Dodgers Discover New Ways to Take a Loss, 2-0

Coming up with more creative ways to fall on their faces than a professional wrestler, the Dodgers dropped another game Saturday night, this time with two tumbles that only looked fake.

Ever heard of an inning where a team gets four hits, only one batter makes an out, and the team still doesn’t score?

If not, then you also probably haven’t heard of an inning where the same team allows consecutive bunt singles that wind up costing it the game.

That team is the Dodgers, who aroused a mixture of boos and walkouts from the sellout crowd of 45,517 at Dodger Stadium in a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The runs came on former Dodger Pedro Guerrero’s two-run double in the eighth inning. With the bases loaded and one out against starter Fernando Valenzuela, and boos following Guerrero’s every step, the ex-Dodger launched a 2-and-1 pitch into the right-field gap to score two runs and increase his average against his old team this season to .375 (15 for 40).

“I don’t know why the Dodgers trade me, I don’t care,” Guerrero said after the Cardinals posted their ninth victory in 11 games against the Dodgers this season. “I’m just glad somebody wants me.”

Cardinal starter and winner Joe Magrane started the eighth with a single to left field. Vince Coleman bunted toward toward first baseman Eddie Murray, who was charging on the play. The ball rolled under Murray’s glove, and Coleman was given more than he bargained for, a single, as Magrane moved to second.

That bunt worked so well, Jose Oquendo did the same thing a couple of pitches later, putting the ball just to Valenzuela’s right for another single, between the pitcher and third baseman Jeff Hamilton.

“Once the ball goes by the pitcher, the third baseman has to get it,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

“Stuff like that tears a manager up,” Cardinal Manager Whitey Herzog said afterward. “You’d like to get at least one out in that situation.”

The Dodgers finally did get an out when Ozzie Smith’s grounder forced Magrane at home. But up stepped Guerrero, and down went Valenzuela, who lost his fourth consecutive game, falling to 4-9 despite his first complete game in more than a year (since June 8, 1988, in Houston).

Valenzuela should have expected as much. In his four starts against the Cardinals this year, he has gone 0-3, while the Dodgers have scored one run.

“He’s really pitched well against us all year,” Herzog said, shaking hishead. “And not a win.”

He has been victimized by innings such as the Dodgers’ fifth, in which they had four hits and only one batter was out. The inning also featured Rick Dempsey’s third stolen base in five years and Jose Gonzalez’s first hit against the Cardinals in 19 at-bats this season.

And yet the Dodgers didn’t score.

Dempsey and Gonzalez started the fifth inning with consecutive singles to right field. It was Gonzalez’s fourth hit in his last 35 at-bats.

Up stepped Valenzuela to bunt. After Valenzuela fouled off two attempts, Dempsey decided, what the heck, and took off from second base on the next pitch. The ball was outside, and with the Cardinals charging the plate, there was nobody to cover third base as Dempsey picked up his first stolen base of the year, equaling his season high for the last eight seasons.

But then Dempsey and Valenzuela got creative. And things got weird. On a 1-and-2 pitch, Valenzuela decided to swing away, but he topped the ball, bouncing it in front of the plate. Running from third on contact, Dempsey found himself caught between third and home. He was tagged out in a rundown by third baseman Terry Pendleton, who then noticed Gonzalez wandering off second base. Pendleton threw, second baseman Jose Oquendo tagged, and the Cardinals had the double play.

“It looked ugly, but it was a heckuva play,” Herzog said. “Pendleton got caught by Dempsey the first time, but we got him back.”

The Dodgers came back with consecutive singles by Alfredo Griffin and Willie Randolph to load the bases. But Mickey Hatcher, on a one-strike pitch, grounded the ball to Pendleton to end the inning: No runs, four hits, three left.

A few minutes later, in a bit of timing that Dodger officials probably found curious, the left-field scoreboard showed a television replay of former Dodger Mike Devereaux, traded to the Baltimore Orioles in the spring, defeating the Angels with a home run.

“Our problem is, we put ourselves in a situation where we realize one hit could turn this game, this season around,” Hatcher said. “I don’t know if that puts added pressure on us or what, but that’s what I was thinking when I was batting.

“Instead of saying, ‘Hey, I’ll get a hit and we’ll win,’ I’m thinking about this being a big situation where we really need a hit. Maybe we are thinking too much.”

In the fourth inning, Hatcher made one of the best acrobatic catches of the year, saving at least two runs. With runners on first and third, Pendleton drove the ball into the left-field corner, but Hatcher backhanded the ball on the run before tumbling into the left-field wall, where he lay still for several seconds while teammates rushed to his aid. But before they arrived, he jumped up, held up his glove to show the ball inside and ran into the dugout to a standing ovation.

“If I didn’t stumble, I don’t make the catch,” Hatcher said.

Dodger Notes

After Saturday’s game, the Dodgers announced that outfielder Chris Gwynn will be sent to Albuquerque today to make room for utilityman Mariano Duncan, who will return from the 15-day disabled list, where he had been placed with a strained hamstring. Gwynn, who said he is still not able to run hard after breaking his foot June 12, has hit .235 in 32 games. He just came off the disabled list July 6. This leaves the Dodgers with one more move, when they bring Ramon Martinez up from Albuquerque Monday. The likely candidate for demotion --if he’ll accept it--is pitcher Ricky Horton.

Dr. Frank Jobe, Dodger medical director, confirmed that the results of Kirk Gibson’s hamstring scan showed no abnormalities. Jobe emphasized, however, that soft tissue problems would not show up on the scan, known as a magnetic resonance imaging test. Gibson’s daily rehabilitation is to continue as scheduled, and he will remain in the lineup most of the time. The left-handed hitter did not start against St. Louis left-hander Joe Magrane, but he also did not start against Magrane last week in St. Louis. Gibson entered Saturday batting just .132 against left-handers, with 12 hits in 91 at-bats. He was hitting .286 against right-handers. Gibson’s replacement, Mickey Hatcher, entered Saturday’s game hitting .329 against left-handers.