Phillies Still in Control of Dodgers : Baseball: Philadelphia puts it away with two homers in late innings, 8-2, for ninth victory in 11 games against L.A.

It may give the Dodgers’ organization a good feeling to look out and see that five of the nine players who started Tuesday night’s game are from their farm system, but the result wasn’t reassuring.

The Philadelphia Phillies continued their control over the Dodgers with an 8-2 victory. Lenny Dykstra led off the seventh inning with a solo home run against Ramon Martinez to break a 2-2 tie and Dave Hollins’ two-run homer in the ninth broke it open.

It was the Phillies’ ninth victory in 11 games this season against the Dodgers, who can only be thankful the two teams meet for the last time tonight.

The loss also dropped the Dodgers 13 games behind the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants, the furthest they have been behind all season. The Phillies’ victory moved them four games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL East.

“I don’t know what you can say,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “What happens is that we can’t control their left-handed hitters. How many runs have they scored in the late innings in last night’s game and tonight’s game? You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out.”

What Lasorda was referring to is his team’s lack of left-handed pitchers. There is only one left-handed pitcher on the 11-man staff, rookie Omar Daal, and he is struggling. For the record, the Phillies scored a total of eight runs in the late innings in both games. And, for the record, the Dodgers only got six hits Tuesday, five against starter Danny Jackson (8-7).

“We ought to be able to silence those bats,” Lasorda said as he grabbed the lineup and started to read off the Phillies’ batting averages. “They walk up to the plate with some pretty good averages.

“We had our chance to score runs last night and tonight, when we had a runner on third and didn’t score. We have to take advantage of those opportunities.”

One of the main reasons Lasorda doesn’t have a proven left-hander in the bullpen is because Executive Vice President Fred Claire doesn’t want to give up his prospects in a trade situation.

And one by one--except for left-handed pitchers--the Dodgers’ efforts in the minor leagues are starting to appear. With outfielder Raul Mondesi making his first major league start Tuesday, the Dodgers could point to five players on the field who came up through their system--Mike Piazza, Eric Karros, Jose Offerman, Martinez and Mondesi, who started in right field. Looking on from the bullpen were Pedro Martinez and Omar Daal and from the bench, Dave Hansen and Carlos Hernandez.

“This is the way to build continuity,” Claire said before the game. “Then you have only one or two players to acquire to make it happen instead of eight or nine. That is the most meaningful thing that has happened right now.”

Mondesi said he wasn’t nervous in his first major league start. He is touted as one of the Dodgers’ best prospects, but when he came to bat in the sixth inning with the go-ahead run on third base and one out, he swung at Jackson’s first pitch, grounding to short. Jody Reed was intentionally walked and Martinez forced Reed to end the Dodger threat.

Martinez (8-5) was 6-1 with six no-decisions in his last 13 starts. He kept the game close, giving up two runs and six hits through six innings before Dykstra hit a 2-1 pitch into the right-field seats past the foul pole in the seventh inning. Martinez gave up two more singles and a walk to load the bases before being relieved by Roger McDowell, who gave up the two-run home run to Hollins in the ninth inning.

Entering the fifth inning with the score tied, 1-1, the Dodgers had only three hits against Jackson, who had lost five of his last six starts. Jackson left the game with the score 4-2 after seven innings, giving up only five hits.

“I was just trying to keep the score low so we could come back and score some runs,” Jackson said.

And that’s what happened.