Against Mets, Dodgers Win in a Balkover

It has still been almost a year since Fernando Valenzuela registered a win.

Sunday, however, Valenzuela pitched well enough to help the Dodgers register a win that only seemed like it took a year.

Though it eventually may have if plate umpire Bob Davidson hadn’t called a balk on Roger McDowell, allowing the Dodgers to score the decisive run in a 4-3, 12-inning victory over the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium.

McDowell and Manager Dave Johnson disputed the call, of course. But Davidson said it wasn’t even borderline, that McDowell failed to come to a stop in his motion while pitching to John Shelby, permitting Dave Anderson to trot in from third with the winning run.

“You hate to call a balk in that situation, but he definitely bounced (rather than stopping),” Davidson said. “They took discernible stop out (of the balk rule this year), but he still has to stop.”

A Dodger Stadium crowd of 46,060 saw Ray Searage, the fifth Dodger pitcher, gain the victory after Valenzuela worked six-plus innings, allowing only three hits, two walks and two runs.

He left with a 3-1 lead after a leadoff walk to Darryl Strawberry in the seventh, then saw Tim Teufel rip a one-out double off Alexandro Pena, bringing on Tim Crews, who struck out Barry Lyons only to have Gregg Jefferies bloop a game tying double to left, depriving Valenzuela of a shot at the win.

As Jefferies’ flare fell inches fair, Manager Tom Lasorda said he turned to pitching coach Ron Perranoski and said, “What a shame.”

Later, alluding to the 18 starts Valenzuela has now made since his last win, Lasorda said:

“Psychologically he needs a win more than anything. The greatest confidence builder we could give him would be a victory. That’s why I got him out of there after the walk (to Strawberry). I wanted him to go out with the lead and have the chance at the win.”

In his struggle to rebuild the strength in his shoulder and recapture a measure of his lost velocity, Valenzuela has made nine starts this year. He called this one his best.

“I threw more strikes, I kept the leadoff man off base and I was able to pitch inside,” he said. “That (pitching inside) was my style before, but it’s tough to do when you don’t have control and that’s been my problem.

“I didn’t get the win, but the team did and that’s more important. And I’m very happy with what I did. My arm felt strong and that’s the main thing. I know the wins will come in time.”

Actually, Lasorda said, Valenzuela shouldn’t still be looking for that first win.

“People keep asking me how long we’re going to go with him,” Lasorda said. “And I answer that he should have won three or four games by now if we had scored any runs for him.

“If he keeps the ball down and stays ahead of the hitter like he did today, he’s going to win. We just have to score for him. We just have to start getting hits with two outs, big hits with runners in scoring position.”

The Dodgers stranded 14 runners in a 2-1 victory Saturday night and 10 more while getting 13 hits Sunday.

Willie Randolph, who has hit .329 over his last 21 games to improve his average to .264, had a double and three singles. Mike Davis, who has hit .333 in his last 13 starts, had a double and two singles.

Dwight Gooden, 6-2 for the season and 9-1 against the Dodger for his career, started Sunday but lacked his customary velocity, allowing nine hits while striking out only two in six innings.

Doubles by Randolph and Davis got the Dodgers one run in the first. Four singles, including a pair by Randolph and Davis, led to two more runs in the third.

The Dodgers, still batting a major-league low .228, didn’t score again until the 12th. Eddie Murray struck out three times and is batting .208 in May. Kirk Gibson, giving his still tender hamstring a rest in the wake of a night game, didn’t appear until he singled as a pinch-hitter in the ninth.

The Mets, batting only slightly better at .234, were limited to eight hits.

Crews rebounded from the Jefferies double to strike out five in 2 2/3 innings. Jay Howell worked two scoreless innings and has not allowed a run in his last 16 1/3. Searage yielded a pair of singles in the Mets’ 12th, but got Mookie Wilson to ground into a force play with two outs, then gained his third win against two defeats in the home half.

Anderson opened the inning by walking on four pitches. Randolph fouled off two sacrifice attempts, then singled to left. John Shelby, who flied out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth and is batting .169, was next.

In an obvious sacrifice situation, McDowell’s first pitch was high. Catcher Barry Lyons whipped a throw to second, but bounced it into center field, allowing both Anderson and Randolph to advance.

The count went to two and one. Shelby swung at a fastball and fouled it off. Davidson waved his arms, calling the balk. An exultant Lasorda leaped from the dugout--an easier trick now that he’s down to 180 pounds--with his arms raised.

“I was talking to Billy Russell and didn’t see McDowell make the pitch,” he said later, “but I saw it on the replay and could see he didn’t stop.”

McDowell shook his head and said:

“I’ve never seen anything like that. I did the same thing when Anderson was on base and the same thing on the two pitches to Shelby (after Randolph reached base). It puts the game in the hands of the umpires and that’s not the way it should be.”

In the wake of last year’s balk epidemic, the removal of the “discernible stop” phrase has significantly cut down on the call.

Of this one, Manager Johnson said he was riled because it came long after delivery of the pitch and in a decisive situation.

“I told him (Davidson), ‘Let the players decide it, let the Dodgers beat us.’ He took out of the players’ hands, but I’m more upset that we walked the leadoff man in the 12th inning on four pitches than I am with the balk.”

After losing 10 of 11 regular season games to the Mets last year, the Dodgers have now won four of the first six this year.

And, of course, there were those four of seven they won from the Mets in October.

Dodger Notes

Further examination of shortstop Mariano Duncan, who went on the 15-day disabled list Saturday night with a three-stitch cut between the ring finger and little finger of his right hand, disclosed that Duncan also suffered a sprain in the joint below the cut.