Where There's Smoke There's Ire

There was another hysterical demonstration when the dour Marshall came on to pitch the eighth. Iron Mike worked that inning with his customary one-two-three dispatch, but he was in trouble in the ninth when Rose hit a line-drive single to left that Buckner misplayed into a two-base error. With Rose on third, Marshall was due to face Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez. But to pavilion chants of "Iron Mike, Iron Mike," Marshall subdued them on three ground-ball outs.

In the L.A. ninth Wynn got a chance for further derring-do when he came to bat with the bases loaded again. A sacrifice fly would win the game, but Wynn did not rise to this occasion. Doug Flynn, a baby-faced rookie third baseman, did, catching Wynn's foul pop-up after bouncing down the steps into the Dodger dugout. "I wasn't even sure it was legal to catch a ball in there," said Flynn.

When Wynn does not win games for the Dodgers, First Baseman Steve Garvey does. He won this one with a single to center that scored Rick Auerbach.

After Marichal was taken out he asked his old friend, Dodger pinch hitter Manny Mota, to chat with him while he removed his uniform. He had decided to retire, he told Mota, because, at 36 and with his once whistling fastball a fading memory, "I cannot help this team." The two dined afterward at Tonitas, a Los Angeles restaurant frequented by Latin athletes. "There is a picture of me on the wall there that was taken in 1960," Marichal said. "I looked so thin, so good, so young." The next morning he advised the Dodger front office of his decision and said goodby to his teammates.

"He was the best pitcher I ever faced," said Pete Rose.

Marichal's melancholy departure coincided with the happy return of Cincinnati Pitcher Gary Nolan, who had missed nearly all of the last two seasons with a sore right shoulder. He had a calcium spur removed from the shoulder last May, and had carefully and, it seems, successfully nurtured the sore arm.

"With Nolan back, we are a stronger team than last year," said Second Baseman Morgan. "The Dodgers are a weaker one because they don't have Tommy John for even part of a season."

John's comeback from surgery was not as successful as Nolan's, and he is still on the sidelines. The Dodgers were not only without John but they also had lost for varying periods Shortstop Bill Russell (broken hand) and Catcher Steve Yeager (massive charley horse).

Nolan's comeback was proceeding nicely until he was removed for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of Thursday's game. He had given up seven hits and two runs and was trailing 2-1 when he departed. Rose singled in the tying run in the eighth, but the score would be tied twice more, the last time by a clutch Garvey single with two out in the ninth. The game was finally won with two out in the 11th when Wynn and Garvey singled ( Garvey's fifth hit of the day) and Willie Crawford hit a sharp ground ball that went through the legs of substitute First Baseman Dan Driessen for an error. Wynn scored the winning run from second.

It was the fifth one-run win of the seven games the Reds and Dodgers played, and it was the second straight game the Dodgers had rescued when all seemed lost. "It was just another Dodger win," said the irrepressible Garvey.