Dodgers Take Step Forward With Checo

Before Wednesday night’s game, the Dodgers weren’t sure whether his name was Robinson Checo or Checo Robinson.

By game’s end, it didn’t matter. They had a better name for him: Stopper.

On the day second baseman Eric Young was put on the disabled list and a day after struggling starter Carlos Perez was shipped to the minors, Checo--Robinson is the first name--provided a rare bright spot in a season growing darker by the day as he provided strong starting pitching for his new teammates in a 9-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 32,127. Checo stopped a two-game Dodger losing streak and a downward spiral in which the club had lost seven of eight to fall 12 games under .500.

Checo, a 26-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, held the Reds to a run and three hits in five innings to gain the victory before being forced to leave because of a pulled groin. He also collected his first major-league hit in the third inning, punching a two-run single into center field off Cincinnati starter and loser Dennys Reyes (2-2).

“I won the game, I struck some batters out, and I got a hit,” Checo said. “My day today. Next time maybe I will be even better.”

Checo, who had given up seven earned runs in 3 2/3 innings for the Dodgers earlier this season for an ERA of 17.18, pumped his fist and celebrated after taking second on the throw following his single.

That was in marked contrast to two other figures who were in the Dodger clubhouse before the game. Young and Perez have little to celebrate these days.

For Young, the move to the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to last Saturday, at least assures him of some additional time in a Dodger uniform. But it is no guarantee that he has a future with the organization.

Although Young has been eager to go on the disabled list in order to allow his sprained left ankle to heal, the Dodgers, after removing Young from the starting lineup last weekend, had left him activated.

According to sources, they have done so in order to explore a deal for the 32-year-old second baseman, who is in the second year of a four-year, $18-million contract, before Saturday’s trading deadline. The Dodgers have even offered Young to his old club, the Colorado Rockies, according to one source, without success.

Finally, a second MRI was ordered on the ankle Tuesday. Although nothing more than inflammation was discovered, Young got his wish Wednesday to be removed from limbo.

But he doesn’t see it that way.

“I wasn’t in limbo,” Young said. “They [the Dodgers] were in limbo. . . . When the team is not doing well, they tend to find a scapegoat.

“I depend on speed. If my ankle is hurting, of course it is going to affect me. My mobility around the bag was limited. I don’t make excuses, but I’m human. . . . I could have done some things better. I didn’t do the job as well as I can, but I hope others will say the same thing.”

Said Dodger Manager Davey Johnson of Young: “He feels like his wheels are really important. He is not 100% and he needs to get 100%.”

So is a stay on the disabled list the solution?

“He believes that, from what I’ve been reading in the papers,” said Johnson, picking his words carefully.

What has hurt Young even more than his swollen ankle is the insinuation that he was not doing as much as he was capable of.

“I know I give my all every time I step on the field,” Young said. “You can’t ever question whether I give my all. I take a lot of pride in my work.”

I concern myself with my job between the white lines. I’m not concerned with what happens outside those lines.”