After Another Loss to Giants, Dodgers Finally Head Home

According to the calendar, it’s still mid-April, but after Wednesday’s 3-1 loss here to the Giants, the Dodgers could hardly be blamed for wondering which would come first: their home opener or the All-Star break.

Even before setting a foot in Dodger Stadium, which they will finally do this afternoon against the Houston Astros, the Dodgers have gotten a first-hand look at the principals involved in baseball’s two biggest scandals of the year: Pete Rose in Cincinnati, of course, and Ed Jurak in San Francisco.

Who’s Ed Jurak? The Giant reserve who is best known as the guy who introduced Margo Adams to Wade Boggs, according to Penthouse magazine.

Even before Nancy Reagan toes the rubber today and makes her first pitch of 1989, Orel Hershiser has allowed seven runs, Eddie Murray has hit one grand slam, Kirk Gibson has played with pain, and Mike Davis has been called out on strikes for stepping out of the batter’s box in the mistaken belief that the plate umpire had called time.

And even before today’s pregame ceremony in which they will receive diamond rings for winning the World Series, the Dodgers have played in home openers for three other teams, sat through one rainout, and lost five games, which is two more than they have won.

Two of those losses belong to Fernando Valenzuela, whose second start on the comeback road was short-circuited in the first inning Wednesday by the Giants.

With two runners on base, Kevin Mitchell drove a 3-and-0 fastball from Valenzuela over the left-field fence to give the Giants all the runs they needed to win the rubber game of this three-game set with the Dodgers.

Brett Butler opened the game with a drag-bunt single, Robby Thompson followed with a line-drive basehit and, after Valenzuela struck out Will Clark, Mitchell connected for his third home run of the season.

When the next batter, Candy Maldonado, followed with another sharp hit, it appeared that Valenzuela might not get out of the first inning.

But he retired the next two batters and managed to last almost four more innings, escaping trouble in the third with the help of first baseman Eddie Murray, who ranged far to his right to make a backhand grab of Maldonado’s ground ball, then force the runner at second. In the fifth, Valenzuela was lifted after Clark’s two-out single, the sixth hit he’d given up.

The Dodger offense, however, was as little help to Valenzuela Wednesday as it had been in his first start Friday in Atlanta, when the Dodgers managed one run off Braves’ starter Tom Glavine.

This time, the Dodgers’ only run came in the first inning on singles by Willie Randolph and Mike Marshall, with Marshall getting a chance to drive the run in only after Giant first baseman Clark and second baseman Robby Thompson got their signals crossed on Marshall’s foul popup on the previous pitch.

Giant starter Scott Garrelts and three relievers combined to limit the Dodgers to five hits, all singles. Rookie Jeff Brantley, who played college ball at Mississippi State with Clark, entered the game in the sixth after Garrelts walked Gibson and Murray with no outs to face Marshall, who had singled in both of his previous at-bats.

Marshall hit a sharp ground ball to Jurak, who stepped on third to retire Gibson, then threw to second to force Murray. Brantley struck out John Shelby to end the inning. Atlee Hammaker left two Dodgers on base in the seventh when he retired Alfredo Griffin on a fly ball, and the Dodgers never had another base-runner.

Dodger Notes

Tom Lasorda lamented the death of Sugar Ray Robinson, whom he described as a longtime friend. “He loved the Dodgers,” Lasorda said. “Pound-for-pound, he was the greatest fighter who ever lived.” Joe Morgan, the ex-second baseman, was in Lasorda’s office at the time. “Pound-for-pound, he was one of the greatest baseball players I ever saw,” Lasorda said of Morgan. Replied Morgan, now a Giant broadcaster: “Unfortunately, they don’t rate them by the pound.” . . . Vin Scully, the Dodger broadcaster, recalled seeing Robinson fight Joey Maxim in Yankee Stadium, a fight that Robinson appeared to be winning until he became ill in the ring. “I just remember the heat,” Scully said. “It was overpowering.” . . . Craig Lefferts, the Giant reliever who saved Tuesday’s 8-3 win, is 7-0 against the Dodgers in his six-year career, spent with the Padres and Giants. . . . Ed Jurak, who started at third base for the Giants in place of Matt Williams (1 for 23), is in his 15th season of pro ball but has played just 163 games in the major leagues, all with Boston, singled off Tim Crews’ bare hand in the sixth and was given the ball for his first National League hit.