Dodgers Are at a Loss--Twice--Against Phillies

There wasn’t much time between games of Friday night’s doubleheader here, so Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda supplied curt replies to reporters even before any questions were asked.

“OK, the answers are No, No, No and Yes,” Lasorda said after the Dodgers’ 2-1 loss in 11 innings to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1, which was followed by a 7-3 loss in the second game. “Now, you guys fill in the questions.”

Given the unorthodox manner in which the Dodgers gave Game 1 to the Phillies, through a series of defensive misadventures, the questions matching Lasorda’s answers could be:

(1) Will Dodger reliever Matt Young ever win a Gold Glove?

Young, brought in to pitch the bottom of the 11th inning of a 1-1 tie, could not field leadoff hitter Ron Roenicke’s high-bouncing chopper near the mound that was ruled an infield hit.

(2) Would Ken Landreaux return in Game 2 as the starter in right field?

Landreaux, playing right field only because of the number of Dodger injuries, misplayed Juan Samuel’s subsequent liner. The ball bounced over Landreaux’s head, enabling Roenicke to take third and Samuel second.

(3) Did it seem as if Milt Thompson’s chopper in front of home plate would ever fall to the turf?

Thompson, who finished the night with 7 hits and 3 RBIs, pounded a Young pitch into the dirt in front of home plate. The ball bounced high into the air, and by the time it fell into Scioscia’s glove, Roenicke had dived around Scioscia and touched home plate with his left hand for the winning run. Thompson, who the Dodgers were interested in acquiring as their center fielder in spring training, had the game-winning RBI in both games. He tied the National League record for getting the game-winning hit in four straight games.

(4) Would the Dodgers show up for Game 2?

Well, you know they had to. But they later wished they hadn’t. The Dodgers, who have been swept in each of the three doubleheaders they have played this season, led, 3-2, entering the sixth inning.

Lasorda was in no mood to play question-and-answer games after the long night ended at 12:48 a.m., EDT. In fact, he was asking the questions.

“You see that sixth inning (of Game 2, when Philadelphia scored three runs)?” he asked. “They got them all with two outs. And there were some ground balls.

“And what did we do in the 11th inning of the first game? You saw it.”

The late innings of the first game clearly showed why the Dodgers (54-68) are where they are.

Both the Dodgers and the Phillies squandered scoring chances for the first 10 innings against starters Bob Welch and Kevin Gross and the respective relievers.

Eventually, though, the Dodgers’ defense broke down like an old water heater. A harbinger for the 11th-inning collapse could be found in the 10th, when Steve Sax bobbled a routine grounder and then overthrew first base by about 10 feet. Sax fired a perfect throw to Scioscia, backing up the play near Philadelphia’s dugout.

Then came the 11th and the Dodgers’ demise.

Young, who recorded his 11th save the night before in Montreal, said he lost Roenicke’s nubber in the lights.

“I didn’t even see it,” said Young, who got the loss. “It just came down perfect in the lights. I kind of put my glove where I thought the ball was going to be hit. That’s all I could do.”

That dubious infield single was then compounded by Landreaux’s right-field hesitation and subsequent chase of Samuel’s hard-hit liner.

Landreaux said he, too, lost the ball in the lights.

“I was getting ready to catch the ball and it went in the lights,” Landreaux said. “So, I stopped to play the hop. It went over my head, and I was just trying to make sure the runner didn’t score.”

At least, Landreaux accomplished that much.

But it only set up the unusual ending, with Scioscia waiting for Thompson’s high chopper to fall. While he was waiting, Scioscia had to decide whether to field the ball and try to swipe at the sliding Roenicke or let it go in the hope it would roll foul.

Either way, Scioscia was gambling.

“I’m convinced it wasn’t going to go foul,” Scioscia said. “My first instinct was to get the ball and make the play. The ball was just floating. It had no spin. It didn’t look like it would have backspin (and go foul).”

After his preliminary answers, Lasorda waited for questions.

On Scioscia’s dilemma, Lasorda said: “I know what I would do (in that situation). But Mike said he thought he could get him, so . . . “

On Young’s fielding: “That was an easy play on Roenicke’s ball.”

What upset him, though, was the Dodgers’ lack of hitting in Game 1. Welch, whose earned-run average was reduced to 3.19, has given up only one earned run in his last 15 innings. But he doesn’t have a win to show for it because of the Dodgers’ lack of production.

The Dodgers’ only run off Gross came in the second inning, when John Shelby doubled and later scored on a ground ball.

Philadelphia left runners in scoring position in all seven innings against Welch and once against reliever Tim Crews, who pitched three scoreless innings. Thompson knocked in the Phillies’ first run in the third inning against Welch.

The second-game breakdown, though not as blatant as the one in Game 1, began in the sixth inning. A bobbled infield single by shortstop Glenn Hoffman, combined with a “sure” double play that wasn’t and a two-run double by Thompson turned a 3-2 Dodger lead into a 4-3 deficit.

Starting pitcher Tim Leary, who supplied two of the three Dodger runs off winner Shane Rawley (16-5) with a second-inning double, got the loss. Alejandro Pena, Leary’s replacement, got out of the sixth-inning jam by gave up a run-scoring double to Lance Parrish in the seventh to make it 5-3, Phillies.

Dodger Notes

Mike Marshall, again drawing off-the-record grumbling by some teammates for not playing with injuries, was put on the 15-day disabled list Friday after an examination by Dr. Frank Jobe in Los Angeles showed that he has a hematoma in the left ankle. Marshall fouled a ground ball off the ankle 12 days ago and the swelling had not subsided. Jobe drained the accumulation of blood in the ankle. In order to find room on the disabled list for Marshall and space on the roster for shortstop Glenn Hoffman, the Dodgers moved Mariano Duncan (torn knee ligament) from the 21- to the 60-day emergency disabled list and Jeff Hamilton (sprained ankle) from the 15- to 21-day disabled list. . . . A Baltimore Orioles scout was in attendance Friday, again fueling speculation that the Dodgers want to trade for Eddie Murray. But the scout couldn’t have been there to watch Marshall, who was in Los Angeles. . . . This is Marshall’s second stretch on the disabled list this season. He has missed 43 of the Dodgers’ 122 games because of seven different ailments--stiff back, wart on finger, cold, strained thigh muscle, viral syndrome, sprained wrist and hematoma (severe bruise) on left ankle. . . . Pedro Guerrero reached the 1,000-hit mark with a first-inning single. . . . John Shelby was the most productive Dodger Friday. He had five hits in the two games. . . . Rick Honeycutt (2-11) will try to break a Dodger-record 10-game losing streak today at (12:20 PDT) when he opposes the Phillies’ Mike Maddux (0-0).