Cubs Get to Fernando and Deck Dodgers, 9-2

As part of their “Think Blue” promotion Friday night, the Dodgers drafted fans to play out their fantasies as a PA announcer, groundskeeper, photographer, even a sportswriter. Nice touch, but they might have considered adding a fantasy Fernando to the list.

For the flesh-and-blood Fernando, it was another fiasco, which made for one vexed Valenzuela, a perplexed Tom Lasorda, and a 9-2 win for the Chicago Cubs before a discontented gathering of 42,763 at Dodger Stadium.

While the Cubs didn’t treat Valenzuela as rudely as the Reds had in his last start, when he was bombed for three home runs in less than an inning, they did slap him around for five runs in the third inning, bunching together five singles and two walks.

Cub first baseman Mark Grace, a rookie from Tustin, turned Dodger Stadium into Graceland, singling home two runs in the third and belting a three-run home run off reliever Tim Crews in the ninth.

“I got a lucky hit off Fernando that one time,” Grace said. “But I’ll take a hundred of those, believe me.”

Maybe because Valenzuela needed the work, Lasorda left him in to work seven innings, and while he allowed just one more run, on a two-out walk to Shawon Dunston, a stolen base, and a single by Rafael Palmeiro in the sixth, Valenzuela’s closing line wasn’t a pretty sight: 7 innings pitched, 6 runs, 8 hits, 6 walks, 2 strikeouts and a wild pitch.

The loss dropped Valenzuela’s record below .500 at 5-6, while ballooning his earned-run average above 4, to 4.21, highest on the Dodger staff. He has allowed more hits (105) than innings pitched (104), and his walk-to-strikeout ratio--56 walks to 41 K’s--is easily the worst of his career.

What to do about Fernando, who reportedly had some fastballs clocked in the 70-m.p.h. range Friday night?

“I don’t know,” a somber Lasorda said. “Keep sending him out there, and hope that he starts finding his release point and his control. He tells me he’s OK. When he tells me he’s OK, I’ve got to believe it.”

The Dodgers had a half-game trimmed off their lead in the National League West, as Houston split a double-header with the Mets and closed within 4 1/2 games.

While the Cubs feasted on Fernando--although it was an all-singles diet--the Dodgers pecked away with little success against Cub left-hander Jamie Moyer, who gave up 10 hits in 6 innings but just 1 run, on Kirk Gibson’s broken-bat single in the seventh.

With Dodger runners still on the corners and two out, Cub Manager Don Zimmer got away with a daring--albeit peculiar--move, lifting Moyer with a full count on Mike Marshall. Zimmer brought in a right-handed reliever, Les Lancaster, whose payoff pitch to Marshall was a called strike three by plate umpire Dave Pallone. The call provoked Marshall into tossing his bat, a little fling that cost him $100 when Pallone fined him.

Zimmer said that when he managed in Texas, he once pulled a pitcher with a 3-and-0 count and the bases loaded, and brought in Steve Comer.

“He threw the first pitch right down the middle,” Zimmer said. “He threw the second one down the middle. He threw the third one down the middle, the batter hit a ground ball to the first baseman, who booted it, and we lost.”

As for his move Friday night, Zimmer said: “Like anything, I got a hunch. I knew if that big Marshall hits a three-run home run, that puts them right back in the ballgame. He was right on Moyer’s pitches, and already had hit a couple of shots for hits.

“I said to myself, with the count 2 and 2, whatever his next pitch is, that will be his last pitch.”

The Dodgers, who had won five of six games on their trip to Cincinnati and Houston, added a run in the eighth against Lancaster on a double by Jeff Hamilton--who had three hits--and a single by Dave Anderson.

The Cubs, who have won 11 of their last 15 games to move into third place in the NL East, 7 games behind the Mets, started their tap dance against Valenzuela when Dunston lined a one-out single to left. Palmeiro followed with a base hit to right, and Andre Dawson--after fouling off at least a half-dozen pitches--worked a full-count walk to load the bases.

Ryne Sandberg, who came into the game batting .368 in his career against Valenzuela, then punched a ground single through the left side, scoring two runs. Vance Law tapped out to the mound, moving the runners along, and Valenzuela elected to give the next batter, Jody Davis, an intentional walk, to face the left-handed hitting Grace.

Grace, who has 25 hits in his last 23 games, crossed up that strategy by hitting a soft liner over the head of shortstop Anderson. That scored two more runs, and the No. 8 hitter, Darrin Jackson, then singled home another.

The Dodgers, who had Mickey Hatcher pull up lame with a strained groin--forcing his departure after a first-inning single--loaded the bases with one out in the second. But Moyer (5-7) dispatched Valenzuela on three pitches, then got Steve Sax to ground sharply to Sandberg at second, ending the inning.