Dodgers Still Can’t Get Rotation on Ball, 5-4

If and when Orel Hershiser regains his spot in the Dodger rotation next season, the hardest thing for him will be recognizing it.

Since Hershiser left the team to undergo reconstructive shoulder surgery April 27, his replacements have treated his position with the utmost of disrespect. After being defaced for seven games on Tuesday night, the Dodgers’ vacant starting pitching spot was left in ruins.

Mike Maddux could get only one out against the Houston Astros, and that was a long fly to the warning track. In the worst starting performance by a Dodger pitcher in recent memory, Maddux allowed five runs as the Dodgers fell to the Houston Astros, 5-4, before 14,467 in the Astrodome.

How bad was Maddux? He was sent to triple-A Albuquerque immediately after the game.

How panicked are the Dodgers about their lack of a fifth starter? They may go all the way to double-A San Antonio to replace Maddux, with a leading candidate being left-handed reliever Jim Poole, who after 26 appearances had 36 strikeouts in 30 innings.

Mike Hartley, who was a starter in the St. Louis organization early in his career, may be moved into the rotation.

“This is something we have to address,” Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, said. “It is a question every fifth day.”

Maddux, 0-1 with a 6.53 ERA in 11 appearances, slipped out of the clubhouse without talking to reporters. Teammates said he appeared devastated.

“It looked like he was getting ready to cry, to go over the edge,” a Dodger said.

The Dodgers are going over the edge. On a night when division-leading Cincinnati lost twice, they were frustrated again. They gained half a game on the Reds, moving to within 8 1/2, but they fell to fourth place and have dropped to 28-31.

Maddux, who left the game less than 20 minutes after it started, gave up a single to Bill Doran, a double to Craig Biggio, a home run by former Dodger Franklin Stubbs, a long fly out by Glenn Davis, a single by Ken Caminiti and a homer by Glenn Wilson.

Even though Dodger relievers had their finest game with 8 2/3 scoreless innings, it didn’t matter. The Dodgers had scored on Kirk Gibson’s homer in the first inning and battled until the tying run was on third base with two outs in the eighth. But Eddie Murray’s fly ball was caught in front of the left-field fence to end the last threat and give pitcher Bill Gullickson his first victory over the Dodgers since Aug. 8, 1986.

“Every time we get something going, a wheel falls off,” catcher Mike Scioscia said.

The biggest wheel has been Hershiser. Even though the Dodgers knew they could not replace a pitcher of his caliber, they never dreamed they would have such trouble even finding even a warm body.

In eight starts that would have been made by Hershiser, not once have his replacements lasted past the fifth inning. They are averaging 3 1/3 innings per start. They have allowed 23 runs in 26 innings for a 7.96 earned run average.

The Dodgers have won just two of those eight games.

This problem is particularly hard to swallow against the Astros. Hershiser is 14-6 against them with a 2.59 ERA.

“(The fifth starter spot) has been the chink in our armor,” said Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, whose team has lost 11 of its last 15. “But you got to figure out what your choices are.”

Those choices are few. During low moments when Lasorda has dared looked to triple-A Albuquerque for help, he has quickly been forced to turn his head away.

The Dukes’ top three winners are Jeff Bittiger, Jim Neidlinger and Terry Wells. Bittiger has a 3.78 ERA, Neidlinger has a 4.66 ERA, and Wells has walked 47 batters in 51 2/3 innings with eight wild pitches.

Lasorda also does not want to look at the Dodgers’ top June draft picks of 1987 and 1988, players who could have conceivably been ready by the end of this year.

Dan Opperman, the top pick in 1987, is 4-4 with a 4.75 ERA at double-A San Antonio. Bill Bene, the top pick in 1988 and a Cal State Los Angeles player who might have been ready faster than normal, is still at Class-A Vero Beach. He has battled shoulder soreness and made just six starts this year, walking 37 in 27 2/3 inings with a 1-3 record and 2.28 ERA.

Dodger Notes

Dodger reliever Ray Searage, who hoped to be off the disabled list by the end of this week, has suffered a setback. While pitching for Class-A Bakersfield against Salinas Sunday, he was hit for two runs in one inning in an 8-2 loss. On Monday, he reported tenderness in his injured left elbow. He will start today at Bakersfield.

Dodger coach Manny Mota will have four sons in professional baseball today after his son Gary signs with the Astros. Gary, an outfielder at Fullerton College, was Houston’s second-round pick in the recent draft. Domingo Mota, a Cal State Fullerton outfielder, recently signed with the Dodgers after having been drafted in the 29th round. Andy Mota, a second baseman, stars for the Astros’ double-A Columbus team, and Jose Mota, an infielder, plays for triple-A Las Vegas in the San Diego Padre organization.

In another twist to a running Dodger--Astro feud that had quieted, the Astros put Joe Ferguson, the Dodgers’ “eye in the sky” in a press box seat down the right field line, giving him a difficult angle from which to position the outfielders. The Dodgers were not thrilled.

Rick Dempsey is the only other active player who was in the Baltimore starting lineup on May 30, 1982, the night Cal Ripken Jr. played the first game in his of what has become 1,308 consecutive games. But the Dodger catcher feels less than sentimental about the streak. “I think playing that many games straight has cost a couple of years off his career,” Dempsey said Tuesday, shortly before the Baltimore shortstop moved past Everett Scott and into second place behind Lou Gehrig on the all-time list. “A player of his caliber should be protected more. A stat like that means absolutely nothing. I mean, who cares about consecutive games when you destroy the person and cost him and maybe the team millions of dollars and pennants? I mean, the guy is tired. And Baltimore is the worst place in all of baseball to play. I know, I played there 11 years. It’s hot, humid, it really tires a body. For Cal’s sake, they ought to just forget about that record. Just throw it out.”