Murray Shakes Up Giants, 6-2

A few comments from the Dodgers on a series of four earthquakes, the strongest measuring 5.4 on the Richter Scale, that jolted the Bay Area just before 7 a.m. Wednesday:

--Tim Crews: “Scared the heck out of me. I called Jay Howell and said, ‘Man, this don’t cut it, it just don’t cut it.’ ”

--Tim Belcher: “Woke me up, and couldn’t go back to sleep. I hated it. Just hated it.”

--Eddie Murray: “Slept right through it.”

It’s easy to guess which one hit two homers against the San Francisco Giants Wednesday afternoon--one left-handed and the other right-handed.

“Hey, we get enough of those things,” Murray said about earthquakes, not home runs, after leading the Dodgers to a 6-2 victory and a sweep of this two-game set at Candlestick Park.

If he sounded calm, it was because he was forced to be.

It was a day that began with a couple of Dodgers so frightened by the earthquakes that they left their downtown hotel for the ballpark four hours before the game. The earthquakes reportedly caused no injuries and minor damage.

The day ended with relief pitcher Crews, whose third child was born Wednesday morning, nearly blowing it all by loading the bases in the ninth inning for Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell. He retired both.

In between, three Dodger pitchers, including Crews, gave up 14 hits but were saved by some spectacular fielding. If not for a couple of diving stops by shortstop Alfredo Griffin, and throws by left-fielder Kal Daniels and second baseman Willie Randolph that resulted in runners being tagged out by catcher Mike Scioscia at home plate, well . . .

“We don’t make those plays, we are still playing,” Griffin said.

Through it all, the only one not blinking was Murray, who added a first-inning single and is hitting .333 in 10 games, with three homers and nine runs batted in. So, chalk up this victory--one that made the Dodgers 5-3 on the road--to one of the National League’s newest veterans.

“You can see the difference in Eddie this year,” said Randolph, who watched Murray for many seasons when they were in the American League before both joined the Dodgers last year. “This is the Eddie I know--very relaxed, waiting on pitches, not trying to do everything himself. He is used to the league now, and he’s making the pitchers come to him.

“And when that happens, well, I’ve seen Eddie do serious damage.”

Rookie Eric Gunderson and Randy O’Neal also have seen it. With two out in the third inning and the score tied, 1-1, Murray hit Gunderson’s first pitch high over the left-field fence. Because Gunderson is a left-hander, the switch-hitting Murray was batting right-handed.

Four innings later against O’Neal, with one out and the Dodgers protecting a 4-2 lead, Murray skied an 0-1 pitch over the right-field fence. This time Murray was batting left-handed.

It was the ninth time in his 14-year career that Murray has homered from both sides of the plate in the same game. That is one shy of the record of 10, held by Mickey Mantle.

“That’s nice, but I think other people can do that,” Murray said. “You have to get lucky, to get your pitches on days when both a lefty and a righty are pitching.”

Murray thinks a more insurmountable record is one he holds as the only player to hit homers from both sides of the plate on consecutive days. It happened May 8 and 9, 1987 in Chicago. “That’s going to be the tough one,” he said. “That’s the one I’m proud of.”

Murray said that after spending last season seeing pitchers for the first time, this season every pitch is looking much clearer.

“It’s just a matter of getting comfortable seeing people,” he said of his quick start. “Sometimes you find something you can pay attention to, sometimes you can’t. But the more you see people, the better off you are.”

Manager Tom Lasorda agreed with those reasons.

“Like I said before spring training, expect Eddie to do much better this year because he knows the pitchers better,” Lasorda said. “Also, whenever a guy comes over in a trade, he has a tendency to try too hard, to try and show everybody that they made a good trade. A guy’s second year is always better.”

In sealing the victory for Dodger starter Mike Morgan, who allowed two runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings, Murray also made it easier for Crews.

Crews had just gotten off the phone with his wife, Laurie, in Orlando, Fla., early Wednesday morning, having just learned of the birth of son Travis Blair, and was sitting on his bed when it shook.

He called Howell, and they hurriedly packed their bags and left the hotel. They arrived at Candlestick just after 8 a.m., even though the game was not supposed to start until 12:35 p.m.

“No way was I staying in a high-rise hotel with all of that stuff going on,” Crews said.

Later, he found himself pitching in the eighth inning with the Dodgers leading, 5-2. He gave up two hits to start the eighth before retiring three Giants on two foul balls and a strikeout. Then in the ninth, with one out, he walked pinch-hitter Gary Carter and allowed singles to Brett Butler and Kevin Bass, loading the bases for Clark.

But he struck out Clark on five pitches and retired Mitchell on a foul out to end the game. The save, Crews’ first, equaled his number of major league saves for the last two seasons.

“When it got down to it, I wasn’t thinking anything,” Crews said. “I just threw it up there and hoped they would hit my best pitch.”

Said Clark, whose Giants are off to the worst home start in San Francisco history at 0-5: “We have to start playing better, pure and simple. We get teams down, we don’t put them away. We get runners on base, we don’t get clutch hits. End of story.”

Dodger Notes

Shortstop Alfredo Griffin’s diving stop of Terry Kennedy’s ground ball in the fourth inning, resulting in a force out and saving a run, may eventually hurt the Dodgers. Griffin said his back began hurting after the game. Already this spring, he has suffered from back spasms. Griffin’s back apparently didn’t hurt during the game, as he made two other sprawling catches to save runs. . . . Kal Daniels had the Dodgers’ first outfield assist at home plate in the first inning, throwing out Kevin Mitchell by five steps to end the inning.

Second baseman Willie Randolph had another assist at the plate in the fourth inning as he took Juan Samuel’s throw from center field and easily threw out Kennedy to end another inning. . . . Hubie Brooks finished the Dodger scoring with a ninth-inning home run off reliever Ernie Camacho, Brooks’ first homer since opening day. Brooks doubled in the fifth inning but tripped while running toward third base. He had to crawl back to second base. “Embarrassed as hell,” Brooks said of the play, which ended with him lying on second base, covering his head with his hands.

Jeff Hamilton may attempt to return to third base today to test his sore shoulder. . . . Jim Gott, recovering from last year’s elbow surgery, has advanced to the point where he could throw batting practice as soon as today. . . . Dave Anderson, longtime Dodger infielder who signed with the Giants as a free agent last winter, said he made the decision after the Dodgers would not change their offer of $420,000 for one season after the Giants had offered him $1.1 million for two seasons.