Dodgers Bow to Reds, Though Gibson’s in Gear

In time, perhaps, the lies will be separated from the legends, and the brokenhearted will scarcely remember the echoes of glory reverberating on a happier day.

In this case, it was opening day, when Pete Rose stood not as a mortal accused but as a hero unbowed, and a simple game offered atonement for all transgressions, real or imagined.

They played baseball here in Riverfront Stadium Monday, the Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds--Pete Rose’s Reds--and although the Reds faltered early, making three errors in their very first time afield, the Dodgers were every bit as forgiving as the sellout crowd of 55,385 in Riverfront Stadium that thundered its support for an embattled native son.

And despite a resounding show of resolve by their own larger-than-life character, Kirk Gibson, whose daring on the basepaths created one run and whose home run accounted for another, the Dodgers could not spoil a day that belonged to Rose and the Reds, who prevailed, 6-4, in the first game of the National League season.

“Anyone who stood up and booed Pete Rose today should be ashamed of themselves,” said Gibson, an unabashed admirer of the Cincinnati manager, despite allegations of gambling that could lead to Rose’s banishment from the game.

“I support that man. I admire him. He has been an inspiration to me, and my opinion will never change. He’s a Hall of Famer. I don’t care what he’s done, he’s a Hall of Famer.”

For Dodger starting pitcher Tim Belcher, who grew up a fan of the Reds in the tiny Ohio town of Sparta, there was less shame than embarrassment, especially for his throwing error in the second inning, when he heaved Red pitcher Danny Jackson’s bunt into left field in what became a three-run Cincinnati rally.

“If I make the throw to third base, it’s a double play easy and I’m out of the inning,” said Belcher, who drew the Dodgers’ opening-day assignment because Orel Hershiser had been set back by the flu.

“But I got too excited. (Jackson) couldn’t have thrown it to me any better than he bunted it. But I just wheeled and threw the ball wildly.

“They still may have gotten 12 runs in the next inning, but I would have gotten out of the second.”

It might have appeared that way to the unhappy Belcher, but the Reds did not push across a dozen runs the next inning, only three, all scoring on a home run by Paul O’Neill, one of four hits by the Cincinnati right fielder in a perfect afternoon--a double in the second and two singles filling out his dance card for the day.

This isn’t the first time O’Neill has taken advantage of Dodger pitching. In one August series last season, he had home runs in three consecutive games and had nine hits in 12 at-bats.

“I should have stopped after the first ball was thrown out by my childhood idol,” said Belcher, referring to the ceremonial toss made by Johnny Bench, the former Red catcher who is to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in August.

“He probably made a better pitch than I did,” Belcher said.

Bench undoubtedly went with his best pitch, unlike Belcher, who chastised himself for insisting on throwing his curveball, the pitch he has been working on all spring but at the moment is no better than the fourth-best offering in his repertoire, behind his fastball, slider and changeup.

“I just can’t do that,” Belcher said. “I kept throwing the stupid thing right down the middle. I’m still in a spring-training mode, I guess. I kept trying to work on it.”

O’Neill deposited one of Belcher’s curves over the 375-foot sign in right field, catcher Jeff Reed followed with an opposite-field single to left, and after Belcher’s next pitch to Ron Oester was wide, the second-year right-hander was lifted after only 2 1/3 innings.

The Dodger corps of middle relievers--Mike Morgan, Tim Crews and Ricky Horton--blanked the Reds the rest of the way. But whereas the Dodgers were able to knock out 23-game winner Jackson after Mike Scioscia’s run-scoring single in the fourth and Gibson’s home run in the fifth, they could not overtake the Reds, who have now won seven straight openers and 14 of their last 16.

“We started our game in the second inning,” said first baseman Todd Benzinger, a newcomer from the Boston Red Sox who was charged with one of Cincinnati’s errors when he obstructed Willie Randolph’s path to second base.

Randolph, leading off the game, reached base when third baseman Chris Sabo threw away his grounder. Randolph was awarded second after colliding with Benzinger and scored when Gibson lined a sharp single to right in his first regulation at-bat since his dramatic World Series home run.

Randolph, who also singled in the seventh, scored the first National League run of 1989 after spending the previous 13 seasons in the American League with the New York Yankees.

“Does that qualify for a trivia question?” Randolph said with a smile. “It’s kind of lightweight, I guess.”

There had been some question whether the Dodgers’ heavyweight, Gibson, would be able to go nine rounds Monday. Two or three days ago, Manager Tom Lasorda said he was convinced that Gibson was really hurting, and even after the game Monday, Gibson said he was a “mess.”

Try telling that to the Reds, especially since Gibson--who advanced to second on an infield out--raced for third with two out and Mike Marshall at the plate. Catcher Reed’s throw escaped third baseman Sabo, and Gibson pumped his fist in triumph as he crossed the plate.

“It was a chance I took, but it was the first inning and I wanted to force the issue early,” Gibson said.

“When I’m on the field I’m going to play hard, I’m going to force myself to play my game. I wouldn’t have been out there if I was only going to run half-speed and not steal bases. . . . The other (team) doesn’t care if I’m hurting, so when I go out on the field I don’t ask for a get-well card.”

Gibson’s home run in the fifth--Jackson gave up only one to a left-handed hitter in 260 2/3 innings last season--reinforced the message that he’s in the lineup to stay, at least indefinitely.

“He’s a manager’s dream,” Rose said, tossing a bouquet back to one of his biggest fans. “He plays so hard, he makes things happen.”

But outside of Gibson, the Dodgers made little happen, managing only five hits.

Eddie Murray, the new cleanup hitter, failed to get the ball out of the infield in four at-bats and also dropped a throw by Alfredo Griffin in the seventh for an error. John Shelby, who tied a playoff record by striking out 12 times in seven games against the Mets, fanned three more times. And neither Mickey Hatcher nor Franklin Stubbs, pinch-hitters employed by Lasorda, was able to deliver.

The Reds, meanwhile, had 10 hits.

“A lot of talk in our camp during spring training was about gambling,” Benzinger said. “It was relaxing that a lot of media were here today, talking about baseball.”

Dodger Notes

Last season, Red left-hander Danny Jackson gave up only one home run to a left-handed hitter--Will Clark of the Giants, in his last start of the season, Sept. 28 in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. Kirk Gibson matched that total with his fifth-inning home run Monday. Gibson hit only .172 and struck out 10 times in 29 at-bats against Jackson last season. . . . Willie Randolph’s seventh-inning single, his first hit as a National Leaguer, ended an 0-for-33 string, including his last 30 at-bats as a New York Yankee. . . . Randolph took his wife Gretchen, who had an appendectomy last week in Vero Beach, back to their home in New Jersey before rejoining the team. He said she is resting comfortably.