Dodgers Throw Game Away and Cardinals Catch It, 6-5

On old-timers’ day Sunday, the Dodgers played a game featuring wild throws, weird baserunning and players who looked funny in Dodger uniforms.

It wasn’t the old-timers’ game.

“I guess I am too young to play in one game, and too old to play in another one,” Dodger catcher Rick Dempsey said after third baseman Mike Sharperson missed his sixth-inning pickoff throw, giving the St. Louis Cardinals the winning runs in a 6-5 victory.

Before 39,914 at Dodger Stadium, the present-day Dodgers offered a bigger spectacle than the alumni group. They were hurt by one of their biggest errors and pickoff plays of the season, which led to their biggest blown lead of the season, a 5-0 edge that dissolved after three innings.

The Cardinals scored two in the fourth inning against starter Mike Morgan, added two more to start the sixth against Morgan and reliever Jim Poole, setting up the winning play.

There were two out, with Rex Hudler on third and Willie McGee on second after his run-scoring double. With Tim Crews pitching, Terry Pendleton squared to bunt. Hudler took several steps off third base. Pendleton missed the bunt and Hudler was stuck.

Dempsey threw the ball to Sharperson, who was charging with Hudler. But by the time the ball arrived, Sharperson was already moving back to the base. The ball ticked off his glove his outstretched glove and rolled into left field.

Both Hudler and McGee scored, eventually giving the Cardinals their second win in this three-game weekend series. It was only the fourth home series the Dodgers have lost this season, and capped a lousy encore to the no-hitter pitched against the Cardinals by Fernando Valenzuela on Friday.

In the two ensuing games, the Cardinals rapped Dodger pitching for 12 runs on 15 hits. They have also proved that if anybody was shaken up by the no-hitter, it was the Dodgers, who lost their second consecutive game on an error.

“The ball hits my glove, I should catch it,” said Sharperson, who was charged with the error. “Regardless of whether it was a bad throw, I should have caught it.”

Said Dempsey: “I was throwing to where Sharpie (Sharperson) was standing, but he was moving to the base. Maybe I should have thrown it to the base. I think we are in what you would call a defensive slump.”

One interested observer said Dempsey should not have thrown the ball in the first place.

“I think I had everything in hand, I was in a good situation to strike the guy out, maybe there should not have been a throw,” said Crews, the losing pitcher. “The way I was pitching, I think I would have succeeded in that situation.

“Today was a case of too many mental errors.”

Or mental victories by the Cardinals, as Lenny Harris would prefer to look at it. With the Dodgers trailing, 6-5, in the bottom of the sixth, he was on first base and Alfredo Griffin was on third with one out and hot Stan Javier batting.

Before Javier could swing, there were two out, as Harris was picked off first base for the first time this season, by Frank DiPino.

“What a big-league move, he fooled the heck out of me,” Harris said, shaking his head.

The Dodgers never advanced a runner as far as second base after that, falling to their sixth loss in nine games since their recent six-game win streak.

In the finest Dodger tradition, the losses will bring changes. Poole, who allowed two runs in one-third of an inning, was shipped back to double-A San Antonio and Ray Searage was activated from the disabled list.

Don Aase, quietly nursing right shoulder, was also placed on the 21-day disabled list with tendinitis. The Dodgers are expected to announce today that left-hander Terry Wells, acquired from Houston this spring for Franklin Stubbs, is being recalled from triple-A Albuquerque.

Wells, 26, has spent most of his six-year pro career as a reliever, but he may get a chance to be the Dodgers’ fifth starter. In his last three starts since being converted to that role, in 20 1/3 innings, Wells has walked just nine batters while giving up only 11 hits and five earned runs for a 2.21 earned-run average. Through June 26, Pacific Coast League hitters are batting .192 against him. Overall he is 7-3 with a 4.10 ERA.

With the recent inconsistent performances by their starting pitchers, the Dodgers figure Wells cannot hurt them. On Sunday, despite pitching two shutouts this year against St. Louis, Morgan allowed nine hits in five innings while allowing the Cardinals to pull to within 5-3.

After allowing a leadoff double to Jose Oquendo in the sixth, Morgan, who threw 83 pitches, was replaced by Poole. That started the Cardinal rally.

“I was kind of shocked to come out,” said Morgan, whose ERA rose to 3.33. “I had been out there eight and nine innings before, I had a 5-2 lead, I would have liked to stay in, obviously.”

Said Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda: “I never wanted to come out of games when I pitched, either.”

Dodger Notes

Kirk Gibson knocked in three runs with a double and a single Sunday while being watched by Ron Schueler, the Oakland Athletics’ assistant to the vice president. Schueler’s rare visit to Dodger Stadium may have been due to the A’s interest in a left-handed hitter such as Gibson. Earlier this week, Dodger scout Mel Didier was in Tacoma watching top Oakland pitching prospects work against the Dodgers’ triple-A Albuquerque farm team. . . . The Dodgers’ other two runs Sunday came on a run-scoring single by Rick Dempsey and RBI grounder by Alfredo Griffin. Dempsey went three for four with two doubles. He was starting in place of Mike Scioscia, who was nursing a sore right calf muscle. . . . Kal Daniels missed his eight consecutive start with a sprained back, but attempt to start tonight.

The old-timers’ game featured a record 86 former Dodgers. They split into two teams and battled to a 1-1 tie in three innings. The biggest hit was a run-scoring double by Derrell Griffith (1963-66), scoring Al Ferrara (1963, 65-68). Sandy Koufax (1955-66) received the loudest ovation and retired both hitters he faced. Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda pitched, and received an ovation for covering first base on a grounder to first by Dick Nen (1963). Lasorda was so excited after making the out, he tried to throw the ball around the infield, but tossed it into right field. Mickey Owen (1941-45), 75, had an infield hit.

DODGER ATTENDANCE Sunday: 35,265

1990 (39 dates): 1,413,587

1989 (39 dates): 1,519,936

Decrease: 106,349

Average: 36,246