Dodgers Can’t Hold the Expos

For all but one batter Monday night, Dodger pitching consisted of equal parts blown-out shoulder, blown-out elbow and blown-out psyche.

By the time Dennis Powell arrived on the scene, the game was all but blown, the Montreal Expos winning, 7-6, on Tom Foley’s ninth-inning cripple of a single off Powell with the bases loaded before an intimate gathering of 10,410 in Olympic Stadium.

The Dodgers, with Greg Brock hitting a two-run homer in the first, had an early 5-2 lead, lost it, then tied the score again on pinch-hitter Ralph Bryant’s first big league home run off Expo reliever Jeff Reardon in the top of the ninth.

But Dodger reliever Ken Howell, who was moved to throw his cap into the stands on the Dodgers’ last visit here, threw away some fine work by rookie pitcher Brian Holton, who had bailed out starter Alejandro Pena.

Pena, the man with the suspect shoulder, lasted only one batter into the third, departing after Tim Raines’ ninth home run had made the score 5-3.

Holton, the man whose elbow had to be rebuilt with a ligament from his wrist, immediately was charged with an unearned run after an error by first baseman Greg Brock, a double by Vance Law, and Foley’s sacrifice fly.

But thereafter, Holton impressively held the line until the arrival of Howell, who is physically sound but mentally confounding, especially to Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda.

Lasorda summoned Howell after Tim Raines’ one-out single in the seventh, reasoning that Raines had a better chance to steal against Holton, who throws mostly breaking balls, than against power pitcher Howell.

Lasorda’s strategy looked sound for one pitch--the time it took Howell to hit Andre Dawson in the knee with a pitch.

“When’s the last time you’ve seen a guy come in and hit the first guy?” Lasorda said.

The next two batters, Wayne Krenchicki and Vance Law, followed with RBI singles, and the Expos led, 6-5.

Then in the ninth, Howell gave up a leadoff double to Raines. He walked Dawson intentionally, and after the runners were bunted over, he walked Law on four pitches.

In came Powell, who broke Foley’s bat but couldn’t break the Dodgers’ fall, as Foley’s blooper to the left side fell among three Dodger players.

The run, not to mention the loss, was charged to Howell (5-9), who has given up 10 earned runs in his last 13 innings, giving him a 6.75 ERA for his last 10 outings.

“He throws high-ball hitters high pitches and low-ball hitters low pitches,” Lasorda said.

“Did you see the pitch he threw Raines? It was at the knees, and Raines is a low-ball hitter. Krenchicki’s a high-ball hitter, and he threw him a high fastball.

“I don’t know what it is, a guy with an arm like that.”

There was a time that Pena had an arm that was the envy of the Dodger staff, the days when he was throwing 95 m.p.h. fastballs, before the effort of throwing those fastballs eroded the cartilage in his shoulder.

Now, 18 months after undergoing surgery on that shoulder, Pena’s future remains as uncertain as ever, despite his dogged efforts to return.

“Sometimes you see that good velocity he once had,” Lasorda said wistfully. “But most of the time, it’s not there.”

Odds are strong it never will be, either.

“The trainers don’t know, the doctors don’t know,” pitching coach Ron Perranoski said. “He’s going to have to learn to pitch differently.”

So did Holton, who had been throwing curve balls from the time he was 10 years old, the main reason his elbow finally snapped in 1983.

Last winter, the Dodgers dropped the right-hander from their 40-man roster, the equivalent of telling the 26-year-old that his future was elsewhere, if not out of baseball.

But when Tom Niedenfuer pulled a hamstring, the Dodgers purchased Holton’s contract from Albuquerque, and he has pitched well in all five of his appearances.

“It’s something that’s tough to go through,” Holton said. “Especially the times when you’re not pitching, and you’re so bored. But I just kept working hard.

“Did I think about whether I would pitch again? It was in the back of my mind, every day . . . But since the operation, I think I’ve become a smarter pitcher.

“I’m not throwing as many curve balls, I’ve come up with a changeup and a cut fastball, and I can’t explain it, but it seems like I have more pop on my fastball.”

And that, of course, renewed Holton’s hope. For now, Dodger vice president Al Campanis said he plans to keep his for Pena.

“He might have to change speeds,” Campanis said, “but he’s still fast enough to get by. He’s still faster than average.

“He’s not the kind of guy you give up on.”

Dodger Notes

Dodger vice president Al Campanis, who turns 70 on Nov. 2, said he feels the same way now about retirement as he did last summer, when he said he’d like to remain in his present capacity for another four or five years. “Remember what I said about Reagan?” said Campanis, who had maintained that if the President could still be going strong at 75, so could he. The matter has not been discussed with team owner Peter O’Malley, Campanis said. “All I know is we’re making preparations for 1987, as usual,” Campanis said. “I’m just fine. I don’t do anything that is physically taxing.” . . . On the subject of free agency, Campanis said the organization will make that decision in its annual meeting at the end of the season. “We may go free agency or we may not,” Campanis said. “The guy with the biggest vote is Peter O’Malley, when you’re talking about free agency. We all have our say, then we go as a group.” . . . Campanis said 35 players will play winter ball--the largest group ever from the organization--in three different countries: Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico.