Dodger Infield Gives Until It Hurts Leary and Lifts Cubs, 7-3

This is a story of unrequited glove, featuring the fickle Dodger infield and a pitcher, Tim Leary, who was badly spurned by a lack of support, an alienation of effective pitching.

Sixteen games into the season, the first chapter was written Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Four errors by the Dodger infield--augmented by several significant nonplays--led to five unearned runs and the swift demise of Leary, an eventual 7-3 loser to the Chicago Cubs before a crowd of 34,279.

The damage was done early. A throwing error by third baseman Pedro Guerrero and a fielding error by second baseman Steve Sax set up a 2-run Chicago third inning. Errors by Sax and shortstop Alfredo Griffin on the same double-play attempt, coupled with a grounder Guerrero could not handle and a balk called against the beleaguered Leary accounted for four runs in the fourth.

“I was emotionally wrecked after that,” Leary said. “After that balk, I just had to step off and shake myself out of this, try to forget.”

By the time that inning was finally over, the Dodgers were booed off the field by unforgiving fans, who perhaps thought the big early deficit would be difficult to overcome.

It was.

Cub starter Greg Maddux pitched seven strong innings before fading in the eighth and ninth. The Dodgers scored 3 runs, 2 of them earned, off Maddux before he was replaced with none out by reliever Rich (Goose) Gossage, who easily retired the side to help Maddux improve his record to 4-1. Leary, who pitched a 3-hit shutout in his last start, got his first loss in three decisions despite yielding only 2 earned runs and 5 hits in 6 innings.

All in all, this was not the manner in which the Dodgers wanted to begin a 34-game stretch against National League East teams. Coming into the game, the Dodgers had made 11 errors, 6 of them by the infield.

“It’s still early in the year,” Guerrero said. “Sure, we’re going to have games like this again. But this is just the first game we’ve blown it early.

“We can’t think this is one of those years where we’ll make mistakes and lose all the time.”

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda concurred.

“Out of nine innings, we played seven well and two poorly,” he said. “We gave them the runs. Leary pitched very, very well and deserved a better fate. I just hope we can get (the errors) out of our system and return to the way we had been playing.”

Maddux was cruising to what would have been his second shutout before running into trouble in the eighth. He walked Franklin Stubbs, gave up a bloop single to Sax and a line-drive single to Gibson to load the bases for Guerrero with one out. On the first pitch, a high and inside fastball, Guerrero tried to bail out and poked the ball to shallow right, scoring Stubbs and Sax.

Chicago’s lead had been pared to 7-2, but Maddux avoided further problems that inning by getting Mike Marshall to force Guerrero and Mike Devereaux to ground out.

Twice--in the sixth and ninth innings--the Dodgers had runners in scoring position thanks to errors by Cub third baseman Vance Law. The Dodgers were able to push across a run in the ninth, on hot-hitting Mike Scioscia’s run-scoring single, but failed to score in a similar situation earlier.

They needed considerably more offense to overcome the early inning error festival.

In the third inning, Law led off with a high chopper to third base. Guerrero, breaking late, charged in and made an off-balance throw across his body to first. The ball skidded in front of first baseman Marshall, who got his glove on the ball but couldn’t hold it.

“I just threw it away,” Guerrero said.

That brought up Shawon Dunston, who hit what appeared to be a routine grounder to second. But Sax, positioned near second base, was playing Dunston to pull. By the time he reached the grounder, he was off balance. The ball bounced under his glove, Law taking third.

“I think I could have gotten the ball if I had slid or gone on one knee for it,” Sax said. “But if I had done that, I would not have got him (at first base). It was indecision on my part.”

With no outs, Maddux tried to advance Dunston to second with a sacrifice bunt, but Scioscia instead got the force out at second. Well, at least that was the call made by Jerry Crawford, the second base umpire. Replays showed that Scioscia’s high throw pulled Griffin off the bag.

The Cubs then pushed across the game’s first run when Dave Martinez’s slow grounder to second brought in Law from third. Martinez then stole second. Ryne Sandberg’s liner that went past right fielder Danny Heep for a triple scored Martinez for a 2-0 Chicago lead. Sandberg had been 0 for 18 before that triple, his first this season.

After one out in the Cub half of the fourth, Leon Durham hit a blooper to shallow right-center that fell between Griffin, Sax and Davis. For a few seconds, there was no Dodger covering second base, so Durham tried for the double. Leary eventually covered, but too late. Jody Davis then ran the count to 3-and-2 before walking.

Law, who benefited from Guerrero’s third-inning error, hit another chopping ball to Guerrero. This time, Guerrero fielded the ball cleanly but could not get the ball out of his glove. Law was credited with an infield single, loading the bases for Dunston.

Leary appeared to be out of the jam when Dunston hit a grounder right at Sax. Sax pivoted and threw high and outside to Griffin, drawing him off the bag. That error was compounded when Griffin’s throw to first sailed 5 feet to Marshall’s right. The dual errors brought in two runs for a 4-0 Cub lead.

Dodger Notes

Pedro Guerrero, who has fouled balls off his left shin twice in the last two weeks, is now wearing a protective shin guard. Trainer Bill Buhler said Guerrero still has soreness in his shin, which he reinjured on Sunday in San Francisco.