A Tough Customer : After Victory, Valenzuela Isn’t as Impressed With Outing as His Teammates

Freeze-frame two moments during the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over Atlanta Sunday, and you get an illustration of just how far Fernando Valenzuela has come.

Exhibit A: After equaling his longest outing of the season and leaving with a two-run lead, he walks slowly and grumpily to the dugout. Teammates want to commend him, but with survival high on their priority lists, they wisely stay away. Valenzuela, after all, is throwing things (a glove, a hat, a paper cup, etc.) and teammates fear that he might be as accurate with this debris as he was with his pitches all afternoon.

Exhibit B: Having won his third game in as many starts for the first time in over two years, he tries to dodge reporters by seeking the solitude of the shower area.

Eventually he returns to his locker but turns his chair and his back to reporters. A Dodger public relations man says that Valenzuela would rather not comment, but pitcher Tim Leary eventually breaks the ice.

“How do you feel?” asks Leary from the next locker.

As sharp as one of his screwballs, Valenzuela responds without hesitation: “With my hands,” he says.

Everyone laughs.

Except the Braves. They didn’t hear the joke. Rather, on Sunday, they were the joke.

Using all four of his pitches masterfully, Valenzuela (3-5) baffled the Braves, holding them to six hits over 7 1/3 innings. He pulled a string here and there, enticing Atlanta to swing like wooden puppets at pitches that never broke 82 m.p.h.

The Braves did chase Valenzuela with three hits and two runs in the seventh, but Jay Howell tidied up the mess for his 14th save. Before that inning, Valenzuela had retired 13 of 15 (the only two runners reaching on an infield single and an error) and 12 in a row. The fourth inning took him all of five pitches. The fifth inning, however, was a much bigger strain. He had to throw six pitches.

“I don’t know if Fernando is ever going to really recapture the way he was five or six years ago,” said catcher Mike Scioscia, “but I think he can be a better pitcher.

“It’s all part of the new Fernando, the new package. He didn’t have one thing working for him today. He had four pitches working. His fastball hasn’t been dazzling, but his curve and screwball are as sharp as ever.”

Brave slugger Dale Murphy had to agree.

“He’s got four great pitches and if he throws them over like he did today, it’s not going to be much fun facing him,” said Murphy, who was 0 for 3 against Valenzuela and didn’t hit the ball out of the infield.

So, what did Valenzuela think of his performance?

“Terrible,” he said.

OK.

But he did walk only one and, of his 102 pitches, only 32 were balls.

“Yeah, but three runs,” he said.

Apparently, Valenzuela’s anger and subsequent short sentences stemmed from the fact that he wasn’t able to finish what he started. Although in each of his last two outings he has thrown his season-high of 7 1/3 innings, he hasn’t been able to complete a game since May 8, 1988. What is amazing is that just one month ago Valenzuela was seeking his first win in almost a year, not his first complete game.

“I’m happy that we win, but I pitched bad,” he said. “ . . . I think I can do better than that. I like to finish my games but I’m really happy to be helping the team again.”

Happy? Oh, was that joy you were exhibiting in the dugout?