Dodgers Give; Phils Take, 8-2 : L.A. Hits a Million, but Philly Hits Ball; Whitfield Is Released

Giveaways are a big part of the Dodger marketing success, and Friday night was no exception. The Dodgers gave away helmets to the crowd of 39,354, which put them over the million mark in attendance, and home runs to the Philadelphia Phillies, whose five-game losing streak disappeared with an 8-2 victory over the Dodgers.

Then after the game, the Dodgers gave Terry Whitfield--their No. 1 left-handed pinch-hitter for the last two seasons--his release and activated Len Matuszek, who has not played since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in January.

Whitfield pinch-hit for Mariano Duncan and made the last out of the game Friday, grounding to Phillie second baseman Luis Aguayo. He had just one hit in 14 at-bats this season.

“It’s not a spring-training joke,” said a red-eyed Whitfield, alluding to Manager Tom Lasorda’s April Fools’ Day prank in which he had summoned Whitfield to his office and told him he had been released.

“Just something they had to do, they did it and that’s that,” he said of the actual release. “I’ve made some good investments, I’m just going to have to stride forward.”

The Dodgers seemingly were headed forward after winning six of seven games to reach .500. But despite Mike Marshall’s league-leading 12th home run and fourth homer in three nights, they have dropped two straight--Thursday night’s game to the Montreal Expos and this one to the Phillies, a team that appears headed nowhere in the National League East.

Phillie catcher John Russell, who had struck out in his last seven at-bats, finally made connections Friday night, and when he did, it was anything but a sentimental journey for Dodger starter Jerry Reuss.

Reuss, who hadn’t made it past the fifth inning in four of his first six starts, took a scoreless tie into the sixth inning and was one out away from making it to the seventh.

But evidently he had overstayed his welcome, because the Phillies struck for five runs, the last three on Russell’s home run, a line drive to dead center field that could have cleared the Third Street tunnel without skimming the ceiling.

That finished Reuss, whose earned-run average climbed to 5.26 after his second straight five-run outing.

“I don’t know, I can’t explain it,” said Reuss, who had allowed just three hits in five innings.

“No excuses, but I can’t explain it. Better not to think about it, because what can I do? It won’t change it.”

This was to be the night for battered Dodger pitchers. Into the fray came Tom Niedenfuer, who struck out the side in the seventh but also gave up a monster two-run home run to Mike Schmidt.

It was a tossup as to which Niedenfuer threw harder--the pitch that Schmidt crushed for his 21st career home run at Dodger Stadium or the resin bag that Niedenfuer fired to the ground after Schmidt’s homer.

Niedenfuer’s state of mind hadn’t improved, either, by the end of the inning. He could be seen talking to himself coming off the mound, and once he got to the dugout he apparently launched a full-scale tantrum before storming up the runway and into the clubhouse.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda didn’t send anyone after him.

“I’ve got guys watching him,” Lasorda said.

“He’s really fighting himself, he’s trying so very, very hard. . . . We’ve got to get him in the right direction, get his confidence straightened out.

“It’s the easiest thing in the world to criticize, the toughest thing to sympathize. Right now is the time to sympathize with him.”

Obviously, opposing hitters aren’t sending any notes of consolation to Niedenfuer, who has given up home runs the last two nights and five in 27 innings, just one less than he gave up all of last season.

The Phillies, who scored all of their runs after two were out, added a run in the eighth off Rick Honeycutt before the Dodgers--shut out for 29 consecutive innings by Philadelphia left-hander Shane Rawley--finally broke through in the ninth with four hits, including Marshall’s home run.

At one point, Rawley struck out four Dodgers in a row and retired 12 straight batters between Mariano Duncan’s single in the third and Cesar Cedeno’s single in the seventh.

“They’re a good team,” Rawley said of the Dodgers, even though they have yet to beat him in five career starts.

“I just feel comfortable and confident in the surroundings here.”

After his brief discomfort in the ninth, Steve Bedrosian got the last two outs for the Phillies.

“Tough night?” Lasorda said. “No question about it.”

Lasorda, as part of his April Fools’ act, had broken down in tears while telling Whitfield he had been released.

Friday night, Lasorda appeared genuinely moved after giving the news to Whitfield, one of the few players ever to go to Japan to play and then return to the big leagues.

“A hell of a guy and a fine competitor,” Lasorda said. “He did everything asked of him, a manager’s delight. I hope and pray he catches on with somebody.”

Dodger Notes The Dodgers will activate Alejandro Pena, perhaps as soon as Sunday. “We’re going to make some adjustments,” Dodger Vice President Al Campanis said after Pena threw three innings of a simulated game Friday. “They say he was throwing extremely well. We’re going to win this thing if Pena throws for me the way he did in Florida and we can hold on until Guerrero comes back.” . . . Len Matuszek, activated after Friday night’s game, said he is throwing well enough to play first base but still isn’t ready for the outfield. “I can hit the cutoff man,” said Matuszek, which would put him ahead of Al Oliver, the man the Dodgers traded for Matuszek last summer, “but I can’t throw anyone out.” . . . Campanis said: “Matuszek can play the outfield, first base and some third base. He can be a very valuable man.” . . . Campanis, asked about struggling left fielder Cesar Cedeno (.206 before Friday), sounded committed to keeping the man he signed for more than $200,000 in the first week of the season. “If you’ve been watching some of the balls he’s hit, he’s got a lot of tough breaks,” Campanis said of Cedeno, who had just 8 hits in 50 at-bats until his seventh-inning single Friday night. Carlos Diaz is scheduled to come off the disabled list Sunday; either he or Balvino Galvez figures to get sent down to Albuquerque. . . . Why Enos Cabell plays first base against left-handers instead of Greg Brock: Cabell is batting .325 against left-handers, Brock .042. . . . Mike Marshall’s first-inning double extended his hitting streak to 10 games, the longest this season by a Dodger. In the previous nine games, Marshall was batting .316 (12 for 38) with 4 home runs and 10 runs batted in. . . . Bob Welch, bruised in the left calf by a line drive hit by Montreal’s Tim Raines Thursday, is not expected to miss his next start, Tuesday in New York.