Dodgers Fall to Phillies as Bullpen Fails

The Dodger bullpen, hidden for most of the season, reappeared from behind a gate in deep left field Sunday.

It was a horrifying sight.

Handed a 5-1 lead, the bullpen surrendered eight runs to the Phillies in about 18 minutes, taking the Dodgers to a 9-5 defeat that ranks as this young season’s worst.

Before 38,167 at Veterans Stadium, four Dodger relievers took the mound, each producing more frightening results than his predecessor.

Ray Searage was hit for two runs in two-thirds of an inning; Mike Hartley for two runs in one-third of an inning; Mike Munoz for two runs without getting an out .

And then Tim Crews provided the climax, giving up a seventh-inning grand slam by Ricky Jordan.

“It’s a shame that when you throw something like that, you can’t pull it back and say, ‘I don’t want that pitch!’ ” Crews said.

Perhaps Tom Lasorda was wishing he could pull a reliever back and say, “I don’t want that pitcher.” But on Sunday, he didn’t have a choice.

Dodger starter John Wetteland, in his best and longest outing of the year, threw 86 pitches in five innings. Even though he had allowed just one run on one hit, he was weary.

“I wasn’t going to say anything to them, but I was done,” Wetteland said. “As it was, I had to gut out each pitch in the fifth.”

So, with a 5-1 lead thanks mostly to Hubie Brooks’ three-run home run and RBI double, Lasorda sent Searage out to start the sixth inning. Thirteen Phillie batters later--10 of them reaching base--the game was over.

“And we couldn’t hold them,” Lasorda said, shaking his head. “And there was nothing we could do about it.”

Now you know why the Dodgers entered the day with eight complete games, more than any three other National League teams combined.

This is a bullpen that entered the day with two saves, half as many as anyone else in the league. This is also a bullpen that had already blown two leads in the sixth inning or later, with an injured Jay Howell as the culprit in one of those losses.

This is a bullpen lacking such respect, one Phillie wondered if the Dodgers were trying to win.

“What happened was, the Dodgers kind of started coasting,” Lenny Dykstra said. “We got the feeling on our bench . . . it was like, ‘Let’s go, these guys really don’t want to win.’ ”

A healthy Howell, Jim Gott and Pat Perry would likely help the Dodger relief situation. Gott could be activated within a week, and Perry could join him in 15 days. Howell could return as soon as three weeks.

In the meantime . . .

“You got ‘em, you’ve got to use them,” Lasorda said. “So they couldn’t hold them this time. I just hope they will hold them next time.”

If embarrassment can serve as a motivator, Lasorda has nothing to worry about. The members of the bullpen couldn’t have felt worse Sunday if Charles Barkley had walked across the street from the Spectrum and collected a base hit.

“We all know people are wondering about us,” Munoz said after his second-place team fell a season-high five games behind West Division-leading Cincinnati. “We know they are all going to make something big about this. We know that people will think nobody has any confidence in us.

“We call ourselves ‘The Unknown Bullpen,’ just joking with each other. But we know what everybody thinks.”

On Sunday, they had a perfect chance to change that perception. And it appeared possible when Searage retired the first two Phillies in the sixth inning.

But then he allowed consecutive singles to Von Hayes and Jordan. Then came a defensive blunder in left field. Jose Gonzalez misjudged Carmelo Martinez’s fly ball, which dropped in front of him, then bounced over his head for a two-run double.

“I saw the ball off the bat, but I just froze,” said Gonzalez, making only his third start of the season while Kal Daniels rested his knees. “I couldn’t tell if it was going over my head or what. I should have caught it. I catch it, maybe it’s a different game.”

Perhaps. But that only cost two runs.

Hartley, who replaced Searage, walked Dickie Thon and then escaped the sixth when catcher Mike Scioscia picked Thon off first. But to start the seventh inning, Hartley allowed a single to Darren Daulton and a double to Charlie Hayes.

In came Munoz, who allowed RBI singles to Randy Ready and Dykstra that tied the game. Time for Crews, who struck out Tommy Herr. Then he decided to pitch around Von Hayes, who had already homered twice in this series. Crew would rather face Jordan, who had yet to homer this season.

“I thought I could get Jordan with my best pitch . . . but then the ball popped out of my hand and hung up there for him,” said Crews, whose first pitch was hit into the left field seats for Jordan’s first career grand slam.

“Yeah,” Crews admitted, “it does eat on you a little bit. But who is to say the same thing wouldn’t happen if those guys (Gott, Perry and Howell) were pitching?”

The Dodgers appear willing to take that chance.

Dodger Notes

Hubie Brooks is ready for this week’s homecoming in Montreal, from which he departed last winter as a free agent after five seasons. “They’re going to boo me, I know they’re going to boo me,” Brooks said of the Expos fans. “But that’s cool. I’m looking forward to getting booed. The thing there is, they are always writing and talking about the guys who left. Like it’s a crime to leave or something.” Brooks’ home run Sunday off Phillies’ starter Bruce Ruffin was his third three-run homer of the season and second in two days. He has a four-game hitting streak with two homers, a double and six RBIs during that time. Montreal fans may be surprised to see that he has a team-leading six homers and 19 RBIs in 26 games. Last season he had 14 homers and 70 RBIs in 148 games. The three-game series begins Tuesday after today’s day off.

John Wetteland entered the game with an ERA of 11.25, twice as high as anyone on the staff. He has lowered that to 7.64 while raising his expectations. “I feel I can start going seven innings now. I feel my strength coming back,” said Wetteland, who began the season in the bullpen and was making only his second start as a replacement for Orel Herhiser. The Phillies’ only hit against Wetteland was a first-inning homer by Von Hayes. Wetteland walked two and struck out six. . . . Despite the fielding mistake in left field, it wasn’t a bad day for Jose Gonzalez, who saved a run with a running, leaping catch in the fourth inning and knocked in a run with a triple. He also doubled and stole a base. “But I can’t feel good,” said Gonzalez, who has three hits in 10 at-bats with two RBIs in three starts.