Piazza Homer Is Long, Short of It for Dodgers

The shot rookie Dodger catcher Mike Piazza drove over the the center field fence stunned the crowd of 35,911 at Riverfront Stadium on Sunday.

The tale of the tape said Piazza’s 14th home run went 436 feet. Others said it went at least 450 feet.

“Bobby Valentine said they were going to have to check his bat,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda mused. “I told him don’t bother checking his bat. Check his forearms.”

Tim Belcher put his glove on his hip and stared at Piazza as he ran around the bases. Belcher walked over and looked at Piazza’s bat.

“He told me, ‘You don’t have to hit it that far. Just over the fence is fine,’ ” Piazza said after the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Piazza’s home run was one of four by the Dodgers, the most they have hit since May 21, 1991.

Even Eric Davis, who played some center field when he was with Cincinnati, was impressed.

“There are not too many home runs hit there, not a line drive like that one,” said Davis, who hit his fifth home run and first since May 28.

Piazza said he had talked with Tim Wallach the day before and asked him if he had ever seen a homer to center, which is 404 feet. “Tim told me that he saw Hubie Brooks do it once,” he said. “So when I got back to the dugout, he kept calling me Hubie.”

Piazza, who has four home runs in his last four games, hit three successive shots that measured 460, 430 and 420 feet during batting practice Sunday.

He later drove a 2-and-1 Belcher fastball the farthest he has homered in a game, the ball clearing a 40-foot fence and landing deep in the center-field seats.

“Eric’s (Karros’) ball scraped the back of the wall and it counts just the same,” Piazza said of Karros’ home run in the sixth inning. “Hits are hits. Although I know (the length) will always be a point of interest, I’ll take it.”

Entering Sunday, Piazza’s .346 batting average was a season high, and there hae been few lows. His average has dropped below .300 for only 10 games all season. He has batted .307 in April, .344 in May and .404 in June, with six home runs and 14 runs batted in this month.

He has led the team all season in nearly every major category, and after this weekend, he leads with a .342 average, 80 hits and 46 RBIs.

He also is among the league leaders in batting average, home runs, total bases and slugging percentage.

“I don’t say I’m going to get this many hits or do this or that,” Piazza said. “I’ve never really been one to set goals. If I hit the ball hard, on the barrel, I can make my holes and get my hits. I try to keep it as simple as possible and you probably get sick of hearing this, but I keep defense in my mind as a priority.”

Piazza’s .998 fielding percentage ranks second among all catchers. He has one error is 62 games.

Along with solo home runs by Cory Snyder, who went three for three, and Karros, who hit his seventh of the season, Piazza’s two-run blast in the third inning was all Pedro Astacio (6-4) needed for the victory.

Astacio was relieved by Pedro Martinez with one out in the sixth inning and the bases loaded. Martinez gave up a two-run single to Reggie Sanders to cut the Dodgers lead to 5-3, but combined with Jim Gott to shut them out the rest of the way.

Gott earned his 11th save and Belcher (5-5) took the loss.

Meanwhile, if there is anything Piazza needs to work on, it might be his home run trot, now a modified sprint around the bases. Wallach has told him he has the ugliest home run trot in the league.

Piazza said: “I run around the bases and get off the field as fast as I can, before they take it back.”

Said Davis: “He hasn’t hit enough home runs to get a good trot yet. The more you hit the ball, the better trot you get. He’s doing the right thing not showing up the pitcher and making the other team angry. He’s still a rookie.”