Scott Is Great, So Is ‘What’s-His-Name’ as Dodgers Fall, 3-2

Tom Lasorda may want to reconsider his diet. As fast as he’s dropping pounds, Dodger batting averages are dropping even faster.

At least, Dodger pitcher Mike Morgan had an excuse for striking out twice Friday night in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Houston Astros. In 11 years of pro ball, Morgan had never picked up a bat in a big league game that counted. And here he was, in his National League debut, facing Mike Scott, the most accomplished split-fingered pitcher in the league.

“It was now you see it, now you don’t,” Morgan said, shaking his head. “He abused me, and then he got a hit off me, too.”

These days, you don’t have to be a card-carrying magician to make Dodger bats disappear. Against Scott, who can turn even the hottest-hitting teams into putty, the Dodgers--who now have five regulars hitting less than Lasorda weighs (he’s down to 198)--were clearly overmatched.

Outside of Eddie Murray’s two-run home run in the first inning, the Dodgers’ only hope of overtaking the Astros was the sudden seizure of wildness that struck Scott in the bottom of the eighth, after a home run by Ken Caminiti, the unknown batsman, had given the Astros a 3-2 lead in the top of the inning.

“I made a bad pitch to the third baseman--what’s his name?” said Morgan, who must have missed Caminiti’s RBI double off Tim Belcher the day before.

“I threw a 1-1 changeup, I threw it a little harder than I wanted to and I got it up,” Morgan said. “If I’d gotten it away, he might have popped it up. But where I threw it, even I as a pitcher might have hit it out.”

Scott had allowed just two base-runners after the first inning and had not walked a batter until the eighth, when he gave up a pinch single to Mike Davis. Scott struck out Willie Randolph, his ninth strikeout victim, but then proceeded to throw 11 straight balls--four to Kirk Gibson as pinch-runner Mariano Duncan stole second base, four to Mike Marshall to load the bases, and three to Murray, who just Monday night hit his 15th grand slam, most of any active major leaguer.

“It was not a pretty inning,” admitted Scott, who knew he was on his own because the Astro bullpen had been used up in Houston’s 15-inning win the day before.

“I had about six guys in the pen say to me, ‘Go nine,’ even before I left the clubhouse. That put a lot of pressure on me.”

On him? Imagine the strain Art Howe, Houston’s new manager, was feeling.

“Aw, (Scott) just wanted to see if he could make me lose any more hair,” said Howe, who favors the Telly Savalas look.

The situation, of course, seemed ideally suited for Murray, with his .400-plus batting average when the bases are loaded.

“I’m aware of Eddie Murray,” Howe said. “I saw him for four years in the American League. When he’s got the other uniform on, it’s never a day at the beach.

“And I don’t buy this April slump stuff, either.”

After taking a strike, Murray swung at Scott’s sinker and hit a ground ball that sent Glenn Davis staggering. But the Astro first baseman not only kept his feet, he kept his head, flipping the ball to Scott, covering, to retire Murray.

“It was a tough ball, definitely,” Davis said. “It had a lot of English on it. A hit like that doesn’t bounce, it shoots off the ground, and you can’t run up and charge it. I didn’t get my glove back as far as I wanted to, and it almost shot by me.”

It didn’t, however, and one last shot by a Dodger pinch-hitter--Franklin Stubbs’ two-out single in the ninth--went for naught when pinch-hitter Mickey Hatcher flied to center field to end the game.

The loss was the Dodgers’ fourth in a row, a negative streak eclipsing any that took place last season. And just as on Thursday, when Murray’s error in the 15th led to the deciding runs, another Dodger error figured prominently in the defeat.

This one was committed by center fielder John Shelby, who charged Rafael Ramirez’s single in the sixth and heaved it like a javelin into the Dodger dugout, allowing Gerald Young to score and sending Ramirez to third. Billy Hatcher’s sacrifice fly scored Ramirez, tying the score at 2-2.

“I was running on the play,” said Young, one of the fastest players in the league, “and I peeked and saw he’d hit a line drive. There was no need for me to stop at second, so I kept going. It was a situation where I was gambling, hoping for a bad throw.”

He got it, which meant the end of the one-hit shutout that Morgan took into the sixth.

“We’re not swinging the bats right now, that’s obvious,” Morgan said. “But we’re a good team. We should come out of it.”

Dodger Notes

Despite his injuries, Kirk Gibson started Friday night, got two singles, stole a base, scored a run and walked. . . . Dodger second baseman Willie Randolph entered Friday’s game without an error, handling 47 chances without a misplay. . . . Center fielder John Shelby became the first Dodger to reach double figures in strikeouts when he struck out twice against Mike Scott. That made it 11 strikeouts in 38 at-bats for Shelby, a ratio of one strikeout per 3.5 at-bats. Last season, Shelby’s ratio of 1 strikeout per 4.3 plate appearances made him the easiest player in the league to strike out. . . . Orel Hershiser (1-1) is scheduled to face Houston’s Bob Knepper (0-2) this afternoon at 1:05, the game to be televised by Channel 4. Knepper, who started last season 6-0 with an 0.89 earned-run average, has given up 10 runs in 8 2/3 innings this season. . . . Subscribers to Z channel, the cable outlet, now have the option of picking up an audio feed in Spanish, with broadcasters Rene Cardenas and Jaime Jarrin. . . . Thursday’s 15-inning game almost kept Astro Coach Yogi Berra from making his scheduled appearance on “The Pat Sajak Show.” The TV people finally made arrangements for Berra, who is promoting a book, to be taken from the ballpark to the studio by helicopter. When Berra was told that Sajak’s people were panicking, he said: “They’re nervous? I’ve never flown in a helicopter. What if I fall out?”