Valenzuela Is Deserving of Happy Ending to His Story

The Los Angeles Dodgers like to live out those Hollywood endings:

Kirk Gibson limping around the bases after winning Game 1 of the 1988 World Series with one swing in a life-imitates-art impersonation of Robert Redford-Roy Hobbs.

Orel Hershiser kneeling in prayer on the mound after winning the final game of that Series, surely a scene Jimmy Stewart played out for June Allyson and the cameras somewhere, somehow.

If only the Dodgers could evoke a Capra-esque ending now. For if ever there was a player in need of a happy ending, it’s Fernando Valenzuela.

Not just because, as a premier pitcher, Valenzuela is struggling. Other star-caliber starters, such as Jack Morris and Frank Viola, have struggled, too. But Fernando, in the eyes of his peers, his public, is special.

He genuinely is the game’s last great dream-weaver, having come along just in time to put some magic back in the game when it needed it most. Fernando injected strike-torn 1981 with youthful exuberance, a genuine innocence, not to mention an assortment of pitches that translated into a slew of victories. A 19-year-old fresh out of Mexico, he spoke no English but did not have to; what he had to offer transcended language barriers, team loyalties.

Now, less than 10 years later, it’s not baseball, but Fernando who is tormented by realities.

He is not old, but his arm may have aged beyond its 28 years. Some say that 1,948 innings, built on a steady diet of arm-killing screwballs, made it that way. Some wonder if the arm is too far gone to ever bounce back.

When Valenzuela took the mound against the Mets Wednesday, he not only was winless this season, but had not won since June 14.

After six starts, Valenzuela’s record was 0-3, his ERA 4.91. His prospects seemed as much in doubt as they did in July, when Fernando was disabled for the first time ever, because of a sore left shoulder.

Lots of culprits, including too many screwballs and not enough caution, were blamed. But, to his credit and undoubtedly to the Dodgers’ relief, Fernando never partook in the finger-pointing. Instead, he has channeled what could have been negative energy into his comeback. Extensive rehabilitation to regain arm strength still goes on. And a new motion to eliminate harmful pitching patterns was incorporated.

The pain is gone now. But the old Fernando, he’s still not back.

The fastball of respectable velocity has slipped drastically from its 87-89 mph range. He is more often clocked at about 77. In one start, Valenzuela reportedly did not throw faster than 75 mph. In his start prior to Wednesday’s game, he was KO’d by the Cardinals in the second inning, having allowed five hits and five earned runs.

But what people forget, Los Angeles pitching coach Ron Perranoski said, is that Valenzuela shut out the Cardinals for seven innings in his previous start.

“You will see improvement, but there will be peaks and valleys,” Perranoski said. “You have to remember, he didn’t throw a ball in competition from July through August. He spent all winter in physical therapy. He’s had to build something up that was damaged.

“But there’s no pain. That’s an important, great sign. It’s just a matter of getting his strength back. And you get stronger by throwing the baseball.

“And all we ask of him is that he keep us in the ballgames.”

Conversely, Valenzuela could make some demands of his own, and be justified in doing so. Little demands, such as some runs, some laughers. In his six starts prior to Wednesday, the Dodgers scored a total of 11 runs on his behalf. Seven runs were in one game -- the only game he started that the Dodgers won. Twice the Dodgers were shut out and twice more they were limited to one run.

That pattern is probably the only thing that is at all familiar to the struggling pitcher, who had the best ERA (3.16) of all active pitchers in the 1980s coming into this season. Yet he had managed to win only 118 of his 256 career starts through last season.

Wednesday, it was more of the same. When the Dodgers scored a run against the Mets’ Ron Darling in the third inning, it was their first in three Valenzuela starts. When they scored a third run, it was the second-highest total put together for him this season. But when Valenzuela departed after six innings, he had to settle for a moral victory. He’d allowed the Mets only five hits and six walks, but three earned runs. Yet the Dodgers gave him only three runs in support. So that winless streak slipped up another notch to 16 consecutive starts.

After Wednesday night’s performance, he sounded encouraged.

“I walked three or four on close pitches. But no matter how many walks, I threw the ball pretty good. I was surprised it (his control) was all right,” Valenzuela said, referring to not having pitched since May 4 because of rainouts. “Twelve days, it’s really a little too long, especially because I need to throw more.”

Valenzuela, a proud man who never demanded much, has not sought sympathy, at any point. All he wants is time.

“The arm doesn’t come back fast, so people start to worry,” he told reporters Monday. “For me, it’s just ‘keep working.’ I know my arm doesn’t feel pain. You’ll see in a couple months.”

Does he have a couple of months? All you have to do is listen to the Dodgers, watch them circle the wagons, mount their vehement defense to see that he does have time.

“No doubt we’re all pulling for him,” Perranoski said, “because everybody respects Fernando as a young man, as a pitcher and for the way he’s handled his success.”

The Dodgers are not alone.

The Mets’ Sid Fernandez, a former teammate, watches and hopes on behalf of a pitcher who gave the game a lot of hope not so long ago.

“When you dominate for so many years, people expect a lot,” Fernandez said. “They want him to be a Superman. He is ... but he can’t win 24 games every year.”