Blowers Plays Hero for a Day

Mike Blowers hears the boos at Dodger Stadium. He listens to the whispers in the clubhouse. He refuses to turn on the talk shows.

After replacing one of the most popular players on the team at third base and spending two months merely struggling to hit your weight, the phone doesn’t exactly ring off the hook with dinner invitations.

So when Blowers stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the ninth inning on Sunday, he knew that he better do something or it would be a long, lonely flight back to the United States.

Blowers, in his biggest at-bat since joining the team, delivered a three-run double to provide the Dodgers with a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium and perhaps regain his teammates’ confidence.

The Dodgers won for the ninth time in 12 games to climb three games above .500 for the first time. The Dodgers swept the Expos in the three-game series and have won six consecutive games at Olympic Stadium for the first time in its 20-year existence.

“When I got that hit I just stood out there and said to myself, ‘It’s about time. It’s about damn time,’ ” Blowers said.

“I kept saying eventually this thing has got to turn, but it sure got frustrating waiting. There have been an awful lot of sleepless nights. Too many to remember.

“I’m going to sleep good tonight, I’ll tell you that.

“I’m tired of not sleeping.”

Blowers, a free-agent signing from the Seattle Mariners, replaced Tim Wallach at third base. He spent the first 40 games trying to reach the .200 plateau and came into town batting .218 with only one homer and 11 runs batted in. It was the worst production by a third baseman in the National League.

“He struggled as much as I’ve seen anybody struggle coming to this league,” said Dodger starter Tom Candiotti (3-4), who gave up only two hits and one run in eight innings for his third victory in four starts. “You felt for the guy because you knew what he was going through.”

Blowers, demoted to the eighth spot in the batting order, produced two singles earlier in the game but the Dodgers still trailed, 1-0, in the ninth. They were 0-20 when trailing after eight innings, and to make matters worse, Expo Manager Felipe Alou summoned closer Mel Rojas.

Yet, Eric Karros led off the inning with a single to center. Rojas hit Raul Mondesi with a pitch. Todd Hollandsworth executed a sacrifice bunt. With first base open, Alou ordered Rojas to intentionally walk Delino DeShields and pitch to Blowers with the bases loaded.

“I knew with the bases loaded that he [Rojas] wanted to get ahead, so there was no use waiting around,” Blowers said. “I wanted to be aggressive. I said, ‘If he throws a fastball, I’m going to take a swing at it.’ ”

Blowers swung and drilled Rojas’ fastball against the left-field fence. He heard the crowd go silent, and put his head down, and kept on running. Karros and Mondesi scored easily, and when DeShields scored on the throw home, Blowers scooted to third.

“It allowed me just to stand there and think about how good it felt to come through in a big situation,” Blowers said. “I could hear the guys on the bench too, and they were all screaming. It was nice to see the guys excited.

“They’ve been awfully patient with me and today, well, I feel more a part of the team than ever.”

Blowers, who raised his average to a season-high .236, is hesitant in saying he has turned around his season. Yet, in the last 13 games, he is batting .316 with six doubles, a triple and six RBIs.

“If nothing else, I’m getting awful close,” he said.

Certainly, no one appreciated Blowers’ heroics more than Candiotti, who appeared headed for a 1-0 defeat.

When did the Dodgers last rally for a victory in the final inning of one of Candiotti’s starts?

“I can’t remember, dude,” Candiotti said. “It’s been a long time. It was like waking up on Christmas morning and seeing all those runs.”

Candiotti also had to watch closer Todd Worrell give up two runs with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. Yet, Worrell made a brilliant defensive play on Andy Stankiewicz’s bunt for the first out, struck out David Segui and induced a pop-up from F.P. Santangelo, ending the game.

“That felt like Christmas Day again,” Candiotti said, “only to have your home burglarized.

“But thankfully, the alarm caught them.”