Without Guerrero, Dodgers Need the ‘En-tooz-eee-asm’ of Young Shortstop

Ever since Pedro Guerrero went down in a tangled heap of legs and infield dirt, tearing a tendon in his knee and generally rendering himself unavailable for at least three months, the Dodgers have searched for someone, anyone , who could revive their manic-depressive offense.

And what nice job qualifications:

Need experienced player who can carry team for month at a time. Power preferable, home-run swing desirable, but will settle for high run production. Must be able to steal a base or two. Contact Lasorda, T., or Campanis, A., for more information.

The problem is that you don’t duplicate Guerrero’s 1985 statistics--.320 batting average, 33 home runs, 87 runs batted in and countless intimidation points--you pray for them.

That’s what the Dodgers did as they shoved Franklin Stubbs, a pleasant, polite young man from the Albuquerque farm team, into the daily pressure cooker located at Chavez Ravine. And sure enough, Stubbs, at times, has reminded Dodger Stadium audiences of Guerrero, what with 4 homers and 10 RBIs in April.

Unfortunately, Stubbs also is 4 for his last 32 at-bats and has struck out 25 times in his last 53 trips to the batter’s box. This, too, brings backs memories of Guerrero, such as the year he hit .255 with 2 homers and 22 RBIs at Sarasota.

Then there is Cesar Cedeno, a once-brilliant player whom the Dodgers found on the list of available free agents April 10. Cedeno, who now has played for four teams since 1985, promptly went 5 for 15 shortly after he was signed, a feat that had Dodger management wondering if they hadn’t lucked into something special.

They hadn’t. Since then, Cedeno has added just 3 hits in 23 at-bats through Saturday night.

Other candidates include incumbents Mike Marshall and Greg Brock. Marshall, except for his .244 average, is off to a fine start with 7 homers and 21 RBIs, but Brock continues to struggle along with a .192 average and 8 RBIs.

Steve Sax is a possibility. He remains the only Dodger with a plus-.300 average, .324. And maybe when Bill Madlock’s fickle quadriceps muscle heals, the Dodgers finally will have their man.

Or is he here already?

Left ignored in all of this is an unlikely successor to Guerrero’s legacy, a 23-year-old, second-year player with a grand total of 7 major league home runs, 45 RBIs and a wonderful Dominican Republic imitation of Manager Tom Lasorda saying, “En-tooz-eee-asm.”

Reintroducing shortstop Mariano Duncan, the guy of whom veteran infielder Enos Cabell says: “As young as he is, he kind of makes the team go, especially without Pete (Guerrero). We don’t have the master blasters that we had before. Now we have a good team that has to have him produce, that has to have him get on base.”

Wait a second. Isn’t this the same Duncan, hitting .186 after going 1 for 4 in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win over St. Louis Saturday night, who can’t find a permanent postion--leadoff? No. 2? No. 8?--in the batting order, the guy with more errors than RBIs? Isn’t this is the fellow who hit .224 against right-handed pitching last season while batting .286 against lefties?

Sure, says Cabell, but Duncan’s also the same one who leads the National League with 13 stolen bases, the guy who has been successful in 27 of his last 29 attempts. The fun begins when Duncan arrives at first.

“When we win, he’s on base,” Cabell said. “When he’s not on base, we have a hard time beating people.”

During the Dodgers’ current seven-game winning streak, Duncan has reached base 12 times and stolen 6 bases. Compare that to the beginning of the season, when Duncan went 3 for 23 and the Dodgers went 1-4.

None of this has been lost on the Dodgers, who know a good thing when they see one. Each day, hitting instructor Manny Mota and Duncan meet at the batting cage. The lessons are simple and direct.

“Mariano needs to take advantage of his speed,” Mota says. “He needs to swing down, get the ball on the ground, try to avoid the fly ball. He needs to become the type of hitter who hits line drives, bunts a lot. Forget about trying to hit the long ball, just try to get on base.”

There’s the rub. Duncan struck out 113 times last season and has fanned 17 times in his 102 at-bats this year, which isn’t a good thing for a leadoff hitter. He had trouble against right-handed pitchers. He occasionally tried to imitate his Dominican teammate, Guerrero, by swinging from the heels.

This season, Mota has been assigned to see that it doesn’t happen again. No more home runs that look pretty on instant replay but occur about every 94 at-bats.

The Dodgers want ugly ground balls that sneak through the gaps, bunt singles that cause pitchers to swear out loud, innocent line drives that plop in front of exasperated outfielders, walks, divine intervention, anything to get Duncan on base.

“When he hits the ball on the ground, no matter where he hits it, it’s going to put pressure on the other team,” Mota said. “They want to rush maybe, make an error maybe. Even if they throw him out 6 out of 10, he’s going to be on base four times. And how many times is he going to steal bases?”

Already, Mota has managed to persuade Duncan to shorten his swing and simply try to place bat on ball. After their daily sessions at the batting cage, Mota and Duncan retire to the indoor batting facilities and resume the lessons. It has been this way ever since the Dodgers arrived from spring training.

“We’re getting there, with a lot of work every day and being patient,” Mota said. “He understands what I’m trying to do. If he swings down, he’s got a chance. Because the way he runs, he cannot be afraid to bat. He’s going to make everybody rush.”

Duncan is aware of the expectations. He knows that Lasorda wants nothing more than to put Duncan in the No. 1 spot and keep him there. He knows that Mota wants him to chop down with the bat as if it were ax on wood, that infield coach Monty Basgall wants him to field any ground ball hit in the general vicinity of shortstop, that the Dodgers need him to score runs, that his family back in the Dominican Republic depends on him, that he has become a hero of sorts in his country.

So each day the slender Duncan takes his place on the field and happily earns his living trying to satisfy a team, a family and a country. It is a considerable burden, one under which Duncan attempts to hide with a considerable smile made all that much more difficult by the absence of Guerrero, his best friend.

“The team is starting really slow right now,” Duncan says. “The only thing is sometimes we try to do too much. We need to try to play the game we played before and not to try to do too much.”

As for his own situation, Duncan fields those questions as easily as a two-hop grounder. “I don’t want to put pressure on me,” he says.

So Duncan tries to push the events of the last two years from his mind, but it never works. Too much has happened. Too much prosperity and potential are available for a total blackout. Often it happens at home. Duncan will get a faraway look in his eyes, and his girlfriend, Jackie Cole, will ask him if anything is wrong.

“Are you thinking about your hometown?”

“No.”

“Are you thinking about your mother and father.”

“No.”

Baseball has crept into his mind.

Duncan says he can recall exactly how good it felt last year to be named the Dodger starting second baseman in place of an injured Steve Sax and Bob Bailor. Houston Astro Nolan Ryan was the pitcher. Four times Duncan stepped to the plate, and four times he was retired to the dugout.

“The first time he struck me out--fastball, fastball, breaking ball,” Duncan says. “I made one error and the team lost, 2-1. The next day I go 2 for 5, steal two bases and we win.”

Back in the Dominican Republic, where he played baseball with Toronto’s Tony Fernandez and Philadelphia’s Juan Samuel, Duncan was becoming a celebrity. Dominican Little Leaguers began imitating his style. It was not unlike Duncan’s youth, when he grew up wanting to be like Cedeno.

“I remember how sometimes I would ask my mother if I could go to see him play and she would say no,” Duncan said. “Sometimes I cry. I’d say, ‘I want to see him. He’s my hero.’ ”

Nowadays, Duncan prepares for his next visit to the Dominican. He plans to sponsor a team, buy numbered jerseys, batting gloves, fielding gloves, shoes.

“I know that people from my hometown really like baseball,” he says. “I know a lot of kids like it. Before, when I was a little kid, nobody gave me nothing. Now I have a chance to give them something to the little kids of the Dominican.”

Said Cedeno: “It’s a thrill for me to be playing with him. He’s very capable and I’m very impressed with him. He plays the game with a lot of en-tooz-eee-asm, huh? He reminds me a lot of the way I used to run.”

Though 14 years removed from the Dominican, Cedeno said that Duncan can expect much adulation on his next visit.

“They treat you like a hero,” he said. “I’m sure there’s a lot of young kids idolizing him now. They want to be Mariano Duncan. It’s something that keeps you going. And look at Pete. Pete could run for President of the Dominican, I’m pretty sure he could win. I’m not kidding you.”

Duncan, though, remains an unknown quantity.

At times, he forces comparisons with Ozzie Smith, the St. Louis Cardinal All-Star shortstop. In a recent game, Duncan fielded a ground ball behind second base, twirled and threw in time to get the runner. His 360-degree move would have had Smith on his feet applauding.

At other times, Duncan appears wild, untamed, but always aggressive. That would account for his eight errors this season.

The Dodgers don’t mind. Basgall wants Duncan always moving toward the ball, never backward.

“He’ll always make a lot of errors,” Basgall said. “He’s aggressive, gambling. He doesn’t play safety first. I never worry about errors. If a guy makes an error while making an aggressive play, I’m all for them.”

Madlock, a third baseman, has watched Duncan’s progress with interest.

“This is only his second year and you can see everyday that he’s getting better,” he said. “He’s the best shortstop I’ve played next to. And I’ve played next to (Don) Kessinger. He was a smart shortstop, but Duncan with his range, arm and making hard plays look easy.

“Well, there’s nobody like Duncan, besides Ozzie, and he’s in a class by himself. But second to (Smith), that’s no slouch.

“One thing I told (shortstop Dave) Concepcion when he was at Cincinnati when Pete (Rose) was playing at third, I told him, ‘You should get a Gold Glove for both third and short.’ And I can say that about Duncan.”

Added Bill Russell, who spent most of his 17 seasons at shortstop before Duncan arrived: “I just wish I had a lot of the ability that he has. He’s made the adjustment real quick. I just wish I could have been as good a shortstop as he is that quick. It took me a long time. I never did reach the potential that he’s already at. He’s just that good.”

Away from the field, Duncan also continues to learn. He has taught himself English with the help of Cole and his Dodger teammates, although it’s unlikely that Sax, for example, sits in the dugout teaching Duncan past participles.

Checkbooks are no longer foreign objects to Duncan. Banks are OK, credit cards are now considered an essential.

All of this is nice, but he says he is here for baseball and not lessons in economics. If he does well, the money will take care of itself. His family will be happy. The Dodgers will leave him as the leadoff hitter. His country will continue to adore him.

Duncan has heard the compliments and been showered with praise. “I listen to what everybody say to me. But replace Guerrero? I hear it in this way,” he said, pointing to left ear, “and out this way,” pointing to his right ear.

Said Cabell: “He’s like a young kid having fun out there playing Little League. When you love to play, your enthusiasm makes up for mistakes.”

There’s that word again--en-tooz-eee-asm. Duncan knows it by heart.