Valenzuela OK--but Braves KO Dodgers

ATLANTA — A season of testing for Fernando Valenzuela began Friday night with the Atlanta Braves, which was something less than a trial by fire, given the Braves’ 54-106 record in 1988, the worst in the National League.

The Dodger left-hander with the suspect shoulder emerged with at least a passing grade: Eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings earned him that much, even if three of the K’s came at the expense of one Geronimo Berroa.

“No doubt about it,” Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia said, “Fernando pitched a tremendous ballgame. The box score doesn’t reflect the way he pitched.”

What the box score did capture, however, was the night’s valedictorian, Atlanta’s Tom Glavine, the 23-year-old left-hander who erased the memory of five failures against the Dodgers last season with a four-hit, complete-game win over the Dodgers, 6-1, before a crowd of 31,929 at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.

Instead of icing Kirk Gibson and the Dodgers in the Braves’ home opener, Glavine could have been icing pucks with Wayne Gretzky and the Kings, the team that drafted him out of high school in 1985. Like Gretzky, Glavine was a center. And what would have happened had the two played together?

“Gretzky would have moved to left wing,” said a smiling Glavine, who succeeded in moving Valenzuela out of the spotlight, despite his 7.90 earned-run average against the Dodgers last season.

“Yesterday’s stats,” Dodger coach Joe Ferguson said. “They don’t mean a thing.”

That was evidently the case Friday, as the Dodgers--batting just .176 as a team through four games, three of them losses--managed just four singles and an unearned run against Glavine, who retired 14 consecutive batters before Eddie Murray’s single with one out in the ninth inning.

Murray had broken a season-opening 0-for-13 streak with a ground single through the left side in the fourth. The other Dodger hits were a bunt single by Willie Randolph--2 for 16 this season--and a ground-ball base hit by Alfredo Griffin in the first.

Instead of a cushion, the Dodgers furnished Valenzuela only the slimmest margin for error.

“As well as he pitched,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said, “he would have needed to pitch a shutout to win.”

The Dodgers also made two errors--raising their total to nine this season--while dodging the bad hops that are an occupational hazard on the minefield that passes for an infield here.

One of those nasty bounces, besides nearly taking the head off Dodger third baseman Jeff Hamilton, directly contributed to the demise of Valenzuela, who retired the first two Braves to face him in the fifth inning of a 1-1 game.

Lonnie Smith then flared a ball over Murray’s head into short right field for a double, one of his three hits in the game. When Jeff Blauser hit a grounder to third, Valenzuela was headed to the dugout, until the ball ricocheted over the shoulder of the shocked Hamilton.

“I took ground balls before the game, and the infield seemed better than it used to be,” Hamilton said. “But once the dirt gets turned over a little bit, the ball goes right down to where it’s hard.”

When that happens, there’s nothing easy about even the most routine play, leaving Valenzuela in a dilemma he compounded moments later by throwing a wild pitch to Gerald Perry, allowing Smith to score the go-ahead run. Valenzuela then walked Perry on a full count, and after Valenzuela just missed with a pitch he thought was strike three to Dale Murphy, the Braves’ center fielder followed with an infield single.

Valenzuela was wide with two fastballs to Jody Davis, then threw a high screwball that Davis poked into right field for a double, making it 4-1. Ron Gant mercifully fouled out on a 3-and-0 pitch to end the inning.

Perry, who had doubled home the Braves’ first run in the third, singled in the seventh off Murray’s chest, stole second and scored on Davis’ base hit, which also marked the end of Valenzuela’s night, after 112 pitches.

“All their runs came with two outs,” Valenzuela lamented afterward. “It was hard to take that.”

On balance, however, Valenzuela said he was encouraged, even though it’s now clear that the hardest-throwing left-hander on the Dodgers is their 61-year-old manager.

“The only difference I saw was in the velocity of his fastball,” said Brave catcher Davis. “He doesn’t quite have the fastball he had in the past.

“But he’s still so good on mixing his pitches. You still never know what you’re going to get. I’m usually guessing one way or another.”

It’s Davis’ guess that Valenzuela can win some games for the Dodgers this season, after winning only five in 1988. That sentiment was echoed by Murphy, who was the subject of trade rumors all winter but now appears more likely to end his career here, which is fitting for the athlete chosen as the most popular in Atlanta history in a recent newspaper poll.

“I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Murphy said. “I saw him only four at-bats, so it’s a little hard for me to judge, but I don’t have any doubts he’s going to win some games.”

Dodger Notes

Tim Belcher (0-1) is scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers against Zane Smith (0-1) this afternoon in a game that is being televised nationally by NBC. Orel Hershiser will go Sunday against Pete Smith, as the Braves decided not to give left-hander Derek Lilliquist, who was scheduled to go today, a start. . . . The 14 position players on the Dodger roster came into Friday’s game with a .425 batting average against Brave starter Tom Glavine. “It was on my mind,” said Glavine, 0-5 against the Dodgers last season, “but I wanted to turn it around to my advantage. I wanted to prove to myself and these guys here that I’m a lot better pitcher than I showed in those five losses.” . . . Mike Marshall missed his second straight game with a sore left knee, and is questionable for today’s game. . . . Ramon Martinez was the winning pitcher in Albuquerque’s 11-2 season-opening victory over Calgary.