Baseball : Dodgers Had Better Face Facts: Makeup Doesn’t Give Any Lift

Al Campanis, former Dodger vice president, kept saying that he liked the club’s makeup. It was the primary lyric in his 1987 spring song.

Successor Fred Claire has maintained that theme, leaving one thing obvious:

This club needs a face lift.

Giving the Dodgers the best of it, they have a left fielder in Pedro Guerrero, a right fielder in Mike Marshall, a catcher in Mike Scoscia, a tolerable second baseman in Steve Sax and three starting pitchers in Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser and Bob Welch. OK, Rick Honeycutt has had a tough enough time, make it four.

The rest of it? You can back up the truck.

Manager Tom Lasorda would have to be a magician to turn this assortment into anything more than wilted flowers, which is not to absolve Lasorda and Campanis for the series of decisions, some seemingly based on emotion rather than logic, that deprived the club of Rick Sutcliffe, Sid Fernandez, John Franco, Ted Power and Candy Maldonado.

In addition to a basic lack of talent, the one thing that a pitiful first half has made abundantly clear is that the Dodger farm system, which has signed six released players to beef up the appearance at Albuquerque, is still unable to respond and that mystifying doubts remain regarding the system’s most promising product, third baseman Jeff Hamilton.

Why is he brought up to sit? Why doesn’t he play? Why do Dodger fans have to watch the torture that is Phil Garner and Mickey Hatcher operating at the corners on the artificial turf of Busch Stadium? There’s no pressure. The Dodgers are going nowhere. Why wouldn’t they have shown the faith and patience with Hamilton that the Angels have shown with Mark McLemore?

It might have even generated some excitement in another summer of Dodger reruns and retreads.

Now, with the signing of Tito Landrum, the Dodgers are carrying seven outfielders and have acquired a total of six players since the start of the season who had either been released, unsigned and/or--in the case of Garner, for instance--unwanted by their previous clubs.

While Claire glows (crows?) about the addition of proven role players, Hamilton is back in Albuquerque and Bill Madlock--can there be a more proven hitter?--is batting nearly .300 for Detroit.

Though 11 games under .500 and 9 out, the Dodgers should not be without a second-half goal. Namely: Lighten up on the makeup.

Some final words on that Tuesday night doubleheader between the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals that ended at 3:02 (CDT) Wednesday morning:

Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog, on the estimated 8,000 fans who were still present at the end: “They were either under the influence of alcohol or didn’t have watches.”

Pitcher Joe Magrane: “It was tough getting home with all the street sweepers on the road.”

Catcher Steve Lake, who sent the second game into extra innings with a home run in the ninth: “They’ve got Mr. October. Now they’ve got Mr. Midnight.”

Will his assignment as the National League manager in Tuesday night’s All-Star game provide Davey Johnson with relief from the self-immolation of the New York Mets’ season? Does he deserve relief? Writers who cover the club regularly now have some doubt about that. Johnson blamed them for embellishing the dispute between Darryl Strawberry and his teammates and Mookie Wilson’s desire to be traded.

“You don’t let it lie,” he said, pinning the writers as scapegoats. He even held a team meeting to ask his players to limit their discussions with reporters and said he would no longer talk with writers before games.

“I’ve got to cut this thing off at the head,” he said. “It’s ludicrous, ridiculous, unbelievable.”

The players picked up on his mood. One threw food at a writer. Another dropped a firecracker at the feet of a group of reporters interviewing pitcher Terry Leach. Forgotten, according to Newsday’s Joe Verducci, is that the Strawberry comment about punching “that little redneck” Wally Backman was unsolicited; that Lee Mazzilli, who ignited the internal back-stabbing by ripping Strawberry for sitting out two games, had approached a writer on his own to make his point, and that Wilson had also assembled the writers on his own to announce his trade request.

This much is clear:

The manager’s new approach is unlikely to change the pattern of the Mets season. Consider that in the last few days, amid Johnson’s media edicts, third baseman Howard Johnson has charged some of his teammates with “crawling in a hole” when the team gets behind, the manager himself criticized Gary Carter for a defensive lapse in a 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves and Len Dykstra has agreed with Wilson that center field isn’t big enough for them both and that he, too, might want to be traded.

“I don’t even know when I’m playing any more,” Dykstra said. “I’m rusting away. I have no chance to put up any kind of numbers. I come to the park prepared to play, and then I’m not in there. I don’t know what’s going on. They’ve got to trade someone soon.”

An All-Star starter, the Cincinnati Reds’ Eric Davis expects to make only a token appearance because his sprained right ankle, suffered at Dodger Stadium in late June, is still hurting.

The Reds, however, have more pressing concerns.

--Their starting pitchers were unable to hold 40 leads through the first half, creating havoc for the bullpen.

--Outfielder Kal Daniels will miss four to six weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery, and second baseman Ron Oester is out for the year because of reconstructive knee surgery that has left his career in doubt.

The dependable Oester will be replaced by shortstop Kurt Stillwell, who has already made 15 errors in part-time service.

Manager Pete Rose, concerned that the injuries seemed to be sapping some of the Reds’ spirit, prepared the team for the All-Star break with a clubhouse meeting in which he said:

“If I’m not mistaken we’re still in first place. We should be happy. We should be having some fun. We can’t dwell on what we don’t have.”

While Wally Joyner accepted his All- Star snub in a professional style, fellow first baseman Kent Hrbek (23 homers, 55 RBIs) reacted bitterly. Said the Minnesota slugger:

“All of them can kiss my (bleep). I played in my first All-Star game in 1982. I played in my last All-Star game in 1982. I don’t care if they vote me in, I ain’t going.”

Detroit Tigers Manager Sparky Anderson entered the season obviously concerned about the departure of Lance Parrish, claiming he now lacked both a catcher and cleanup hitter.

His new catcher (Matt Nokes) and cleanup hitter (Alan Trammell) were both selected to the American League All-Star team.

Oakland’s Mark McGwire is paying a price for his home run onslaught, having been hit by pitches four times in a nine-game span after going the first 76 games without being hit.

The A’s will respond, Manager Tony LaRussa implied.

“I want to protect our hitters,” he said. “Whether you call it protection or retaliation, you can’t let them be targets.”

The A’s are 26-22 at home, having made 49 of their 76 errors there. Said center fielder Dwayne Murphy: “It’s terrible. If we played the way we should at home, we’d run away with the division.”

The San Francisco Giants consider Kevin Mitchell only a stopgap at third base. They felt that they could include Chris Brown in last week’s major trade with the San Diego Padres because of their great expectations for Matt Williams, the Nevada Las Vegas product who was their No. 1 draft choice in ’86.

“The key was Matt Williams,” Manager Roger Craig said. “We know he’s going to be one of the best defensive third baseman in baseball and hit 25 to 30 homers a year.”

General Manager Al Rosen turned the pressure cooker even higher.

“He’s got Mike Schmidt kind of talent,” Rosen said of Williams.

Now it’s the Giants’ Mike Krukow who is said to be scuffing the ball. Chicago Cubs Manager Gene Michael brought six baseballs to umpire Terry Tata the other day and was immediately ejected for disrupting the game. It didn’t change Michael’s opinion.

“Krukow probably needs to cheat to get by,” Michael said. “He was flagrant about it. If they don’t stop it, I’d recommend to every manager that we do it, too. If they don’t stop it, they’re saying it’s legal.”

A 20-game winner last year, Krukow is 1-6 with a 6.75 earned-run average.

Cubs President Dallas Green accused Jody Davis, Leon Durham and Keith Moreland of becoming “homerized.” The implication is that they are thinking only of hitting home runs rather than using the entire field. Is he concerned what his criticism might do to attitude and morale?

“No,” Green said. “I don’t believe in a happy clubhouse.”

Carlton Fisk said he plans to defy General Manager Larry Himes’ ban against beer and alcohol in the Chicago White Sox’ clubhouses by bringing in a cooler for Thursday night’s first game of the second half.

“It’s my domain,” Fisk said of the clubhouse. “We played that long game in Cleveland the other night and guys were sitting around eating pizza and chasing it down with Sprite. That just doesn’t make it.”

Texas starter Edwin Correa kept trying to tell the Rangers that he was experiencing pain behind his right shoulder. X-rays were negative, and he continued to pitch, failing to go beyond six innings in nine of his last 10 starts. Then, on Wednesday, a more thorough examination disclosed a stress fracture behind the shoulder. Correa will be sidelined six to eight weeks.

“I knew something was wrong, but they kept saying I wasn’t in shape, I had an inflammation,” he said. “I have reason to be upset, but I’m not blaming anyone. This just proves I wasn’t lying.”