Split Takes Steam Out of Dodgers : Reynolds Haunts Them in Game 2; Gibson on Disabled List

After 5 1/2 hours of baseball here Sunday, the Dodgers’ clubhouse was as silent as the Bat Day crowd at Three Rivers Stadium had been loud. Faces were turned toward lockers. Expressions turned blank.

In one afternoon, they had lost both their leader and this new element called momentum.

The day began when the Dodgers placed outfielder Kirk Gibson on the disabled list for his sore legs, a move that could keep him out the rest of the season.

It ended when the team came within three innings of a doubleheader sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates before blowing the second game and the afternoon with a 2-1, 10-inning loss on R.J. Reynolds’ run-scoring single. Thanks to Kal Daniels’ two-run homer and diving catch, they had won the first game, 4-3.

With Cincinnati, San Diego and San Francisco losing, the Dodgers could have left the stadium having moved up two places in the standings. But instead of being tied for third place, the split kept them in fourth, 12 1/2 games behind the first-place Giants.

“We just missed,” said Orel Hershiser, who won the first game. “It would have been great.”

On a muggy afternoon against a couple of young Pittsburgh starting pitchers, think about what it would have been like if the “old” Gibson was in the lineup. But then, because of bad legs that have severely limited his mobility, the old Gibson hasn’t really been in the lineup all year.

He had earlier been on the disabled list for 27 days with a hamstring problem. In 71 games, he has hit .213, and has been unable to chase down some balls he would usually reach in the outfield.

Sunday’s announcement merely made this official, with Gibson hinting for the first time that his problems are serious.

“I think I can get back to speed, but I don’t know how long it’s going to be--it could be a long time,” said Gibson, who was diagnosed as having a sprained right knee and a chronic left hamstring strain.

“I’m going to get it right,” he added. “When I come back, it will be right.”

Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, stressed that Gibson would not be rushed.

“Now that he is on the disabled list, no one is going to push him in any way,” Claire said. “Kirk and the doctors will determine the state of his health. He will receive no pressure from anyone.”

It’s a good thing somebody around here won’t feel any pressure. Before a crowd of 34,373, the Dodgers’ afternoon was ruined by a pressure situation in which their relievers struggled, while a former Dodger thrived.

You remember R.J. Reynolds. He played in the Dodger organization for most of the first six years of his pro career until being traded to the Pirates in September, 1985, as part of the deal that brought third baseman Bill Madlock to Los Angeles.

At least one Pirate teammate said Reynolds remembers.

“He’s got a little personal vendetta there,” Andy Van Slyke said. “You can see it in his face.”

In his batting average, too. Reynolds entered Sunday with a .319 career average against the Dodgers. In the first game he had a two-run double. After the Pirates had tied the second game, at 1-1, in the seventh inning against rookie starter John Wetteland, Reynolds had a chance to win it in the 10th with runners on first and second and right-hander Tim Crews pitching.

Reynolds walked to the plate with a .288 career average against right-handers and a .333 mark against left-handers. He didn’t want to face Crews.

“I wanted to face a left-hander because I knew there weren’t any left-handers in their bullpen who I couldn’t get the bat around good on,” Reynolds said.

So what did the Dodgers do? They brought in left-hander Ray Searage. One pitch later, Reynolds bounced the ball into left field for the game-winner.

“He hadn’t batted from the right side all day, we wanted to take him out of his comfort zone,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “And with him standing on that side of the plate, there was a greater chance of a double-play grounder.”

Said Reynolds: “The Dodgers have never been like something special to me. I guess I don’t feel that mystique. When I was there I kept my mouth shut and sat in the corner and watched.”

As the new owner of a .300 batting average (.302), Reynolds smiled. “Really, I don’t feel any vengeance when I come to the plate against the Dodgers. I guess it just looks that way.”

And Sunday had once looked so bright for his former team. After the Gibson announcement, the Dodgers glided through Game 1, breaking a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning on Daniels’ first homer as a Dodger. He drove a Randy Kramer fastball over the right field fence to score Willie Randolph, who had doubled.

Two innings later Daniels robbed pinch-hitter John Cangelosi of an extra-base hit with a diving catch in the gap.

“Kal won that game all by himself,” said Hershiser, who gave up three runs in 7 2/3 innings to improve to 12-7.

Dodger Notes

John Wetteland was impressive in his Game 2 start Sunday, only the rookie’s second start of the year. “I didn’t want any part of him,” said Pittsburgh’s R.J. Reynolds. “He was throwing some mean, mean stuff.” Afterward, when Wetteland was asked what he thought, he replied, “What do I think about what? The rising price of sand?” Wetteland had given up only two hits until his ill-fated seventh inning, when, with one out, he walked Glenn Wilson and then gave up a two-out RBI double to Junior Ortiz. That hit tied the score and sent Wetteland to the dugout. “I only walked two in the game, but that one was bad timing,” said Wetteland, who lowered his ERA to 2.20 despite no decision. “And then I challenged a high-fastball hitter with a high fastball and I lost. With most of the other teams losing, this game was important, and tough to swallow.”

Reliever Tim Crews, who started the Pirates’ winning rally by giving up a first-pitch double to Jay Bell leading off the 10th inning, wanted to face Reynolds. “I was hoping they’d leave me in there--using my split-finger fastball I’ve gotten Reynolds out a lot of time with ground balls,” Crews said. “But that’s their decision. What can I say? This is a job.”

Mike Marshall’s 13-game hitting streak ended in Game 1 Sunday as he went 0 for 3 with a walk. He has hit in 16 of 21 games since coming off the disabled list July 1, going 19 for 54 (.352) during that time to improve his average to .259. . . . The Dodgers played 46 innings this weekend, and only first baseman Eddie Murray and shortstop Alfredo Griffin played each one. Murray has yet to miss a start in the Dodgers’ 99 games this year, the only player with such a mark. . . . Dodger announcer Don Drysdale was released from Centinela Hospital Medical Center Sunday and will likely rejoin the team in San Diego. He was hospitalized Thursday with chest pains. . . . The Dodgers will have the pleasure of facing leading Cy Young Award candidate Mike Scott (15-5) in Houston Wednesday, matching him against Fernando Valenzuela (5-9). In Tuesday’s series opener, Dodger Tim Belcher (6-9) will face Houston’s Bob Knepper (4-10), while in Thursday’s finale Ramon Martinez (2-0) will face Jim Deshaies (10-4).