New Giant Survives Dodgers

Osvaldo Fernandez, who had spent his entire life in his homeland of Cuba, never heard anything about this San Francisco Giant-Dodger rivalry. Even when he defected from Cuba and joined the Giants, no one bothered to explain the fierce hatred.

It took only a few precious minutes in San Francisco’s 5-3 victory Tuesday night for Fernandez to grasp what this rivalry is about, the time it took Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda to stroll from the players’ tunnel after the national anthem to the Dodger dugout.

Lasorda, walking slowly, was greeted to a loud chorus of vicious boos as he started across the field. Lasorda waved, tipped his cap and even blew kisses. The boos turned into insults and then taunts.

Fernandez, showing an odd mixture of disbelief and amusement, got the full flavor of the rivalry in his first career start at Candlestick Park before a frenzied paid crowd of 19,716.

Fernandez, who defected last July when the Cuban national team was touring through Tennessee, kept the game close during his 6 2/3-inning stint. He yielded eight hits and three runs (two earned) and struck out eight, but it wasn’t until he was sitting on the bench that help finally arrived.

The Giants, clueless against Dodger starter Tom Candiotti for six innings, suddenly unleashed their attack in the seventh. They produced three consecutive hits off Candiotti, including a two-run triple by Mark Carreon, knocking Candiotti out of the game with a 3-2 lead. It took only a few pitches for the lead to evaporate when Steve Scarsone greeted reliever Antonio Osuna with a double over right fielder Raul Mondesi’s head, scoring Carreon.

Steve Decker sacrificed Scarsone to third base, and when pinch-hitter Mel Hall stepped to the plate, Lasorda summoned left-hander Scott Radinsky. Hall swung at the first pitch, and hit a fly ball deep enough to center field to score Scarsone with the go-ahead run. Barry Bonds then provided the two-run cushion by hitting a homer off Mark Guthrie in the eighth as “Beat LA” chants reverberated throughout the stadium.

Welcome to the rivalry, Mr. Fernandez.

“This is raw talent that had to be revamped in a short period of time,” Giant Manager Dusty Baker said, “and that’s not easy. If he wasn’t making the big money [three years, $3.2 million], there probably wouldn’t be pressure on him.”

Fernandez could become a folk hero in Northern California if he makes a habit of stopping the Dodgers. The way the Giants figure it, the Dodgers are the team to beat in the National League West, and they need all of the help they can muster to be a contender.

“You’re talking about a great team over there,” said Giant pitcher starter Mark Leiter, scheduled to start today. “I can see those guys winning 100 games. You look at that lineup, look at the bullpen, and look at the starting rotation, and there’s no weaknesses. Not one.”

It would be one of the biggest surprises in baseball if the Giants maintained their pace. They overwhelmingly were predicted to finish last in the division. Yet, if the Giants don’t win the National League West, the next-best thing would be making sure the Dodgers don’t win it.

“You know when you’re playing the Giants it’s just not another game,” said Dodger second baseman Delino DeShields, who along with third baseman Mike Blowers struck out three times, and now share the team lead with 19 strikeouts apiece. “You don’t like to hear the racial slurs and talk about your mother and things like that, but you realize the moment you’re up here that the games are looked at entirely differently.”

Brett Butler was booed louder than any Dodger on Tuesday simply for signing five years ago with the Dodgers. He responded with three singles, but this night, it wasn’t enough.

“The animosity and hatred toward the Dodgers is unbelievable,” said Butler, who spent three years playing for the Giants. “It’s a lot greater on the Frisco side than the LA side. A lot worse.”