Daniels Drops Ball, Dodgers Drop Game

Kal Daniels said that where he should have seen white, he only saw black. Where he should have felt confidence, he felt only fear.

He said where he should have seen the line drive by Garry Templeton in the seventh inning of a 5-3 loss to the Padres Saturday, he was blinded by the glow of a bank of halogen lights that stretch across the top of San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“It was a terrible feeling, like I was in no-man’s land,” Daniels said. “I was lost. I was confused. It’s like, you’re alone and don’t know where to go or what to do.”

That is exactly how the Dodgers are feeling. With two out in the seventh inning, Daniels dropped Templeton’s line drive, leading to four unearned runs that gave the Padres a victory before 39,335.

“A terrible, terrible loss,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “If he says he lost the ball in the lights, then that’s we have to believe happened. It just seems like we’ve been finding a way to lose games like this.”

The Dodgers have committed a major league high 16 errors--at least one in 10 of their 11 games. They are on a pace to commit 236 errors, which would break the Los Angeles record of 193 set in 1962.

But no error has hurt like Daniels’ second dropped fly ball of the season. It helped the Dodgers blow a 3-1 lead.

It ruined a splendid night by pitcher Tim Belcher, who was within seven outs of becoming the National League’s first three-game winner.

“One minute you think you are out of (the inning), and the next minute you’re not. . . . That takes the heart out of your club,” Belcher said quietly. “You have hitting slumps and pitching slumps. I guess we’re in a fielding slump.”

The line drive by Templeton hit Daniels in the same terrible spot it has been hitting unfortunate Dodger fielders all season. Right in the glove.

Daniels dropped the ball onto his chest as he fell backward. The ball rolled off his chest and underneath his arm and hit the ground.

By the time Daniels recovered and threw the ball to the infield, Templeton was standing on second base. Belcher never recovered.

He allowed an RBI single to left field by Shawn Abner, then walked pinch-hitter Mike Aldrete. Rookie second baseman Paul Faries, making his first start of the season, drove a 1-and-0 pitch into the left-center field gap for his first major league triple, scoring both runners. John Candelaria replaced Belcher and allowed an RBI single to Tony Fernandez to complete the scoring.

Belcher allowed six hits and one earned run in his 6 2/3 innings and struck out six. But like other Dodger pitchers this year, he was defeated by the unearned run--four of them. Of the 47 runs allowed by Dodger pitchers this year, 12 have been unearned.

Belcher is 2-1 despite an 0.87 ERA. The only guy with worse luck is Mike Morgan, who is 1-1 despite an 0.00 ERA.

“As a pitcher, all you can try to do is shut that out,” said Belcher, shaking his head. “That’s all you can do.”

Said Daniels: “Nobody feels worse than I do. But this is how things have been going for the whole team this year. We aren’t hitting well, we aren’t always pitching well and we aren’t playing good defense.

“Seems like basically, we stink.”