Landreaux Changes It to Hit-and-Miss Sign, and Dodgers Lose, 3-2

Just when the rest of the Dodgers were eyeing a comeback Wednesday night, Ken Landreaux responded with a blank stare.

And as surely as Landreaux missed a hit-and-run sign in the eighth inning Wednesday night, the Dodgers missed a chance to salvage the remains of an unsightly home stand.

For once, Dodger Stadium was something less than a chamber of horrors for the Atlanta Braves, who have spent the last four seasons losing here with regularity.

After Rick Mahler held the Dodgers to one hit through the first seven innings, the Braves held off the Dodgers, 3-2, when Landreaux unwittingly pulled the trap door on the only Dodger rally of the night.

With two runs in, two runners on base and one out, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda called on Landreaux to pinch-hit for catcher Jack Fimple against Brave reliever Gene Garber.

Landreaux took a ball, and on the next pitch, base-runners Enos Cabell and Ed Amelung took off from second and first, respectively. Landreaux, however, didn’t swing, and the 36-year-old Cabell was thrown out easily at third.

“We had a malfunction, that’s what happened,” said third-base coach Joe Amalfitano, who flashed the sign that failed to produce a response from Landreaux.

“I saw him looking at me, but you’re not looking through their eyes. Sometimes, a guy can look at you but look right through you. That’s probably what happened.

” . . . I certainly wasn’t trying to decoy anybody.”

Garber walked Landreaux intentionally, then retired Alex Trevino on a fly ball to end the inning, with Trevino nearly taking out first-base coach Manny Mota by flinging his bat.

Landreaux missed any mass interrogation by taking an extended shower. But Alex Kahn of United Press International caught up with him while he was shaving.

“I didn’t do anything right,” Landreaux said. “I was waiting for a good pitch to drive.

“I wasn’t expecting no hit-and-run or anything like that. I must have turned away when he (Amalfitano) gave me the sign.”

Landreaux was on the opposite end of the dugout talking to Bill Madlock when Lasorda walked past and said something. Landreaux then followed Lasorda into the runway, where they had another brief exchange.

“What I talk to my players about I don’t tell publicly,” Lasorda said.

“I’m not happy with what happened, no. In fact, to be honest with you, I’m very unhappy, OK? Is that what you want?”

That obviously doesn’t bode well for Landreaux, already benched after a costly error in the first game of this home stand, a loss last Friday night against the Padres.

And it was no help to Rick Honeycutt, who was tagged with the loss despite allowing just one unearned run in seven innings.

The Braves’ only run off Honeycutt came in the sixth when Dale Murphy hit an opposite-field triple to right and scored when Bob Horner’s ground ball went through Cabell’s legs at third for an error.

Horner doubled home two more runs in the eighth off reliever Alejandro Pena, before Franklin Stubbs’ bunt single opened the bottom of the eighth for the Dodgers.

A single by Mike Marshall finished Mahler. Len Matuszek’s single off reliever Paul Assenmacher loaded the bases, and Cabell singled up the middle to bring in two runs.

Amelung tried to bunt the runners over, but forced Matuszek at third. That set the stage for Landreaux, whose entrance turned out to be anything but graceful.

The Dodgers won just once in six games on this home stand and remain five games behind the Giants.

The Braves, who had lost 23 of their last 33 games here before this season, have now won 4 of 7 here and 7 of 13 overall against the Dodgers.

And Honeycutt’s record dropped to 4-4, even though his earned-run average shrunk to 1.93, best in the league.

The Dodgers had one last chance in the ninth when Stubbs singled with two out for his third hit of the night and eighth hit in the three-game series. But Garber ended the 3-hour 15-minute affair by retiring Marshall on a fly ball for his eighth save.

Dodger Notes Ken Landreaux has not started in the last five games since his error in a 5-4 loss to San Diego last Friday night. Three of those games have been against right-handers, but Manager Tom Lasorda has discarded his platoon and gone with Reggie Williams, whose is hitting .294. “A touchy situation,” Bill Madlock said. “He (Williams) is doing a good job, an outstanding job. He’s driving in runs and playing good defense. Personally, I like a team that puts guys out and doesn’t platoon everywhere.” . . . First baseman Greg Brock, who walked out of the hospital after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday, said he expects to be playing about the time he’s due to come off the 21-day disabled list, on July 11. “I can walk halfway-normal now,” said Brock, whose 17-month-old son, Casey, played catch with Manager Tom Lasorda before the game. “I don’t see why it should be much longer than two weeks before I can play.” . . . It will be at least six weeks before infielder Dave Anderson will play. Anderson said doctors inserted three pins, not two, to hold his broken right pinky finger in place. “I’ll be setting off metal detectors at airports,” said Anderson, who watched the game from the press box. “I’ve been wondering what I’m going to do for the next six weeks. Boring.” . . . Madlock, who has played in just 47 of the Dodgers’ first 72 games, scratched again Wednesday. “A combination of things,” said Madlock, who has had shoulder, groin, and hip problems. The sore groin was given as the official cause of Madlock’s absence from the lineup. . . . Catcher Mike Scioscia, due to come off the disabled list today, probably will remain on the list at least through the weekend, when the Dodgers play Houston. Scioscia has a membrane tear in his right ankle. . . . Mike Marshall, who is leading the league in home runs with 17 and is tied for fifth in runs batted in with 46, is well down the list in the voting for All-Star outfielders. Marshall wondered aloud whether he’d be added as an extra, which would seem to be a certainty. But Marshall remembers what happened in 1984, when he was the only outfielder on the National League team who didn’t get to play. Paul Owens of Philadelphia, who managed the National League All-Stars, left in Atlanta’s Claudell Washington--who replaced starter Darryl Strawberry--to bat twice, once against left-hander Willie Hernandez. “It’s always an honor to be elected to the team,” Marshall said, “but it (1984) left a bad taste in my mouth. I’d have enjoyed those three days off as much as I enjoyed my time in San Francisco.”