Dodgers’ Morgan Puts a Stop to Padres, 6-3

Mike Morgan had shown no hard feelings, no remorse. Since being replaced in the Dodgers’ rotation by John Wetteland nearly two weeks ago, Morgan had said little about a move that surely bewildered a pitcher in the best season of his life.

Friday, with pitches that meant more than words, Morgan finally spoke up. Called upon to protect Wetteland’s best start of the season, Morgan stopped a San Diego eighth-inning rally to give the Dodgers a 6-3 victory before 38,250 fans at Dodger Stadium.

“And this isn’t all that has to be said,” said Morgan, who took over from reliever Ray Searage with none out, the Dodgers leading, 4-3, and runners on first and second. Searage and Alejandro Pena had not been able to hold off the Padres in what was already a two-run inning.

Jack Clark, who leads the Padres with 13 home runs and 56 runs batted in, was the first to face Morgan. On a 2-and-2 count, Morgan fooled Clark with a sinker that was grounded to third base. It set up a double play, getting runners at third and first but leaving Chris James on second base. Morgan then went to a full count on Carmelo Martinez before getting him to hit a slow grounder in front of the plate. Morgan charged off the mound, grabbed it and threw on the run to get Martinez by a step.

It was all the incentive the Dodgers needed. In the bottom of the eighth, Mike Marshall followed an Eddie Murray single with his eighth home run--and second in two nights. Then Dodger reliever Jay Howell came on in the ninth to get his 23rd save.

Despite their third consecutive victory, the Dodgers did not gain ground on the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants, who defeated Houston. The Dodgers remained tied with Cincinnati for fourth place, 11 1/2 games behind.

But Morgan gained plenty of ground Friday on his biggest skeptic--himself.

“I’m not trying to prove anything to them, I’m trying to prove something to myself,” Morgan said, referring to Dodger management, which moved him to the bullpen even though he had a 2.61 ERA in 18 starts and had led the National League in that category for most of the season. Their problem with him was, he had lost seven of his last eight decisions.

“My whole career has been a yo-yo,” Morgan said. “I’ve been moved up and down and everywhere. I want to prove that I can handle it. I want to show people that I can do well in any situation.”

He has one believer in Wetteland, who said he wasn’t nervous while watching the eighth inning from the bench.

“Mike is a pro; you just have to let pros do their jobs,” Wetteland said, noting that Morgan approached him shortly after they switched jobs. “At first, I felt kind of bad, I didn’t know how to approach the situation. But Mike came up and told me, ‘You throw the heck out of the ball. I’ve got to work on some things. Don’t forget we’re on the same team.’ ”

For rookie Wetteland (3-3), it was a victory to savor. In his previous start, last Sunday in San Diego, he gave up five runs in four innings en route to the Dodgers’ 9-4 victory over the Padres. This time, he allowed only two runs (one earned) on four hits in seven innings.

He finally left in the eighth, leading 3-1, after giving up a leadoff single to Tim Flannery. Bip Roberts was walked by reliever Pena, who then allowed a single to Roberto Alomar to load the bases. Searage came on and gave up a two-run single to Chris James before Morgan came to the rescue.

Thanks mainly to Murray, the Dodgers supported Wetteland with a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth against Padre starter Ed Whitson.

Murray drove in a run with a fourth-inning single and overall had three more hits to give him 11 hits in his last 26 at-bats (a .423 average) with three homers and 12 RBIs. He is hitting .247 with 65 RBIs.

“It’s feeling better,” said Murray with a smile.

Murray wasn’t the only problem. Whitson held the Dodgers to two hits in three innings before his fielders betrayed him.

The first problem was with the arm of second baseman Alomar, who this year has committed 22 errors, more than four times as many as Dodger second baseman Willie Randolph (five). His 22nd blunder opened the fourth inning of a scoreless game, when he picked up a grounder by Randolph and threw wildly to first base, giving Randolph the base.

Lenny Harris’ grounder moved Randolph to second, and from there, he scored on Murray’s second single of the game.

After Whitson escaped the inning with a fly-ball out and a lineout, he felt the heat again in the fifth. With one out, Mike Scioscia singled, only the fourth hit in his last 21 at-bats. Wetteland’s reached base on his ensuing sacrifice bunt when Padre catcher Benito Santiago dropped the ball.

Bad plays like that catch up to a pitcher. And this one caught up fast. Three pitches after the error, Alfredo Griffin lined a ball down the right-field line for one run. Two pitches after that, Randolph lined a ball down the left-field line for two more runs and a 4-0 Dodger lead.

Dodger Notes

The Padres were hurt in the first inning Friday when Tony Gwynn was ejected from a game for only the second time in his seven-year major league career. After Gwynn’s check swing was called strike three by third base umpire Jerry Layne, Gwynn looked toward third base and appeared to yell at Layne. After a couple of minutes, Layne ejected him. “He was ejected for prolonging an argument on a half-swing,” crew chief Bruce Froemming said. “Jerry Layne didn’t hear what he said, he threw him out for prolonging the game.” Gwynn could not be reached for comment.

The examination of Kal Daniels’ right knee showed nothing new. He did not play Friday, and his availability will be day-to-day. The knee, which underwent arthroscopic surgery in May, showed the usual wear and tear from such a surgery, plus the stress of Daniels’ play since then. “It will be up to him, it depends on how he feels,” said Charlie Strasser, assistant trainer. Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, said he was not ready to place Daniels on the disabled list. “Not from what Dr. (Frank) Jobe told me, no,” Claire said. “Every day, we’ll just see how the knee feels.”

Third baseman Jeff Hamilton, in an 0-for-14 slump, was replaced in the lineup by Lenny Harris. It was the second time this week that Hamilton had been benched against a right-handed pitcher--San Diego’s Ed Whitson both times--even though Hamilton is hitting .308 against Whitson. “I’m trying not to get down on myself like I’ve been accused of in the past,” said Hamilton, whose average is .234, his lowest in a month. “I don’t question what’s going on; I just do my job.”

Jose Gonzalez came to the park with the sides of his head shaved in a punk haircut. His teammates hassled him so much that after batting practice a batboy shaved the rest of his head. . . . After his Thursday return to the broadcast booth, Don Drysdale played down the non-surgical procedure that opened a blocked blood vessel in his heart and caused him to miss two weeks. “Everybody was saying I was rushed to the hospital, shoot, I drove there myself and watched them do the procedure,” said Drysdale, who appears thinner but otherwise normal. “It was no big deal. It was like a tonsillectomy.”