BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : DeShields Willing to Make Sacrifice

It won’t be evident in the box score, and certainly it was overlooked by many fans, but the unsung hero in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory Sunday was second baseman Delino DeShields.

DeShields’ unselfishness in the sixth inning enabled the Dodgers to overcome a 4-1 deficit.

Mike Piazza led off the inning with a single to left. Eric Karros followed with a double. That brought up DeShields. Instead of worrying about trying to get a hit and protect his batting average, DeShields gave himself up by hitting the ball to first baseman Jeff King, scoring Piazza and advancing Karros to third. Roberto Kelly followed with a sacrifice fly, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

“It’s that time of year,” DeShields said. “You’ve got to put all of the personal stuff aside to win. Really, that’s the way you should play the game all of the time.”

DeShields, who also doubled and laid down a sacrifice bunt that set up Chris Gwynn’s game-winning single in the eighth, might also prove to be an inspiration to benched shortstop Jose Offerman.

DeShields not only is sympathetic to Offerman’s plight, but can understand his frustration. He endured the same anguish as Offerman when he spent a month on the bench beginning July 20 and was replaced by Chad Fonville. It was only when he got a rare start Aug. 20 in New York, going three for four with a homer, that DeShields won back his job.

“The thing that Jose can’t do is let anybody take away anything from what he’s done,” DeShields said. “He went to the All-Star game. He’s having the best year of his career. Those are the things that Jose has to remember.

“He’s done a lot more good things than bad things. And he’s contributed as much as anybody in this locker room. For people to just remember his errors is wrong.”

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Karros, who went three for four and already has achieved career highs this season with 27 homers and 89 runs batted in, said he couldn’t care less about his stats: “It benefits me absolutely none to do this if we don’t get into the playoffs. If this was next year, it’d be a different matter. But if we don’t make the playoffs, what does it matter?”

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Right fielder Raul Mondesi, who was sidelined for all but the final inning of the Pirate series because of a strained back, is expected to return to the lineup tonight. “Hey, with the way [Karim] Garcia is playing, I don’t want to lose my job,” Mondesi said.