National League Roundup : Cardinals’ Herzog Manages to Win Again

Connie Mack, for those who don’t remember, was a wily old-time manager. He built and broke up champions many times while managing the Philadelphia Athletics--seemingly forever.

One of the theories Mack advanced was that pitching was 70% of baseball. If the revered old man, who managed the American League in the first All-Star game in 1933, were still around, he would probably amend that idea.

He would, for certain, if he watched the way Whitey Herzog has directed the St. Louis Cardinals to the best record in the majors and a huge nine-game lead in the National League East.

Old theories about pitching don’t work for Herzog, arguably the best manager in the game. All he needs from his starting pitcher is five or six innings, enough to get Herzog into a position to do some maneuvering. Herzog makes moves better than anyone. He uses all his players, and they are always ready. For his plan, he needs a minimum of five relief pitchers. It is also necessary to have a number of players who can play more than one position.

In winning 10 of their last 11 games before the All-Star break, the Cardinals have used 36 pitchers. In only one of those games did they use as few as two--a 9-1 win at the start of the streak.

Willie McGee went 3 for 4 and Terry Pendleton hit a home run Sunday at St. Louis, but it was Herzog’s handling of his pitching that enabled the Cardinals to hold off the San Francisco Giants, 3-2.

The Cardinals were leading, 2-0, in the seventh when starter Rick Horton was struck in the left (pitching) forearm by a line drive off the bat of Joel Youngblood. Herzog adroitly manipulated three relief pitchers to save the victory. The game ended with Ken Dayley getting Mike Aldrete to hit into a double play.

The way pitchers have been falling by the wayside, it would not have been surprising if Horton (5-0) had suffered a broken arm. He suffered only a severe bruise.

The Cardinals were not given much of a chance to win the East because they lacked power and had only two proven starting pitchers, John Tudor and Danny Cox. Tudor has missed almost the entire season with an injury, and now Cox is lost with a broken toe. But a healthy Jack Clark is providing plenty of power, and Herzog does the rest.

“Most teams on a hot streak would not welcome the All-Star break,” Herzog said. “But we do. Our bullpen needs the rest. I may have to go with all left-handed starters except Bob Forsch, but I have several right-left options in the bullpen and that makes it interesting.

“We need time off because we have played 11 tough games in nine days. Those long doubleheaders with the Dodgers wore us all out.”

With better pitching a year ago, but without Clark, who drove in his 86th run Sunday, the Cardinals were 36-50 at the break. This season they are 56-30. Herzog deserves the credit because of the way he uses his squad.

A year ago, the Cardinal pitchers were third in the league with a 3.20 ERA. Now, lacking a real leader among the starters, they are down in the pack with 4.11. On the other hand, they have scored almost 200 more runs than they did in their first 86 games last season.

New York 5, Houston 2--The New York Mets, with Howie Johnson hitting another home run at Houston, won their third in a row, but the world champions trail the Cardinals by 9 1/2 games.

A year ago, the Mets were leading the East by 12 1/2 and breezing.

Johnson, who has hit four home runs in the last three games, helped hard-luck Ron Darling improve his record to 4-6 with his career-high 20th home run.

Darling, in winning his second in a row, struck out seven in 7 innings.

“I’ve reached my goal of 20 home runs,” Johnson said. “Now, with 52 RBIs, I need to get only 28 more to reach that goal.”

Last year, as a platoon player, he had 10 home runs and 39 runs batted in.

Montreal 4, Cincinnati 2--Second baseman Vance Law of the Expos would rather not stop for an All-Star break. He is about as hot as a hitter can get.

Law was 3 for 4 at Cincinnati, including a home run, to lead the Expos to their third straight win over the Reds. In his last six games, Law is 14 for 19.

Bob Sebra and Andy McGaffigan held the injury-riddled Reds to three hits, one of them a two-run home run by Nick Esasky. Sebra (6-9) went six innings, and McGaffigan retired the last nine Reds in order.

Pittsburgh 4, San Diego 2--Slugging Pirate third baseman Bobby Bonilla became only the second player to hit a home run into the upper-deck seats in right at Three Rivers Stadium.

Bonilla’s two-run shot in the fifth inning landed three rows deep. Former Pirate, Willie Stargell put four drives into the upper deck. Eric Show, who started a free-for-all last week when he hit Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs in the face with a pitch, was the victim of Bonilla’s home run.

Atlanta 9, Philadelphia 3--Gary Roenicke drove in three runs with a home run and a double to continue his hot hitting for the Braves.

It was the fifth home run for Roenicke, but his fourth in the last six games. His hitting helped Randy O’Neal improve his record to 4-1.