No Doubt About It, Dodgers Worried

It was the Dodgers’ most difficult decision of the spring, and even after reaching a conclusion, they perhaps still aren’t quite convinced they made the proper move.

Those doubts came surging back Tuesday night in the Dodgers’ 5-4 loss to the Houston Astros, wondering, maybe even praying, they were right in keeping rookie pitcher Chan Ho Park on the major league roster.

Park was summoned to bail the Dodgers out of trouble in the eighth inning, only to fail, and give up the go-ahead runs. Park watched his teammates rally to tie the game with two runs in the top of the ninth, only to lose in the bottom of the ninth on Derek Bell’s one-out, run-scoring single off John Cummings.

“It’s only the second game, but we should have won that game,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I’ll tell you that. That was a tough one to lose.”

The Dodgers hardly were broken-hearted about one loss in a long season, but more important, they want to ensure there is no long-lasting effect on Park. They have too much at stake to allow Park’s confidence to erode now.

This is why Lasorda, pitching Coach Dave Wallace, and a line of players lined up to tell Park that he pitched well. He made good pitches, they told him. Hey, even Greg Maddux will occasionally get hit with his best stuff.

“This game’s tough enough without a guy losing his confidence,” Wallace said. “We talked to him, and we’ll keep talking to him.”

Park, who faced three batters and gave up a double, an intentional walk, and a bloop single, insisted his confidence is fine. He’ll be all right, he said. It’s just that this relieving gig is new to him, and it might take time getting accustomed.

This, after all, was only Park’s fifth major-league appearance. He had made only four relief appearances in his two-year career, spanning 47 games.

“It just feels different,” he said. “Starting is easier. When you relieve, you don’t know when you throw.”

Certainly, it also fuels speculation as to when the Dodgers will abandon their plan of starting Pedro Astacio and keeping Park in the bullpen. Everyone in the organization agrees that Park eventually belongs in the starting rotation. It’s just a matter of time.

It wasn’t even until a few days ago that the Dodgers strongly considered keeping him on the roster as a reliever. If he was going to make the team, it would be as a starter only. They abruptly changed their mind, if they adhered to one condition:

He can not go back to triple-A Albuquerque.

“It takes a little while to get used to being thrown into the fire,” said Dodger left-handed reliever Mark Guthrie, a former starter, “instead of starting a game. But that will come. As a young pitcher, sometimes you tend to look at the results instead of the performance.”

This was all running through Lasorda’s head in the eighth with the score tied at 2-2. Lasorda summoned Guthrie to relieve starter Ismael Valdes, who yielded nine hits and didn’t pitch his first 1-2-3 inning until the seventh. The trouble was that the first batter up was Bell, who hit .410 off lefties last season.

Bell lined Guthrie’s first pitch into center field for a double. He went to third when a bug flew into catcher Mike Piazza’s eye, and Guthrie’s pitch bounced off his mitt for a passed ball. Pinch-hitter James Mouton bounced out Guthrie for the first out, but with right-handed hitter Sean Berry up next, Lasorda turned to Park.

Park, saying later that his nerves were in check, started Berry with two curveballs. Then, on a 1-1 pitch, he tried an outside fastball. Berry drilled it into the right-field corner for a double, scoring Bell for a 3-2 lead.

“It was a good pitch,” Park said, “and lucky hit. I put the pitch in a good spot, and he hit it. It was a good day for hitters. Lucky.”

Park intentionally walked Rick Wilkins, but created more problems when his pickoff throw caromed off second baseman Delino DeShields’ glove into center field. The runners advanced to second and third, forcing the Dodgers to draw the infield in. They paid the price when Orlando Miller dunked a single just over the outstretched glove of shortstop Greg Gagne, scoring another run.

The Dodgers pulled Park, and the counseling began, even while the Dodgers were rallying in the ninth. The Dodgers tied the game on back-to-back run-scoring singles by Piazza and Eric Karros, who went four for five and is hitting .600 with a sore shoulder and strained hamstring.

Yet, they gave it right back when Brian Hunter led off the ninth by singling off Cummings. Craig Biggio sacrificed. After an intentional walk to Jeff Bagwell, Bell ended the game by lining Cummings’ change-up into left field.