Brock’s Slam Is Matched by Guerrero’s Out in Win

It took 32 years from the time it was published, but that perennial nightstand reading favorite, “The Dodger Way to Play Baseball,” has finally been made into a movie.

The reviews aren’t in yet, but if the way the Dodgers have played this week resembles their performance on the video cassette, author/director Al Campanis will be hailed as the Steven Spielberg of the jock film set.

Friday night, the Dodgers won their fifth game in a row and kept the plot entertaining but simple, crushing the Cincinnati Reds, 9-5, before a crowd of 46,078 at Dodger Stadium.

Leading man Pedro Guerrero even made a cameo appearance, entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, long after Greg Brock’s first-inning grand slam off Mario Soto had started the Reds toward their fourth straight loss.

The standing ovation began for Guerrero as soon as he hopped out of the dugout and headed for the on-deck circle to bat for pitcher Rick Honeycutt, who had given up seven hits and three runs in seven innings.

Honeycutt, acting as if the fans were applauding him, took bows in the dugout.

“Everybody was telling me to tip my hat,” said Honeycutt, who won his seventh game against six losses.

Batting against Red right-hander Carl Willis, Guerrero took two balls, then made his first swing of 1986 and missed a breaking ball.

Guerrero ran the count to 3 and 1, swung and missed a fastball, then lifted a lazy fly to Red right fielder Dave Parker. That was enough, in the crowd’s judgment, to award another ovation to Guerrero, who returned right on the schedule predicted by Dr. Frank Jobe after Guerrero had ruptured the patellar tendon in his left knee on April 3.

“It was great to have the big guy back,” Honeycutt said. “This is the first step. They’ve done a super job with him, especially (team therapist) Pat Screnar.

“He’s worked very hard to get back where he’s at, and hopefully he’s starting to become comfortable with playing.”

Last Saturday, the Dodgers were in last place in the National League West. Today, they’re tied for third with San Diego, 7 1/2 games behind first-place Houston, which beat the Padres Friday night.

“A few weeks ago, everybody was talking almost like the season was over,” Honeycutt said. “There’s still two months left, and we’re playing good baseball.

“We had to put a streak like this together, and we’re doing it. Even though Houston keeps winning, we’re jumping over people who were in front of us.”

The Dodgers scored five runs on two hits in the first inning off Soto, who was once perhaps the most dominant right-hander in the league but who has a record of 7-21 since a year ago June 4.

Soto, twice on the disabled list this season with an inflamed shoulder, was out of control Friday night. He walked leadoff batter Steve Sax, threw a wild pitch and, with the bases loaded, hit Len Matuszek in the foot to force in the Dodgers’ first run.

He fell behind Brock, 3 and 0, got a strike, then threw a belt-high fastball that Brock sent into the bleachers just to the right of the flagpole in center field for his 10th home run of the season.

The grand slam was the fourth of Brock’s career, just one less than the L.A. Dodger record held by Ron Cey. It earned Brock a curtain call from the fans and, after the game, a crowd around his locker.

“Thought I was traded, right?” said the Dodger first baseman, who is playing the position at which Guerrero is currently practicing, thus prompting the trade talk.

“I don’t look at it as pressure,” he said. “If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.”

In the second inning, the Dodgers chased Soto on a double by No. 2 hitter Mike Scioscia, a single by Madlock and a single by Franklin Stubbs. Matuszek’s sacrifice fly off reliever Ted Power made it 7-0.

“You can tell he (Soto) is definitely not the same,” said Honeycutt, who has had plenty of personal experience with shoulder problems.

“When a guy can put it together and throw the ball like he can, and then all of a sudden is throwing like he is now, obviously there’s something wrong.

“He’s not washed up. He’s just not 100%. He’s trying to do the best job he can . . . but I feel for the guy.”

According to Pete Rose, Cincinnati’s player-manager, Soto insists he’s healthy.

“But when you come off the list, you’re supposed to get better, if you’re all right,” Rose said.

After the Reds scored twice in the top of the third, Madlock’s two-run single in the bottom of the inning made it 9-2.

Cincinnati outfielder Eric Davis, the league’s hottest player in July, connected off Honeycutt in the sixth for his 16th homer.

The Reds scored two unearned runs in the ninth off reliever Ed Vande Berg before Ken Howell got his 10th save, retiring Davis on a shallow fly to right field.

The Dodgers, who will play the Reds six more times in the next nine days, have won 9 of their last 11 games. They hadn’t won five in a row since their seven-game winning streak April 27-May 3.

Dodger Notes The Dodgers were 15-10 in July after having losing records the first three months of the season. They hit .266 for the month, with 18 home runs in 25 games. The pitching staff had an earned-run average of 3.86, with three complete games, one shutout and seven saves, which was more saves than the last two months combined. Mike Scioscia, who was on the disabled list until July 14, led the team in batting with a .385 average; Steve Sax hit .348 to lead players who were around for the entire month. Franklin Stubbs and Len Matuszek had four home runs each; Stubbs had 12 runs batted in, and rookie Jeff Hamilton had 11. . . . Ken Landreaux, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday, showed up here on crutches, which he says he plans to discard today. Landreaux, who hit .301 in July, said he expects to be back within a month. . . . Scioscia batted in the No. 2 spot in the order for the third time this season. He reached base six times in seven plate appearances on the two previous occasions. . . . Mariano Duncan, 1 for 11 in his last four games after Manager Tom Lasorda used him in the top two spots in the order, was dropped to the No. 7 spot. . . . Red outfielder Eric Davis, a native of Los Angeles (Fremont High), raised his average from .200 to .306 the last two months. In that time, he had 11 home runs, 28 RBIs and 42 stolen bases in 46 games. Davis, 24, is second in the league with 56 stolen bases. He has been caught just five times. . . . Red rookie Kurt Stillwell, a No. 1 draft choice in 1983 out of Thousand Oaks, has been playing shortstop in place of Dave Concepcion, who is out with a broken left hand. Stillwell, who recently turned 21, came into the game batting .196.