He Also Serves Who Sits And Waits

It is best that Mike Marshall never learn that his peers—if it can be said he has any—tend to think of him as a luxury item. As an academician and a libertarian, Marshall has little tolerance for those who would confuse a person with a commodity. The dignity of man is one of his enduring passions, a subject to be taken no more lightly than, say, physiological psychology, his field of scholarship at Michigan State University.

Nevertheless, when Walter Alston was asked last week to describe what the addition of this indefatigable relief pitcher had meant to his team, the Dodger manager said, "Mike Marshall gives us the luxury to do things we could not do before." He cited as a perfect example the events of that very night when Andy Messersmith, the Los Angeles starter, mysteriously departed a game against San Diego after seven innings of nearly flawless, seven-zip pitching. Naturally, his replacement was Marshall, making his 70th appearance of the season. With the bristling efficiency that characterizes his every movement on and off the diamond, Marshall mixed his favorite screwball with a good fastball and a hard slider to retire the next six Padres and preserve the victory.

"Why was Messersmith removed?" Alston was asked.

"We talked it over and decided to rest Andy for the important games coming up with Houston and Cincinnati," he replied. "And we had a pretty good man out there in the bullpen."

Was Messersmith, whose record is 13-2, miffed at being deprived of both a complete game and a possible shutout?

"So what if I go nine and get a shutout?" he said. "That's personal baseball, and I don't believe in it. Besides, Mike had a day off yesterday and we were afraid he'd get rusty."

Two nights later Marshall relieved starter Al Downing after that worthy walked the first San Diego batter in the seventh inning. Downing was leading 3-1 despite occasional fits of inaccuracy and seemed to be pitching effectively enough. No matter. In came the ubiquitous Marshall for the 71st time. Did the Padres score another run? Is a betting man a good credit risk? Marshall not only shut them out in the remaining three innings, he singled in two of the five runs the Dodgers scored after he appeared on the scene.

But why was Downing taken out of the game so abruptly?

"He kept getting in trouble with his control," said Alston.

"We only had a two-run lead," said Downing, a gracious man. "And we've got a pretty good man out there in the bullpen."