Reds Punch Out Belcher, Blank Punchless Dodgers

Is the strain showing?

Are the backs of the Dodger pitchers beginning to break instead of their pitches?

How long can they be expected to carry an impotent offense that was on display again Saturday in a 5-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds?

Tim Belcher, who lasted only 4 1/3 innings, shouldered the blame, but he acknowledged that the struggle of the Dodger offense was never far from his thoughts.

Alluding to a staff that still leads the major leagues with a 2.77 earned-run average, Belcher said, “I think all of us have put more emphasis on throwing up some early goose eggs, but sometimes you can think yourself right out of the game.”

Two bad pitches were enough to beat Orel Hershiser Friday night, when Jose Rijo allowed only five singles in a 4-0 Red victory.

Saturday, a Dodger Stadium crowd of 42,207 saw Tom Browning allow five more singles as the Dodgers’ major leagues-low batting average dropped to .227.

The Dodgers, trailing the Reds by seven games in the National League West, have been shut out in three of their last four games. They have not scored in their last 21 innings.

Belcher, 4-5 with a 3.35 ERA, needed to pitch his own shutout Saturday, and sensed it.

He was striving for perfection but fell short.

Todd Benzinger walked with one out in the first inning, and Barry Larkin legged out an infield hit. Paul O’Neill was hit by a two-strike pitch, loading the bases. Ken Griffey drilled a two-run single.

Belcher walked Browning and Chris Sabo to open the fifth. Benzinger singled in one run. Larkin hit a fly to deep right field for another.

Belcher left after having allowed three earned runs and five hits. He walked four and hit the one batter.

“I was completely out of sync. I was all over the place,” he said. “I hit O’Neill on a two-strike pitch. I walked the pitcher. Those are unpardonable sins, particularly when your offense is struggling and you were shut out the night before.

“The most important thing a pitcher can do in that situation is keep the other team from scoring first, but I gave up two runs in the first inning. I didn’t want to walk anyone and I walked the second batter.

“It seems like you can try so hard sometimes that you talk yourself into doing exactly what you don’t want to do.”

Pitching coach Ron Perranoski said he knows that some members of his poorly supported staff have begun to approach their job with negative thoughts, that he keeps “plugging at them” in an attempt to have them maintain a positive approach, but in some cases, “It’s like the weather. You just can’t change them.”

Said Belcher, thinking about the goose eggs he needed but didn’t get: “You can talk all you want about the offense, but I didn’t do the job today either. I deserved to get beat. I’m approaching as bad a slump as our offense right now. But it’s early. Of course, how many times are we going to say that?”

Indeed. The calendar reads June 11. The Dodgers play their 60th game today. How long does it stay early?

“I guess as long as we keep saying it, but it’s not fun right now,” Belcher said. “It’s not fun for anybody right now, no matter who you put the blame on, the offense or the pitchers.”

It’s not fun for the manager, either.

“I know these guys can hit, I’ve seen them hit,” Tom Lasorda said. “It gets frustrating. I mean, Rick Dempsey hits two shots today and both are right at somebody. Every time we hit it hard it’s right at somebody.

“I don’t know what to do. We’ve tried extra hitting and no hitting. We’ve tried everything possible. The guys you put out there have to do the job, and every day I think it’s going to happen, but it doesn’t. It’s tough. We come back to home cooking and home fans and get shut out two days in a row.”

Browning (6-5), who has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 12 of 15 starts, shut out a lineup that included three players--Dempsey, John Shelby and Dave Anderson--batting .161 or lower.

Only once did the Dodgers put two runners on base in the same inning. Browning walked one, struck out six and has won 19 of his last 20 decisions against Western Division rivals.

“He dominates this division like Fernando Valenzuela once did,” Manager Pete Rose said.

The Reds have won four straight games and nine of 11. The Dodgers have lost seven of their last 10 and are 28-31 overall. It may be early, but the psyche of the pitchers is suddenly as much a concern as the absence of an offense.

Dodger Notes

Club President Peter O’Malley, discussing his team’s performance, expressed delight with the pitching, concern for the offense and confidence the team can turn it around. “If Mike Marshall was in the lineup with Kirk Gibson and Eddie Murray, I think we’d be getting the offense we expected,” he said. “All you have to do is look at the averages to know who’s producing and who’s not, but I’m not going to put the responsibility on any one player. I’ve always said that you win as a team and lose as a team.” . . . Have the Dodgers lost their desire? “This team is seven games behind,” he said. “Last year’s team was never more than two. It’s June 10 and we’re going through a difficult time. . . . I still believe this team can turn it around. No one is giving up.”