Karros Good Enough to Play, Dodgers Good Enough to Win

The Dodgers celebrated a pair of victories Friday night in Anaheim Stadium. The first--which came 90 minutes before the first pitch of their 6-2 decision over the Angels in the Freeway Series opener--was surely the sweetest.

Already brimming with confidence, the Dodgers had to be feeling extra smug after Eric Karros finished batting practice. The first baseman, who went into the cage to determine whether the tendinitis in his left shoulder would keep him off the opening-day roster, swung as hard as he could, sprayed a bunch of line drives, sent a couple of shots over the left-field fence and pronounced himself fit enough to play.

“I tried to simulate game conditions as much as possible,” said Karros, who had not swung a bat in six days. “There was some discomfort, but not enough to impact on my ability to play. I’m going to play tonight, which means no disabled list.

“I’m encouraged. A week ago, I couldn’t even swing the bat.”

Karros didn’t fare as well against Angel pitchers as he did against coach Mark Cresse in batting practice. He was hitless in four at-bats. But the guy in front of him in the order, Mike Piazza, had two hits in three trips to the plate.

Piazza hit a monster home run onto the tarp in deep center off Angel starter Mark Langston that carried about 440 feet in the first inning. He singled and scored on Raul Mondesi’s double in the fourth. The homer was Piazza’s sixth of the spring.

The 42,038 in attendance also were treated to a sparkling Hideo Nomo outing. Last season’s National League rookie of the year pitched five innings, struck out five--including Tim Salmon, Chili Davis and J.T. Snow in the fourth inning--and gave up only two singles.

“This felt more like a regular-season game,” Nomo said through an interpreter. “The crowd seems close to the field.

“Things are going smoothly. I feel in good condition. I was just trying to keep the ball down, my regular task.”

The Dodgers, who had 12 hits off five Angel pitchers, extended their lead to 5-0 in the seventh when Billy Ashley hit a towering homer to left off Mike James and Roger Cedeno singled, stole second and scored on Delino DeShields’ single to left. They went up, 6-0, on Carlos Hernandez’ leadoff homer in eighth against Troy Percival.

But the Angels had a couple of things to feel good about as well. Davis ended the Dodgers’ shutout bid in the ninth with a two-run homer off Todd Worrell and the two new members of the infield turned in defensive gems.

Second baseman Randy Velarde made a running backhand stab of a shot up the middle off the bat of DeShields in the third inning and flipped the ball out of his glove to shortstop Gary DiSarcina for a force-out on Greg Gagne at second.

And rookie George Arias, who won the starting third base position this spring as much because of his defensive range as his .415 batting average, dove to his left to snare a shot by Gagne, popped to his feet and threw him out at first.

“I think this is a better club coming out of spring than we had last year,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann. “We’re a better defensive team and a lot of our young guys have experienced success on the major league level. And hopefully, we can pitch better.”

The improvement in the pitching staff wasn’t evident Friday night, but then they were facing the Dodgers and everybody knows how good they are. Just ask them.