There’s Enough Blame to Go Around After Dodgers Lose

Dodger All-Star shortstop Jose Offerman winced at the suggestion, rolled his eyes, and can only imagine what they’re saying back in Los Angeles.

He figures Dodger fans will find someway to blame him for the 3-2 loss Tuesday night to the Atlanta Braves in front of a sellout crowd of 49,104 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Sure, it’s grossly unfair to even suggest Offerman was responsible. He didn’t give up the game-tying home run to Ryan Klesko on an 0-and-2 pitch in the seventh inning, or the game-winning hit by Jeff Blauser in the eighth. Those were yielded by starter Ismael Valdes (5-4).

He wasn’t the one Atlanta starter Kent Mercker accused of stealing catcher Javier Lopez’s signs, and relaying them back to the hitter. That was first base coach Reggie Smith, who walked to the Atlanta dugout and yelled back at Mercker before the bottom of the sixth inning, vehemently denying the accusations.

And Offerman was only part of an entire lineup of Dodgers that managed only one hit after the third inning. That was produced by Roberto Kelly, who promptly was thrown out trying to steal second base.

But there will be folks in the streets and people sitting on bar stools asking themselves why Offerman didn’t catch Blauser’s bloop hit that barely went past his outstretched glove in shallow center field in the eighth.

“There’s no question,” Offerman said. “No question about it.

“The nice thing about being on the road, at least, is that fans don’t boo me. It’s like no matter what I do, they won’t excuse me. I mean, I know I’m not going to the All-Star game because they wanted me to go. They didn’t want me going.

“Maybe that’s why I’m more comfortable on the road [batting .351 compared to .271 at home] because I don’t have to be afraid to make a mistake. I try to do my best. I make the All-Star team, hoping to make the fans proud, and then I have to listen to them boo me.

“Maybe if I hit .400 one season, and don’t make an error in the field all season, then maybe the fans won’t boo me.

“Maybe.”

Offerman, booed Sunday by Dodger fans when his All-Star selection was announced, came into focus in the eighth inning. The Dodgers (33-31), losers of five of their last seven games, had a 2-1 lead since the second inning after Raul Mondesi’s sacrifice fly and Tim Wallach’s homer.

Cruising until two outs in the seventh, Valdes had an 0-and-2 count on left-handed hitter Klesko. He tried to sneak a fastball on the outside part of the plate. Klesko wasn’t fooled. He hit his eighth homer of the season over the left-field fence.

“I threw it right where I wanted,” said Valdes, who screamed the moment the ball was hit. “I was trying to get strike three. But he hit it, he hit it good.”

Valdes got into immediate trouble in the eighth. He walked leadoff hitter Dwight Smith, and after yielding a sacrifice bunt by Mike Mordecai, intentionally walked Marquis Grissom.

That brought up Blauser, ensnared in a two-for-23 (.087) slump. Blauser hit a 3-2 breaking ball into shallow center. Offerman ran out. Kelly ran in from center field. The ball dropped about four feet beyond Offerman’s grasp, scoring Smith for the game-winner.

“I thought it was just a pop-up when he hit it,” Valdes said.

Blauser’s hit ruined Valdes’ fine performance--seven hits and three runs in 7 1/3 innings.

It also dulled the Braves’ memory about their incident with Reggie Smith. They wouldn’t talk publicly, but privately were convinced Smith was moving around in the first-base box in an attempt to relay signs to the batter.

“I was moving,” Smith said, “but I wasn’t giving signs. [Mercker] told me, ‘That’s not going to work.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’

“I wasn’t doing anything. [Mercker] later apologized. He said he made a mistake. I can understand his frustration. It’s over.”

Said Wallach, whom the Braves said was tipped on the 2-1 change-up that he hit for the homer: “If we could get pitches, sure, we’d do it. You try to get every advantage you can.

“But I don’t like talking about it, because that means he was doing it.”