Marshall’s Hit Ties Up Freeway : Homer in Sixth Helps Dodgers Beat Angels at Anaheim Stadium

The Angels came home Friday and found a new lawn had been installed in their absence. The Anaheim Stadium grass, replaced each year after an annual motocross event, is a rye/bluegrass blend that’s considerably longer and slower than last season’s Bermuda.

“Let me grab my machete,” Wally Joyner said as he picked up his bat for batting practice Friday.

Hitters hate long grass.

Pitchers, on the other hand, like it fine. Just ask Friday night’s starters, Dodger Tim Leary and Angel Chuck Finley.

Leary pitched five innings, kept the ball down, got 10 outs on ground balls and allowed just one hit. Leary is ready for the regularseason to start, long grass or short. In fact, he’s been ready for a while. His spring earned-run average is 1.85.

Finley, too, was on his game. Through five innings of his seven-inning stint, the left-hander had four strikeouts and 11 groundouts.

In the sixth, however, Dodger right fielder Mike Marshall discovered that the ball carries much better in Anaheim if it doesn’t touch the ground until after clearing the fence. He slammed a three-run homer to left-center that lifted the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the Angels in front of 45,795 at Anaheim Stadium, tying the Freeway Series at one game apiece.

“I’m very happy with the way Chuck threw,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “He had good command, threw strikes and just made the one mistake with a forkball.

“I would rather we lost with the way Chuck pitched than if we had won it, 9-8. Our pitchers need to understand that they’re better than how they’ve been critiqued. And I think the last couple of nights reinforce that.”

Finley didn’t quite match Mike Witt’s seven-inning, no-hit effort of Thursday night, but he yielded just two hits in the first five innings, a two-out single to right by John Shelby in the second and Dave Anderson’s bloop single to center leading off the fourth.

But Finley got into trouble right away in the sixth. Mariano Duncan and Anderson, who said he felt “no pain” in his tender right shoulder, slapped back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third.

Two on, nobody out and new first baseman Eddie Murray wedged between Kirk Gibson and Marshall in the lineup. These are the kinds of situations the Dodger brass has dreamed about since signing Murray.

Gibson, who is bothered by knee and shoulder problems and is also recovering from the flu, fouled out. And Murray dribbled the ball to Finley, who threw to the plate. Catcher Bill Schroeder caught Duncan trying to get back to third.

It was two-down-one-to-go for Finley when Marshall made it two-down-and-one-gone, driving a 2-1 pitch well over the 386-foot sign in left-center.

“The kid almost pitched his way out of it,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “He got two tough hitters before Marshall did the damage.”

The Angels managed just one hit in the five innings against Leary, but they parlayed it into a run. Claudell Washington drew a one-out walk and took second on Dante Bichette’s single to right. The Angels loaded the bases when Jack Howell’s fly ball to left-center squirted out of Gibson’s glove for an error. And Washington scored when Schroeder grounded to short to force Howell.

If the results of the Freeway Series so far are any indication, the Dodger pitching is in as good a shape as ever and the Angel staff is a whole lot better off than expected.

And the Dodger hitters, battling back from the flu that ran through their Vero Beach, Fla., training facility, are finding the groove. The Angel hitters, meanwhile, are wondering how many hits will be lost in the grass.

“The grass will thin out a little and it’s going to be cut shorter,” Rader said, “but the hitters will still think it’s unfair until they get used to it.”

Rader, of course, is hoping they will take a cue from Marshall and keep the turf out of play . . . especially with two men on base.

Freeway Series Notes

Deron Johnson, the Angels’ batting coach, approached outfielder Dante Bichette Friday with a dour expression. “It’s a tough world,” Johnson said to the spring phenom who was hitting .367 with a team-high four home runs. “Skip wants to see you.” Bichette went into Manager Doug Rader’s office and waited for the bad news. “He asked me if I thought I should make the team,” Bichette said. “I said, ‘Well, yeah.’ ” Then he said, “That’s all I needed to hear. Congratulations.’ ” Bichette admitted that he had been expecting the worst even though he felt he had proved this spring he could play in the big leagues. “I tried not to think about it,” he said. “I’m thrilled and I think I will get some playing time, too.”

The Angels made four roster moves Friday--sending outfielders Brian Brady and Mike Ramsey, infielder Kent Anderson and catcher Mike Knapp to Edmonton--and Rader announced that Bichette, Tony Armas and utility infielder Glenn Hoffman have made the team. What that means is second baseman Mark McLemore, first baseman Jim Eppard and pitchers Vance Lovelace and Rich Monteleone, who was called back up from the minor league camp Friday, are battling for the final spot on the 24-man roster. The winner may already have been decided, at least in Rader’s mind. “Just because I’ve decided doesn’t mean it’s been wholeheartedly agreed upon by the whole staff,” Rader said.

Lovelace, a left-handed reliever, had to be taken by ambulance for emergency treatment Friday morning. He underwent a series of tests at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange and is suffering from a yet undetermined abdominal ailment. Tests ruled out kidney or gall bladder problems. . . . Angel center fielder Devon White, who has tonsillitis, got Friday night off. . . . The Dodgers also made a couple of roster adjustments, placing left-hander John Tudor on the 21-day disabled list, effective Friday, and returning the contract of Rule V draftee Chris Jones, a right-handed pitcher, to Syracuse, Toronto’s triple-A affiliate. Tudor, who was 10-8 with a 2.32 earned-run average last season, is recovering from off-season elbow surgery.

The Angels announced the pitching matchups for the three-game series with Chicago beginning Tuesday: Mike Witt vs. Jerry Reuss Tuesday; Chuck Finley vs. Melido Perez Wednesday night, and Bert Blyleven vs. Shawn Hillegas Thursday night.