For Once, There’s No Joke on the Dodger Expense : Murray Hits 350th Home Run, Reserves Have Field Day in 14-8 Victory

When they first looked at the sheet of paper taped to the inside of their dugout Sunday morning, the San Diego Padres could have been forgiven for thinking they were looking at a joke.

The opposing Dodgers, on the verge of being swept in a three-game series, had apparently written down their lineup in the dark.

It featured Mike Sharperson’s first start of the season. It featured Dave Anderson’s and Jose Gonzalez’s first start this month. And it was only the second time in 143 games this summer that both Alfredo Griffin and Willie Randolph had started the game on the bench.

Not counting rookie pitcher Ramon Martinez, the lineup was batting a composite .231 with an average of four homers and 24 RBIs per man.

Yes, it was a joke, figuratively speaking, that has left the Padres redfaced and hanging from the edge of a pennant race.

The Dodger substitutes, aided by a three-run homer from regular Eddie Murray, pounded a season-high 14 runs and 19 hits to win, 14-8, before 19,342 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“Maybe this lineup could have gotten 14 hits, but 14 runs ?” asked Anderson. “I guess things like this happen in September.”

The Padre loss, combined with National League West-leading San Francisco’s 5-3 victory over Houston, pushed them to six games behind with 19 remaining.

For the Dodgers reached several mileposts. It was the first three-hit game of the season for both John Shelby and Anderson. It featured Mickey Hatcher’s second homer, Rick Dempsey’s third homer, and Murray’s 350th career homer.

And after the Dodgers had taken a 12-2 lead in the fifth, it featured the major league debuts of shortstop Jose Vizcaino, catcher Darrin Fletcher and pitcher Mike Hartley.

None of them entered quietly.

Vizcaino caught his first grounder, but threw it wildly to first base for an error--”I was still surprised to get into the game,” he said.

Fletcher punched the first fastball he saw into right field for a hit in his first major league at-bat--”I guess I tie a record with about 80 other guys, huh?” he asked.

Hartley entered in the seventh inning and retired all six he faced, two on strikeouts.

By the time the game had ended, 3 hours 10 minutes after it started, the Dodgers felt more confusion than elation.

“It was like a triple-A game there at the end,” Anderson said.

Randolph, who was one of the few regulars to stay in uniform until the end, said he couldn’t help himself.

“No way I was leaving,” he said. “The way things have been going, they may have needed me.”

That was brave of him, as the game essentially ended in the third inning. Murray followed singles by winning pitcher Martinez and Anderson, around a bad Gonzalez bunt, with a drive over the right-center field fence off reliever Mark Grant. That gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead that later led to a Padre controversy.

Padre left-handed starter Dennis Rasmussen, who had won four of his last five decisions, was replaced by the right-handed Grant after Anderson’s single had put runners on first and second. This despite Anderson having reached base only after first baseman Jack Clark dropped his foul pop fly. And switch-hitter Murray, who was one batter away, was batting more than 60 points better as a left-handed hitter, which is how he faced Grant.

Several Dodgers wondered, why remove the starter after 2 1/3 innings?

“I was surprised, yeah,” said Sharperson, who had two hits and two RBIs. “I thought maybe his arm was hurt or something.”

The only thing hurting was Rasmussen’s feelings. Later he went into Padre Manager Jack McKeon’s office requesting an explanation.

“Jack told me he was tired of watching me pitch behind in the count and not challenging people,” Rasmussen said. “I wanted to stay in the game. I was frustrated . . . he took me out of my ballgame in the third inning.”

Rasmussen was asked if he thought McKeon had panicked.

“I’d rather not comment on that,” he said. “Ask him.”

Said McKeon: “I didn’t think he was throwing the ball good at all. I didn’t want to take any more chances.”

Anderson said the Dodgers were not taking an unnecessary chance by using reserves.

“We’ve had some tough flights and things on this road trip, there were some guys who needed a day off,” said Anderson of the trip that the Dodgers finished at 3-4. “And it was good because you had guys who, because they had not played, were excited to get in there and ready to go.”

Said Sharperson: “All of us who played wanted to do so well, we were all encouraging each other on the bench, we really got excited. We felt good that it was up to us not to let them get a sweep.”

Late in the game, Sharperson played first base for the first time this season. He has now shown the Dodgers he can do everything but pitch.

“It’s time to work on my changeup,” he said.

Dodger Notes

Mike Marshall missed his second straight start Sunday, and third in the last five games, because of his stiff back. . . . After contributing a single and a two-run double Sunday, Jose Gonzalez said he wondered if the Dodgers really needed him or his .270 batting average. “This year has been like World War II for me--they’ve hit me with a lot of stuff by playing me and then not playing me,” said Gonzalez, who hasn’t played regularly for the last month. “When I play, I play good, but sometimes it doesn’t seem to matter. I don’t know why I don’t play, nobody says anything to me.” Gonzalez said he would like to see his future decided this winter, even if it meant a trade. “We have so many outfielders, something has got to go down, some people are going to have to move,” he said. “The way it has been for me now, it’s so hard. I play two games in the last three weeks, I get put in here or there, it’s hard to be like that.”

Reserve Mike Sharperson said that he believes he will either make the team next year or be traded. “I’ve talked to Fred (Claire, Dodger vice president) a couple of times, I’ve put two and two together, I figure either I’ll be here or I’ll be gone,” he said. “That’s good, because I don’t think I need to go to triple-A again.”

The bright sun caused three dropped fly balls Sunday, two by left fielder Mickey Hatcher and one by center fielder John Shelby. Hatcher’s first miss, on a Bip Roberts fly ball leading off the first inning, turned into a ground rule double when the ball bounced over the fence. Roberts later scored the Padres’ first run. Shelby’s miss in the ninth inning led to a two-run double by Mark Parent.