Few Fans, but Marshall’s Critics Are Many : Right Fielder Says Booing Crowd ‘Narrow-Minded’ as Dodgers Split With Reds

In case anyone was wondering whether Mike Marshall has heard the boos and derisive comments directed his way during recent Dodger games, he most certainly has. He isn’t happy about it, but takes solace that the crowds have been small.

Booing Marshall has become such a standard practice at Dodger Stadium that it was perhaps fortunate the Dodger right fielder did not attend Pope John Paul II’s mass Wednesday night.

“Even they might have booed me,” said Marshall, sardonically.

The booing became more pronounced Thursday night after Marshall went 0 for 4 and left four base runners stranded in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of a doubleheader.

In the second game, the Dodgers beat the Reds, 6-3, and Marshall quieted many in the crowd of 23,829 by delivering a pinch-hit, run-scoring single in the eighth inning.

Bob Welch (12-9) gave up three runs in seven innings to earn his first win since Aug. 11. Alejandro Pena pitched 1 innings for his fifth save, striking out Eric Davis with two runners on to end the game. Davis hit his 37th home run and drove in the winning run with a single in the first game.

The Dodgers’ offensive support in the second game was supplied by Glenn Hoffman, who had three hits and two RBIs, and Pedro Guerrero and John Shelby, both of whom had two hits and an RBI. Guerrero had four hits in the first game, too.

The win kept the Dodgers (62-84) one game ahead of the San Diego Padres in the retreat for last place in the National League West. Thursday’s split puts the Reds eight games behind San Francisco atop the West.

Then there was Marshall, whose eighth-inning hit drew a smattering of applause amid the boos.

Fans have voiced their displeasure at Marshall ever since his clubhouse fight with teammate Phil Garner late last month.

In Thursday’s first game, Marshall’s failure to produce with runners on base in all four at bats only reinforced his critics in the stands. “Of the 15 or 20 thousand (fans) that we have now, I’d say the majority of them are not Mike Marshall fans,” Marshall said. “If it was 40 thousand, it’d be worse.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really experienced anything like this. It’s demoralizing. I’m just going to have to black out the fans and the situation and just go out and play . . . They have all the right in the world to boo. It’s their prerogative. But I think they are being narrow-minded.

“It’s not like I’m playing so bad. I think they are just finding any reason to boo me . . . I’m just a marked man right now. Everybody’s down on the Dodgers, and I guess I’ve been the most controversial figure on the team.”

The first game also was frustrating for other Dodgers, most notably starter Fernando Valenzuela (12-14), who went the distance and lost, and Guerrero, who went 4 for 5.

Valenzuela gave up bases-empty home runs to Nick Esasky and Davis in the middle innings, but he still took the Dodgers into extra innings tied, 2-2.

In the 10th, Valenzuela gave up a single to Tracy Jones on a slow grounder to shortstop Hoffman. Then Dave Concepcion singled to left, moving Jones to third. That brought up Davis, who blooped a single to right to score the winning run.

Former Dodger property John Franco, who gave up the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, pitched a scoreless 10th to earn his eighth win.

But Franco needed considerable assistance from Davis, who ran down Mike Devereaux’s deep drive to right-center and almost doubled Steve Sax off first with a one-bounce throw. Davis followed that by making a running catch at the ankles on Guerrero’s fly ball to shallow center.

So Valenzuela, who threw 160 pitches, wound up a loser despite one of his best outings of the season. Valenzuela pitched a season-high 10 innings, allowing 10 hits, striking out 8 and walking only 3.

All three walks came in the first three innings, when a struggling Valenzuela threw 63 pitches to work out of jams. Valenzuela’s two mistakes on floating screwballs resulted in Esasky’s home run in the fourth and Davis’ in the fifth.

Esasky’s home run was only the fourth ever hit into the small section of loge seats down either foul line at Dodger Stadium. It landed six rows into the orange seats. Only Frank Howard, Dave Kingman and Dave Parker have done it.

Davis’ home run gave the Reds a 2-1 lead that figured to stick until the Dodgers’ ninth inning against Franco, who had replaced starter Dennis Rasmussen.

By the end of the fifth inning of Game 2, the Dodgers already had given Welch twice as many runs than they had for Valenzuela in 10 innings of the first game.

The Dodgers scored two runs in the first inning, Sax scoring from second on Ted Power’s wild pitch. And Ralph Bryant, Marshall’s replacement, scored Shelby from third with a sacrifice fly.

The lead swelled to 4-0 in the fifth, when Shelby doubled in Welch and Guerrero, who had four hits without a runner in scoring position in Game 1, singled in Shelby. At that point, Shelby had 11 hits in his last 17 at bats, and Guerrero had been 6 for 6 for the night.

Cincinnati’s comeback began in the sixth, when Esasky hit a two-run home run to left to make it 4-2. Then, in the seventh, Kurt Stillwell doubled and scored on Dave Collins’ bloop single to center. Collins advanced to second with two outs, but Davis grounded to second to end the inning.

Welch was pulled after seven, and the Dodgers started experimenting with their bullpen. Matt Young, out since Aug. 26 with a strained left elbow ligament, faced only one batter in the eighth, striking out Dave Parker on four pitches. In came Pena, who got out of the inning, giving up only an infield single.

Dodger Notes

Third baseman Dave Anderson was a late scratch again Thursday with persistent soreness in his left shoulder. Anderson said he wants to play, but he had to end batting practice early because of the pain. . . . Mariano Duncan, rehabilitating a partially torn ligament in his left knee, ran six half-speed sprints before the game and reported no pain. Duncan will report to the Arizona Instructional League after the Dodgers’ season ends Oct. 4. He has been given clearance to take batting practice as a right-handed hitter only. Duncan is also expected to work out at second base. . . . Infielder Tracy Woodson’s season officially ended when his severely sprained left wrist was placed in a hard cast Wednesday. Woodson met with Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ vice president, Thursday to determine his winter ball plans.