Dodger Bullpen Fails as Cubs Win, 4-3

It is a simple phrase, but one that could have saved the Dodgers and Tim Belcher plenty of grief in their 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field Saturday.

If only Belcher had thought to use it when he was asked to hand his game to a slumping bullpen with a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning.

“Over my dead body!”

Belcher made no such pitch, and moments later unlucky reliever Kevin Gross cost Belcher and the Dodgers their fourth consecutive victories by giving up two runs while lasting only six pitches. The winning run eventually scored on a bases-loaded walk to Mark Grace by Mike Hartley.

“Just six pitches,” pitching coach Ron Perranoski said, shaking his head. “What are you going to do?”

Mike Scioscia, for one, is going to wonder how such a great day could be ruined. By catching the game’s first pitch from Belcher, Scioscia set the Dodger franchise record for games caught with 1,219.

Gross, on the other hand, is going to wonder how much worse it can get. As soon as he was pitching well as a starter, he was demoted to the bullpen, where he has since given up three earned runs in three innings.

As for the Dodgers, they will wonder what is wrong with Tim Crews, who would have relieved Belcher except he needed to be relieved before the game because of a recurrence of his intestinal problems.

And if Belcher reads this quote from Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, he might wonder if things could have gone differently Saturday.

“If a starting pitcher is doing well and tells us that he feels good, then he is going to be our pitcher,” Lasorda said, pausing. “You know, they didn’t hit the ball real hard (against Belcher).”

Make no mistake, the Dodgers removed Belcher from the game. Belcher did not ask to be taken out, something that occurred last season in Pittsburgh when the bullpen blew a 5-1 lead for him in the ninth inning.

But when he was approached by Perranoski after giving up two runs and six hits in six innings--including three consecutive hits in the sixth--he acknowledged that he took the news with a shrug.

“The sixth inning took a lot out of me, I just was not sharp,” said Belcher, who says he is recovered from problems that led to arthroscopic shoulder surgery last fall.

“As a starting pitcher, there are times I wish I was taken out a tad early instead of a tad late.

“I could have gone back out there, but how well I would have done, I don’t know.”

He probably would have done better than Gross, who hurriedly warmed up after Perranoski’s discussion with Belcher. But even then, Gross was in the bullpen longer than he was on the field.

Rick Wilkins, a rookie catcher who was recalled from triple-A Iowa Tuesday and had his first major league hit in the third inning, got his third hit of the game by knocking Gross’ first pitch for a double to left-center field.

Two pitches later, Shawon Dunston laid down a sacrifice bunt between Gross and third baseman Lenny Harris. At first the teammates simply looked at each other, then Gross chased down the ball and threw it late to first, giving Dunston a single.

“Lenny thought I was going to pick it up, I thought he was going to pick it up,” Gross said.

With runners on first and third, Chico Walker lined a single to right field to score Dunston with the tying run and chase Gross.

Hartley retired Ced Landrum on a grounder, but walked Ryne Sandberg to load the bases. After Grace fouled off two 3-and-2 pitches, Hartley walked him to give the Cubs the lead.

“That was one of my best at-bats of the season,” Grace said. “Hartley was really throwing great stuff. I was just battling him. Hartley has nothing to be ashamed of.”

You can’t say the same for the Dodger offense, although it scored three runs in the first inning against rookie Bob Scanlan on Kal Daniels’ first home run in 57 at-bats and a run-scoring single by Harris.

But they got only three hits the rest of the game, and have scored only 11 runs in their past five games--all without Darryl Strawberry.

They were held hitless after the fifth inning by four relief pitchers, with Dave Smith picking up his 14th save after a perfect ninth inning. In the past nine games, Cub relievers have pitched a combined 31 2/3 innings, giving up three hits and two runs for a 0.58 earned-run average.

In the Dodgers’ past nine games, their bullpen has given up nine runs in 20 2/3 innings for a 3.91 ERA, with three blown saves and two losses.

“Bullpens get in slumps, just like offenses get in slumps,” said Belcher, who missed his seventh victory.

“I knew there were a lot of outs left. I knew something could happen. It was not easy for me. But it probably was the right thing to get me out of there.”