A Giant Step for Dodgers

By STEVE SPRINGER

July 14, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

He was only a 4-year-old toddler in Mexico when Fernando Valenzuela was an overnight sensation in the United States. But as soon as he became aware of Valenzuela, Dennis Reyes began dreaming of emulating his hero on the mound at Dodger Stadium.

Reyes had to wait until he was 20 to make the journey from Higuera de Zaragoza, Mexico, to Chavez Ravine. But as far as the Dodgers are concerned, he couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

A little over 14 hours after a crushing defeat blunted the Dodgers’ charge at the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants, and with injuries having opened a big hole in the starting rotation, Reyes provided the spark on the mound, and yes, even on the basepath, as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 9-3, in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 51,730 on Sunday.

That gave the Dodgers three of the four games in the showdown series between the teams, moving them within four games of San Francisco.

The standard line in the Giant clubhouse throughout the series has been a reference to the calendar, that it is July, not September, that there are no crucial series at this point in the season.

But Giant Manager Dusty Baker wasn’t using that line after the Dodgers again battered the Giant pitching staff, hitting two more home runs and collecting 13 more hits.

“Those guys really hurt us in this series,” Baker conceded. “Let’s hope we can pick it up.”

The Dodgers outscored the Giants, 31-13, and outhit them, 48-35, in the series.

Throw out the ninth inning of Saturday’s game, which the Dodgers would desperately like to do, and it’s even more impressive. Trailing, 2-1, in Saturday’s ninth, the Giants scored seven times to win, 8-5.

Dodger Manager Bill Russell gave his players a pep talk after that stunning defeat.

“I thought everybody was in a good mood,” Russell said of the clubhouse before Sunday’s game. “I told them, ‘Hey, we had won eight in a row. You’re going to lose. I didn’t think we’d lose that way, but forget it. Start a new streak.’ ”

Of course, it certainly helped to have a Fernando look-alike on the mound.

Reyes has taken this Valenzuela business to the extreme, trying not only to pitch like him, but to act like him as well, from the mannerisms to the temperament.

Reyes pitched six innings Sunday, giving up three runs and four hits. He struck out six and walked four.

In the clubhouse before the game, Reyes, through an interpreter, told first baseman Eric Karros to watch for his special move to first.

Karros didn’t have to look for long.

After giving up a single to Darryl Hamilton, the first batter he faced, Reyes whipped the ball over to first to pick Hamilton off.

That’s poise.

With two gone in the first, Reyes gave up a double to Stan Javier and Barry Bonds’ 21st home run of the season.

But then Reyes settled down and didn’t give up another hit until Mark Lewis’ run-scoring single in the fourth.

That’s poise.

“He showed me a lot of it,” catcher Mike Piazza said, “and he’s only going to get better.”

Piazza even saw some good coming out of the Bonds homer.

“That’s the way you learn,” Piazza said. “When you make a mistake like that, you learn you’ve got to be a little more careful and make a good pitch.”

While Reyes was learning to pitch in the big leagues, Giant ace Shawn Estes (12-3) was learning that even he was not immune from the Dodgers’ recent offensive explosion. They roughed him up for six runs and eight hits in five innings.

The Dodgers hit two homers Sunday, Raul Mondesi getting his 18th and Roger Cedeno his first on a day when Cedeno had three hits and two RBIs. Shortstop Greg Gagne singled to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, a Dodger season high and a career high for Gagne.

Even Reyes got into the run-scoring department.

Batting in the fifth, Reyes fouled off four consecutive pitches after the count went to 3-and-2, then drew a walk and went to second on a Brett Butler single. Taking a big lead with Cedeno around to bunt, Reyes found himself picked off when Cedeno missed the pitch and catcher Damon Berryhill fired the ball to shortstop Jose Vizcaino.

No problem.

Reyes raced to third, Vizcaino threw the ball into the Dodger dugout and Reyes came lumbering home. He was mobbed by his teammates and returned to the field to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd.

The Fernando impersonation they knew about. But nobody knew he could also do Maury Wills.

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Change of Direction

Before Dennis Reyes started Sunday, the Dodgers were working on a record streak of 681 consecutive starts by right-handed pitchers since left-hander Bob Ojeda started Sept. 24, 1992. A look at who they were and what they did:

Pitcher: GW-L

Pedro Astacio: 40-43

Tom Candiotti: 33-42

Ramon Martinez: 60-35

Hideo Nomo: 38-24

Chan Ho Park: 9-8

Ismael Valdes: 33-27

Kevin Gross: 22-20

Orel Hershiser: 18-20

Kip Gross: 1-0

Pedro Martinez: 0-2

HOW THEY STAND