Welcome to Duncan’s Seesaw of a Season : 3 Errors, 1 Homer, 1 Sparkling Play and Boos: a Tough Time for Dodger

For those unfamiliar with Mariano Duncan’s career, an abridged, Cliffs Notes copy was on display Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

Packed neatly into 3 hours 6 minutes, this best-seller was jeered, thrown into the dumpster, then retrieved and proclaimed a glowing success.

There are vigorous, often sensational chapters, featuring such devices as double plays and home runs. Then there are the error-filled “Gong Show” chapters.

The problem is, Duncan never knows which chapter is coming next. He didn’t know Wednesday in the Dodgers’ 7-4 win over the Astros, and he hasn’t figured out the next bounce in his career, either.

Up and down, up and down.

“It’s really been a tough season for me,” said Duncan, who was 1 for 4 with three errors but also hit a homer and turned a key double play in the seventh. “This is not the season I was looking for. Last year, I hit .244 and only had 30 errors. Already I have 21 errors.”

Duncan is also batting only .233, and that’s the highest he has been this season. Until Tuesday night, when he got three hits against the Astros, he was batting .199 at Dodger Stadium.

The fans haven’t exactly consoled Duncan, who was booed after miscues Wednesday. Duncan, in his second season at shortstop with the Dodgers, is not pleased with that.

“These people never played baseball,” he said. “You have a great game and everybody likes you. But you make one mistake and they treat you like you’re a bad player.”

And he’s not a bad player, just a little erratic, Duncan insists, obviously feeling alienated.

That erratic side was apparent Wednesday.

Chapter I: One out, one on, second inning. Houston starter Matt Keough lays a gutter-ball pitch in the dirt. Duncan swings, strikes out. The crusty reviewers boo as Duncan walks, head down, to the dugout.

“I tried to swing too hard,” Duncan said. “That’s my problem. Sometimes when I swing at those pitches, I have no concentration.”

Chapter II: Third inning, two out, and the bases empty. Duncan takes a hard-hit grounder, turns and throws too high to catch Houston’s Bill Doran at first. Two batters later, Doran scores the Astros first run.

Chapter III: Two on with one out in the fourth. Duncan impatiently lunges at the first pitch, popping up in front of third. More boos.

Chapter IV: With two on, Duncan goes down swinging again, ending the fifth inning.

Chapter V: The Dodgers lead, 5-3, and Duncan allows Billy Hatcher to reach first on a fielding error in the seventh.

But before you can say, “This kid’s no Pee Wee Reese,” Duncan presented the conclusion and the epilogue.

First, Duncan ended the seventh by taking a toss from second baseman Steve Sax and acrobatically throwing to first for an inning-ending double play.

“That was an unbelievable double play,” Dodger third baseman Bill Madlock said. “Just look at that footwork. That guy (Hatcher) was right on top of him. But he jumped over him and made that play.”

Then, in the bottom half of the seventh, Duncan sent the first pitch to him from Aurelio Lopez into the right-field bleachers, about a car-length from the foul pole.

This time the fans gave Duncan a standing ovation. Only after Pedro Guerrero had prodded him, however, did Duncan step outside the dugout to accept it.

“I play for my team, I don’t play for any fan,” he said, still bothered by the earlier boos. “The fans do not pay me. The Dodgers pay me.”

Eventually, Madlock said, Duncan’s anger will go away. This is just a learning experience.

“I can make 15 errors in a game and I’ll be ticked off with myself, but I don’t let them get to me,” Madlock said. “But when your home fans are booing you, some of the players take it more personally.”

For now, though, Duncan doesn’t know which way to direct his anger when his play goes schizophrenic. He, and the Dodgers, can only hope.