For Dodgers, Victory Is a Walk in the Park : Baseball: Butler draws pass with bases loaded in ninth; Phillies fall, 2-1. Nomo leaves after five innings.

Brett Butler may be 38 years old. He may simply be a rent-a-player for the pennant stretch. But he remains the most dangerous leadoff hitter in the National League.

Butler again Tuesday night validated the Dodgers’ belief that the day they acquired him for the pennant stretch was the same day they became the team to beat in the National League West division race.

The boxscore will show that Butler did little more than draw a walk in the ninth inning to drive in the game-winning run in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, but the 39,406 at Dodger Stadium will testify it was vintage Butler.

The Dodgers (64-58), who opened up a one-game lead over the idle Colorado Rockies and a four-game lead over the San Diego Padres, looked to be on the verge of blowing a golden opportunity to win the game.

They loaded the bases with no outs off Phillie reliever Toby Borland, forcing the Phillies to draw in their infield and outfield. All that was needed was a mere fly ball to the outfield.

Yet, they watched in disbelief as pinch-hitter Jose Offerman grounded out to first baseman Gregg Jefferies, who threw home for the first out. Carlos Hernandez, who hit a three-run homer in his last pinch-hit appearance, this time struck out.

The Phillies (61-61) took a deep breath, moved the infield and outfield back into normal playing depth, and now needed only to retire Butler to get out of this mess.

But remember, this is Butler, who can cause grown men to scream into the night in anguish. There’s no bigger pest in baseball, either at the plate or on the basepaths. No one in baseball makes a pitcher work harder.

Butler stood at the plate and watched strike 1. He then fouled off the next pitch into the Dodger dugout. Then, another into the dugout.

Borland threw ball 1. Butler, then doing what he does best, stepped out of the box, back into the box, called time out, adjusted his helmet, and then his batting gloves, and drew ball 2, drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd.

“I was just trying to work him a little bit,” Butler said.

Butler stepped back in the box, fouled off another pitch, and then took the next one. It was a sinker that was even closer. Plate umpire Ed Montague called ball 3.

Butler had Borland where he wanted him.

“Now he’s got all the pressure on him,” Butler said, “because he’s got to throw me a strike. I’m looking for a ball right down the middle and the ball just sailed away.”

Borland, appearing a bit rattled, didn’t even come close on the next pitch. It was high and outside. Ball four. Game over.

“I’m drained,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I’m zapped. I’m really, really zapped.”

Who can blame him? Butler’s walk ended a crazy night in which the Dodgers could have used a professional manicurist for starter Hideo Nomo, used a starter to pitch relief for only the second time in five years, and won in the ninth by hitting only one ball out of the infield.

It was Butler’s type of game. Nothing fancy. Keep scratching and clawing. And be ready when the game is on the line.

The Dodgers hung in the game despite Nomo being forced to leave once again with a cracked fingernail on his right middle finger. It was the third time this season, and the second time in a row that Nomo (five innings, three hits and one run) was forced to leave a game early because of his finger.

“I broke it in the same place,” said Nomo, who set the Dodger franchise rookie record with his 212th strikeout.

He doesn’t know whether he’ll be able to make his next start. “When I break a nail, I can’t pitch as well as I’d like to,” he said.

Lasorda called the bullpen. He had his choice of nine relievers in the bullpen, ranging in experience from Chan Ho Park to Todd Worrell.

Yet he went with Kevin Tapani, the designated emergency starter in case Nomo couldn’t pitch.

This is a guy who had thrown only once in relief since his 1990 rookie season.

Tapani pitched two shutout innings, and turned the game over to John Cummings, who pitched two more shutout innings and led the Dodgers into the ninth.

Mike Piazza, selected as the National League’s Player of the Month in August, led off with a single to left field. Roger Cedeno, pinch-running for Piazza, then stole second, bringing up Delino DeShields.

DeShields had tried to bunt earlier, but now there were two strikes. The Phillies never saw it coming. DeShields laid a picturesque bunt down the first-base line and the Phillies never had a chance.

The bunt forced the Phillies to intentionally walk Roberto Kelly, loading the bases, and setting up Butler’s drama.