Benes Is Up, Valdes Is Down

On a stifling hot Missouri evening at Busch Stadium, within sight of the Mississippi River, pitchers Alan Benes and Ismael Valdes passed like paddlewheel steamers in the night, one in full control as he battled his way upstream, the other drifting aimlessly down river.

Benes, a St. Louis Cardinal rookie right-hander, hadn’t won a game in nearly a month and hadn’t pitched a complete game in more than two months.

Valdes was the opposite. Until he got bombed in Cincinnati last Saturday, the Dodger right-hander hadn’t lost since June 18, winning four decisions in a row.

But Wednesday night, Benes was clearly the superior pitcher, throwing a 6-1 complete-game victory over Valdes and the Dodgers in front of 26,945, ending a four-game Dodger winning streak.

The outcome left both pitchers at 11-7.

Like most young pitchers, Benes, 24, is inconsistent, good to the extent that he can be overwhelming, or bad to the extent that he can be overmatched. In the 11 games he has won, Benes has an earned-run average of 2.32. But in his 14 other starts, his ERA is 8.21.

“In a lot of ways, he doesn’t act like a young pitcher,” Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said of Benes. “Sometimes a guy struggles and you don’t see him [do well] for a couple or three starts, or a month. But Alan bounces back the next time.”

He certainly bounced back in the first inning Wednesday after giving up back-to-back singles. That left him facing Eric Karros with runners at first and third.

Three times Benes threw a strike and three times Karros watched the ball go by, the bat never leaving his shoulder.

Benes survived that crisis without giving up a run. He would only surrender one run all night--on Chad Curtis’ first National League home run--against a team that had scored 35 runs in its previous five games.

Benes would give up only five hits to a team that had collected that many in a single inning the night before.

“When you throw a complete game this time of the year,” Dodger Manager Bill Russell said, “that says something about your stuff.”

Benes didn’t have overpowering stuff. The strikeout against Karros was the only one he got all night. But Benes stayed ahead of the hitters and kept them off stride.

Valdes, on the other hand, struck out seven in six innings. But for the second outing in a row, he got hit hard. Against the Reds on Saturday, he gave up eight runs, six of them earned, in 4 1/3 innings.

Wednesday, Valdes was ripped for six runs, four of them earned, and 11 hits in six innings.

“I don’t know what happened,” Valdes said. “I was high and I didn’t have any command of my pitches.”

Asked if he was worried about his slump, Valdes replied, “Of course I’m worried. But every pitcher goes through this.”

Added Russell: “I can’t say I’m not concerned, but the velocity is there. The stuff is there. It’s just the location that is a problem.”

Even with the loss, the Dodgers remained a game behind in the National League West behind the San Diego Padres, who also lost Wednesday night.

The Cardinals are in the midst of a furious pursuit of their own, Wednesday’s victory keeping them within half a game of the NL Central-leading Houston Astros.

They used a balanced attack to beat the Dodgers.

Ron Gant struck the most impressive blow, a 442-foot, two-run blast into the upper deck in left field for his 23rd home run. Brian Jordan had three hits, including a double for his 81st RBI, matching his career high in that department. Second baseman Luis Alicea drove in two runs and Gary Gaetti singled in the other.

But the story of this game for the Cardinals was the much-anticipated return of Benes.

And for the Dodgers, the mysterious disappearance of Valdes.