Big 9th Strands Dodgers : Baseball: Valdes surrenders two runs in the ninth inning of 4-2 loss as strike atmosphere takes hold.

Everywhere you turned at Dodger Stadium Wednesday night, the talk was of strikes.

In the catacombs--before the next-to-last-game-of-1994?--players hunkered down with their union representative and restated their resolve.

On the mound, pitchers threw like there was no tomorrow. Three Dodgers struck out 12 San Diego Padres in nine innings.

Andy Ashby, the luckless Padres’ starter, struck out eight Dodgers in eight.

Might as well go out swinging, huh?

In a game that became less important as new battle lines were being formed between players and owners, the Padres scored two runs in the ninth inning off reliever Ismael Valdes to defeat the Dodgers, 4-2, before 43,270.

After the Dodgers tied the game in the eighth inning on Eric Karros’ 12th home run, the Padres took advantage of a leaky Valdes. Tony Gwynn, no surprise, led the Padre rally and scored the winning run.

Gwynn opened the ninth with a double into the right-field corner. After Valdes struck out Derek Bell, Eddie Williams tripled home Gwynn.

After Omar Daal replaced Valdes, Phil Plantier executed a perfect squeeze to score Williams from third.

Ashby (5-11) gave up eight hits in eight innings and picked up the victory. Trevor Hoffman retired the Dodgers in order in the ninth to pick up his 17th save.

Valdes, 2-1, took the loss in relief of starter Pedro Astacio, who allowed two runs and struck out nine in seven innings.

The loss dropped the Dodgers below the .500 mark, but they retained their two-game lead over the San Francisco Giants, who were pounded by Cincinnati, 17-4, earlier in the day.

So now what?

Taking no chances with a possible work stoppage looming, Butler led off the game with a base hit to center and promptly stole his 500th career base.

With the theft of second, Butler became the 21st major league player with at least 2,000 hits, 500 steals and 1,200 runs scored.

With his feat, and feet, Butler, 37, joined a select group that includes Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Lou Brock Joe Morgan, Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines.

The lowly Padres scored in the top of the first. Bip Roberts opened the game with a double off Astacio, moved to third on Gwynn’s fly out and scored on Bell’s sacrifice fly to center.

There would be no further scoring until the fifth, when Craig Shipley made it 2-0 when he opened the inning with his third home run of the season off Astacio, ramming a 2-2 pitch over the 360-foot sign in left.

Astacio bailed himself out of more trouble in the sixth when, with one out, he allowed a single to Gwynn and walked Derek Bell. But he escaped when Eddie Williams grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.

The Dodgers cut the lead to 2-1 in their half of the sixth, but exited frustrated. Mike Piazza doubled to right-center to open the inning and moved to third on Tim Wallach’s ground out. After Karros struck out, Henry Rodriguez drove Piazza home with a single to center.

After working the count to 3-1, however, Raul Mondesi eventually took a third strike to end the inning.

In the Padre seventh, Dodger coach Reggie Smith was ejected by Bruce Froemming, the home plate umpire. Smith charged from the dugout to challenge Froemming and eventually had to be restrained by Manager Tom Lasorda.

Smith’s outburst did not inspire the troops. Chris Gwynn opened the seventh with a pinch-single off shortstop Luis Lopez’ glove, was sacrificed to second by another pinch-hitter, Jeff Treadway, but was stranded when Butler flied out and Delino DeShields grounded out.