Dodgers Hit Bottom, Look Like They Belong While Losing in 10, 4-3

CINCINNATI — With fumbling hands and blushing faces, the Dodgers consummated their courtship with last place Wednesday night.

Whether it’s a one-night stand or a lasting union, no one can say, although Manager Tom Lasorda was sufficiently scandalized that he induced a meltdown of the visitors’ clubhouse with his postgame screams.

But few can argue that the Dodgers and last place weren’t meant for each other after they spurned near-certain victory to lose, 4-3, in 10 innings to Cincinnati, thus supplanting the Reds at the bottom of the National League West.

And it was the dean, of all Dodgers, who caused them to take the plunge. Shortstop Bill Russell turned an apparent game-ending double play ball into a tour de farce , ultimately landing on his face after failing to come up with Tracy Jones’ grounder.

That loaded the bases for 44-year-old Tony Perez, whose bat is helping to make Dodger reliever Ed Vande Berg old before his time.

Perez, whose pinch single led to Vande Berg’s demise in the 11th inning Monday night, this time hit a rocket to the gap in right-center, the ball glancing off Mike Marshall’s outstretched glove for a double.

Two runs scored, the Reds emptied their dugout in hilarious celebration, and the Dodgers trooped into their clubhouse to hear Lasorda’s blistering condemnation, which made cement walls seem like cellophane.

Outside the clubhouse, Tellie Pena covered her ears. She was waiting for her husband, Alejandro, whose first start of the season had exceeded all expectations, even though he left the game down, 2-0, in the sixth.

But Pena wasn’t the only Dodger who could leave Riverfront Stadium with a sense of achievement. Ken Landreaux, who hadn’t driven in a run in more than a month, tied the score with an RBI single in the eighth and then gave the Dodgers a lead with another RBI single off Red relief ace John Franco in the top of the 10th.

Reliever Carlos Diaz, who hadn’t won all season, turned in his best two innings of 1986, retiring all six Reds he faced, three on strikeouts. Diaz was in line to get the win.

Vande Berg, who had yet to register a save in the National League and had none anywhere since June 15, 1985, compounded his task by giving up a single to Buddy Bell and making a poor throw to second on Ron Oester’s sacrifice try.

But the left-handed reliever, who wouldn’t even have been in the game if Ken Howell’s shoulder hadn’t stiffened up, seemingly had saved himself--and the Dodgers--by striking out Wade Rowdon and getting Jones to hit a bouncer directly to Russell, stationed just to the left of second base.

“Was that a made-to-order double play ball or what?” Jones marveled. “I didn’t even finish my swing and it was in his glove.”

Not quite. Russell, whose pinch single in the seventh had knocked in the first Dodger run, said the ball never creased the inside of his glove.

“The ball hit my glove but it didn’t stick,” Russell said calmly, while sipping a beer out of a paper cup. “Just one of those things. I didn’t try to throw it before I caught it, I just didn’t have it.

“A perfect double play ball. We should have been in here celebrating, then Tommy wouldn’t have been screaming, and all the (reporters’) questions would be good ones.

“But no one said it was going to be easy.”

But nobody thought the Dodgers, even with all their injuries, were capable of this: Six straight losses, 10 losses in their last 11 games, 23 losses in 36 one-run games, 12 losses in 13 one-run games on the road.

“Not losing like this, no,” said Lasorda, after airing out a reporter who suggested that the Dodgers might be lacking in confidence.

“We can lose, 5-2 or 7-2, but these are games we should be winning. I can think of six games for sure that we’ve lost after leading in the eighth inning (they have now lost seven times out of 35 games in which they’ve led after seven innings). We’ve got to win those games.”

To do so, however, they have to stop making the mistakes that have bedeviled them all season. In the second inning Wednesday, Pena committed a balk when he held the ball instead of throwing to first base. Pena said he thought Matuszek had called a timeout; instead, Matuszek had instructed Pena to step off. The next batter, Bell, blooped a hit, and it was 1-0.

In the eighth, Alex Trevino stopped at third after Russell’s single, then tried to score when Red first baseman Pete Rose tried a diving tag of Russell at first. Rose scrambled to his feet and threw Trevino out at the plate.

Then came the 10th, and the misplays of Vande Berg and Russell.

“It will end, I guarantee you that,” said Landreaux, a prime offender on numerous other occasions.

“I can’t tell you when, though. Maybe you should ask Joan (sic) Dixon when it’s going to end. She’ll know.”

Dodger Notes The Dodgers are 34-43, trail first-place Houston by 8 games and are a half-game behind Cincinnati. . . . The Dodgers’ flight back to Los Angeles was delayed almost two hours when their plane developed mechanical problems en route to Cincinnati and a new crew had to be flown in. . . . Barring physical complications, Alejandro Pena is certain to get another start after going 5 innings Wednesday, allowing five hits, striking out two and walking no one. “I’m tickled to death,” said pitching coach Ron Perranoski. Pena said he much prefers starting to being in the bullpen, where his shoulder condition prevents him from pitching on consecutive days. “Best for me, best for the team, too,” he said. “I didn’t feel real strong at the beginning of the game, but I tried to keep the ball down and throw strikes.” . . . Ken Howell, who pitched three innings in relief Monday night, warmed up once but gave up when he couldn’t get loose. “No sense to him coming in,” Perranoski said. “I told Tommy to forget about it. There was no reason to take a chance.” . . . Red first baseman Tony Perez, batting .219 coming into the game, reportedly is the prime candidate to be let go when Nick Esasky comes off the disabled list. But Perez rejects the notion of retiring, Red General Manager Bill Bergesch is opposed to simply releasing him, and Manager Pete Rose can’t bring himself to sever long-standing ties. “He’s a clutch hitter,” said Dave Parker, whose RBI single off Len Matuszek’s glove knocked out Pena in the sixth. “He’s always been a clutch hitter, and he’ll probably die a clutch hitter.” . . . The following is a list of Dodgers and the games they’ve missed this season because of injuries, coming into Wednesday’s game: Dave Anderson (9), Greg Brock (11), Enos Cabell (6), Mariano Duncan (10), Pedro Guerrero (76), Ken Landreaux (1), Bill Madlock (21), Mike Marshall (5), Len Matuszek (42), Steve Sax (4), Mike Scioscia (18), Alex Trevino (1), Reggie Williams (1), Carlos Diaz (13), Tom Niedenfuer (4), Alejandro Pena (44), Dennis Powell (61), Rick Honeycutt (2 starts). . . . Marshall was back in the starting lineup Wednesday, even though his back is bothering him no less than it was when he came out of the lineup last Saturday in Houston. “It’s stiffer,” Marshall said. “The pain I can handle, but I can’t move. It’s been gradually getting worse. I thought a few days off would help, but it hasn’t.”