59 : Hershiser Sets Record With Something Extra

SAN DIEGO —  That slender right arm, the one that had just been responsible for setting a major league record of 59 consecutive scoreless innings by a pitcher, was raised briefly in celebration, as if on display for all the baseball world to see.

The rest of Orel (emphasis on the O) Hershiser, the pitcher to which that famous arm belonged, was being swarmed by his Dodger teammates as he strolled to the visitors’ dugout Wednesday night after he had not only equaled but surpassed Don Drysdale’s 20-year-old record with 10 scoreless innings in a game that the San Diego Padres eventually won, 2-1, in 16 innings.

After the 10th, the Dodgers enveloped Hershiser, who allowed only 4 hits and struck out 3, in waves of blue. But they made certain not to harm that arm. It is far too valuable. It has enabled the 30-year-old Hershiser to supplant a Hall of Fame pitcher as the holder of one of baseball’s most hallowed records, equated by many with Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game 1941 hitting streak in degree of difficulty.

Where have you gone, Don Drysdale?

Well, Drysdale, now a Dodger broadcaster, was among the greeting party awaiting Hershiser after he forced pinch-hitter Keith Moreland to fly to right fielder Jose Gonzalez for the third out in the 10th inning of a then-scoreless tie between the Dodgers and the Padres.

Drysdale gave Hershiser a bear hug. So did Manager Tom Lasorda, pitching coach Ron Perranoski and each Dodger player. It was a repeat, though with far more feeling, of the celebration bestowed upon Hershiser an inning earlier, when he tied Drysdale’s record.

“I never thought I would break this record,” Hershiser said. “I thought nobody would break this record. But now, I think somebody can break it from me, because I’m nobody special.”

Hershiser spoke those words with what appeared to be total sincerity. Also in all sincerity, he said that he did not want to break Drysdale’s record, just tie it.

When Hershiser recorded the second out in the 10th inning, he said he wanted to come out of the game.

Had he done that, he would have stopped--unofficially--at 58, which is where Drysdale’s 1968 streak ended. But the record book simply shows Drysdale with 58 innings, because--according to a recent decision by the league office--a partial inning pitched by a starter does not count if a run is scored later in the inning and charged to him.

“I really didn’t want to break it,” Hershiser said. “I wanted to stop at 58. I wanted me and Don to be together at the top. But the higher sources (Lasorda and Perranoski) told me they weren’t taking me out of the game, so I figured, what the heck, I might as well get the guy out.”

Drysdale, always the competitive type, laughed when told of Hershiser’s statement.

“I’d have kicked him right in the rear if I’d have known that,” Drysdale said. “I’d have told him to get his buns out there and get them.”

Previous talk of pitching Hershiser in relief over the weekend, should he need the chance to break the record, became moot because of Hershiser’s most dominating outing of the 6 scoreless starts he has had during the streak.

To erase Drysdale’s name from the record books, Orel Leonard Hershiser IV didn’t even need to pitch Shutout VI. He left the game after the 10th inning, as did many in the crowd of 22,596 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

But, making it tough for himself, Hershiser needed 4 outs in that 10th inning to do it.

He struck out Marvell Wynne to open the inning, but the third strike bounced in front and then over catcher Mike Scioscia to the screen. Wynne sped to first base on the wild pitch.

“It was a definite letdown,” Hershiser said of the wild pitch on the strikeout. “At first, I didn’t think the guy swung. Then, I saw (plate umpire) Joe West call it a strike, and I knew the guy was on first. I just told myself to bear down and go get them.”

Benito Santiago moved Wynne to second with a sacrifice bunt, which Hershiser fielded. He tossed to first baseman Franklin Stubbs for the first out.

Randy Ready then grounded to shortstop Alfredo Griffin, Wynne taking third base on the throw. At that point, Perranoski, Scioscia, Sax and third baseman Jeff Hamilton converged on the mound, and it was decided that Garry Templeton would be walked.

Keith Moreland was sent up to pinch-hit for Padre pitcher Andy Hawkins, who had a 4-hitter at that point. Moreland took Hershiser’s first pitch, a strike, and Templeton advanced to second base without drawing a throw.

Moreland then took another called strike. After a foul ball and a ball, Moreland lofted Hershiser’s next pitch into right field, where Gonzalez, a late-inning defensive replacement, caught it.

For a moment, Hershiser remained rooted to the ground with his hands on both knees. Then, he grasped Scioscia’s extended hand and walked to the dugout, seemingly taking in the scene.

Thus began the celebration, the second time in three nights that the Dodgers have partied on the field here. They clinched the National League West title Monday night with a win over the Padres.

With Hershiser’s right hand raised, he received high-fives from teammates and then Drysdale’s hug. The media, of which Drysdale was a member, was waiting. The Dodgers allowed Hershiser to answer questions while the game continued.

“I still think it’s a dream,” Hershiser said. “I still don’t think I’m capable of doing it. I respect Don. I think he was a much better pitcher than I am. He’s a Hall of Famer. . . . “

Asked what place the name Hershiser now will have in the annals of baseball’s greatest pitchers, Hershiser once again played himself down.

“It will be a long (name),” he said, laughing. “It will be the oddest name up there.”

Lasorda removed Hershiser from the game immediately after the final out of the 10th inning. His scoreless streak will not continue into the playoffs, but should he continue the streak into 1989, it perhaps will create a new record for most consecutive innings in two seasons.

Six innings after Hershiser’s departure, the Dodgers finally scored a run off Padre reliever Dave Leiper. With Mickey Hatcher on third base after a single and two groundouts, Gonzalez grounded to third baseman Bip Roberts. Roberts’ throw sailed over Martinez’s head, allowing Hatcher to score.

But the Dodgers’ 1-0 lead turned into a 2-1 loss in the bottom of the 16th when Mark Parent hit a two-run home run off Dodger reliever Ricky Horton.

Although this may have been the most important start of Hershiser’s life, he will be starting an even more important game from a team standpoint Tuesday against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium in Game 1 of the National League playoffs.

The last runs Hershiser allowed came in the fifth inning Aug. 30, when Montreal’s Tim Raines and Dave Martinez had run-scoring singles. He won that game, 4-2.

Since then though, it has been less than zero for opponents, as Hershiser has had hardly any close calls.

After surpassing Walter Johnson’s American League record of 55 innings, set in 1913, after the sixth inning Wednesday, Hershiser needed only 3 scoreless innings to tie Drysdale.

The Padres staged a minor threat in the eighth, when Roberto Alomar singled to center field with two out. But Hershiser then picked off the speedy Alomar, who had 24 stolen bases in 30 attempts, to extend the streak into the 58th inning.

The crowd, subdued early in the game, greeted Hershiser with a standing ovation as he walked, head down, from the dugout for the start of the bottom of the ninth inning and his bid to equal Drysdale’s record.

Showing little emotion, Hershiser manicured the mound with his right foot. Equally as methodically, Hershiser got Tim Flannery to ground to back to him for the first out, a wild-swinging Tony Gwynn to ground to Sax at second base, bring up Martinez as the last out standing between Hershiser and a place alongside Drysdale in the record book.

Martinez hit Hershiser’s first pitch down the third base line, but Hamilton was hugging the line and playing deep. Hamilton fielded the ball cleanly and threw out Martinez.

It was during the grounder that Hershiser broke his stoic front. As the ball bounced to Hamilton, Hershiser fell to his knees and prayed for an out.

“I was thanking God that he caught it and got it to first base in the air,” Hershiser said.

The ball safely in Franklin Stubbs’ glove, Hershiser punched the air with his fist, then shook hands with Scioscia. He was then greeted by the entire Dodger team, embracing Lasorda and accepting congratulations from Dodger teammates.

It turned out only to be a prelude to a much more emotional celebration.

The first celebration was tempered, of course, because extra-innings beckoned, thanks to the dominating pitching of Hawkins, giving Hershiser the opportunity to break the streak.

The spring-training atmosphere that was present Tuesday, the night after the Dodgers clinched the division title, was absent Wednesday. It was replaced by a sense of purpose accompanying Hershiser’s start.

Lasorda had most of his regulars in the lineup, including Scioscia and Kirk Gibson for the first time in six games. Lasorda, rarely concerned with personal accomplishments of his players, apparently has been caught up in Hershiser’s quest.

“When a pitcher is doing this, you just have to sit back and appreciate it,” Lasorda said before the game. “I wasn’t there, but I would believe that when Walter Johnson first did this everybody thought what they were seeing was unbelievable.

“The reason I think it is special is that there are so many ways beyond your control, so many ways a team can end it.”

Stubbs gave the Padre hopes of ending it a boost in the second inning when he committed a two-out error on a routine grounder. Stubbs gloved the ball, which took a high hop, and ran to first base. But he left the ball behind. Hershiser, appearing undaunted, then forced Templeton to ground back to him.

To that point, the Dodgers’ defense had commited only 4 errors during Hershiser’s streak--3 by Stubbs.

Hershiser did not give up his second hit until the fourth inning. It was a seemingly harmless two-out single to center by Marvell Wynne. Up came Santiago, who grounded Hershiser’s first pitch to shortstop Griffin for a force play at second.

“I really noticed my nerves until about the fifth inning,” Hershiser said. “The first five innings were intense, nerve-wracking. All I wanted to do was go out there and not choke. Once the fifth inning was gone, I felt like I had done my job.”

Teammates remained stonily silent on the bench in the late innings, not wanting to disturb Hershiser’s concentration or perhaps jinx him by mentioning anything about the impending record.

“The only time it was mentioned was in the eighth, Hershiser said. “I looked at (pitcher Tim) Belcher and said, ‘That’s 57 (innings)--I can count. He laughed. They stayed away from me like it was a no-hitter.”

It was bigger than that, something that hadn’t been done in 20 seasons. Which is why Drysdale, the dethroned record-holder, eventually stepped away from Hershiser.

“Gentlemen, listen, this is his night,” Drysdale said. “Nice going, kid.”

Dodger Notes

Dodger players held a 2-hour meeting before Wednesday night’s game to vote on playoff money shares, and sources said that Pedro Guerrero, traded to St. Louis in mid-August after having spent 52 days on the disabled list with a sore neck, was voted “slightly less” than a full share. Twenty-one players are assured full shares. Players who have not spent the full season with the club because of injuries, management decisions or trades had to be voted a percentage. Among those players were Guerrero, Fernando Valenzuela, John Tudor, Don Sutton and Tim Crews.

A full share figures to range between $30,000 and $100,000, depending on how far the Dodgers advance in postseason play. It is not known what percentages Valenzuela, Tudor and Crews were voted, but sources said that Sutton, released in August, also received less than a full share.

Dave Anderson, the Dodgers’ player representative, said the money was distributed mostly based on time on the roster. “It was days on the roster,” he said. “You can’t dispute that. There were some exceptions. I thought we were fair. If anything, there were more complaints about being too generous than not giving guys enough.”

Asked about Guerrero, Anderson said: “Everybody knows what Pete did for our club, and they voted accordingly. Sutton, too. It was fair. As for (Tudor), he hasn’t been here long, but he’s been a big part of the club and will be even bigger in the playoffs.”

Mike Marshall was given permission to return to Los Angeles early Wednesday to be with his wife and infant son, who was hospitalized Tuesday.