Giants Take What They Are Given

There were a variety of contributing factors to the Dodgers’ 8-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants Friday night, not the least being that the Giants are a good team.

But then there was Cory Snyder.

Before the game, Snyder, who played for the Giants last season, talked about how the wind at Candlestick Park makes right field difficult to play.

And watching him play, he wasn’t kidding.

Wind or not--and there was wind--Snyder, making his fifth start in right field in place of Darryl Strawberry, misplayed at least two balls that led to runs.

But it wasn’t all Snyder’s fault. Somehow the Dodgers made it through the game with only two errors being charged. And Snyder wasn’t charged with any. At times, for the crowd of 36,114, the Dodgers’ fielding was laughable. The frustration didn’t end there. The Dodgers had 10 hits, but they left nine on base.

It was also another nightmare for starter Kevin Gross (2-3), who has struggled all season and has made it to the eighth inning in only one of his six starts. His last two starts he hasn’t made it past the sixth. Friday, after giving up six runs and nine hits, he was out after the fifth.

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But Snyder and Gross weren’t entirely to blame for the 5-0 lead the Giants had after three innings. Besides Snyder’s misplays in right field, Tim Wallach let a routine grounder get through his legs with the bases loaded and Mike Piazza did his part by allowing the leadoff batters in the first and third innings to steal second base to get into scoring position. Then both Willie McGee and Darren Lewis went on to score.

Piazza, who had thrown out 11 of 16 baserunners through the first 14 games of the season, has only thrown out one runner since. His throws Friday were late and wide, and he didn’t need a scouting report to know Lewis was going to run. Entering the game, Lewis ranked fourth in the league with 12 steals. Piazza has thrown out 12 of 34 runners.

The Dodgers came back to score three runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth off Giant starter Bud Black, but by then the Giants had added another run of their own to move up, 6-4.

Even Strawberry made his first appearance in five games, pinch-hitting for Gross in the sixth inning with runners on first and third and none out. Strawberry said he felt good in batting practice, but he didn’t look that way in the game. Dave Burba, who had relieved Black after Black walked Snyder to lead off the sixth, struck out Strawberry on three pitches.

Then Brett Butler followed Strawberry to add his share. After scoring Snyder by forcing Jose Offerman at second base, Butler tried to get to third on a single by Jody Reed but was thrown out by Barry Bonds.

The Dodgers scored their three runs in the third inning after Offerman led off with a single up the middle and Gross, who was pulled from the on-deck circle in the fourth inning his last start, moved Offerman to second base with a sacrifice bunt to Black. Then Offerman scored after Butler laid down a bunt toward third that Matt Williams got to it but threw in the dirt and over first base.

With the bases loaded after Reed singled and Eric Davis walked, Wallach hit a long fly to center to score Butler. The Dodgers made it 5-3 when Reed scored on a bouncer under Royce Clayton’s glove into left center.

But the Giants came back in the bottom of the fifth to score another run when Clayton doubled to right field. Snyder charged the ball and looked like he was there but didn’t catch it. It bounced under his glove. Clayton scored on a hard-hit single up the middle on which Offerman made a great play to get there but threw it away.

Snyder, who seemingly played well for the Giants in right field last season, set the tone for his game in the first inning when he missed a fly ball hit by Williams into the corner.

William’s triple scored Lewis to put the Giants up 2-0. McGee had led off the inning with single to left, stole second and scored on Lewis’ high bouncer over Eric Karros’ head.