Baseball / Ross Newhan : Dodgers to Use More Common Sense With Fernando

Maybe it’s all those complete games and innings pitched and pitches, period.

Maybe Fernando Valenzuela has now become a victim of his own tenacity, his refusal to come out.

A variety of factors has undoubtedly contributed to the 5-5 record and the career-high 4.05 earned-run average that Valenzuela will carry into Tuesday night’s assignment against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium.

Now the Dodgers will be preservationists when the 26-year-old left-hander is concerned.

There will be no limit to the number of pitches he can throw, but there will be a greater degree of common sense.

No more 164 pitches, as Valenzuela delivered in a 1-0 loss to the Houston Astros June 11. Now, too, he may get an extra day between starts when he seems to need it, a breather here and there, pitching coach Ron Perranoski said.

“He’s not finishing games he normally finishes,” Perranoski said. “He’s tiring quicker. We’re not concerned, but we are going to watch it.”

Valenzuela has pitched six innings or fewer in three of his last four starts, allowing 30 hits and 15 earned runs in 25 innings. He has three losses and a no-decision in that span.

He also has walked five or more batters in 4 of 14 starts and twice has given up three homers in a game.

There has been speculation that Valenzuela has a sore shoulder and arm, but he and the Dodgers dispute that. There has been speculation that his velocity has diminished, but Perranoski said that’s not the problem.

“Fernando has never been overpowering or consistent with his velocity,” he said. “It has always varied. He relies on deception and a variety of pitches. The problem right now is that he isn’t in a good groove with his curve and is struggling some with his control.”

The pitcher and his coach have been working to improve the curve. The control problem may stem from a lack of stamina. Valenzuela has completed 88 of 214 starts, including 20 of 34 last season. He has finished among the National League’s top three in complete games and innings pitched in each of the last three years.

A normal game for Valenzuela spans 135 to 140 pitches because he takes longer at the start to find a groove, Perranoski said. There is also the Dodger defense to consider.

“He pitches a lot of innings that require four and five outs,” Perranoski said. “The accumulation of 32 outs every five days can wear on you, but he’s a pro out there. He tends to get madder at himself than anyone.

“He’s a workhorse. He goes to the post every five days like (Don) Drysdale (did). He’s honest with me, but sometimes you have to drag it out of him that he’s tired. He loves to win.

“He has so much pride that it’s as if he’s embarrassed to admit he’s had it, but I think he accepts the fact now that his career is more important than one game. It’s in his best interest that he doesn’t overdo it.”

Valenzuela, of course, knows what often happens when he leaves. The Dodgers have lost all four of the games in which he ultimately received no decision this year--two of which he left leading, only to have the bullpen blow them.

“The game will dictate what kind of hold we put on him,” Perranoski said. “If he’s made 120 pitches after eight innings and is still sharp, he’ll finish it. If not, he won’t.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s capable of being the pitcher he’s always been.”

The Angels’ latest bid to employ the fleet Gary Pettis as a leadoff hitter ended Wednesday when Brian Downing returned to that role. The Angels, through Friday, were 6-13 with Pettis batting leadoff and 20-19 with Downing.

There is more to it, however. The Angels have virtually given up on the attempt to make Pettis a contact hitter.

“He can’t do it. He will never do it,” Manager Gene Mauch told Rick Weinberg of the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “We’ve spent as much time with him as possible. We’ve had experts work with him. His swing just won’t do it.

“Watch him in batting practice. Of 12 balls he hits, 9 will be fly balls. He works hard at it, hitting the ball on the ground, but nothing happens. We’ll have to take what he’s got.”

The Gold Glove center fielder is a .251 career hitter now hitting a career-low .222. He has struck out an average of once every 3.26 times at bat this year and once every 3.70 in his career. Those are disturbing ratios for a hitter who averages a home run every 130 at bats.

Pettis told Weinberg that he has paid for the Angels’ failure to give him more instruction when they made him a switch-hitter in 1979.

“They should have had instructors to help me,” he said. “They have (minor league) instructors now. They didn’t then. (But) I’m not making excuses. I’m very concerned with the strikeouts.”

The trade by the Montreal Expos sending relief ace Jeff Reardon to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher Neal Heaton and others was considered a steal for the Twins.

“It wasn’t controversial. It was panned by everybody,” Expo General Manager Murray Cook said the other day.

Cook may have the last laugh. Heaton, 39-56 with the Twins and Cleveland Indians, is 9-3 with the Expos.

“The big difference is that the strike zone is lower in the National League,” he said. “I can throw the low fastball and get guys swinging at it and hitting it on the ground.

“In the American League you’ve got to bring the ball up where those big hitters can crunch it.”

Tom Seaver’s bid to return to the New York Mets may be in jeopardy. He was hit hard in a two-inning stint against the Mets’ Tidewater farm team and a simulated game at Shea Stadium Tuesday. Seaver had hoped to be pitching for the Mets this weekend. Now?

“I really don’t want to venture a guess,” he said. “Anybody who has thrown as many innings as I have at 42, there’s always the possibility I’m not going to be able to pitch.”

The Mets have not been more than four games over .500 or more than four games under .500. First baseman Keith Hernandez said: “We’ve been sustaining something--win one, lose one.”

Added Darryl Strawberry: “It’s hard to believe. It’s hard to figure out. Some of these young guys are not motivated enough to kick themselves in the butt.”

Say what?

The motivated Strawberry reported late for a pair of games at Wrigley Field only last week.

Met reliever Roger McDowell, struggling on the mound, has been losing himself in comic behavior off it. He donned shin guards, a chest protector and yards of tape, then limped through the clubhouse, imitating Gary Carter. He put his pants over his head and his shirt on his legs and imitated a man walking on his hands.

Dave Johnson, his restless manager, had another imitation in mind.

Said Johnson: “I told him, ‘Why don’t you start acting like a pitcher.’ ”

The theory has been that several major league managers have maintained their jobs only because their respective clubs have feared a backlash if they failed to appoint a black as successor.

Such is the residue of Al Campanis’ firing as a vice president of the Dodgers.

Bill Giles, president of the Philadelphia Phillies, insisted, however, that a long-delayed decision to fire John Felske had nothing to do with that.

He said that the Phillies had played “championship caliber” baseball in only 10 of their first 61 games and that “the manager appeared to be a major reason.”

“Black and white wasn’t an issue,” Giles said. “We felt this club had more ability than it had shown and we wanted to give John a chance to draw it out. He didn’t do that. We feel that Lee Elia is the best possible successor.”

Elia, who is white, was appointed Thursday at Wrigley Field, where he had previously been fired as manager of the Chicago Cubs.

Pitcher Shane Rawley said the Phillies had gone stagnant under Felske.

One of the primary raps was that he lacked emotion and fire, though what that has to do with the club’s lack of a rotation is not clear.

Said outfielder Glenn Wilson: “This team has had communication problems. I was benched a while back and went in to talk to Felske about it. I barely got a hello for the next three weeks. Lee will be different.”

Perhaps, but Lee may be only a caretaker until Mike Schmidt feels he is ready to manage.

It started Wednesday night with Mark Clear of the Milwaukee Brewers hitting the Twins’ Steve Lombardozzi with a pitch after Gene Larkin had hit a home run. Lombardozzi was restrained from charging the mound by umpire Ken Kaiser.

Then, however, Lombardozzi went hard into second baseman Jim Ganter in a bid to disrupt a double play and a brawl ensued. It proved costly to the Twins.

Joe Niekro, who had won his first two starts for Minnesota after being obtained from the New York Yankees, will miss two starts with a slight separation of his right shoulder. He was flung to the hard AstroTurf by powerful Rob Deer after putting a bear hug on Deer from behind.

“It looked like he was going after someone and I tried to calm him down,” Niekro said. “In that situation you don’t look at who it is, only at the uniform. If I’m going to pick on someone it’s not going to be Rob Deer.”

The Reds sent Tom Browning to the minors, released Jerry Reuss and moved the happy Ron Robinson out of the bullpen to join a rotation of Bill Gullickson, Ted Power, Pat Pacillo and Guy Hoffman.

The new rotation, through its first round, averaged six innings a start and had a 2.07 ERA compared to 8.31 for the old rotation during its last round. The Reds need that consistency if their deep and productive bullpen is to survive.

Houston relief ace Dave Smith reflected on the frequency with which Pete Rose had been employing that bullpen and said:

“They’ve got some relievers with 45 innings. That’s 140 for the season. Hell, that’s crazy. They’re lucky they’re four deep. Otherwise they’d be in trouble.”

The Reds’ signing of free-agent outfielder Dave Collins to a triple-A contract has prompted speculation that Rose has given up on the idea of returning to the active list in September. Collins may fill that pinch-hitting role.