SPRING TRAINING ’87 : Matt Young Tries Coming to the Rescue : Dodgers Finally May Have Found Howe’s Replacement

Perhaps no other Dodger ever left such a notorious legacy as Steve Howe.

Before drug problems ended his career, Howe was the talented left-handed reliever the Dodgers had so long sought. And those who followed have provided only grief, not relief.

Another spring is here, and the Dodgers are touting a new left-handed short reliever they hope will do what predecessors Carlos Diaz and Ed Vande Berg could not--make people forget Steve Howe.

The reliever’s name is Matt Young, and he says he is well aware of the post-Howe curse and fully intends to exorcise it. Young is purported to have the attributes--lively fastball, good slider and supreme confidence--needed to do so. After all, those were Howe’s greatest qualities.

But perhaps more important, Young, 28, says he understands the enormous pressure that goes with the job.

“I think (the Dodgers) learned their lesson with Carlos Diaz and Ed, and now maybe they don’t expect as much,” Young said. “Steve Howe had great stuff, probably still does wherever he is. He had a great fastball and a great slider. That is tough to replace, it really is.

“I might have equally as good a fastball and equally as good a slider (as Howe). . . . But who’s to say (the pressure) is not going to get to me? But I do think after you see somebody go through it, it helps you a little bit. I feel I can deal with it.”

The Dodgers dealt with the Seattle Mariners at the winter meetings, believing that Young will be a vast improvement over Diaz, acquired from the New York Mets before the 1984 season in the Sid Fernandez trade, and Vande Berg, acquired from Seattle for Steve Yeager before last season.

The first save Young gets for the Dodgers will be one more than either Diaz or Vande Berg earned in their unimpressive Dodger careers.

The Dodgers aren’t expecting Matt Young to resemble Cy, or even become a bullpen savior. But is a save every now and then too much to ask?

Given Young’s accomplishments, that would seem to be a reasonable request. Young, strictly a starter in his first three major league seasons, was converted to a short reliever last May and had a 6-3 record, 13 saves and a 3.23 earned-run average in 60 appearances.

What might have impressed the Dodgers as much as Young’s record, though, was his work ethic. He not only is willing to pitch a lot but also is at his best, he says, when used almost daily.

Since Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda’s basic bullpen philosophy is to go with the short reliever who proves effective until he isn’t effective anymore, Young may get the chance to thrive in that role.

Young’s one demand, it seems, is just to give him the ball.

“I feel, at least from the time I spent in the bullpen last year, that the more I threw the better I got and the sharper I stayed,” Young said. “For a pitcher, in order to be consistent, you have to find a niche. It looks like the only way I can be consistent is to throw, throw, throw.

“I would throw four days in a row and on the fifth I’d be throwing the best. When I had a lot of days off between pitching, it wears on you mentally. You think, ‘God, they expect me to throw strikes when I haven’t pitched in a game in nine days.’ It’s like fighting an opposition you don’t need to fight.”

Young says that Lasorda’s pattern of using his relief pitchers is similar to the one used last season by Seattle Manager Dick Williams.

“I was up three times every night--in the seventh, eighth and ninth (innings),” Young said. “If we got into trouble or were two runs up or down, I was in the game.

“I made six starts last year and 60 (appearances) as a reliever. You figure that, for missing about 35 days of relief, it might work out to about 73 appearances, which would’ve been in the top of the (American) league.

“You just have to have confidence. There was a stretch last year where I knew nobody was going to get a hit. I went through a 20-inning, 15-game stretch where I only gave up 14 or 15 hits, 2 walks and had 26 or 27 strikeouts. That’s when I was pitching almost every day.”

Although Young does not think of himself as invincible, as Howe did, he is not lacking in confidence. The Dodgers are impressed by that. “I’ve been nothing but impressed with the signs and vibes I’ve gotten from him,” Ron Perranoski, Dodger pitching coach, said. “I can see (Young’s confidence) in the way he approaches it. He’s all business and knows how to handle being out there.

“He’s different from Vande Berg. Vande was a very quiet type of young man, a great guy, but he looked like he pitched defensively. It’s your stature on the mound that gives you away.

“Their personalities are completely different. Right now, I don’t think we’ll have the same problems (with Young). But I really haven’t seen him much yet.”

Young knows Vande Berg well--they were roommates for a year and a half in Seattle--and knows that Vande Berg could not handle the pressure of replacing Howe.

Young, however, seems to have a idea of the pressures inherent with the Dodgers. Maybe it’s because he grew up in Southern California--he was born in Pasadena and attended UCLA--and knows the popularity of the Dodgers.

“I think (Ed) got caught up in all of that and let it get to him,” Young said. “There are a lot more sportswriters and cameras clicking, and attention, than in Seattle.”

Easy-going off the field, Young says he is intense and focused on it.

“I don’t really show a lot of emotion or reaction, unless something happens that is really big, like if I give up a home run,” he said.

“But with the bases loaded, no outs, bottom of the ninth, I never show a lot of emotion. It’s a great opportunity for me to look good. I mean, I’m supposed to to give up runs in that situation. But if you get out of a situation like that, you’re on a pedestal. That’s the way you’ve got to look at it.

“I’ve found that the approach to relieving as opposed to starting is so different. You have to come to the ballpark prepared. When you’re a starter, you’ve got four days off, so you see how many bags of sunflower seeds you can eat, see how far you can flick them. But it’s a great feeling to come to the park every day, thinking you might get into the game.”

Such confidence hasn’t been heard from a Dodger left-handed reliever since Howe’s departure.

“We call it inner conceit,” Al Campanis, Dodger vice president, said. “You have to believe in yourself. Cockiness tides men through adversity. . . . He’s got that, and I think he’s got good stuff, too. I think he’s got a shot at solving our problem.”

If not, at least the Dodgers didn’t have to give up much to acquire Young. They sent Dennis Powell, a long reliever-starter on a team that has a strong starting rotation, and minor league second baseman Mike Watters to the Mariners.

“Left-handed relievers are pretty hard to find, you know,” Campanis said.

It was Phil Regan, the Dodgers’ new advance scout and formerly Young’s pitching coach in Seattle, who persuaded Campanis to try to trade for Young. “I’ve always thought Matt was best-suited as a short reliever,” Regan said. “Year before last in Detroit, we were caught short and brought him in to pitch for an inning. He blew them away. After the game, he said, ‘Hey, that’s fun.’

“A lot of pitchers don’t have the heart or the stomach for it. Matt’s not a very excitable person. Vandy just lost confidence last season. He was never ready to be thrust into that role. I think Matt’s ready or I wouldn’t have recommended him.”

The way Regan sees it, opposing batters, not Young, will be feeling the heat. Young’s fastball has been clocked at 93 m.p.h. on a radar gun. One scout last season rated him the eighth-hardest thrower in the American League, Boston’s Roger Clemens being the fastest at 98.

Said Regan: “Matt’s problem as a starter was that he could throw 93 or 94 consistently, and he’d start with four good innings. But then he’d have one bad inning when he’d give up three or four runs, and then settle down again.

“But as a reliever, Matt could pitch three innings one night, then come back the next day and ask for the ball. He never refused the ball.” In the wake of his trade to the Dodgers, the question of Young’s arthritic back arose. Young says it is a problem but something that has been controlled through stretching exercises and anti-inflammatory medication.

“I think Seattle thought it was an issue,” Young said. “But they never went to the trouble of finding out more recently how it’s been. According to their doctor (in 1984), it was a potentially career-ending injury.

“But Dr. (Robert) Watkins (the Dodgers’ back specialist) took some X-rays recently and he said he could see something in there, but he said as long as I stretch as I have been it wouldn’t bother me at all. I’m glad the Dodgers went ahead and made the trade.”

Dodger Notes The Dodgers Tuesday signed pitcher Tim Scott, one of 37 players on their major league roster. . . . The only two Dodgers still unsigned are reliever Ken Howell and shortstop Mariano Duncan. Steve Greenberg, Howell’s agent, said that the Dodgers have not wavered from their first offer, which would reduce Howell’s salary by $20,000, cutting him from $175,000 to $155,000. The Dodgers, however, are negotiating with Tony Attanasio, Duncan’s agent. . . . The rest of the players on the Dodgers’ major league roster were scheduled to report Tuesday night, and the club will hold its first full workout today. Scheduled to report tonight are Franklin Stubbs, Jose Gonzalez, Jeff Hamilton, Larry See, Ralph Bryant, Tracy Woodson and Craig Shipley.