Now, It’s Mondesi Mania : Baseball: Nomo has an off night but still wins his 10th as right fielder has grand slam and more in 7-5 victory over Cubs before 48,449.

Dodger fans showed up in droves Tuesday night to watch Hideo Nomo Live, but by the time the night was over, one of the side acts had stolen the show.

All-Star right fielder Raul Mondesi, realizing that someone was going to have to help Nomo, stepped up to the stage and delivered a dazzling performance in the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs in front of a paid 48,449 at Dodger Stadium.

Mondesi hit his first major league grand slam in the fourth inning, threw out Brian McRae at second base in the fifth inning, hit a sacrifice fly to the fence in the sixth, and ended the act with a single and stolen base--feet first--in the eighth.

Mondesi’s exhibition not only provided Nomo with his 10th victory, but extended the Dodgers’ division lead to a season-high two games ahead of the Colorado Rockies and 4 1/2 games ahead of the third-place San Diego Padres with 42 games remaining.

Nomo (10-3) stood with the rest of the crowd, which included 2,000 fans who flew in from Japan, and applauded Mondesi in a show of appreciation.

This hardly was a routine Nomo performance. Nomo will tell you that he was quite fortunate to escape with the victory, yielding five runs (four earned) and a season-high 11 hits in 6 2/3 innings. The victory was secured when Todd Worrell pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 25th save.

Nomo, who had been bothered by a sore elbow, said the injury gave him little trouble during his 118-pitch performance. Yet, he gave up three runs in the first inning and had already given up a season-high 10 hits by the sixth.

It was the second-highest total of runs yielded by Nomo this season, and the most hits since May 11, 1994 against the Seibu Lions.

Then again, the Kintetsu Lions, Nomo’s Japanese team, never had a player like Mondesi, either.

Cub starter Steve Trachsel, who actually was looking more like Nomo than Nomo, retired the first 10 batters he faced until he faltered.

He walked Jose Offerman with one out in the fourth. Mike Piazza then hit a soft single over second baseman’s Rey Sanchez’s head into right field. Eric Karros followed with a single to center, but Offerman misread the ball, and advanced only to third, loading the bases.

Trachsel, knowing Mondesi rarely will take a walk, worked the count to three and two. He tried to get Mondesi to chase a high fastball, but Mondesi fouled it back.

Trachsel then tried slipping a fastball over the middle of the plate.

Big mistake. Huge mistake. A 420-foot mistake.

Mondesi swung, and couldn’t help but stand there and admire it. He watched the ball soar into the left-field seats, flicked aside his bat, and slowly began his home-run trot, pumping his fist as he rounded first base. Mondesi barely had time to slap high-fives with all of his teammates before the crowd beckoned for a curtain call.

It may have been only the fourth inning, with the Dodgers leading, 4-3, but Mondesi didn’t hesitate. He climbed out of the dugout and thrust both arms into the air as the crowd screamed.

The euphoria was short-lived when the Cubs came back in the sixth and tied the game, 4-4, on Sanchez’s two-out single to center, scoring Luis Gonzalez.

The Dodgers came back, with Karros ripping a ground-rule double, followed by consecutive sacrifice flies by Mondesi and Roberto Kelly for a 7-4 lead.