Baseball / Ross Newhan : Brewers’ Motto: If You Can’t Outpitch Them, Outscore Them

One of the remarkable aspects of their incredible start is that the Milwaukee Brewers, 19-3 through Friday, have won seven games in which the opposition has scored five or more runs.

Can a surprising offense continue to compensate for the suspect pitching?

Paul Molitor, for one, believes it can.

Molitor is one of only four Brewers remaining from the 1982 team that won the American League championship and set team records for runs and home runs, earning a reputation as Harvey’s Wallbangers.

Harvey Kuenn, the manager then, is now a Brewer scout. Ben Oglivie is playing in Japan, and Gorman Thomas has retired.

Said Molitor, the leadoff hitter:

“We’re off to a good start with home runs, but I don’t think we’ll hit them as consistently as the ’82 team did. The ’82 team felt it could overpower other teams. This club will mix in a three-run homer but can come at you in a lot of different ways. This club can steal, hit and run, take the extra base.

“This club is better as far as balance and hitting for average. I don’t know if it will be as successful (as the ’82 team), but it can be as productive in its own ways.”

The heart of the lineup features Rob Deer, Glenn Braggs and Greg Brock, but one of the reasons for Molitor’s optimism is that he and Robin Yount are back at the top of the batting order--both free of major injuries for one of the few times since ‘82, when they supplied the best ignition either side of Detroit.

Molitor had 201 hits, 26 doubles and 19 home runs and scored 136 runs that year. Yount was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player with 210 hits, 46 doubles, 29 home runs and 129 runs. So, the Brewers got 411 hits and 265 runs from the first two batters.

Molitor, in the ensuing years, spent time on the disabled list with a sprained ankle, a pulled hamstring and an elbow injury that sidelined him for almost all of 1984 and required an operation similar to the one Tommy John underwent in 1974.

Yount had to battle tendon and calcium problems in his right shoulder and twice had surgery.

Cynics who dismissed the Brewers in the spring may have overlooked the possibility of a revival by a physically sound Molitor, 30, and Yount, 31. Through 21 games, Molitor had 32 hits, 23 runs and a .395 average. Yount had 24 hits, 12 runs and a .279 average.

Then, in a painful reminder of the way it has been in recent years, Molitor strained a hamstring Wednesday night at Oakland and was expected to miss 5 to 10 games. Earlier in the week, he had stood by his locker at Anaheim Stadium, alluded to his and Yount’s production of ’82 and said:

“I think we can do it again if we stay healthy. Having Robin and I at the top of the lineup is the key to the offense because it gives the guys in the middle a chance to do their job.”

And it’s important for another reason as well.

“With so many young players the role of the veteran is magnified,” Molitor said. “It’s tough to lead from the bench.”

In April of 1986, the Dodgers averaged 37,848 fans for 11 home night games beginning at 7:35 p.m.

In April of ‘87, they averaged 43,713 for six home night games, five of which began at 7:05 and one at 6:05.

The 7:05 start was an experiment designed to compensate for the cooler April weather and benefit families seeking to bring school-age children. Dodger department heads will meet soon to decide if it should be repeated next April, broadened to include the entire season or dumped entirely.

Said Walter Nash, Dodger ticket director: “It had a mixed reception. Parents who wanted to bring their kids liked it, but the traffic was a problem for people who wanted to go home after work, then couldn’t get back in time for a 7:05 start. It’s still on the burner, that’s about all I know right now.”

When optioned to the minors last week, Charlie Kerfeld’s earned-run average was as hefty as his weight. He was 0-2 with a 9.23 ERA, having allowed 28 runners in 12 innings. He weighed 265 pounds and was ordered by the Houston Astros to get down to 245.

Writers calling Kerfeld’s Houston apartment the day he was sent to Tucson got the following message on his answering machine: “I ain’t here and I ain’t going to be here for a while, I guess.”

Houston Manager Hal Lanier was infuriated by National League President A. Bartlett Giamatti’s decision to have his umpires check the balls for scuff marks when Mike Scott faced the New York Mets Wednesday night. Eight times the balls were checked, but none were thrown out.

Giamatti said it wasn’t a witch hunt, that Scott was just one of several pitchers who will be checked to guard against cheating.

Lanier said that Scott’s rhythm was disrupted and that Giamatti, the former Yale president, was demeaning his own umpires. Lanier alluded to last year’s playoffs, when the Mets insisted that Scott was scuffing the ball, only to have veteran umpire Doug Harvey say at a press conference that there was no evidence Scott cheated.

“If he can’t take the word of his veteran umpires, whose word can he take?” Lanier asked. “If he wants a list of people he can check, I’ll give it to him. I’ll give him a list of people who use corked bats if he’s concerned about cheating.”

The Astros reportedly believe that the Cincinnati Reds’ Bill Gullickson and Ron Robinson are among the National League pitchers who consistently scuff the ball.

Said Scott: “There’s no sense getting annoyed, but it does seem a little ridiculous now. Every time I touch the ball, they want to check it.”

Scott may soon ask to check Keith Hernandez’s bat. The Met first baseman drove in both runs in Wednesday night’s 2-1 victory over Scott and has a lifetime average of .393 against Scott, with six home runs. No other player has hit more than three homers off the Houston ace.

Scott was also the subject of obscene chants by Met zealots but passed that off.

“I’m not going to condemn a whole city over a few people who can’t hold their liquor,” he said.

Kansas City Royal third baseman George Brett, who is expected to be sidelined until mid-May because of a muscle pull in his chest, has gotten some media and fan criticism over what has become a series of annual injuries.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand how much I love the game, how I love to perform in front of people,” he said. “Some days I may stink up the joint, but I’ll tell you what: I’d rather go 0 for 4 than be doing what I’m doing now, sitting here and watching ‘My Three Sons.’ ”

The Royals’ Bret Saberhagen, back in form with a 4-0 record, has a 41-29 career record, including a 10-2 record against Detroit. Saberhagen is 7-0 with a 1.50 ERA in Tiger Stadium, where he won last Sunday, 6-1. The only Tiger run was the result of a misplay by right fielder Danny Tartabull.

Said losing pitcher Walt Terrell: “All he had to do to beat us was walk out there. Mrs. Saberhagen could have beat us. And if his kid had been playing right field, we’d have been shut out.”

Ernie Camacho, the Cleveland Indians’ erratic relief ace, has been demoted to a middle reliever . But he said there was no way that he would quit on himself.

“I pitched in Mexico one season and stayed in a rat-infested hotel,” he said. “I made 5 cents a day. People spit and threw urine on me. I didn’t quit then and I’m not going to now.”

The Texas Rangers turned around their worst start, 1-10, with their best home stand, 7-1.

Said Larry Parrish: “We needed this home stand. There was a little bit of shock in the clubhouse. We couldn’t believe we were that bad. We aren’t.”

In the wake of his first full major league season, New York Met center fielder Lenny Dykstra has turned out a book entitled “Nails,” which is his nickname.

Nails hammers home a couple of points regarding that pivotal final inning in Game 6 of the World Series with Boston.

On Red Sox relief pitcher Calvin Schiraldi: “I know Calvin. He’s a competitor. He comes at you. But I thought this was bigger than he was. He wasn’t ready for this. When Mitch (Kevin Mitchell) singled, I was sure I was right about Calvin. Everybody gets the tight (bleep) sometimes.”

On the decision by Boston Manager John McNamara to keep first baseman Bill Buckner in the game: “I guess there’s a big difference between Davey (Johnson) and McNamara. Davey doesn’t give a (bleep) if he (bleeps) off his players.”