Mondesi Is Second to No One

The Dodgers refuse to point fingers. Besides, except for catcher Mike Piazza, they all share the blame for their hitting woes.

Yet on a day when the Dodgers at least temporarily shrugged off their hitting slump, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-4, Monday afternoon at Three Rivers Stadium, they conceded just how much right fielder Raul Mondesi means to them.

While a paid crowd of 9,415 came to watch Dodger starter Hideo Nomo win his fifth game of the season--the smallest major league crowd ever to see him pitch--Nomo’s teammates talked about Mondesi.

You see, there are no worries about Nomo (5-2), who yielded eight hits and four runs and struck out five for his first victory on the road this season.

But with Mondesi, who is batting .194, it has been a different story.

The Dodgers, trying anything to get him out of this mess, decided to bat him second in the batting order for the first time since July 19, 1995. He kick-started the offense with a three-run homer in the third inning, then stunned everyone by drawing a walk in the sixth inning, leading to a two-run homer by Piazza.

By the time the game ended, the Dodgers had three home runs, accounting for all of their scoring.

Who knows, the Dodgers say, this may be the start of something good.

“I think we all realize just how much we need Mondy,” said Dodger second baseman Delino DeShields, who robbed the Pirates of two hits with diving plays. “You’ve got to understand, he’s never been through anything like this. It’s always been easy for him. Everybody goes through tough times, but it finally hit him.

“I don’t care if he’s struggling or not, I’d rather have him on the field than not at all. But when Mondy is hitting like he’s capable, he makes all of the difference in the world.”

The Dodgers had scored only six earned runs in their last 38 innings until Mondesi stepped to the plate with two outs in the third inning. It hardly appeared to the ideal situation.

Mondesi not only was batting .161 with runners in scoring position, but had failed to produce an extra-base hit with a runner on second or third this season.

Pirate starter John Hope, making only his third start since 1993, threw a first-pitch slider to Mondesi, then watched him belt it 430 feet into the center-field seats. It was only Mondesi’s third hit of the four-game series, and all three were home runs.

“I know I can hit,” Mondesi said. “That’s not my problem. I’ve just been trying too hard, trying to get five hits at a time. I know I’m hitting 190-something, but I have plenty of time. The whole team has plenty of time.”

The Dodgers believe they can give Mondesi a boost out of his slump by batting him second. They figured when leadoff hitter Chad Fonville gets on base, Mondesi will see fastballs. And with Piazza hitting behind him, Mondesi will see fastballs. The more fastballs Mondesi sees, the more he will hit.

The Dodgers believe that not only will make Mondesi start hitting, but they are hoping he may become more disciplined at the plate. His sixth-inning walk was his first since April 17, and his first unintentional walk since April 14, spanning 19 games and 77 plate appearances.

“You know what I told him,” Lasorda said, “ ‘Now I believe in miracles.’ That’s pretty hard to say in Spanish too.

“He swings at everything. I told him if somebody threw one of those paper airplanes from the stands, he’d see it and swing at it.”

It was more than a generous supply of offense for Nomo, who cruised into the eighth inning with a 5-2 lead. He gave up a two-run homer to Mark Johnson, and was pulled. The Pirates then had runners on first and third with two outs against Antonio Osuna when Lasorda summoned left-hander Scott Radinsky. Radinsky responded by striking out Mark Clark on three fastballs.

And once Greg Gagne hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth, Lasorda even allowed Radinsky to bat. Radinsky, who figures he last batted in a regulation game in the Simi Valley Pony League as a youngster, flied out to right field. He then retired the side in the ninth for his first save since June 25, 1995.

“That was a rush right there,” Radinsky said. “I mean, I batted in a men’s semi-pro league in Simi Valley in ’94 [when he was out of baseball because of Hodgkin’s disease], but come on, man, it was a little different today.”