Howe and Dodgers Hang Up a Victory Over Astros, 5-4

HOUSTON —  For Steve Howe, redemption came disguised as a hanging slider Wednesday night. It could just as easily have been Judgment Day, but there are some mistakes more easily forgiven than others.

And Howe, who has paid so dearly the last two years for mistakes that had little to do with throwing a baseball, got away with a perilous pitch to Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros, who lined hard to Ken Landreaux in center field for the final out in the Dodgers’ 5-4 win over Houston before 9,945 at the Astrodome.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous,” Howe said. “But I said a quick prayer and went to war.”

And with two pitches, a fastball for a called strike and then the slider, the battle was won. And the save in the Dodgers’ first victory of 1985 belonged to a man who pitched cars instead of baseballs in 1984, and who first had to learn to save himself before he could save the Dodgers.

Nineteen months after he last appeared in a regular-season game, Howe was given the ball with the game on the line, the Dodgers having lost the security of a 5-0 lead fashioned by Jerry Reuss’ two-run single and home runs by Pedro Guerrero and Landreaux.

Supposedly, the idea had been to bring Howe along gradually, but that became a luxury when Ken Howell couldn’t locate the plate, throwing a wild pitch to score one run and giving up a single to Alan Ashby for two more.

Tom Niedenfuer was summoned after Howell walked Kevin Bass, the leadoff man in the ninth, but after striking out Dickie Thon on a wicked fastball on the inside corner, Niedenfuer gave up a broken-bat single to Enos Cabell and a sacrifice fly to the track in right by Phil Garner.

The next batter was Cruz, who already had five hits in two games against the Dodgers. Manager Tom Lasorda walked to the mound and raised his left hand, a signal he rarely used in similar situations last season, when the only left-hander he had in the bullpen was Carlos Diaz.

Howe, who first began to warm up with two outs in the seventh inning, walked to the mound.

“Just like old times,” he said. “I warmed up three times, then had to hold back. I didn’t know how much the old horse had in it.

“I was used to the situation, but physically I’m not where I want to be. I had good velocity on the fastball, but I just wasn’t sharp.”

Lasorda said he had no second thoughts about bringing in Howe in that situation.

“After what I saw him do Sunday (when he set down the Angels on six pitches in one inning of work), there wasn’t a doubt in my mind,” Lasorda said.

And what if he had been asking too much of Howe?

“I ain’t thinking about that,” Lasorda said. “I think this young man is ready for anything.”

Cruz, after looking at Howe’s fastball, was ready for the slider. “It was a bad pitch, but I got away with it,” Howe said. “I got it up too much.”

But Landreaux had the ball tracked, though he said afterward that he was fighting the lights all the way. After he caught it, he fell down.

“That would have been just great, the ball in the lights beating me up and a tie game,” Landreaux said to reporters afterward. “You guys would have had a fantastic story on that one.”

Howe saw Landreaux drop to his knees, but by that time, his glove was already in the air, triumphant.

“I don’t care what he does after he catches the ball, we’ve got stretchers for that,” Howe said.

“That slider was a heckuva lot better than the last one I threw Cruz--he put that one in the cheap seats. I think that was in my third outing after coming back from rehabilitation--it went smacko. “

Howe, suspended twice in ’83 for drug violations, said this return from a forced absence (he was suspended for the ’84 season) could not be compared to earlier ones.

“I couldn’t even make a parallel to then,” Howe said. “It’s just good to be back.”

That sentiment, naturally, was expressed time and again in the Dodger clubhouse.

“Besides the fact that he’s a professional, and one of the best at what he does, he’s a helluva person,” said Reuss, who shut out the Astros on five hits until weakening in the seventh.

“And over a period of time, you’re going to find out that he’s more an extraordinary person than he is an extraordinary pitcher.”

Ron Perranoski, as much a friend as he is pitching coach to Howe, called this a “big appearance” for him.

“But if he hangs another slider, we’re going to release him,” Perranoski said with a smile.

Catcher Mike Scioscia said that when Howe came into the game, Howe projected this feeling: “There’s no way this guy is going to get a hit off of me.”

Asked if the Dodgers might have been premature in thrusting Howe into such a tense moment, Scioscia said: “I’m sure he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I feel good for Steve Howe. God only knows what he’s been through the last year or two years. And then, to have surgery on top of that. But he’s battling his way back, and I’m happy for Steve and I’m happier for the club.”

Niedenfuer had a warning: “With the three of us in the bullpen, he said, if we have a lead after six, we shouldn’t lose a game.”

And on this night, Howe came out a winner in more than just a game.

Dodger Notes Dr. Frank Jobe examined Greg Brock in Los Angeles Wednesday and confirmed that the first baseman has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right elbow. Brock will rejoin the team in L.A. on Friday, but his availability will be determined on a day-to-day basis. Dr. William Bryan, who examined Brock in Houston, recommended that Brock refrain from throwing for two weeks. If information from the Dodgers is correct, Jobe is maintaining that his original diagnosis of a muscle strain in the elbow is correct, and that the ligament problem is a separate injury . . . Dodger Vice President Al Campanis, responding to questions about why Bob Bailor was placed on the disabled list, said: “If you’re telling me we made a mistake, I’m telling you we didn’t. Whatever our doctor says is good enough for me. He’s the best in the business. It’s not his fault we’ve had a rash of injuries. All I’ve got to tell you is that everything will work out, fellows.” . . . Bill Russell, out since Sunday with a sore left ankle, said he was available to play Wednesday. “I ran well in the workout,” Russell said. “My only problem would probably be in running the bases.” . . . Steve Sax, out with a sore right ankle, was examined Wednesday by Dr. Bryan, who found no fracture. Sax, too, is on a day-to-day basis . . . Bob Welch, whose first start has been pushed back at least a day because of a sore right elbow, is still uncertain of going Saturday against the San Francisco Giants. Tom Brennan is a possibility; Manager Tom Lasorda said he also is considering bringing back Fernando Valenzuela on three days’ rest . . . Telegram received by Lasorda: “We lost the Alamo--Don’t blow it in Houston.” It was sent by Don and Barbara Rickles . . . Dodger second baseman Mariano Duncan, 22, is the third youngest player in the league. Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets is 20 and Shawon Dunston of the Chicago Cubs is eight days younger than Duncan, whose birthday was March 13. Duncan originally was a center fielder. He also played shortstop in the Dodger organization. Duncan, a switch-hitter, first started hitting from the left side three years ago . . . Valenzuela taped a brief message here that is supposed to be included in a “We Are the World”-type video recording prepared by Spanish-language artists in L.A. . . . National League President Chub Feeney, a visitor here Wednesday, to Campanis: “Do you have any players left? It’s going to be a long season.” . . . Steve Howe’s last appearance was Sept. 19, 1983, when he pitched two scoreless innings against Houston, striking out two, in Dodger Stadium. His last save came Sept. 9, 1983, against Atlanta.