Dodgers Prove Not to Be Impostors in 4-3 Defeat

The Dodger promotions department, which is always up to something, staged a look-alike contest Friday night. Some of the impostors they traipsed around the field uncannily resembled Dodger players.

Maybe they should have taken this thing a step further. Or, then again, maybe they did .

How do we know that some of those Dodgers are who they say they are?

Well, for one thing, the particulars of the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves before a crowd of 34,755 at Dodger Stadium provided unmistakable evidence that this was the team that is floundering near the bottom of the National League West.

As usual, it took only a few mistakes to do in the Dodgers, who fell 12 games below .500.

Had starting pitcher Bob Welch not broken late to cover first base on a potential double-play ball hit to first in the fourth inning, perhaps the Dodgers would have gotten out of the inning.

As it turned out, Brave shortstop Andres Thomas hit Welch’s next pitch, a fastball, over the left-field fence for a 4-1 lead.

“I didn’t get over there quick enough,” said Welch, angry at himself. “It was enough to beat us.”

Until their late-inning comeback, the Dodger offense once again deftly avoided big innings against Brave starter Zane Smith when they presented themselves.

“I think (this game) kind of sums up the season,” right fielder Mike Marshall said. “We didn’t come up with the key hit with guys on base. And we missed that chance for a double play, and the guy hits a two-run home run. It wasn’t a defensive breakdown like the ones we’ve had recently, but it hurt us.”

As a result, the Dodgers once again lost ground in their race to stay ahead of the last-place San Diego Padres in the West. The Padres are only 6 1/2 games behind the Dodgers and Braves, who have identical 48-60 records.

The Braves who moved into a tie with the Dodgers for fourth place in the West, took a three-run lead in the middle innings after a bases-empty home run by Gerald Perry and the two-run home run by Thomas in the fourth off Welch, who left after five innings.

After struggling most of the night against Smith, the Dodgers staged a late comeback that, typically, fell short.

It started when John Shelby hit a bases-empty homer in the seventh, his 16th of the season, then continued in the eighth when Marshall doubled home Steve Sax, who had reached first on an infield hit. Marshall was stranded on third when Mickey Hatcher hit a hard ground ball that Perry nabbed to end the threat.

With a 4-3 lead going to the ninth, Brave Manager Chuck Tanner stayed with Smith (11-6) even though the Dodgers had hit him hard the previous two innings.

With one out in the ninth, Mike Scioscia singled to center and was replaced by pinch-runner Mariano Duncan, who stole second. Jeff Hamilton walked, and Manager Tom Lasorda brought up right-hand-hitting Alex Trevino to hit for reliever Matt Young.

Trevino grounded into a double play to end the game, more proof that this was indeed the Dodgers and not impostors on the field.

“We’re getting them on and not getting them in,” Lasorda said. “That’s the way it goes. There is no more I can tell you.”

Some of that had to do with Smith’s solid pitching. No matter who is out there in Dodger uniforms, Smith must look forward to meeting the Dodgers. His last win came Sunday, when he shut out the Dodgers until a five-run seventh inning in a 10-5 Brave win.

“He kept going after them,” Tanner said. “You’ve got to give Smith credit. He pitched in a lot of tough situations. He pitched like Welch did in Atlanta against us.”

It was a week ago tonight that Welch gave up only one earned run in 8 innings of a 5-2 win over the Braves. In his five previous starts before Friday, Welch had a 1.77 earned-run average.

One theory, perhaps, on Welch’s one-night reversal was that it was his body double, one Keith MacDonald, who was pitching. Facially, at least, MacDonald looks strikingly like Welch.

Even Welch admitted that, on the two home-run balls he served up, he didn’t look like himself.

“Gerald Perry hit a split-finger (pitch) and Thomas a fastball,” Welch said. “What can you say? They were (poor) pitches. When you lose, even a couple mistakes can be the difference.”

That’s especially true when you must rely on the Dodger offense to generate runs. Until the late innings, the Dodgers could manage only a single run in the first inning on a two-out single by Hatcher after Pedro Guerrero and Marshall could not bring home Dave Anderson from second base.

Guerrero wasn’t the only Dodger who failed to produce Friday, but his 0-for-4 outing was noticeable because he has been the club’s hottest hitter all season.

Guerrero came up three times with runners on base Friday night and could not advance them. Even after an off-night, Guerrero still is hitting .343, second in the National League.

“It’s not like we aren’t trying,” Hatcher said. “Maybe everybody’s trying too hard. You dig a hole for yourself and it’s hard to get out of it.”

Dodger Notes Relief pitcher Brad Havens, bothered recently by a strained muscle in his left rib cage, was put on the 15-day disabled list Friday night. The Dodgers will call up Shawn Hillegas, a right-handed starter, from Albuquerque. The Dodgers, searching for a fifth starter, were considering bring up Hillegas, anyway. Hillegas, who has a 13-5 record in 24 starts and a 3.37 earned-run average, is the club’s best pitching prospect. His 13 wins rank him second in the Pacific Coast League. . . . The Dodgers still are listing “Undecided” as their starting pitcher for Sunday’s final game of the Braves series. The last two times Manager Tom Lasorda hedged on a starter, it turned out to be Ken Howell. However, Lasorda might go with Hillegas. Said Lasorda Friday: “We’re sticking with undecided. That guy hasn’t lost for us all year.” But he hasn’t won either. Howell, incidentally, rejoined the Dodgers Friday after attending his grandmother’s funeral in Michigan. . . . Shortstop Dave Anderson was examined by Dr. Martin Zimel, a hand specialist, Friday and said before the game he felt good enough to play. So, Lasorda put him in the lineup. “He did find a little problem with my pinky (right little finger, which he broke last season),” Anderson said. “One of the pins they put in there is loose. But we can take care of that after the season.” . . . Franklin Stubbs, on the 21-day abled list with a dislocated right shoulder, is taking therapy at Dodger Stadium and is hoping to be ready to play by the time he is eligible to come off the disabled list. “It’s still sore, but I have good range of motion,” Stubbs said. “I’m taking it step-by-step. I’m not going to say when I’ll be ready. I may be willing, but my arm isn’t. These things never come when you want them. Well, you never want them, but they always see to come at an important time in the season.” . . . The winners of the Dodgers’ look-alike contest met their supposed doubles before Friday night’s game. Best matches went to right fielder Mike Marshall and look-a-like Ed Engle and pitcher Bob Welch and look-alike Keith MacDonald. An amusing aside: Dodger utility players Tito Landrum and Phil Garner traded uniforms during the look-alike ceremony, and each imitated the mannerisms of the other. Landrum shoved his cap down over his forehead, as is Garner’s habit, and Garner struck a Landrum-type pose.