Phillies Get the Last Straw

It was the situation for which the Dodgers signed Darryl Strawberry, the kind of challenge he says he welcomes: Two on and two out in the ninth, with the Dodgers trailing by a run and Mitch Williams at his wildest on the mound.

And as has happened for the better part of this season, Strawberry came out the loser, striking out to end the game in the Phillies’ favor, 4-3.

Before 30,106 in Veterans Stadium, the Dodgers fell to 1-3 on this trip. Bob Ojeda fell behind, 3-0, in the first inning, then held the Phillies at bay while the Dodgers staged a late rally, tying the score in the eighth, 3-3, only to see relief ace Jay Howell lose the game, giving up a home run to the first batter he faced, Charlie Hayes, in the eighth.

That set the stage for Manager Tom Lasorda, who had given many of his regulars the night off, to send up Kal Daniels, Mike Scioscia and Strawberry--all left-handed batters--as pinch-hitters against Williams, the hard-throwing left-hander.

Daniels struck out swinging. Scioscia was hit by a pitch, joining Stan Javier on base with two outs. Strawberry swung and missed at two pitches, then took a called third strike.

“They’re trying something different, sending up those left-handed pinch-hitters,” Williams said. “I kinda like that idea. That last strike was a pitcher’s pitch. It’s tough for Darryl to swing at a pitch on the outside part of the plate when he’s trying to (hit it out).”

Strawberry said calmly: “It’s a tough situation to come up when you’re struggling. That last one was a good pitch. But everything’s good (for the pitcher) when you’re going bad. I swung at two balls being too aggressive. I was too anxious, I wanted to get a pitch I could handle.

“That’s the way it is sometimes. I know it’s gonna happen sooner or later. I’m still aggressive, I still have a great deal of confidence. You have to play it out. I’ve been through periods longer than this when I was struggling. You’ve got to fight your way through it. That’s the challenge of the game.”

Ojeda, searching for his first victory since April 17, had similar thoughts. He hasn’t had much luck since joining the Dodgers this year, and though he gave up three earned runs and four hits in the first inning Saturday, an errant throw by Juan Samuel helped open the door.

Ojeda held the Phillies to three singles after that until being relieved in the seventh by Mike Hartley, who got out of a jam with the help of a double play. “There were some good moments in that ballgame,” Ojeda said. “I hate losing, but Barry (Lyons) told me they were hitting good pitches, and to stay with ‘em. Sometimes they’re gonna hit good pitches. What it boils down to is, you’ve got to keep going out there and battling.”

The Dodgers are 0-11 in games they trail after seven innings, but it looked as if they might turn this one around. Held to three singles by Terry Mulholland (3-2) to that point, they rallied to tie on a pinch-hit single by Lenny Harris, a bunt single by Brett Butler, a throwing error and Samuel’s two-run homer, his fifth.

But Howell (0-1), who hadn’t pitched in a week, threw a fastball to Hayes, who drilled it down the left-field line into the foul pole.

With Williams entering in the ninth to record his sixth save, the Dodgers came up short.

Strawberry, musing about his slump--he’s one for 15 on this trip--said: “I’m glad everybody’s writing I’m struggling. Wait till I get hot and everybody jumps on the bandwagon. I love being in the middle of it. I love the tough times just as well as the good times. You take the bad times as they come, accept it as a professional and don’t allow it to beat you down. It clicks eventually, and once it does it seems to stay there.”

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are treading water waiting. “We all know Darryl is struggling and Kal is kind of struggling,” Harris said. “But these are games we have to win.”

DIAL NINE: Chris James of the Cleveland Indians sets a team record with nine runs batted in. C11