Daniels Overheats, Dodgers Chill : Baseball: Outfielder is ejected in first inning after disputing third-strike call. Giants win, 4-1, reducing L.A. lead over Braves to one game with seven left.

Kal Daniels said he never meant to hurt anybody, most of all his teammates.

But he said all he could think about was the championship race, the Atlanta Braves and all that pressure.

So when umpire Joe West signaled strike three against Daniels with two out and two runners on base in the first inning Saturday, Daniels snapped. And the Dodgers crumbled.

Daniels was ejected from the game for cursing West, and without one of their best hitters the Dodgers lost, 4-1, to the San Francisco Giants before 44,258 at Dodger Stadium.

The Braves, after a second consecutive comeback victory over the Houston Astros, have moved as close as they have been in a week, one game behind with seven games remaining.

Daniels hopes that is enough time for him to make amends.

“You know how it is during a pennant race. I wanted to come through in the clutch so bad. . . ,” Daniels said late Saturday after storming out of the clubhouse, saying he had no comment. “He made a call that I thought took the bat out of my hands, and I got heated and said something I shouldn’t have said.

“I wanted to get that run home so bad. . . . I would not say something like that again. I should not have said it. I know that. At the time, I just couldn’t help myself.”

After weeks of denial, the Dodgers can no longer say they are immune to championship-race pressure.

How were the Dodgers feeling?

Mitch Webster, who struck out three times after replacing Daniels, said: “It was like I didn’t have an idea up there. It was like my hands were stuck.”

The veteran Dodgers even were outsmarted, after Giant reliever Don Robinson came into the game with bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning. Facing former teammate Brett Butler, Robinson moved shortstop Mike Benjamin three steps toward left field.

“After playing with Butler all those years, I figured he would slap one to left,” Robinson said.

Sure enough, Butler hit a fly ball to shallow left field, and Benjamin made a running, over-the-shoulder catch. Lenny Harris flied to center to end the game and give Robinson his first save in more than three years.

“It worked,” Robinson said. “But I don’t know what I would have done if the guy (Butler) had slapped one up the middle.”

The Dodgers know what they must do beginning today at 5 p.m., when Mike Morgan will match his four-game winning streak against Giant rookie Bryan Hickerson in the finale of this three-game series.

“Yes, now there is pressure and tension,” Dodger pitcher Bob Ojeda said.

“Now it’s like, every game can make your previous 150 games mean something. Or mean nothing.

“If we do good, everything has been worthwhile. But if we do bad, it will wash out every bit of good we’ve done. And everybody knows that.”

Daniels certainly seemed to recognize it with two out and runners on first and third in the first inning.

After being called out on strikes, Daniels took a few steps, then tossed his bat. Then he tossed his helmet. Then he apparently said something, and West’s arm shot up, ejecting him.

It was the second time in two seasons that Daniels had been ejected from an important late-season game for arguing a strike call.

Without Daniels, whose two-run homer had clinched Friday’s victory, the Dodgers did not get a hit against starter Trevor Wilson until Eddie Murray’s run-scoring single in the sixth inning. They got only four hits, all singles, matching their lowest total in 21 games.

And Webster stranded three runners in the last three innings on strikeouts.

“We had a couple of situations where we could have used his bat,” Manager Tom Lasorda said of Daniels. “He’s got to understand he can’t be thrown out of the game like that. He’s got to stay in the game. We need him.

“But Joe West should also understand that he should try to keep Kal in the game.”

West, who turned away and ignored Daniels for nearly a minute before throwing him out, said he understood that perfectly.

“We don’t want anybody kicked out of a game like this. We know the importance of these games,” West said. “These games are actually harder than the playoffs and World Series, because you have to win these games first.

“I knew he was upset, so I tried to walk away from him. But after what he said, I had no choice but to throw him out.”

Many teammates privately grumbled about Daniels’ judgment, while a few openly wondered about the ejection.

“Of course we were upset, but what can we do about it?” Darryl Strawberry said. “This time of year, with eight games left, it’s your responsibility to the club to stay in the game. I know I can’t get thrown out of a game.

“The situation we are in with Kal, when he goes out we really have an unbalanced lineup. We really needed him.”

Said Giant Manager Roger Craig of Daniels’ ejection: “It’s unusual, when you’re fighting for a pennant, to let that happen. Even though you may be right, you’ve got to tell yourself, ‘I can’t get kicked out, I’m too valuable to the club.’ ”

Perhaps there is no player more valuable in the National League this season than Will Clark, who hit his 27th homer in the third inning against Ramon Martinez after a two-out walk to Willie McGee. Clark walked and scored the Giants’ third run in the sixth inning on a single by Matt Williams.

The Giants got their fourth run in that inning on a double steal, with Darren Lewis scoring. Shortstop Jose Offerman dropped the ball while trying to throw back to catcher Gary Carter, but Lewis have would probably scored anyway.

To the Giants’ way of thinking, it was the perfect insult. Playing the Dodgers in four of these last seven games, they promise they will keep the pressure on.

“It will make our season if we knock the Dodgers out it,” Robinson said. “It’s all we have going.”

ATLANTA WINS: Ron Gant broke out of a slump to help rally the Braves to a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros. C12