Lasorda’s Decision Is a Losing One for Nomo

They come from different cultures, distinctive backgrounds and never even heard of one another until they met in spring training.

Yet Dodger pitcher Hideo Nomo and left fielder Billy Ashley share a common bond, a luxury that is not afforded to all of their teammates.

It perhaps is too harsh to say they’re receiving preferential treatment, but certainly after the Dodgers’ 5-1 loss to the Montreal Expos on Sunday night, even management will concede the two players are being given every last opportunity to succeed.

“What are you going to do?” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I thought it was very important for him to win that first one. Once he wins the first one, he’ll be much more relaxed.

“But I didn’t sacrifice the game just so Nomo could get a win.”

Still, whether Nomo should have come out of the game earlier or not, the Dodgers were left with their third consecutive loss, and their 28th defeat in the last 33 games at Olympic Stadium.

“I personally couldn’t care,” Karros said, “if we never come here again and play.”

Something mysterious always seems to happen here in the late innings, and this time it might have been the decision to permit Nomo to start the seventh. He had already thrown 110 pitches, and struggled badly in the fifth inning, yielding three walks, two balks and a run-scoring double to Moises Alou.

“I figured he could go out and hold them for an inning or two,” said Lasorda, who also is concerned about his inexperienced bullpen.

The gamble backfired. Tony Tarasco led off with a single to left, and Nomo walked Wil Cordero. It was Nomo’s seventh walk of the game. After Alou hit a sharp line drive to Ashley for the first out, Lasorda brought in rookie left-hander Joey Eischen to face left-handed hitter Henry Rodriguez, two players who were on opposite teams three days ago.

Eischen walked Rodriguez on four pitches.

Eischen came out. Rookie right-hander Felix Rodriguez came in.

Rodriguez got ahead of Rondell White with two strikes, but on a 1-and-2 pitch, tried to fool him with a change-up.

Big mistake.

The ball landed halfway into the left-field bleachers for a grand slam, leaving Nomo (0-1) with his first major league defeat. Nomo, in fact, had set an obscure major league record, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, by becoming the first pitcher to have five no-decision starts in his first five games.

“Today was no good,” said Nomo, who yielded four hits and three earned runs, walking seven and striking out nine. “I had bad control from the first inning on.”

The Dodgers, who managed only three two-out singles after scoring in the first inning on Raul Mondesi’s double and Eric Karros’ single, finally rallied in the eighth off Expo starter Jeff Fassero.

Roberto Kelly and Jose Offerman singled. Manager Felipe Alou promptly brought in Tim Scott, who spent six years in the Dodger farm system, to face the heart of the Dodger order.

Mondesi went down swinging.

Karros lined out to Rodriguez at first.

Tim Wallach walked on five pitches, bringing up Ashley.

It was the ideal situation. Power hitter against power pitcher.

Power pitcher strikes out power hitter.

“I’ve pitched against him in the minors, and I know what he can and can’t do,” Scott said. “I know he’s not good on breaking balls. And I know you can jam him. He still hasn’t made those adjustments.

“Maybe he’ll be better when he gets a year under his belt. Maybe one day he could become a star like Dave Kingman. But right now, he’s going to struggle.”

It was Ashley’s third strikeout of the game, giving him a team-high 36 strikeouts in only 91 at-bats. He has struck out three or more times in four games.

Ashley, batting .253 with four homers and 11 RBIs, nearly lost his everyday job three weeks ago. The Dodgers were planning to platoon him with rookie outfielder Todd Hollandsworth, but on the day of his first start, Hollandsworth broke his hand.

The Dodgers now have to decide whether they want to start using veteran Chris Gwynn more frequently in left field. He’s batting .314 this season, but has started only six games.

“[Ashley] is just not hitting the ball the way he’s capable of hitting, let’s put it that way,” Lasorda said. “He’s a guy who came up to this team with outstanding numbers, so naturally we’re looking forward to more production.

“We’re not going to give up on him.”