Day Opens in Sun, Ends in Chill : Brooks’ Homer Brings Light to Dodgers’ Day

It was the dawning of a new season for a new team with new attitudes, new offense, new pitching, new dreams.

And a new Dodger stadium chant.

Huuu-beee! Huuu-beee!

New right fielder Hubie Brooks got the Dodgers’ second century off to a memorable start Monday with a line drive three-run home run in the eighth inning that provided a 4-2 comeback victory over the San Diego Padres.

Against Padre starter Bruce Hurst, who was struggling after pitching a no-hitter for six innings, Brooks stepped to the plate in the eighth with Alfredo Griffin on third base and Willie Randolph on first.

The Dodgers trailed, 2-1. There were two out. The crowd of 48,686 hummed with anticipation. According to Mickey Hatcher, Manager Tom Lasorda turned to him on the bench and began an explanation.

“He was telling me that this late-inning pressure situation is where Brooks is really tough,” Hatcher said. “He was telling me that this is a guy who wins games in this situation.”

Lasorda was summarily silenced by the crack of Brooks’ bat on Hurst’s first pitch. The ball flew on an ascending line, high over shortstop Garry Templeton’s head, higher over left fielder Fred Lynn’s head.

By the time the ball bounced into the seats, Brooks was one step from first base. He tucked his head down and clapped his hands. The crowd erupted in cheers that sounded like boos.

Huuu-beee! Huuu-beee!

“Naw, man, I couldn’t hear that,” Brooks said, as calmly as when he faced Hurst. “To tell you the truth, I couldn’t hear much of anything.

“I was just hoping for a line drive single to tie the game. I would have been happy with that. I guess it didn’t work out that way.”

Brooks shrugged. “I don’t know what the story is with me in those situations. But I don’t like being in them. I would rather get up there in the eighth inning with us leading, 5-0. That’s what I like the most.”

Brooks, who signed last winter as a free agent outfielder from Montreal, can spend all afternoon downplaying his ability under pressure. But the statistics don’t support his modesty.

He has hit at least .270 with runners in scoring position for the last seven years. Last season, in late-inning pressure situations similar to Monday’s, he batted .350, third in the league.

As Lasorda was saying, that’s why the Dodgers signed him. He’s not so much an outfielder as a stress tab. And when he crossed home plate in the eighth inning Monday, the only thing they needed to worry about was holding that two-run lead with one of baseball’s best bullpens.

Oops, not so fast. With record-setting Jay Howell sidelined for two or three days because of shoulder stiffness, Lasorda turned to new reliever Don Aase.

Aase almost made the remaining fans sorry they stayed, allowing a one-out walk to Fred Lynn and a single to Benito Santiago. But eight pitches later he made them glad again, retiring Garry Templeton on a pop fly to third baseman Jeff Hamilton, and striking out pinch-hitter Rob Nelson, looking.

“This one was sweet,” Randolph said. “Real sweet.”

Not for the Padres and Manager Jack McKeon. When the two teams play again tonight in San Diego in the Padres’ home opener, he may still be trying to rid himself of the bad taste caused by Monday’s obvious question.

Why was Bruce Hurst still in the game when Hubie Brooks came to the plate?

Hurst allowed just two baserunners, on an error by Templeton and a walk, before Brooks broke up his no-hitter in the seventh. But between then and Brooks’ turn at bat in the eighth, four of the nine batters reached base. Randolph, the batter before Brooks, worked a walk, and a couple of the pitches to him weren’t close.

Because of limited spring training, Dodger starter Orel Hershiser was already out of the game. He had left after six innings, having allowed just Fred Lynn’s homer and two singles.

Some thought Hurst would go the same route when Padre pitching coach Pat Dobson visited him before Brooks batted. But Hurst remained--for one pitch too many.

McKeon defended his decision, saying, “Here’s a guy who pitches a brilliant game and somebody is going to ask me about the forkball he left up? Really, that was the only bad pitch he made the whole game.”

Dobson added, “What can you say? He made a bad pitch to the wrong guy. If he made that same pitch to Alfredo Griffin, it was probably a fly ball to left field.”

Funny he should mention Griffin. The Dodger shortstop, who began the inning with a single to left, said it was obvious Hurst was losing it.

“When he left him in there, I thought we had a chance,” said Griffin, who was moved to third base by Jose Gonzalez’s bunt and Juan Samuel’s fly ball to right field. “He was perfect in the beginning, but he wasn’t throwing the same then. He was hanging a couple of pitches to me that I didn’t see earlier. He was tired.”

Hurst, who threw 92 pitches to Hershiser’s 70, said he was fine.

“I wanted to be out there, and if it happened again, I would still want to be the guy on the mound,” he said. “I wasn’t tired. I just made a bad pitch where he could beat me.”

And after all, these were the Dodgers, who last season nearly set records for ineptness under pressure. In the seventh inning or later, with the score either tied or the Dodgers trailing by no more than three runs, the team hit .217. In those situations with runners in scoring position, as in Monday’s game, the Dodgers had 10 hits in 101 at-bats, a .099 figure, lowest in the National League in 15 years.

Of course, that was before Brooks.

“I’m telling you, I did not like it up there,” protested the Los Angeles native after his happiest homecoming. “Seriously, those are not situations that I enjoy. I never really thought it would happen this way.”

Then he laughed. You just knew he would laugh.

Dodger Notes

There were few people happier to see Hubie Brooks’ home run than Juan Samuel, who could have been the game’s goat after misjudging a Garry Templeton fly ball in the seventh inning that led to an RBI double and a 2-0 Padre lead. With Benito Santiago on first base after a single off middle reliever and eventual winner John Wetteland, Templeton lofted a fly to center. Samuel chased it nearly to the warning track, and then inexplicably stopped as the ball fell on to the track in front of the fence. Considering Samuel’s highly publicized fielding problems while he spent his first year in center field last season, it was not the kind of play his reputation needed. “I got burned . . . I’ve got to get used to things on this field,” Samuel admitted afterward, saying that before last weekend he played just one game in center field in Dodger Stadium. “The background behind home plate is hard during the day here. It’s hard to pick up the ball.” He also said that because Dodger coaches want him to play shallow, the chances of making mistakes near the wall are increased. “Sometimes when you take chances playing shallow, you have problems getting back,” Samuel said . . .

Dodger trainer Bill Buhler said that pending Jay Howell’s condition today after playing soft-toss Monday, he could be ready in two or three days. “We don’t think it’s anything serious. . . . It would be a normal thing during the middle of a normal spring training,” Buhler said of Howell’s stiff shoulder. Since Don Aase pitched Monday, look for Mike Hartley to be Howell’s right-handed replacement tonight in San Diego.

Opening day was extra special for one Dodger who appreciated just taking his place on the third-base line. Jose Gonzalez, in his 10th year in the organization, was spending his first opening day with the big league team. “It’s amazing,” Gonzalez said before Monday’s ceremonies. “Running to the third base line for the introductions, that will be like the 1988 World Series for me. I have worked so hard, for such a long time. You know I think it is great.”. . . Kal Daniels thought opening day was great for a different reason: there were no Pete Rose rumors bothering his team like last season in Cincinnati. “Last season’s opening day was miserable,” Daniels said. “It wasn’t like a real opening day, it was like a Pete Rose day, with everybody following Pete around and asking the players what they thought about it. I’m glad that’s over.”

This was the first opening day missed by Dodger broadcaster Jaime Jarrin in 31 years, since he joined the club in 1959. Jarrin remains hospitalized in Vero Beach due to internal injuries suffered in an automobile accident earlier this spring, but has been moved out of intensive care for the second time and could be released as soon as Thursday. He will likely not return to his KWKW Spanish language station until after midseason.