Better to Wait Until Pedro Is Up to Speed

No, Pedro.

That is what the Dodgers have to say to the player who wants to play.

No, Pedro.

Cool it. Take it easy. Easy, now.

Pedro Guerrero is back, but he shouldn’t be. He is not even remotely ready to return to the everyday lineup. He is too good to go out to the outfield and look like Dave Kingman.

(Large, furry rodents are too good to look like Dave Kingman.)

But Guerrero is tired of hanging around the house. He wants to go outside and play.

He hurt his knee April 3 and did not start another game until Aug. 4. For four months, he rubbed his ruptured tendon and battled his boredom. He felt like he hadn’t been in a baseball game since Chavez discovered the ravine.

Finally, he could sit no more. Play me, he said. Play me in Monday night’s televised game against first-place Houston. Put me in, coach, he said.

Uh, OK, Tom Lasorda said.

What else could he do? It’s hard to keep a good man down.

Especially when the good man is your best man. Imagine Eddie Murray telling the Orioles he is fit to play, and Earl Weaver saying: “Sure you are. Siddown.” Imagine Dale Murphy telling the Braves to put him back in the lineup after some time off, and Chuck Tanner saying: “Maybe tomorrow.”

Lasorda stuck Guerrero in left field Monday. “As long as he says to me he’s OK, I gotta believe him,” the Dodger manager said. “He’s the guy who’s gotta decide.”

Up to a point.

The very first Astro batter hit one Guerrero’s way. He charged it with all the foot speed of the late Ernie Lombardi. He started for it at 5 p.m. and got to it around 5:15.

The Guerrero return engagement did not get any better. He batted twice and struck out twice. His cuts were not the old familiar Pedro cuts. And it turned out he hurt himself chasing that very first ball in the outfield.

But at least the Dodgers won, for the eighth game in a row. Guerrero felt good about that, and good about giving it a shot.

“I feel happy that at least I was out there trying,” he said. “I don’t feel any pressure about coming back, because nobody told me I have to come back.”

Of course not. The Dodgers would be irresponsible fools to rush him. No one pennant race is worth losing Pedro Guerrero for the next 5 or 10.

But it works both ways. In his eagerness to play, Guerrero must not coax the Dodgers into letting him play. He cannot test their temptation to say yes, or their inability to say no.

The Dodgers must say no, until they are absolutely, positively convinced that Guerrero is 100%.

Which could be weeks. They need healthy bodies for the homestretch.

What percent is Guerrero right now?

“About 75,” he conceded.

That was Monday night, right after the game. He said he would have to wait until coming to the ballpark Tuesday to see if he felt well enough to play again.

Lasorda posted a new lineup Tuesday.

No Pedro.

They might have to win this thing without him. Nice to have him around, but better not count on him.

The very first Astro batter in Tuesday’s game hit a low line drive to left field. Franklin Stubbs swooped down on it and took it easily. Guerrero might have gotten it on the first hop.

The team doctor said Guerrero had a quadriceps inflammation that was day-to-day. Anybody else might be sent to Albuquerque to work things out. But you don’t send Pedro Guerrero (nor Eddie Murray or Dale Murphy) to Albuquerque to work things out. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.

The guy hasn’t even practiced sliding yet.

“Why should I?” Guerrero asked.

Because a slide caused the injury.

“No, it didn’t. Look at the replay,” he said. “I was coming to a stop.”

Point taken. But can Guerrero slide? Without hesitation? In a pennant push where every run counts?

Better be sure. Better go easy with him. Crawl before walking, and that sort of thing.

“I thought I would do a little better,” Guerrero said. “There were balls hit to me that I would usually get to. I felt a little funny out there.

“Before the game, no. I was feeling fine. I was running good. No pain at all. Fly balls, ground balls, everything. I got to everything fine.

“Then soon as the game started, not so good. The first step I took, I knew something was wrong. I don’t know if I stepped in something, or what. I just know that it don’t feel so good. But I stayed in the game, because I didn’t know it would get serious.”

No, Pedro.

Don’t do that to yourself. Or to the Dodgers.

Take care. No hurry. The team isn’t desperate--yet. Things are OK. Things could be a heck of a lot worse.

The Dodgers came to the ballpark Tuesday with a record over .500 for the first time since they were 2-1.

They are still in the pennant race.

With Pedro Guerrero hitting .000.

They got along without him this long. They can get along a little longer.