Perez Dances, but Valdes Wins : Baseball: Quiet Dodger rookie gets better of Expo counterpart, 5-1.

It wasn’t exactly the sort of vengeance the Dodgers were seeking Tuesday night in their quest to destroy Montreal rookie pitcher Carlos Perez.

They wanted to shell him. They wanted to hit home runs to downtown precincts, and moonwalk around the bases. They wanted to to make him wish for the days of anonymity.

Well, the Dodgers did little to deflate Perez’s confidence in their 5-1 victory over the Expos, but they did take solace in the fact they provided Perez with his first career defeat in front of a paid crowd of 27,654 at Dodger Stadium.

Perez, 5-1 with a league-leading 1.76 earned-run average, kept the Dodgers in check for six innings, but he simply was outpitched by the unassuming, humble kid on the other side.

Ismael Valdes, 2-2 with a 2.39 ERA, pitched his second consecutive complete-game victory, tying him for the league lead. Valdes, who thrust his hands high when the game ended, struck out a a career-high 10 batters--five on called third strikes.

“I knew I had to pitch a good game,” Valdes said, “because Carlos is a good pitcher. So I got emotional myself. I don’t worry about what he does. I just knew I had to pitch good.

“Now we’re even.”

The Dodgers weren’t able to provide Valdes any room for error until Perez left the game for a pinch-hitter in the seventh. They celebrated his departure by teeing off on reliever Tim Scott, scoring three runs, all with two outs.

Jose Offerman, who had three hits, triggered the outburst with a two-out single to left field. Raul Mondesi followed with a triple off the center-field wall. Mike Piazza doubled, scoring Mondesi. And Eric Karros knocked Scott out of the game with another double, scoring Piazza.

The Dodgers’ only regret was that Scott was the victim of their offensive attack and not the flamboyant Perez. But when you win three consecutive games and six of seven, who can be greedy?

“I’ve been watching Carlos for years in the Dominican, I knew he could pitch,” said Mondesi, who is seven for 12 since Piazza’s return. “I know a lot of guys don’t like what he does, but to me, I like it. It’s fun to watch.”

The Dodgers had eight hits off Perez, including run-scoring singles by Offerman and Karros in the first inning, and had a 2-1 lead, but never were able to knock Perez out of the game. Instead, they had to endure his antics, watching him dancing off the mound, pumping his fists, screaming after strikeouts and hurdling the foul line after each inning.

“He’s become like a cult hero,” Expo outfielder Tony Tarasco said. “I left 75 tickets for friends and family, but half of them didn’t care about seeing me play. They came out just because they want to see Carlos pitch. Can you believe it?

“I know some people don’t like what he does, but I think it’s great. You’re talking about a guy who comes from the Dominican, a poor country, and now he’s in the big leagues. He should be allowed to express himself.”

It doesn’t matter, Perez’s antics simply are not acceptable in the stoic baseball industry. This is a game in which you’re taught to repress your emotions. If you don’t, you can expect a fastball sailing toward your head.

The Dodgers were incensed by Perez in his victory 10 days ago in Montreal, vowing revenge. They didn’t care that Perez has been doing this his entire life. They just wanted him to stop.

“I just don’t want him to embarrass my players,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

Perez, 23, couldn’t care less about the proper social graces of baseball.

“I’ve always been this way, and I’ll always stay this way,” he said. “You won’t see a difference in me whether I win or lose. This is me.”