Sing the Dodgers a Sad Song : They Come Back in 9th, but Cardinals Win in 10th

ST. LOUIS — A wobbling line separating elation from demoralization was tugging at the Dodgers throughout Friday night’s 10-inning, 5-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. When it was finally over, the Dodgers just seemed stunned.

The mixed emotions among Dodger players was epitomized by the experience of reliever Matt Young, who pitched out of an inherited bases-loaded situation in the ninth inning only to give up a single to Steve Lake, scoring Jack Clark from second, in the 10th that gave the Cardinals a one-run win.

Young, the last of several Dodgers who contributed to both the success and downfall Friday night, said that all was not lost.

“I’m disappointed in the fact that that was a situation when I had to hold them, especially after getting out of that bases-loaded situation,” Young said. “But I’m not demoralized, because I threw the ball well. But I still should have held them.”

All might not have been lost, as Manager Tom Lasorda said afterward. But it was another game lost, which also happened to be the club’s third in the last four games.

“I need somebody to cheer me up,” a worn out Lasorda said afterward.

Nothing could have done that job. And it didn’t help when country-western singer Michael Martin Murphy, giving a postgame concert for the remainder of the 44,383 at Busch Stadium, dedicated a song to the Dodgers.

The title: “You’re History.”

Indeed, the Dodger clubhouse afterward seemed as sorrowful as a sad country-western song.

“We battled them all night,” second baseman Steve Sax said. “I’m not ashamed of the way we played. We came back and did good things.”

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the bad slightly outnumbered the good.

Behind the nearly unhittable pitching of Rick Honeycutt, who struck out a career-high 9 Cardinals through 5 innings, the Dodgers took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Then, the Cardinals came back to take a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Clark off Honeycutt followed by a three-run home run by Willie McGee off reliever Tom Niedenfuer.

But the Dodgers, almost counted out with two out in the bottom of the ninth and nobody on base, staged an unlikely comeback. Sax hit a bloop double to right, and Pedro Guerrero followed with a run-scoring single to center on Todd Worrell’s 0-and-2 slider to tie it, 4-4.

But St. Louis threatened against Dodger reliever Ken Howell in both the ninth--before Young and a good defensive play by shortstop Mariano Duncan bailed him out--and the 10th, when the Cardinals made good on the threat.

Young struck out Terry Pendleton to open the inning, but then Clark slashed a double to left. McGee was intentionally walked, and Young got the second out by striking out pinch-hitter Tito Landrum.

The slider that had been effective for Young earlier then failed him, when Lake bounced a single in the hole between short and third. Guerrero charged the ball from shallow left field in an attempt to nail Clark at home plate. But the ball popped out of Guerrero’s glove, and Clark easily scored the winning run.

“It just popped out,” said Guerrero, who had two run-scoring singles after missing one game with a sore shoulder. “I could have had him (at home plate) if I had the ball.”

Said Young: “I thought I threw the ball well. Lake hit a slider, the same pitch I struck out the other two guys with. I just wish that one had been down about four or five inches.”

Young’s indiscretion was a bouncing ground ball that Duncan missed by only a foot. Niedenfuer, on the other hand, gave up a mammoth home run to McGee.

It isn’t certain what the statute of limitations is for remembering Lasorda’s disastrous decision in the 1985 National League playoffs to have Niedenfuer pitch to Clark, who hit a home run to eliminate the Dodgers.

But in the sixth inning, with the Dodgers and Honeycutt holding a 3-0 lead, Lasorda avoided another potential confrontation with one out, runners on first and second and Clark up.

There would be no Niedenfuer-Clark, redux. Lasorda chose to stay with Honeycutt, who appeared to be tiring and had given up seven hits in 14 appearances against Clark. Clark delivered a sharp single, scoring one run.

Only then was Honeycutt replaced by Niedenfuer. Maybe just the sight of Clark on first base spawned bad memories, because McGee crushed a 2-and-0 pitch 365 feet over the right-field fence for a three-run home run and a 4-3 lead.

Just when it seemed that Niedenfuer was in the building process of laying to rest that reputation of giving up home runs, it returned in the worst possible nightmare. There was no doubt about McGee’s home run.

Niedenfuer delivered a belt-high fastball that McGee jumped on. Right fielder Mike Marshall took one step back, then watched it sail over the fence.

Niedenfuer, who gave up six home runs in 1985 and 11 in 1986, had not even given up an extra-base hit before McGee stepped to the plate.

Friday was the third straight game in which Niedenfuer has pitched. Was he tired?

“You noticed that, huh,” Niedenfuer said, smiling. “I don’t know. But I do know I didn’t have the best fastball that I have had. It’s obvious that fastball (to McGee) didn’t have a lot on it.”

Lasorda naturally defended his difficult decision to leave Honeycutt in to face Clark and then replacing him with Niedenfuer against the switch-hitting McGee, who struck out twice earlier while hitting right-handed.

“Nothing was going through my mind except the fact that (Honeycutt) was pitching a hell of a game,” Lasorda said. “I just wanted Honeycutt to pitch to him. What was the score then, 3-0, right?”

Clark has only two hits lifetime against Niedenfuer--the home run in 1985 and a single last year. The last time Niedenfuer faced Clark, on May 13 of last season, he forced him to fly to center.

“Sure, I wouldn’t have minded facing (Clark),” Niedenfuer said. “Whatever the situation, I’ll face it. Clark doesn’t have a good career average against me.”

But the Dodger offense lessened the impact of those decisions with the two-out rally in the top of the ninth.

Dodger Notes

Manager Tom Lasorda decided to not start Franklin Stubbs, who hit his seventh home run Thursday at Pittsburgh, because the Cardinals were pitching a left-hander, Joe Magrane. This is the second straight game Stubbs has sat against a left-hander. Stubbs did not play Wednesday night against Pirate left-hander Bob Patterson, but in that instance, Lasorda said he just wanted to give Mickey Hatcher playing time. Said Stubbs’ of Lasorda’s decisions: “He’s the manager. I just play here. I do whatever they want me to do.” Said Lasorda: “He’s just had problems hitting lefties.” . . . X-rays on Friday confirmed the Dodgers’ fear that utility man Len Matuszek suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia tissue on the bottom of his left foot. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list, enabling the Dodgers to activate Bill Madlock. Madlock said he will not be ready to play third base until Monday in Chicago. He will be used as a pinch-hitter in this series. Matuszek’s injury occurred two innings into his first start. He got his first hit, breaking an 0-for-13 slump, then: “At first, I thought it was the Achilles’ (tendon). But when I got back to the dugout (after a tear), I checked my Achilles’ first and it wasn’t that. So, at least it wasn’t the worst.” Still, Dodger trainer Bill Buhler said Matuszek will be out at least two weeks in order for the tissues to heal. “It almost would have been better if he had torn it completely, because then he’d have surgery and we’d know for sure whether it was healed. This way, it’s tough to know.”