With No Howell, Hershiser’s Know-How Needed

It was 12:45 this morning when the phone rang in the Dodgers clubhouse at Shea Stadium.

That anyone heard it amid the cheers, chants and euphoria that followed a 5-4, 12-inning victory over the New York Mets in Game 4 of the National League’s Championship Series seemed as much of a surprise as the victory itself.

Jay Howell, suspended for 3 days Sunday by National League president Bart Giamatti for employing pine tar on his glove, was calling from the team’s hotel in midtown Manhattan and asking for his good friend, Orel Hershiser.

Some 6 hours earlier, in a gesture of moral support, Hershiser had accompanied Howell to a news conference at which Howell explained his reaction to the suspension.

Now, having watched on television as Hershiser, the last of the seven Dodger pitchers still at Shea and only one day after he had gone 7 innings as the Game 3 starter, came out of the bullpen to save the victory that tied the best of 7 series at 2-2, Howell wanted to tell his friend how much he was admired and respected.

“He said ‘I love you,’ and I said, ‘I love you, too,” Hershiser said. “I told him I had just gone from being a pitcher to a brain dead heaver like he is. That’s what I call closers. They don’t have time to think. They just have to go strength against strength.”

And that’s what Hershiser said he did in that improbable situation in the 12th inning, replacing Jesse Orosco with two outs, the bases loaded and the depleted Dodgers clinging to a one run lead.

Matched against Kevin McReynolds, who had earlier homered and doubled, Hershiser went to a 1 and 1 count, then got McReynolds on a fly to shallow center, where John Shelby made a running catch reminiscent of the one he failed to make in the ninth inning of Game 1.

“It was high school ball again,” Hershiser said at his locker later. “I didn’t know how good my fastball was going to be after pitching yesterday, but I didn’t want to try and overthrow my curve and I didn’t want to throw a sinker in the dirt, so I just went strength against strength, with three straight fastballs.

“Fortunately my adreneline was pumping so hard that I had a real good one. Jay told me when he called that Jim Palmer had said on TV that they were clocking it at 94 and 95 miles per hour.

“I tried to get the third one inside and did. McReynolds hit it off his wrists and I saw a replay of Game 1. I’ve seen so many of those drop in, but I had a pretty good idea that John was going to get to this one.”

Moments after Shelby did, the Dodgers came whopping into the clubhouse, with Manager Tom Lasorda, his arms raised exultantly, shouting “what a bleeping team, what a bleeping team.”

“We put all our gold on bulldog,” he later said of Hershiser, appearing for the third time in the 7 days since the playoffs began. “What heart. What a pitcher. What a win.”

How long would Hershiser have gone if the Mets had tied it.

“Maybe 8 or 9 more innings,” Lasorda said. “I had nobody else. I would have had to bring Drysdale down from the broadcasting booth.”

Coach Bill Russell said: “You bring in Drysdale, and the Mets would have checked him for Vitalis.”

The Mets had already checked Howell for pine tar, leading to his suspension. Hershiser smiled later and said a loss in Game 4 would have probably left Howell feeling responsible. He said he felt good about helping to relieve his friend of that burden. He said he felt good, as well, that the Dodgers had recaptured the home field advantage, with two of the next three at Dodger Stadium, if they are needed.

Hershiser is scheduled to pitch Game 7 and said he would be ready.

“Game 6 or 7, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’ll volunteer any time. I’ll pitch every day. I may not be good, but I’ll take the ball. I praise God that I’m healthy enough and my arm is strong enough to do it.”

Hershiser had told Lasorda before the start of Game 4 that he would be available if needed. He had a feeling he might be needed when the Dodgers pinch hit for Alejandro Pena in the 12th, meaning Tim Leary would face the Mets in the home half, the last Dodger right-hander, what with Howell and Tim Belcher, today’s starter, back at the hotel.

“Once I knew Leary was going in and we had no other right-handers,” Hershiser said, “I ran into the clubhouse to get ready. I only had a T-shirt and Windbreaker on. I wasn’t wearing a cup. The pitchers who were already out of the game asked me what I was doing and I said that someone was going to hit a homer and I might have to pitch. I predicted the whole thing.”

The someone was Kirk Gibson, who had also homered when Hershiser made his only previous relief appearance of the season, gaining a save May 10 in Chicago. Two Met singles off Leary and a walk by Orosco set the stage for Hershiser’s appearance.

How long could he have gone?

“Only long enough for Belcher to get on a subway and get out here,” he said. “McReynolds may have been it for me. There was pressure on both of us, but this time I was fortunate. Who knows about tomorrow?”

Who indeed, but Hershiser will be ready.