Baseball / Ross Newhan : In Quest of the NL West: Can Reds Win With That Rotation?

With Tom Browning demoted to Triple-A, Jerry Reuss released Saturday and Mario Soto on the Cincinnati Reds’ disabled list, the question in the National League’s Western Division is:

Can the Reds win it with a rotation that seems to include only two starters of substance?

“I’m going to try,” Manager Pete Rose said. “What else can I do?”

The hope was that Soto would rebound from shoulder surgery and Browning would regain his 20-9 form of 1985.

Now each faces an uncertain future, leaving Bill Gullickson, with a 7-3 record, and Ted Power, at 5-2, to carry a rotation that also includes rookies Pat Pacillo (1-2) and Bill Landrum (2-1) and recycled veteran Guy Hoffman (5-1).

The Reds opened a weekend series against the Atlanta Braves with their starters carrying a cumulative earned-run average of 5.43, leading to an even more troublesome question for the Reds:

Can their once-deep bullpen, the foundation of a suspect staff, survive?

There are signs that it can’t.

Ron Robinson, Rob Murphy and Frank Williams all entered the Atlanta series having already pitched more than 40 innings. Robinson, who either pitched in or warmed up in 47 of the Reds’ first 54 games, was complaining of a sore elbow. Murphy had a sore shoulder.

The Reds responded by recalling Bill Scherrer from Nashville last week. He arrived in the eighth inning of a game with the San Francisco Giants and made his first appearance in the ninth.

“They’re overused,” Scherrer said of his bullpen compatriots. “We knew that in Nashville. Look at the numbers. Three of the top four pitchers (in appearances) are Reds. They’re only human. They’ve got to break. They’ve got to have a rest.”

With Browning and Soto out, a rest seems unlikely.

The Reds may also have a problem on a different front. Eric Davis had only 5 hits in his last 38 at-bats.

The word around the league is that Davis, if backed off the plate, if pitched high and tight inside, shies, becoming vulnerable to the outside pitch.

Rose doesn’t buy it.

A temporary loss of rhythm, he said, recalling a week in April when Davis went 3 for 24 with 9 straight strikeouts, then hammered out 15 hits in his next 31 at-bats.

“In five years, a lot of these players will be sitting around counting their money,” Rose said. “Eric will be weighing his.”

The rivalry between the Giants and Reds has suddenly begun looking like the one between the Dodgers and Giants.

“We always get up for playing the Dodgers,” Giant outfielder Jeffrey Leonard said. “Now the Reds are talking crap just like the Dodgers.”

It started Monday night, when the Reds rallied from a six-run deficit for the fourth time this season, beating the Giants, 10-9.

Cincinnati General Manager Bill Bergesch, obviously excited, walked through the Reds’ clubhouse saying: “What a finish! What a finish! This not only puts us on a cloud, but you don’t know what it does to the Giants. It has to be demoralizing. That’s about as tough a loss as you can have.”

The demoralized Giants posted the quote on their bulletin board and beat the Reds in the next two games, after which Bob Brenly winked and said: “I don’t know when we’ve been this demoralized.”

He added: “Why would he say something like that? It’s too easy to come back and haunt you. Why give a team motivation? We don’t need any more motivation.”

Rose had the last word, though.

“I don’t think them beating us two in a row is the end of the world,” he said. “And if it is the end of the world, you’ll read about the Reds being in first place when it ended.”

On the night that newly acquired Joe Niekro pitched the Minnesota Twins into a tie for first place in the American League’s Western Division, Ron Guidry, his replacement, returned to the New York Yankee rotation and allowed six hits and four runs in four innings of a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

“You can’t go hunting big game with low gauge ammunition,” Guidry said, implying that he may not be ready yet.

Count on this: The New York Mets have had it with Darryl Strawberry and will make every effort to trade him during the off-season. There will be new talks involving Strawberry and Mike Marshall of the Dodgers.

By reporting late for consecutive games at Wrigley Field last week, Strawberry revived memories of his spring training behavior and erased the determination and good intentions he had displayed and talked about in April.

Said teammate Keith Hernandez: “There’s a great night life in Chicago. I’ve had my share of 4 a.m. nights in this city. I’ve always played the next day. You have to suck it up.”

In the face of injuries that put Rickey Henderson and Don Mattingly on the disabled list, Yankee Manager Lou Piniella said there would be no shake-up.

“It’s not going to happen,” he said. “We like this ballclub. We like the chemistry. We’re not going to break this up, not at all.”

Then the Yankees traded Niekro for Salas and reacquired outfielder-designated hitter Mike Easler from the Philadelphia Phillies for two minor leaguers.

Panic?

“There’s no panic here,” Piniella said, changing his tune. “You mean we can’t make a trade to improve the club? If another club did this it would be a move to strengthen the club. We do it and it’s a panic move.”

What it may be is an indication that a Yankee executive named Billy Martin has more of owner George Steinbrenner’s ear than suspected and sees a route back to the dugout.

Martin is known to have disliked Niekro, and earlier is believed to have urged the optioning of pitcher Bob Tewksbury, whom Piniella reportedly wanted to keep.

Quotebook:

--Baltimore Oriole Manager Cal Ripken, after his team had lost for the 12th time in 13 games: “Things are going to get better. We’re going to go out and win some games. I know people are getting tired of hearing me say that. Before long someone is going to say, ‘Why don’t you check and see if he’s insane?’ ”

--Pittsburgh Pirate coach Rich Donnelly: “The Lakers are so good they could run a fast break with a medicine ball.”

--Texas Ranger Manager Bobby Valentine, on Pete Incaviglia’s striking out at least once in 23 of his last 25 games through Thursday and his leading the majors with 70 strikeouts: “The road to the Hall of Fame is lined with guys who led the league in strikeouts.”

The Blue Jays’ three-game sweep of the Yankees last week, giving them 12 wins in their last 16 games at Yankee Stadium, resulted in the first post-May lead change in the American League East since 1983.

The Boston Red Sox took the lead in May last year and never lost it. The Blue Jays did the same in 1985. The Detroit Tigers went wire to wire in 1984.

Toronto should be hard to catch again.

No team has as much pitching nor a better 1-2 punch than George Bell and Jesse Barfield.

Bell is having one of the most impressive first halves ever. He recently gave credit to “good wood,” alluding to a new supply of bats that arrived May 22. He hit 13 homers and drove in 31 runs in the next 19 games.

The bottom line on the pitching is the bullpen duo of Tom Henke and Mark Eichhorn. The Blue Jays are 27-0 in games they have led after the eighth inning and 6-1 in extra innings.

Can one man make the difference? The Detroit Tigers, since the start of the 1985 season, are 53-29 in games started by Jack Morris. They are 147-149 in games started by other pitchers.

Morris, whose 8-2 record is accompanied by a 4.08 ERA, said: “I don’t get paid for my ERA. I haven’t seen a guy yet who got a raise because he was 0 and 15 with a 1.50 ERA. The bottom line is wins and losses.”

Said Manager Sparky Anderson of the ERA: “Jack tends to lose interest when he has a big lead.”

Former Dodger Bill Madlock went 13 for 28 in his first six games with the Tigers, but he drew more questions about his waistline.

“Don’t ask me about my weight,” he said. “If I’m going good, I’m light. If I’m not, I’m too heavy. Why don’t you ask me about my sex life. It’s just as relative.”

Baseball Notes Atlanta pitcher Randy O’Neal, told he was being optioned to Richmond, engaged in a clubhouse shouting and shoving match with Manager Chuck Tanner, forcing coaches Bob Skinner and Bruce Dal Canton to intervene. The Braves have now canceled plans to option O’Neal, telling him to remain in the Atlanta area until he can be traded. The Reds and Minnesota Twins are said to be interested. . . . Dale Murphy’s pace through Thursday projected to 50 homers, 142 walks and 162 strikeouts. . . . The Mets, beset by injuries, have used 10 starting pitchers. The Pittsburgh Pirates have started seven rookies. . . . Reggie Jackson of the Oakland A’s hit a homer off the Ray Searage of the Chicago White Sox Monday night, his first since April 30 and his first off a left-hander since August of ’85.

Joaquin Andujar, on the disabled list twice this year and three times since joining the A’s last year, has been sidelined again by a strained hamstring. Andujar was booed loudly by A’s fans when he limped out of last Wednesday’s game in the second inning, got into an altercation with a fan near the dugout, then doffed his cap as he headed for the clubhouse. “I wanted to show I had more class than those people,” he said. “These are the worst (bleep) fans I’ve seen in my (bleep) life. When a player needs support they don’t give it to him. They make it worse.” . . . In series of three or more games, the Orioles have been swept six times at home this year and nine times since last June. In the nine previous years, they had been swept a total of nine times at home. Among the Oriole concerns is Fred Lynn, who is hitting .193 against left-handers and is 7 for 33 with runners in scoring position.

Pittsburgh pitcher Bob Kipper, traded by the Angels in the John Candelaria-George Hendrick deal, has allowed 12 homers in 47 innings, or one for every 12 outs. . . . Seattle’s Lee Guetterman is 3-0 despite retiring the side in order only three times in the 20 innings of three starts. The Mariners call him Dr. Jam, because he’s always in one. . . . The teams with the best percentage on grass are the St. Louis Cardinals (14-5) and Seattle (13-6). Both play their home games on synthetic turf. . . . Met first baseman Keith Hernandez, a winner of nine Gold Gloves, made two errors on the same play in Chicago the other day after having made only one error in his first 52 games. It was the first time he had made two errors in a game since July 28, 1983, and it was the first two-error inning of his career.

The Texas Rangers’ Dale Mohorcic has converted six of nine save opportunities. The rest of the Ranger bullpen is 1 for 11. . . . The Milwaukee Brewers’ Paul Molitor had missed 23 games through Thursday with three different injuries to his right leg: Pulled hamstring, groin strain and sprained ankle. The Brewers were 5-18 in games he had missed. “It’s almost laughable,” Molitor said. “People don’t even ask me how I feel any more.” . . . Former pitcher Al Downing, now with the Dodgers’ community services department, will participate in a baseball school for boys 9 to 16 June 22-26 and June 29-July 3. Information is available at (213) 474-1000. . . . Philadelphia Phillie scout Tommie Ferguson has signed Pepperdine outfielder Steve Kirkpatrick as a free agent. Kirkpatrick is the son of former Angel Ed Kirkpatrick, who has been struggling against various ailments. The young Kirkpatrick was assigned to Utica.