Dodgers Hit Road; the Road Hits Back

In their own showroom, they appear so sleek and shiny, a triumph of craftsmanship and design.

On the road, the wheels fall off, the brakes fail, the transmission blows up, and the steering wheel comes off in your hands.

In the automobile business, they’re called lemons.

In the National League West, they’re called the Dodgers, who came here Friday night hoping to kick into overdrive but instead found themselves looking for the nearest pit stop after dropping a doubleheader to the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 and 5-1, before a crowd of 35,948 at Riverfront Stadium.

The double defeat, the Dodgers’ first in nearly three years, dropped them seven games behind first-place Houston and two games behind second-place San Francisco.

“Can’t judge a road trip on one game,” said Orel Hershiser, the first-game loser who took himself out of contention when he let a bouncer by Red pitcher Bill Gullickson go through his legs for an RBI single in the seventh inning, when the Reds doubled their 2-0 lead.

By the time the final returns were in, however--after Kal Daniels had hit two home runs off second-game loser Alejandro Pena and Eddie Milner had hit one off reliever Joe Beckwith--the picture was no prettier.

The Dodgers, who were coming off an 8-1 homestand, managed just five hits in each game. They were shut out for 15 innings before scoring off pitcher Chris Welsh in the seventh inning of Game 2, and Enos Cabell had to run through Coach Joe Amalfitano’s stop sign to do that.

It was the only inning all night in which the Dodgers had more than one base-runner.

Bill Madlock was ejected from the first game, after allegedly giving plate umpire Tom Hallion the “choke” sign when he was called out on strikes.

Mike Marshall might have welcomed a double ejection after striking out six times--three times in each game.

And the Dodger defense pulled the ripcord early on Pena, committing three errors in the first two innings of Game 2.

“Tough night, very, very sad, depressive--is that the word I want to use?” said Manager Tom Lasorda, chewing on a melon in the visitors’ clubhouse.

“It’s tough to have a night like that happen to us after the way we played at home.”

The night was hardest on Marshall, who went down swinging five times, took a called third strike once and rolled out twice.

“This game has a strange way of making you humble,” Lasorda said. “When you talk about effort, all of that, he is numero uno , but even some of the greatest guys who ever played the game had a bad night. I can recall having one myself.”

Marshall spoke briefly to reporters before being summoned into Lasorda’s office for a meeting.

“It’s hard to believe,” Marshall said. “I don’t know what would happen if I didn’t work so hard on my game.

“It’s getting to the point where I don’t even try to get an answer.

“Sometimes it works both ways. When you’re hot, everything you do is right. But then, like tonight, you start a doubleheader, and it seems like everything goes the other way.”

Except for two pitches, Hershiser--who had won four of his last five starts--had things going his way Friday night. And he wasn’t even counting the curveball that Buddy Bell hit for a home run--a high fly ball that just cleared Len Matuszek’s leap--to give the Reds a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

“I made both bad pitches to the same guy--Daniels,” Hershiser said. “I hung him a curveball and he wound up scoring, and the next time I threw him a high fastball. Other than that, I thought I threw every pitch where I wanted to.”

Daniels, a 22-year-old rookie outfielder who was sent down to the minors earlier this season but has been hitting .407 since his return, singled, stole second, moved to third on an infield out and scored on Dave Parker’s sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Daniels singled home the Reds’ final run in the seventh, but he wouldn’t have batted if Hershiser had grabbed Gullickson’s grounder.

“Never saw it,” Hershiser said. “I saw it come off the bat, and then I blinked, and I never saw it again.”

The RBI was the first of the season for Gullickson, who came into the game with 3 hits in 50 at-bats. He also recorded his first shutout in over a year and struck out a season-high eight batters while walking none.

“My hit? I think the pitcher (Hershiser) misjudged it a little,” Gullickson said. “He’ll probably catch that ball 9 out of 10 times.”

Madlock didn’t blink when plate umpire Tom Hallion called him out on strikes, which ended the top of the sixth inning in the first game. He laid his bat down at the plate, flipped his helmet in Hallion’s direction, headed back toward his position--and, according to the umpiring crew, put his hand to his neck. He wasn’t signaling that he was thirsty.

“(Madlock) gave him the choke sign, and everybody on the team saw it, too,” crew chief Bruce Froemming said.

“And I told Lasorda that’s exactly what he did. No sooner than I said it, then Madlock said, ‘You bleepin’ choked.’

“And it was a good pitch, too. Right down bleepin’ Main Street.”

Gullickson said the pitch was a backup slider, breaking in on the right-handed Madlock.

“It’s a pitcher’s pitch, and it could have gone either way,” Gullickson said. “If the umpire calls it a ball, I don’t bitch, and when he called it a strike, Madlock shouldn’t have bitched, either.”

Madlock deflected all questions on the matter, saying he wanted only to talk about the game.

Wasn’t that part of the game?

“No,” he said, “it happened between innings.”

Dodger Notes The Dodgers’ road record is now 17-32. Of their remaining 53 games, 32 are on the road . . . The last time the Dodgers dropped a doubleheader was Sept. 29, 1983, when they were beaten by San Diego. The Reds hadn’t won a doubleheader from the Dodgers since July 1973, when Hal King hit a pinch home run and the Reds eventually came from 11 games back to beat out the Dodgers for the division title . . . Pedro Guerrero pinch-hit in the eighth inning of the first game, grounded to short on the first pitch and jogged to first base. He pinch-hit again in the ninth inning of the second game and took a called third strike from Red reliever Ron Robinson. Since coming back Aug. 1, Guerrero is hitless in six trips, striking out four times . . . Red Manager Pete Rose, who did not start either game of the doubleheader, has started only twice in the last 11 games against right-handers. Tony Perez plays first base against left-handers. Nick Esasky, who played first Friday, struck out five times and was booed loudly . . . Buddy Bell’s home run was the eighth allowed by Orel Hershiser in 160 innings this season, matching the total allowed by the Dodger right-hander in 239 innings in 1985, when Rick Reuschel of Pittsburgh was the only pitcher who gave up fewer (7) among pitchers who worked at least 150 innings.