Run Drought Finally Ends for Dodgers

When things are going bad, some baseball managers invent new swear words and scream them. Others throw their dinner.

Friday night, after the Dodgers lost for a fifth straight time, Manager Tom Lasorda did something a little more practical. He called his brother in a suburb of Philadelphia and asked him to meet with the elderly woman next door who dabbles in spirits.

“I told him to ask her, please, take the evil eye off the Dodgers,” Lasorda recounted.

A half-hour later, his brother called back.

“He said it was done,” Lasorda said. “The curse was off.”

Well, something happened. Before 37,096 fans at Wrigley Field Saturday, the Dodgers actually scored more than one run in an inning. Mike Morgan was actually the starting pitcher when it happened. Eddie Murray actually hit a three-run homer, and then talked about it.

And, strangest of all, the Dodgers won, 8-2.

“It’s amazing what runs can do for a team,” Lasorda said.

Against overmatched substitute starter Jeff Pico and struggling reliever Calvin Schiraldi, the Dodgers scored as many runs in one game as they had in the previous three games combined. And more than in the combined three games before that, or the combined three games before that.

Perhaps more impressive than the eight runs were the consecutive two-RBI hits in the second inning by Alfredo Griffin and Willie Randolph, which enabled the Dodgers to score more than two runs in one inning for the first time since June 25, a 121-inning span.

On Murray’s three-run shot over the right-field ivy in the sixth inning off Schiraldi, they did it again.

Those big innings, that’s part of Murray’s job. After his second home run in two days Saturday, he said he was finally feeling more comfortable with it.

“You come to a new team, you have a tendency to try to carry the club. It puts pressure on you, and I’ve tried to eliminate that,” said Murray, who, while always polite, has only spoken to the media a handful of times this season in an effort to reduce that pressure.

With his team-leading nine home runs and 47 runs batted in, and recent little streaks that have brought his average up to .240, he seemed more at ease, and talked that way.

“I’m getting there,” said Murray, when asked if he felt at home yet after being traded here from Baltimore this winter. “When you go to a new organization, things are just different, and they’ve been different here, quite a few things. It has taken some getting used to. It has been a little difficult. But I’ve only gotten on a few people’s nerves here. It’s nothing like back there (in Baltimore). I’ve been able to avoid the distractions.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is the reluctance of opposing pitchers to give him anything to hit. Murray said his early slump was because of his impatience with those bad pitches.

Holding his hand several feet from his body, he explained: “I was in a spell when I was swinging at pitches out here. It just wasn’t a strike, and I was swinging at it. So I went back to a little game I’ve played since I was a kid. I’ve gotten my bat back down in the strike zone.”

When asked if pitchers avoided giving him strikes because there hasn’t been a power hitter consistently batting behind him, Murray refused to swing at the excuse.

“All my life, I’ve seen breaking balls, bad pitches. That’s the way it will always be, I’ve got to live with it,” Murray said. “I’m doing that now.”

The beneficiary of all those good feelings Saturday was Morgan. He dropped his National League-leading earned-run average from 1.82 to 1.80 by allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings. But then, he’s done that before.

This time, the offense scored more runs for Morgan in six innings (eight) than they had scored for him in his previous four starts combined. If they had scored as many runs in each of his 16 starts this year as they scored in just the second inning--four--he would be 16-0. Instead, he is 6-8.

Morgan allowed eight hits and worked out of a couple of jams on balls hit directly at fielders. And not only did he benefit from Murray’s slugging and the early hitting of Griffin and Randolph, he was also helped by a rare show of speed.

It happened in the fourth inning with two out and the Dodgers’ leading, 4-0. Randolph reached base by sprinting hard on a bouncer that hit between the pitchers’ mound and first base. He moved to second as Kirk Gibson walked. When Murray grounded to shortstop Shawon Dunston, Randolph rounded third and never stopped running. Dunston’s throw to first base was in the dirt before being scooped up by a stretching Mark Grace. But Grace’s left foot couldn’t find the bag, and by the time he realized Murray was safe, Randolph was nearing the plate.

Randolph dived into Cub catcher Damon Berryhill just ahead of Grace’s throw, then bounced across the plate to score. Randolph left the game later with a sore neck.

“I don’t know how quick thinking that was; I got the stuffing knocked out of me,” Randolph said. “If I’m Gibson, I can get away with that stuff. But this big catcher, he Scioscia’d me.”

Translated: He blocked the plate like Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia.

Indeed, Saturday was a new and creative way for the Dodgers to win.

“And we need days like this,” said Jeff Hamilton, whose two doubles and two singles gave him his first career four-hit game. “We need to see that we can score as many runs in one inning as, well, as we’ve scored in most games.”

Dodger Notes

As expected, pitcher John Tudor was placed on the 21-day disabled list Saturday with soreness in his left shoulder, while pitcher Alejandro Pena was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right groin muscle. Brought in from triple-A Albuquerque as replacements were relievers Tim Crews and Ray Searage, both of whom were recently sent there. Crews, a right-hander who was sent down June 27 to make room for Tudor, appeared in just two games for the Dukes, allowing two runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief. Searage, a left-hander who was sent down June 26 for rehabilitation of a back injury, made two starts, allowing two runs in eight innings for a 2.25 ERA and an 0-1 record. Because both are relievers, look for Tim Belcher to leave the bullpen and return to the rotation following the All-Star break. Belcher appeared in his fifth game in seven days, allowing one run on four hits in the final 2 2/3 innings. Tudor, meanwhile, was diagnosed as having tendinitis of the left rotator cuff and will continue on his exercise program for at least the next three weeks before a decision is made on his future. He will not attempt to throw again for at least two weeks.

* KEVIN MITCHELL

The major league home run leader hits Nos. 30 and 31. NL Roundup, Page 7.