Valenzuela Homes In, Dodgers Rout Astros

The idea of Fernando Valenzuela being unable to win at Dodger Stadium might seem as unthinkable as Bergman bombing in Stockholm or Springsteen being shunned in New Jersey. Those things just aren’t supposed to happen.

Yet, in this most atypical of seasons for the Dodgers’ celebrated left-hander, Valenzuela failed to win in his first five home starts. More alarming to the Dodgers was the fact that Valenzuela did not make it past the third inning in his last two home appearances.

But Wednesday night, when the Dodgers needed him most after losing to the Houston Astros on consecutive nights, Valenzuela returned to form and pitched an impressive six-hitter as the Dodgers pounded the Astros, 11-1, before 33,737 appreciative fans.

Valenzuela’s best outing of the season enabled the first-place Dodgers to increase their lead over Houston in the National League West to 1 1/2 games.

Although an offensive revival, led by Mike Marshall and Kirk Gibson, was also appreciated by Manager Tom Lasorda, Valenzuela’s pitching effort had to be the most welcome of sights. He was entrenched in one of the most severe slumps of his career, his record ebbing two games below .500 and his earned-run average soaring over 4.

All that was forgotten as Valenzuela (4-5) blanked the Astros until the seventh, when Bill Doran walked, took third on a double by Kevin Bass and scored on a grounder by Rafael Ramirez. Valenzuela pitched out of relatively few jams, mainly because he walked only three batters. He struck out only one but threw just 105 pitches.

Was he happy to win at home?

“It’s nice (to win) everywhere,” he said.

As he strode off the field after the final out, Valenzuela was given a standing ovation by what was left of the crowd. In his last start, as well as several others at home, Valenzuela was booed by some Dodger fans.

Asked if he appreciated the ovation, Valenzuela smiled and said: “Yeah, but two games ago, they booed me. But that’s the game. The fans change when you change. You do well, they cheer.”

Valenzuela and Lasorda stopped short of declaring an official return of the old Valenzuela. After all, the pitcher had a solid nine-inning effort in Montreal two starts ago, only to get shelled in 2 innings last Friday night against Cincinnati.

“It’s going to take a few games to get his timing and location back,” Lasorda said. “We hope this is the start of something good for him.”

Said Valenzuela: “It was good for the team and good for me. The difference was that I stayed ahead of hitters, and they swung at pitches that I wanted them to. (I was) frustrated because I haven’t won and haven’t pitched too many innings.”

Ample offensive support made Valenzuela’s first win since May 6 in St. Louis all the easier. The Dodgers roughed up Astro ace Mike Scott for five runs in four innings and didn’t spare the Astro bullpen.

Leaders on the Dodger hit list were Marshall, who had four hits, and Gibson, who hit a towering two-run home run off Scott in the third inning. Marshall followed Gibson’s shot with a home run to left field, the first of three extra-base hits for Marshall.

Gibson, curious about his first meeting against Scott, the noted split-fingered sorcerer, watched five innings of videotape on Scott before the game. It resulted in Gibson’s 11th home run and contributed to Scott’s demise.

“I haven’t done this (watched tape of pitchers) very often,” Gibson said. “Since I haven’t batted against (Scott) before, I just wanted to see him. So, I watched some tape. I wanted to feel comfortable and be ready in case I got a good pitch to hit.”

That pitch was an inside fastball that Gibson sent halfway up the right-field bleachers. The ball bounced once and went out of the stadium.

Gibson: “I wanted to come out and be an impact player tonight.”

Marshall also had a big impact. He may have upset a few Dodgers with his decision to move from first base to right field for the sake of his back and offensive production, but he has four extra-base hits in two games since the move.

“I didn’t do this to disrupt the team,” Marshall said. “But for me, it works out the best. I feel more comfortable out there (in right field). It’s early, but I just didn’t feel I was swinging the bat like I’m capable of (while at first base).”

Also contributing offensively were John Shelby, who extended his hitting streak to 23 games and had three runs batted in, while Jeff Hamilton and Frankiln Stubbs each had two hits.

But this was one night when an offensive outburst wasn’t needed. Valenzuela may not have had vintage stuff, but it was good enough to silence an Astro attack that produced 15 runs in the first two games of the series.

“I think I had good location on the screwball,” he said. “It stayed down and away most of the time. And the fastball . . . “

Valenzuela paused, then added: “It was average--like me.”

Dodger Notes

Alfredo Griffin’s right hand was placed in a hard cast Wednesday morning. Trainer Bill Buhler said that Griffin, who broke a bone in his right hand May 21, will likely wear the cast for two weeks. “Then, we’ll go from there,” Buhler said. . . . Pitcher Bill Bene, the Dodgers’ first-round choice in the summer free-agent draft from Cal State Los Angeles, signed for $150,000. Bene, 20, worked out at Dodger Stadium Wednesday afternoon and soon will join the Dodgers’ rookie league team in Great Falls, Mont. Bene’s fastball has been clocked at faster than 90 m.p.h., but a fews teams were skeptical because of his wildness. Bene has pitched for only three seasons, and Executive Vice President Fred Claire said that Bene has the “best arm of any prospect in the country.” . . . Mike Davis, who has lost his starting job in right field, said he will be unable to break out of his slump if he does not play regularly. “Pinch-hitting won’t do it,” Davis said. “I’ll guarantee you that. I can’t get into any kind of a groove. You look at my numbers and they’re terrible. I know that as much as you, but I can’t improve sitting over there (on the bench).”