Dodgers Left Out in the Cold, 9-4

The Dodgers spent their afternoon shivering, and after their 9-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs was finally over, they had one question:

Why would anyone in his right mind have gone to Thursday’s game?

The game was played in the nastiest conditions many players had ever endured. The game-time temperature was 34 degrees--the coldest at Wrigley Field in seven years, but the 19-mph wind coming in from left field made for a wind-chill factor of 12 degrees.

“There were some guys in left field without their shirts on, saying I was an idiot for playing in this,” Dodger center fielder Brett Butler said. “I told them, ‘You’re more of an idiot because you’re out here watching me.’ ”

And things got worse as the game went along. The wind blew harder, rain fell, soon turning to sleet, then finally to snow flurries.

“I saw everything today,” second baseman Delino DeShields said. “I saw some sleet. I saw some snow. I saw some rain. The wind was blowing out 1,000 miles per hour. “It was that kind of day.”

The attendance was announced at 12,626, which reveals only how many tickets were sold. And many of those buyers chose not to use their tickets, since there were an estimated 1,800 fans in the stands.

The true indication, of course, is the walk-up sale.

The Cubs sold 499 tickets before the game at Wrigley Field. Seventeen fans picked up phone orders. Two folks bought tickets at other outlets.

So 516 hardy souls actually chose to buy tickets to sit in foul weather and watch their Cubbies.

“The players at least got paid to be out there,” Dodger Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully said. “What I want to know is, who paid the fans to come out? It’s the first time I’ve ever seen ushers throwing salt on the aisles so people didn’t slip and fall.”

The Dodgers, who with their 1-3 record are off to their worst start since 1989, were careful not to make excuses. The Cubs, they realized, played under the same conditions. But they didn’t have the same trouble pitching, hitting or playing defense.

Still, the Dodgers wondered aloud if the game should have been played. Manager Tom Lasorda briefly talked to the umpiring crew before the game, but was advised that this might be the nicest day of the four-game series.

“There’s no reason for this,” Lasorda said before the game. “I think it’s terrible to play in [cold-weather] cities this time of the year. You’re detracting from the game.”

Said first baseman Eric Karros: “I was kind of surprised we played today.”

And how did Karros put up with the conditions?

“I made sure I didn’t hit the ball, and made sure I didn’t have to run,” he said after going hitless in four at-bats.

There was historical value to the game. In the third inning, Cub second baseman Ryne Sandberg hit a two-run homer off Dodger starter Pedro Astacio. Sandberg, who came out of retirement this season, had last hit a homer June 1, 1994, at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

“It was kind of ironic that I waited until the worst day of the year to get my first hit,” said Sandberg, who had been hitless in nine previous at-bats.

Astacio, who is clinging to his job in the starting rotation and was nowhere to be found after the game, yielded eight hits and seven runs--four earned--in only 3 2/3 innings.

Lasorda, however, said he would take into account that Astacio was pitching in baseball’s version of the Ice Bowl.

“I’m not evaluating him on one game,” Lasorda said.

But Astacio certainly didn’t help himself by giving up a single to Cub pitcher Kevin Foster, then walking him, actions that more than anything led to Astacio’s collapse.

He was staked to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning by Mike Blowers’ two-run double. But Foster led off the bottom of the third with a single, and one out later, Sandberg made it worth two runs.

The game was tied, 3-3, in the fourth, when Astacio walked Foster. DeShields then made a throwing error, Sandberg walked, and Astacio left the game. Mark Grace greeted reliever John Cummings with a two-run single to right, and Sammy Sosa followed with a three-run homer.

Just like that, the Cubs had a 9-3 lead, and weren’t feeling nearly as cold as their visitors.

“What’s amazing is how they hit the ball,” Dodger reliever Mark Guthrie said of the Cubs’ 14 hits.

“It was just ugly out there. It was like throwing a billiard ball when you were pitching. You had no control at all.”

The Dodgers tried to keep warm with a huge space heater in one end of the dugout, hot-water bottles and hand-warmers. They drank coffee and hot chocolate. Nothing worked.

“There was nothing to joke about because it was too cold to even talk,” catcher Mike Piazza said. “My lips were frozen.”

Raul Mondesi, who grew up in the Dominican Republic, wrapped a sanitary sock around his ears to keep warm. Yet it only made him envious when he looked up and saw that Cub shortstop Rey Sanchez was wearing a ski mask while he was batting.

“You just had to be out there to understand what it was like,” DeShields said. “Look at my hands. They’re still frozen.”

It was that kind of day.

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Chilling Out

High and low temperatures at some of Thursday’s major league games: *--*

Game High Low Dodgers at Chicago 36 30* Montreal at Cincinnati 63 41 St. Louis at N.Y. Mets 58 42 Colorado at Philadelphia 60 41 N.Y. Yankees at Cleveland 45 33 Kansas City at Baltimore 65 42

*--*

*--Wind-chill factor 12 degrees.