Dodgers Foiled by Ordonez

It was a gruesome sound, one that made Dodger first baseman Eric Karros almost sick to his stomach, realizing something was wrong.

He believed he had just smashed a single to left field in the eighth inning Saturday to tie the game, but the roaring Shea Stadium crowd let him know that something extraordinary had just happened, turning a possible Dodger victory into a 4-3 loss to the New York Mets.

“I hit it hard,” Karros said softly, “I thought it was through. I thought it was through for sure.

“Then I heard the crowd.”

Karros stopped talking, still trying to fathom what had happened.

The Dodgers, trailing 4-3, opened the eighth inning when Todd Hollandsworth walked. Mike Piazza, who raised his league-leading average to .377, singled to center. Center fielder Lance Johnson made a nice play to prevent the ball from going into the gap.

Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda, taking no chances for a double play, pinch-ran for Piazza with Chad Fonville. The Dodgers had runners on first and second with no outs and Karros at the plate.

While Karros is batting .216 and is mired in a one-for-20 skid, he never has sacrifice-bunted in his career. Lasorda and Karros said it was a no-brainer. Karros was told to swing away.

“I liked our chances right there,” Lasorda said. “I wasn’t even thinking about a bunt. One swing, and he can hit it out of the ballpark.”

Reliever Doug Henry threw a first-pitch strike, then Karros hit a sharp grounder toward the gap. Karros and everyone on the Dodger team figured one run was in, and the Dodgers still would have runners on first and second.

Then it happened, sucking the breath out of the Dodgers.

Sensational rookie shortstop Rey Ordonez dived to his right, stopped the ball, and while rolling over, fired it to second baseman Jose Vizcaino for one out. Vizcaino pivoted and threw the ball to first baseman Roberto Petagine for the double play.

The paid crowd of 26,445 rose to its feet. Lasorda buried his head in his hands. Karros went to the bench asking what had happened.

“That play right there is why they won and we lost,” said Dodger starter Tom Candiotti (3-5), who yielded four runs in six innings. “I don’t know how he made that play. He was off-balance but he made a great throw. You don’t see that play made.

“It’s one thing to make that play in the first or second inning, but it’s altogether another to make it in the eighth with the game on the line.”

Said Lasorda, who sat on the bench long after the game ended: “It turned the whole game around. Damn, that was the game.”

Raul Mondesi bounced out to Henry for the final out in the eighth inning, and the Dodgers went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to make it official.

“That was the play of the game,” Dodger second baseman Delino DeShields said.

“We’re on the verge of having a big inning there, and Ordonez turns the double play. That’s the ballgame.”

Said Candiotti: “He was spectacular today. What else can you say?”

Welcome to the Rey Ordonez show, where one man’s glove can turn an entire game around.

Ordonez, the 23-year-old refugee from Havana, shrugged off the commotion he caused.

“It’s not a routine play,” he said, “but I’ve made that play before. I feel happy when I make that type of play.”

Said Vizcaino: “It wasn’t that great. I’ve seen him make that play all year. The only thing I can’t believe is how good the throw was to me at second.”

Ordonez has established himself as the heavy favorite to end the Dodgers’ four-year rookie-of-the-year reign. He is not only the best defensive shortstop in the league, but he is batting .308, and could wind up in the All-Star game.

“He makes us scratch our heads,” said Met reliever John Franco, who closed out the ninth for his 11th save.

“It’s mind-boggling. You wonder what he’s going to do next.”

The Dodgers insist the game shouldn’t have come down to Ordonez’s play. They never got another hit with runners in scoring position after Mondesi’s double in the first inning. The Mets, however, scored all four of their runs with two outs, the final blow a run-scoring double by Chris Jones in the sixth inning.

“We had our opportunities,” Karros said, “but it never should have come down to Ordonez’s play. Obviously, it had an impact, but it was just one of five or six parts of the game where we didn’t execute.

“When he made the play, well, that kind of epitomizes the way things have been going for us.”