After Dodgers Win, 8-5, Rose Predicts They’ll Lose in End

The gauntlet has been officially thrown down by Cincinnati Manager Pete Rose, who boldly proclaimed after the Dodgers’ 8-5 victory over the Reds Wednesday night that the Dodgers will not win the National League West.

“I personally don’t think the Dodges are going to win it,” Rose told reporters. “I said a couple of weeks ago that I want to catch the two teams in front of us, which are Houston and San Francisco.

“I think the Dodgers are going to miss Fernando Valenzuela. It’s going to put a lot of pressure on their young pitchers. And they’ve got a tough schedule to go . . . “

Once he stopped shaking his head and laughing, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda gingerly picked up that gauntlet and said that his Dodgers will keep trying to prove the critics wrong.

“Pete’s entitled to his opinion,” Lasorda said. “That’s what makes this country great. Opinions are like noses; everybody has one. He’s picked his two teams now. But Pete’s picked horses that haven’t won before, hasn’t he?”

Concerning Rose’s remark about the Dodger pitching staff, reduced to a four-man rotation for the time being, Lasorda shrugged and said: “We’ll see.”

Strangely, Rose’s comments came after the Dodgers snapped a three-game losing streak and broke out of a prolonged offensive slump to hold off the Reds.

It may not have been the most aesthetically pleasing Dodger win, but it widened their lead to 1 1/2 games over the second-place Astros, who lost to the Giants Wednesday night.

They did it behind the pitching of Orel Hershiser, who earned his 16th victory despite allowing three solo home runs in 8-plus innings, and the hitting of Mike Marshall, who had a home run, a triple and two runs batted in.

Eight times this season, the Dodgers have had three-game losing streaks. And eight times, they have not let it slide to four games. Hershiser has been responsible for stopping the last two streaks, even though he had to avoid telling the truth to Lasorda’s queries about his fitness.

Hershiser, shirt doused with perspiration and his body wilting in the heat, could hardly wait to leave the mound and repair to the relative coolness of the dugout at the end of every inning, with the Riverfront Stadium turf was as hot as a skillet.

Once there, Lasorda would be waiting for his pitcher with a cup of water, a towel and the same question every time: “How do you feel?”

“When Tommy and Perry (pitching coach Ron Perranoski) would ask me that, I would say, ‘Same as last inning.’ What I didn’t tell them was that ‘the same’ meant bad. I guess they needed to put in some adjectives when they asked me a question.”

Pitching with what he called “the worst stuff” he has had all season, Hershiser nonetheless nearly got a complete game in the 90-degree heat.

But after giving up his third home run of the game, to Kal Daniels leading off the ninth inning, which cut the Dodgers’ lead to 8-3, Hershiser was finally replaced, no questions asked. Jay Howell, despite yielding a two-run home run to Paul O’Neill, held the lead and retired the Reds.

If there was any night on which the Dodgers needed their offense, it was Wednesday. Excused from pregame batting practice by Lasorda, the latest act of a desperate manager, the Dodgers responded with 11 hits--3 by the suddenly hot Marshall.

They had two big innings, a four-run fourth, which included Marshall’s 16th home run and John Shelby’s triple, and a four-run (all unearned) ninth that was the result of two critical errors by the Reds’ infield.

“I think I was very fortunate to win tonight,” said Hershiser, 16-6 with a 2.85 earned-run average. “I didn’t throw the ball well. I just battled. I was out there on the mound and I said to myself, ‘You’ve got bad stuff tonight, just keep working and maybe something good will happen.’ ”

Something good came in the form of eight Dodger runs.

Trailing, 1-0, after four innings as the result of Red first baseman Ken Griffey’s home run off Hershiser, the Dodgers launched an impressive fifth-inning rally against Jose Rijo that resulted in a 4-1 lead.

Marshall led off the inning with a towering home run that easily carried over the 404-foot sign in center field. Shelby followed with a triple down the left-field line, as Daniels had problems playing the ball’s carom in the corner. Tracy Woodson’s single gave the Dodgers the lead. After Alfredo Griffin’s infield hit and shortstop Barry Larkin’s error, Mike Scioscia slashed a two-run single for a 4-1 advantage.

The Dodger s wasted Marshall’s eighth-inning triple but scored four unearned runs in the ninth to seemingly put the game out of reach, 8-2. With the bases loaded, pinch-hitter Mickey Hatcher hit a hard grounder to Red third baseman Chris Sabo, whose throw to second base sailed into right field, scoring all three runners. Marshall singled home Hatcher for the Dodgers’ eighth run.

“This is my time of year now,” Marshall said. “Everybody goes through bad times, but it’s not like I was puzzled or bewildered (by his recent slump). August and Septembers are usually my months.”

The announcement that the Dodgers temporarily will go with a four-man starting rotation that will include 20-year-old Ramon Martinez and rookie Tim Belcher has drawn some skeptical looks in the Dodger clubhouse.

“I think this puts a heavier weight on me and Belcher (and Tim Leary),” Hershiser said. “A move like that is made because we’re in a pennant race. I think we can be equal to that task. This is where we earn our pay checks.”

Dodger Notes

With the three home runs he allowed Wednesday night--two to Kal Daniels and the other to Ken Griffey--Orel Hershiser has given up 17 home runs this season in 183 innings, most of any pitcher on the Dodger staff. Last season, Hershiser gave up 17 home runs in 264 innings. But Hershiser already has won as many games (16) as he did last season. Talking about persevering on a night when was not at his best, Hershiser said: “This is the kind of game you have to have if you want to have a good year. I think in the last two seasons, I might have lost a game like this. Maybe when I was younger, I would have tried to push through on full throttle and burned out after three or four innings. Tonight, I tried to conserve and throw more changeups, even though (Mike) Scioscia didn’t always know they were coming. He’d put down fastball, and I’d throw changeups.”

Second baseman Steve Sax left the game in the seventh innings complaining of lower-back stiffness. Sax said his back has bothered him the past two weeks and that he will not play tonight if he still feels the same pain. . . . Rehabilitating pitcher Mario Soto threw 47 pitches during a simulated game Wednesday. Pitching coach Ron Perranoski said Soto has reached a “plateau” and that his fastball is not consistent. “I don’t know when he’ll be ready, but it won’t be soon,” Perranoski said.