Fernando Fans 14 Phillies, Gains 18th Victory on Six-Hitter, 3-2

PHILADELPHIA â€”  He’s royalty residing in a flophouse, Olivier performing in a B movie, Previn conducting a band of kazoos.

He is a medieval alchemist, spinning gold out of the basest elements, a magician producing a bouquet of roses out of thin air.

Where lesser Dodgers have stumbled, Fernando Valenzuela still soars.

In what has been a season of sorrows for the Dodgers, Valenzuela produced yet another stirring personal triumph Saturday night, striking out a season-high 14 Phillies and allowing just six hits in a 3-2 win before 22,394 in Veterans Stadium.

Valenzuela became the first pitcher in the National League to win 18 games, and he should have five more starts in his bid to reach 20, a level he has yet to attain in his six-year career. Four of those 1986 wins have come against the Phillies, who have scored a total of seven runs in 36 innings against Valenzuela--four runs coming in one inning.

Mike Schmidt’s two-run homer in the first, his league-leading 31st of the season, accounted for the Phillies’ only runs Saturday. The Dodgers left a dozen men on base, but Bill Madlock singled in a run in the first, and a torrid Steve Sax singled home two more in the third for a lead that Valenzuela would not relinquish.

Every time the Dodger left-hander faced the Phillies this season, he pitched a complete game, of which he now has a league-leading 17. Only one other National League pitcher, Rick Rhoden of the Pirates, is in double figures; Rhoden has 10.

“I don’t know how much education he got in school,� Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “But on the mound, he’s a Rhodes scholar.�

Valenzuela struck out six batters in the first three innings. He struck out the side in the seventh. In the eighth, with the tying and go-ahead runs on base, he struck out Glenn Wilson on three pitches. He ended the game by striking out John Russell and Luis Aguayo.

Phillie Manager John Felske didn’t need to see any more. He scoffed when someone asked him if Valenzuela deserved the Cy Young Award.

“Based on what we’ve seen,� Felske said, “he’s the pick of the century.�

Len Matuszek has seen Valenzuela from both sides. He was a member of the Phillies in 1984, when Valenzuela struck out a career-high 15 batters in a memorable duel with Steve Carlton. Now he is a teammate.

“The way he had his screwball working tonight, that’s exactly what he was doing that night in ‘84,� Matuszek said.

“How many right-handed hitters did you see diving out after that screwball, then having that fastball on the inside corner pushing them back?

“I’m happy he was able to win. He definitely deserves the Cy Young. He’s done it himself time after time. For us that have seen him, there’s nobody like him.

“Right now, his winning has even more meaning for us. When you make a mistake, he never bitches or moans about no support, he just does his job.

“And he does his job better than anybody.�

Von Hayes had two of the Phillies’ six hits off Valenzuela, a bunt single that preceded Schmidt’s home run and an eighth-inning infield hit.

“Hitters thrive on pitchers making a mistake,� Hayes said. “They thrive on knowing they’re going to get a particular pitch.

“But with Fernando, you can’t do that. You never know what he’s going to throw.

“My last time up, in an RBI situation, you figure there’s no way in hell he’s going to throw me a curveball or a breaking ball, not with Schmidt coming up next. But not only does he throw one, he throws a good one, too.

“Obviously, he’s totally relaxed out there, very much in command. To show you how relaxed he was, did you see what he did on my bunt?�

Seeing barely meant believing. Hayes had dropped his bunt down the first-base line, a beauty. Valenzuela picked the ball up, and with no time to whirl and throw, he simply hiked the ball between his legs.

The football-like snap went wide of first, but eyes widened at the attempt.

“Amazing,� said Sax, who has been slightly amazing himself, with a string of 10 hits in 12 at-bats, including Saturday’s game-winner.

Hayes shook his head.

“He’s just having a good time, I guess,� the Phillie outfielder said.

At least there’s one Dodger who is.

Dodger Notes Fernando Valenzuela said he’s tried the between-the-legs toss once before, in the Mexican League. “It worked,� Valenzuela said. The home run he gave up to Mike Schmidt, Valenzuela said, came on a full-count fastball that he didn’t get outside as far as he would have liked. . . . Von Hayes was stunned that Valenzuela threw him, a left-handed hitter, three straight screwballs on the outside corner. “Incredible,� he said. . . . Steve Sax had three hits in his first four-at bats, giving him 10 hits--seven singles and three doubles--in his last 12 at-bats. Sax struck out in his last at-bat but still raised his average to .323, third in the league behind Tony Gwynn of the Padres and Tim Raines of the Expos. “I’ve never had a streak like that, not in the big leagues,� Sax said. Of Valenzuela, Sax said: “We’re really pulling for him to win 20 games. When he gets going like that, it’s like people are under his spell.� . . . Valenzuela’s ERA is now an even 3.00, 10th best in the league. He is second in the league in strikeouts with 212, 41 behind Houston’s Mike Scott. . . . Greg Brock, 0 for 16 since his first-inning home run last Monday in Montreal, broke that string with a seventh-inning single off Phillie reliever Dan Schatzeder. The hit also raised Brock’s average against left-handers to .102 (5 for 49). . . . Disabled shortstop Mariano Duncan, who had gone home to the Dominican Republic for a week with the club’s permission, returned Saturday. Duncan, who has a broken bone in his left foot, said he hopes to play by the last two weeks of the season. He also said that although the club hasn’t asked him to, he intends to go to the Arizona instructional league in October, before playing winter ball in the Dominican . . . . Franklin Stubbs has 3 hits and 9 strikeouts in his last 21 at-bats. He leads the team in K’s with 97, seven more than Mike Marshall. . . . Shortstop Dave Anderson, dropped from second to eighth in the order, is 0 for 14, including four hitless at-bats Saturday. . . . Len Matuszek, who hit in the No. 2 spot, reached base four times with two hit-and-run singles, a walk and an error. . . . Pedro Guerrero, who grounded out as a pinch-hitter Friday, struck out into a double play in the seventh inning as Jose Gonzalez was erased attempting to steal. . . . Ken Landreaux, appearing in a game for the first time since July 27, pinch-hit in the ninth and grounded out. Landreaux, who underwent arthroscopic surgery for torn cartilage in his left knee, was noticeably limping on his way to first base. . . . Marshall, who hasn’t batted since Aug. 25, has been a late-inning defensive replacement in each of the last two games.