Samuel’s Seventh-Inning No-Stretch Stops Dodgers

It used to be pasta, now it is cantaloupe, but the sound has not changed. When Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda gets angry, you can hear it in his food.

“He should not have been running in that situation,” Lasorda said after a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night, loudly spiking the remains of a melon piece into the wastebasket next to his desk. “We were two runs behind, and he should not have been running. We are one run behind, it is a different story, but we weren’t.

“We get three hits in one inning and still . . . don’t . . . score.”

The he was Juan Samuel, who is in trouble again after the loss before 25,716 at Busch Stadium.

With one out in the seventh inning against Cardinal starter Bryn Smith and the score still just 2-0, Samuel lofted a single to left-center field. At least, it was supposed to be a single.

But Samuel rounded first base and kept running. He surprised only his teammates. On a throw from Willie McGee to Jose Oquendo, Samuel was thrown out by a foot.

Alfredo Griffin followed with a bunt single, then Kirk Gibson smashed a pinch-single off Pedro Guerrero’s glove at first base, meaning Samuel would have scored had he stayed at first. The Dodgers would have been trailing by just one run with one out and Smith would probably have been knocked out.

But with Samuel watching from the bench, Lenny Harris grounded out to end the inning. Two innings later, after Bryn Smith had given the ball to reliever Lee Smith, the Cardinals easily completed the fifth shutout against the Dodgers this year.

“Everything I do, it goes the other way,” said a glum Samuel. “Everything I try, it goes wrong. I try to stretch it tonight and adios .”

The loss wasn’t entirely his fault. In falling a season-high 13 games behind National League West-leading Cincinnati, the Dodgers were afflicted with a variety of poor clutch hitting that resulted in 10 hits but no runs.

They were also hurt by Guerrero, who loves hitting against the Dodgers almost as much as he once loved playing for them.

Against a good but unlucky Fernando Valenzuela, who allowed six hits in six innings, Guerrero won the game for the Cardinals in the fourth inning with a two-run double to left.

Such has been life for a 7-8 pitcher with a 3.78 earned-run average, even one who threw a no-hitter against the Cardinals the last time he faced them. In three starts since then, Valenzuela has gone 1-2 with a 4.05 ERA.

“I think they hit the ball at the right time, and we didn’t,” Valenzuela said.

Samuel is starting to feel like he is spending this season in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since being doubled off first base in what appeared to be a lackadaisical play for the final out against Pittsburgh in the final game before the All-Star break, he has returned to the form that caused him to be benched earlier this year.

During this trip, the Dodger second baseman is batting .174, dropping his average to .214. And although he has not made an error since June 30, he has sometimes struggled with potential double-play grounders.

Typical of his problems was Tuesday’s baserunning error, which he blamed on aggressiveness. “If I make it, it’s a different story,” he said. “I figure, with one out, I try to get into scoring position. I’m not going to stop trying to be aggressive just because I am going bad. I am going to play my game.”

When told that his bad fortunes would surely turn around, Samuel shrugged.

“Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day, maybe next year,” he said.

If it happens next year, it might not be with the Dodgers, who because of his struggles will have a tough decision to make this fall. Samuel is a free agent, and the Dodgers must decide if he is worth the high price that somebody with his All-Star history will require.

The problem is, if the Dodgers don’t sign him, they will not have a regular second baseman. They have brought up top second base prospect Jose Vizcaino to sit the bench instead of letting him refine his skills at triple A.

So it could be Samuel or another free agent. And Samuel might make the decision for them. Already, he has decided he will not talk contract until the end of the season.

“Sure, I’d like to stick around, but the options are there, and I’d like to keep them open,” he said. “I’m not worried.”

Dodger Notes

Pedro Guerrero, who had two doubles against Fernando Valenzuela Tuesday after making the final out of his no-hitter June 29, is batting .359 with 11 RBIs against the Dodgers this season, and .362 overall. . . . The Dodgers bothered Cardinal starter Bryn Smith, but could not hurt him. This is not surprising considering he had held the Dodgers to two runs in two previous starts against them this season. Overall, in three games against them, Smith has allowed two runs in 19 1/3 innings for an 0.93 ERA. Lee Smith pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings for his 12th save. He has not allowed the Dodgers a run in four appearances against them this season.

Don Aase will throw today for the second time since going on the disabled list July 2. The relief pitcher said he felt “fine” after his first session Monday. . . . On a night when two triple plays were turned in the Minnesota-Boston game, Dodger announcer Vin Scully was reminded that he has never seen the Dodgers turn a triple play. The Dodgers’ last triple play occurred in 1949 against the Boston Braves.