Dodgers Are Ready to Race : Optimism Abounds After They Beat Braves Again, 5-2

What the Dodgers have accomplished here the last two nights normally would not provide probable cause to declare a full-fledged revival of a season that has steadily eroded. The Dodgers, however, insisted that their second straight win over the Atlanta Braves, a 5-2 decision Saturday night before 43,804 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, contained evidence that this will not be just a brief surge before another big crash.

For the second consecutive game, the Dodgers provided a starting pitcher with sufficient offensive production and late-inning help from the bullpen as well as adding a little luck along the way.

Simply by putting that combination together for consecutive games, the Dodgers (47-56) have suddenly become upwardly mobile in the mediocre National League West. Saturday’s win, the Dodgers’ sixth in the last seven games, put them two games ahead of the Braves in fourth place. They are 7 1/2 games behind the first-place Cincinnati Reds and 3 behind the third-place Houston Astros.

Just the fact that the road-weary Dodgers (19-31 away from Dodger Stadium) have won two straight road games, even against a team worse off than themselves, is reason enough for optimism.

“Hopefully, this will be the streak that will propel us somewhere,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I can feel it changing, just recently. Our basic problems have been not putting runs on the board and not getting good relief from our bullpen. We’ve gotten that the last two nights.”

One night after getting 14 hits and 9 runs, the Dodgers racked up 15 hits and 5 runs against Brave pitching Saturday night. That was enough for starter Bob Welch, who gave up 1 earned run and 6 hits in 8 innings to earn his 10th win.

But the Dodgers had a few anxious moments in that final one-third of an inning. Reliever Matt Young faced Dion James, who already had three hits against Welch, with two runners on base. James lined a low fastball down the third-base line, but Mickey Hatcher leaped and snared the ball in his glove to end the threat.

Shaky though it may have been, Young earned his ninth save and the Dodgers their second straight win.

“Take ‘em however you can get ‘em,” Young said. “That’s a pretty good motto for this team.”

The Dodgers have maintained that they haven’t gotten many breaks this season. But Saturday, they broke the game open with a couple of broken-bat hits.

Those came in the Dodgers’ two-run sixth inning, when they took a 4-2 lead against Brave starter David Palmer. Steve Sax beat out a well-placed nubber between three infielders, and after Dave Anderson was hit by a pitch, sluggers Pedro Guerrero and Mike Marshall knocked in runs with consecutive singles, breaking bats both times.

Guerrero’s was a dying liner to right off the bat’s handle that scored Sax from second, making it 3-2, Dodgers. Then Marshall, who had singled home a run the previous inning, blooped a single to center, scoring Anderson for the 4-2 lead.

However, John Shelby’s three hits, including his bases-empty home run in the first, were the most impressive blows by a Dodger hitter all night.

The Dodgers, despite leaving 15 runners on base against three Brave pitchers, managed a fifth run in the seventh inning and relied on good pitching and good luck to carry them the rest of the way.

They got both.

“When things start going good, everything works,” Lasorda said. “And that’s what it’s doing right now. Hits are falling in that weren’t falling in before.”

Baseballs also are falling into Dodger gloves when before they had not. Take Saturday’s final out, for instance. Had James hit the ball an inch higher, it probably would have skimmed over Hatcher’s glove and resulted in a two-run double, with Ted Simmons (9 for 18 in his career against Young) coming up.

“I caught that ball on the way down,” Hatcher said. “I jumped as soon as I heard the crack of the bat. I was waving my arms to try to keep in the air. I guess I had good hang time.”

The two broken-bat hits and Hatcher’s airborne catch were only three examples of Dodger good fortune.

In the seventh, catcher Mike Scioscia tried to bunt Hatcher to third. But Scioscia popped the bunt back to pitcher Jeff Dedmon, who slipped coming off the mound and could only watch the ball carry over his head and land safely for an infield hit. Hatcher scored moments later on pinch-hitter Ken Landreaux’s fly ball.

There wasn’t much luck involved in Welch’s performance. He gave up an unearned run in the second after a Sax throwing error and another run in the third on a James double and two sacrifices, but then he shut down the Braves the rest of the way.

Welch’s last win came July 12 at Chicago, when he received 12 runs from Dodger hitters while pitching a complete-game shutout. In Welch’s three subsequent starts, though, Dodger hitters gave him a total of only seven runs.

“When we put points on the board, that’s when we win,” Welch said. “In my last few games, we’ve been right there and haven’t won. Sometimes, it was my fault, sometimes not.”

Welch expertly worked out of several tight spots Saturday. He struck out Dale Murphy with two out and a runner on third in the fifth inning. And he forced Ken Oberkfell to ground into a rally-killing double play in the seventh.

“If you go out there looking for bad things to happen, they will,” Welch said. “So, I try not to think about that.”

Dodger Notes

The Mike Marshall-for-Eddie Murray trade speculation has been revived the last two days. The Dodgers have sent Mel Didier, a special assignment scout, to watch the Baltimore Orioles, and an Oriole scout has been in the press box in Atlanta the last two games. . . . Add trade rumors: There was talk on the radio broadcast of Saturday’s Cincinnati-San Francisco game that the Dodgers are talking with the Reds about a Dave Parker-for-Orel Hershiser trade. That proposed deal, which would have the Dodgers trade their best pitcher to a National League rival, appears highly unlikely.

Saturday’s victory win was the 900th career win for Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda. Said Lasorda afterward: “Who would have thought it. That has to be the most amazing record in baseball, because nobody thought I’d ever be in this position.” . . . Steve Sax left Saturday’s game in the sixth complaining of dizziness and a headache. Dodger trainer Bill Buhler said Sax suffered dehydration in the 91-degree heat and stifling humidity. “He didn’t drink enough water,” Buhler said. . . . The policy of Fred Claire, the Dodger vice president, is not to address trade rumors. . . . Tim Leary will replace Rick Honeycutt as the starting pitcher Tuesday night at Cincinnati. Monday night’s starter was scheduled to be Ken Howell, but Howell’s grandmother died Saturday morning, and Howell said he might leave the team in Cincinnati for the funeral. Should that happen, the Dodgers would likely start Brad Havens or Brian Holton Monday. Fernando Valenzuela pitches Wednesday against the Reds. . . . Claire returned from two days in Albuquerque, where he observed the Dodgers’ Triple-A team. Claire, who said he spoke to the team as a group, insisted he wasn’t looking for immediate help from Albuquerque. “My purpose was just to see the club,” Claire said. “I had no specific purpose regarding any player. I think we have a very good club in Albuquerque.” Asked specifically about second baseman Julio Cruz and shortstop Mariano Duncan, Claire said he is pleased with the progress of both players. “(Cruz) is running hard,” Claire said. “His injured foot appears to be fine, but considering he hasn’t played since March. . . . It’s going to take some time for Julio to be ready. Mariano’s attitude is good. I was pleased to see that.”

Former Dodger Vice President Al Campanis denied a report in the Daily Californian, the student newspaper at the University of California, that he has been hired by Dr. Harry Edwards to work as his assistant in baseball’s affirmative action program. Campanis said, however, that Edwards has told him that “we’ll get together in a month and work something out.” . . . The Times, in Ross Newhan’s Sunday baseball column, recently quoted Edwards as saying he would recommend to Commissioner Peter Ueberroth that a position be found for Campanis, that Campanis had made too many contributions to baseball to be left dangling in the wind because of his “Nightline” interview, which resulted in his being fired by the Dodgers.