Dodgers Show No Mercy in Cincinnati, 7-0

Yes, there was also a baseball game here Sunday, and you didn’t even need a legal dictionary to figure it out.

With the Cincinnati Reds playing like Common Pleas Court judges, a few good motions by the Dodgers gave Los Angeles a 7-0 victory before 36,063 fans at Riverfront Stadium.

Combined with Saturday’s 10-3 victory here, the Dodgers’ league-worst offense has collected 17 runs on 30 hits in slightly more than 24 hours. That’s not a bad weekend for a team that five days ago had scored one run in two games and found themselves feeling like the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants were a couple of time zones away.

“Just a couple of days ago we were like, down . . . and now look at it,” Kirk Gibson said afterward, his team 7 1/2 games behind the Giants but only two games behind the third-place Reds. “This game fluctuates so much. Every team is going to have their time. . . . We just have to stay close and not rule anything out.”

It was a day when the bigger news took place on the other side of town, where Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Norbert A. Nadel gave Cincinnati Manager Pete Rose a 14-day respite from a scheduled hearing before Commissioner Bart Giamatti concerning Rose’s alleged gambling. During those 14 days, Nadel ruled, Rose cannot be fired or suspended.

“I got to find me one of those judges,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “Can’t be fired. . . . That’s the answer to my problems.”

But Lasorda had few problems Sunday. The Dodgers got a double and three runs batted in from surging Eddie Murray, a couple of more RBIs from Mickey Hatcher, and even a couple of hits from yet another leadoff hitter, this one being Jose Gonzalez.

The Reds should have at least scored. They had 11 hits.

So, Orel Hershiser, what was it like to pitch an 11-hit shutout?

“I’ve never done that before,” said Hershiser (9-6), who has a league-leading four shutouts and a 2.24 earned-run average. “I think I’ve thrown an eight-hit shutout before but never this.

“I don’t think an 11-hit shutout is a testament to anything other than I was very fortunate.”

Said Rose: “Hey, that’s why he makes $3 million a year, to pitch 11-hit shutouts.”

Rose’s team put runners on base against Hershiser in every inning, moving them as far as third base three times. Hershiser struck out six but ended four innings with weak ground-outs and another by throwing out Lenny Harris when he tried to steal third. Harris was between second and third when Hershiser turned and threw.

When the Dodgers were on offense, the Reds didn’t have it any easier. Red starter Tom Browning, who had not given up a run in his last 23 innings, gave up six runs (five earned) in 4 1/3 innings. He started the third inning by giving up a double to left field to Hershiser (hitting .195), and later in the inning by gave up consecutive RBI singles to Murray and Hatcher.

Two innings later, Browning was victimized when catcher Jeff Reed mishandled Willie Randolph’s sacrifice bunt and center fielder Herm Winningham let Rick Dempsey’s hit bounce over his head for a double. The Dodgers scored five runs in that inning, and the Reds’ slide continued.

They have lost 10 of their last 14 games, have been shut out three times during that period, and have been outscored, 61-36. When their slump began a couple of weeks ago, they led the West by percentage points. Today they are 5 1/2 games behind.

If the Reds haven’t been affected by the controversy, they have been doing a poor job of showing it.

“Distracted? If we won this game, 7-0, you wouldn’t be saying that,” Rose scoffed. “I wish that (distraction) was the answer. I’ve got Eric Davis and Kal Daniels in my dugout and Chris Sabo at third base who can’t run. My problem is that with injuries, I don’t have my team.”

Said reliever John Franco: “Pete is not hitting, pitching or running, We are. All he does is fill out the lineup card. It (Rose’s controversy) didn’t affect us when we were in first place. And now that we’re in third place, everyone is saying it’s affecting us. That’s a cop-out. We just didn’t play well.”

Murray, meanwhile, has collected seven hits in his last 12 at-bats to improve his average to .236. Hatcher is healthy and has five hits in his last eight at-bats. Gonzalez is looking like a possible answer as a leadoff hitter and center fielder with a .317 average.

Yet Hershiser said that the team is still a bit like the Reds--incomplete.

“We still need to find a personality,” Hershiser said. “A lot of guys don’t know if they are playing or where they are hitting. The guys on the bench don’t know their role because some of the starters aren’t sure what’s going on either.

“When things are different every day, it’s hard to prepare. We need to get it more like last year, when we knew what everyone was going to do.”

Said Lasorda: “They don’t know their roles? I’ve told them their roles. Their roles are to win.”

Dodger Notes

Mariano Duncan did not work out Sunday while receiving treatment for his strained left hamstring. The utilityman’s playing status is listed as day-to-day. . . . With Tim Belcher moving to the bullpen to make room for healthy starter John Tudor, Belcher’s scheduled start today will be made by Tim Leary, who is fully rested because of last Thursday’s day off. Leary has won in three of his last four appearances, giving up six runs in 24 innings for a 2.25 ERA during that time. In a 3 p.m., PDT, start, Leary (6-5) will face Rick Mahler (8-7), who is second in the National League with five complete games. . . . During the Dodgers’ offensive surge, Kirk Gibson is in a 2-for-25 slump. “Now all I need to do is get going like everyone else,” said Gibson, who then talked about his goal for the Dodgers at the All-Star break, which is no specific goal. “When I look at the All-Star break, I’m thinking . . . three days off,” Gibson said with a laugh.