Opening Day View From Left Field

OK, wait till next year.

Dodgers 1, Giants 5.

In Aisle 25, Row 2, reserved section, third-base side, longtime fan, Mark Tiger, ex-U.S. Air Force, was philosophical: “The good news is, they have 161 games to iron out the problems. The bad news is, they’ll need an awfully big iron.”

Opening Day. An American tribal rite. As American as homemade fudge, corn-on-the-cob, apple pie a la mode , Fourth of July fireworks, pizza-with-everything.

There is joy in Mudville opening day. Every card is an ace. Every flower, a rose. It’s like your first dance at a prom. You don’t notice the buck teeth, the eyeglasses, the warts. It’s like sitting in on a shipboard card game. You haven’t cut the cards yet. You don’t notice the dealer is wearing a beaver hat and answering to the name “Slick.”

Then, the game starts and they start to curve ‘em.

The Dodgers were doing swimmingly in the home opener at the stadium Monday. The house was sold out, their ace was on the mound and the best team money could buy was in the field.

Fernando Valenzuela didn’t exactly mow the Giants down in inning one. He walked the bases loaded is what he did. But he got the Giants’ catcher, a .199 hitter, to fly out.

In the bottom of the first, Dodger Steve Sax hit the first pitch of the season in the left-field seats. The 48,484 fans were ecstatic. If you’re going to hit the first pitch in the seats, you got the 1927 Yankees this year, right?

Wrong. That was the total extent of the Dodger offense the rest of the afternoon.

The Giants did not beat the Dodgers. It’s important to know the Dodgers beat the Dodgers. They got the season off on a winning note. They got a little help from the Giants but they really didn’t need it.

In the third inning, the Giants got a run when the only ball that got out of the infield Fernando Valenzuela threw out. The center fielder then took the ball and threw it into the dugout.

The Giants visibly relaxed after that. When it occurred to them that they might win this game on infield hits--or no hits at all--they sat back to watch the Dodgers win the game for them.

In the next inning, the Giant shortstop got a hit. The pitcher then laid down a bunt that, for some reason, Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela decided was a double-play ball. It turned out to be a no-play ball. The throw to second was too late and the relay to first was too late. By about a minute and a half.

A rabbit over from the American League, Brett Butler, whom the Dodgers passed up a chance to get, then tripled in the right-field corner. And there went ye olde ball game.

The Dodgers, a team that seems to consist almost entirely of left fielders, have trouble enough coming from ahead, never mind coming from behind. Except for the first pitch he threw, Giant southpaw Dave Dravecky was as big a mystery to them as how to make a long throw to a given base or how to pick up a moving ball before it ran up your leg.

This team cost Dodger owner Peter O’Malley $17.5 million. Now, I can remember when you could buy a railroad for that. Or a coal mine. Or a Manhattan skyscraper. A small country. Peter got a whole bunch of .270 and .260 hitters for it.

The new acquisitions of the Dodgers went 0 for 11. They took two called third strikes, one swinging third strike, got the ball out of the infield twice. The catcher made four putouts with this bunch. If you compute out the per diem rate of this million-dollar bunch, you figure Peter has a beef to register with the Better Business Bureau.

Baseball is big on incentive clauses these days. Maybe owners should check into the possibility of decentive clauses. If you get $50,000 for making the All-Star team, the MVP or just appearing in 150 games or being on the team by September, etc., maybe you should give back a few thou for throwing to the wrong base, popping out with the bases loaded--or whipping a pickoff throw into center field.

On the basis of their play Monday, decentive would wind up with the Dodger outfield owing O’Malley money.

The Dodgers’ great experiment, on which hinges the season, is supposed to be the transfer of Pedro Guerrero to third base. This frees up all those other left fielders to be spread around the lineup. Well, Pete didn’t do anything terrible around third base Monday. But the proposition is not what Pete will do to third base but what third base will do to Pete. If it chips away on his ability to concentrate on hitting, there is no net gain to the team. They need Pete’s full attention. They need his bat, not his glove.

As Fan Tiger points out, they have 161 games to iron out--or consolidate--their problems.

One game does not a season make. Any more than one swallow makes a summer. But when you see one swallow you know that’s just the beginning. And when you see one outfield throw hit the dugout, you’re afraid that might be, too.

The good news is, the Dodgers know exactly what to do about the problem: Go out and get left fielders. If there are any left.

They might also consider letting the Giants beat them next time. One more game like Monday and the Giants are apt to get annoyed at their meddling and sniff “Thanks but I’d rather do it myself!”