Mike Scott Shuts Out Dodgers : A Strong Showing by Valenzuela Is Wasted in 1-0 Loss

The waiting continues for Fernando Valenzuela, who put forth probably his best effort of the season Friday night against the Houston Astros but still couldn’t end his winless streak.

It was his misfortune this time to come up against Mike Scott, who was even better than Valenzuela, allowing the Dodgers only four hits while winning, 1-0, before a crowd of 32,736 at the Astrodome.

Not that it really matters who Valenzuela opposes.

In the left-hander’s last 10 starts, the Dodgers have scored 20 runs, only 15 of them while Valenzuela was still in the game.

“As Happy could tell you,” said Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, motioning toward former Dodger pitcher Burt Hooton, a clubhouse visitor, “when your team isn’t scoring runs for you, all you can do is keep working and keep working until they do.”

Said Hooton, unsmilingly: “And cuss your hitters.”

The Dodgers, who managed only two hits Thursday night against Jim Deshaies and reliever Juan Agosto, didn’t get a runner past second base against Scott (8-3), whose shutout was his second in four starts.

Valenzuela, winless in his last 19 starts, pitched seven innings, allowing five hits while striking out five and walking two.

It matched his longest stint this season and was his second strong outing this week. Last Sunday, he gave up three hits in six innings against the New York Mets, leaving in the seventh inning with the Dodgers leading, 3-1.

The Dodgers eventually won, 4-3, in 12 innings, but Valenzuela (0-5) was not involved in the decision.

So, despite his improvement, he is 0-9 since last June 14, when he beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4.

Still . . .

“His velocity was better,” catcher Mike Scioscia said. “His command of every pitch was tremendous. He had location within the strike zone, which is something he’s been working toward.

“He pitched a textbook game. He made great strides tonight.”

He lost, though, because of his own error in judgment.

Glenn Davis, who led off the inning with a double into the gap in left-center field, was on second base with two out in the seventh when Terry Puhl’s one-hopper back through the middle ricocheted off Valenzuela’s right ankle, rolling toward the first-base line.

Valenzuela, in hot pursuit, attempted to scoop the ball with his glove toward first baseman Eddie Murray, but instead knocked it farther away.

By the time he retrieved it, Davis was on his way home.

Davis easily beat the throw.

“It was a bad play,” Valenzuela said.

But it was a play Valenzuela has made before, Scioscia said.

“It just didn’t work this time,” Scioscia said.

And even if it had, Valenzuela said, “we’d probably still be playing.”

It was his only reference to the Dodgers’ anemic attack.

“We’re just stuck in the sludge right now,” Scioscia said of the Dodgers, whose team batting average in 25 road games is .205. “It seems like everything we try is backfiring.”

As if that weren’t bad enough, a frustrated Scioscia added, “Even if we don’t try something, it backfires.”

Nothing worked against Scott.

Same old Scott?

Scioscia wouldn’t say.

Why did Scioscia ask plate umpire Dutch Rennert to check the ball after a pitch in the second inning?

“It was scuffed, as was probably most every pitch he threw,” Scioscia said. “Every time we went out after an inning, it was scuffed, so I don’t think there’s any question about it.

“But it’s obvious the umpires aren’t going to do anything about it, so what’s the use in talking about it?”

Scioscia preferred, instead, to talk about Valenzuela.

“I think he’s becoming a more efficient pitcher,” he said. “He got ahead of the hitters. He made fewer pitches. He used both sides of the plate, mixed his pitches up.

“He’s a different pitcher than he was. I think he’s learning what he’s going to have to do, but he’s been just a pleasure to catch and watch improve over the last couple of months.

“I said in spring training that you shouldn’t judge him in the first month. He had to learn what to do. But he’s kept us in every game.”

Valenzuela no longer relies only on his fastball and screwball, instead mixing a wider variety of pitches, Scioscia said.

“He has more of a balanced attack,” he said. “He has a couple of different breaking pitches, a couple of different screwballs and even a couple of different fastballs.

“And he’s going to be able to change speeds better than he did before, which is phenomenal because he was tremendous at changing speeds.

“I think Fernando’s going to be a better pitcher.”

He might win again, too, if the Dodgers score some runs.

Dodger Notes

Was Fernando Valenzuela happy with his effort? “Never happy when you lose game,” he said. Still, he later added, “Every pitch was working. I had good location.” . . . The Astros have won eight consecutive games, matching the longest winning streak in the major leagues this season.

Mike Marshall, still suffering from chronic stiffness in his lower back, was put on the 21-day disabled list, retroactive to last Wednesday. The Dodger right fielder will undergo a three-week rehabilitation program supervised by back specialist Robert Watkins. . . . Marshall’s place on the roster was taken by Jose Gonzalez, 24, who was recalled from the Dodgers’ triple-A affiliate at Albuquerque, N.M. Gonzalez, who has spent parts of four seasons with the Dodgers, batting .194 with two home runs and seven runs batted in, was hitting .275 with four home runs and 31 runs batted in as the starting center fielder for the Albuquerque Dukes.

Dodger announcer Don Drysdale, who was forced to leave Thursday night’s broadcast because of laryngitis, is not expected to return to the booth before the end of the four-game series. Vin Scully, who usually travels on Friday to his Game of the Week assignment for NBC, stayed behind for Friday night’s Dodger broadcast, then flew to St. Louis after the game. After working today’s Cardinals-Chicago Cubs game for NBC, he will fly back to Houston on a private jet for the broadcast of tonight’s Dodgers-Astros game.

NO SUPPORT A look at the Dodgers’ run support when Fernando Valenzuela (0-5) has pitched this season:

Date Opponent Score April 7 Houston L, 0-1 April 12 San Francisco L, 1-3 April 17 Cincinnati ND, 2-3 April 23 San Francisco ND, 7-6 April 29 St. Louis ND, 0-1 May 4 St. Louis L, 0-12 May 17 New York ND, 4-3 May 23 Philadelphia L, 1-4 May 28 New York ND, 4-3 June 2 Houston L, 0-1

L--Loser

ND--No Decision