home, which was handy since Marshall, who now has 22 runs batted in, then doubled to right, scoring Cabell.

Valenzuela, who struck out eight and walked one, did the rest by easily retiring the Cardinals in the ninth.

Dodger Notes

First baseman Greg Brock, batting .192 overall and .050 against left-handers, was absent again from the Dodger lineup Saturday night. Brock has sat on the bench against four of the last five left-handers that the Dodgers have faced. And maybe it was just coincidence, but Franklin Stubbs, used exclusively as an outfielder this season, though he played first base in the minors, took a turn fielding grounders at first base Saturday. “Felt like home,” Stubbs said. Did the Dodgers ask him to take the infield practice or did he do it on his own? “I don’t think I’m supposed to say,” he said. Asked if Stubbs might be used at first base in place of Brock, Lasorda said, “I have no plans using him there whatsoever.” . . . Right fielder Mike Marshall made his first error of the season Friday night. His eighth-inning throw to third base after a Jack Clark single ended up in photographers’ dugout area, allowing Willie McGee to score and Clark to advance to third base. But shortstop Mariano Duncan said he could have cut off the throw, which, said third baseman Dave Anderson, might not have been a bad idea. It probably would have kept the tying run on first rather on third and might have saved Marshall his first error. “It’s no big deal,” Marshall said. “We won the game, it’s irrelevant.” . . . Cardinal pitcher John Tudor, who left Friday night’s game after four innings because of a stiff shoulder, said he was fine Saturday. . . . Infielder Len Matuszek, who underwent arthroscopic surgery in January to repair his right shoulder, continues to make limited progress in his recovery. He said he can now throw hard from a distance of 80-90 feet. But when he tries to make difficult throws from third base during practice, he doesn’t have similar success. “That really lets me know I’m a ways away,” he said. “I know it will get better, but right now, it’s nothing to brag about.” . . . The Dodgers said that Alejandro Pena, who pitched Friday evening at Vero Beach, Fla. (39 pitches, fastball averaging 82-84 m.p.h.), experienced no pain in his right shoulder. His next scheduled start is May 7.