Dodgers at a Loss Minus Lasorda

Manager Tom Lasorda wasn’t sure which was more agonizing Tuesday night, listening on the radio to the Dodgers’ 2-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs or witnessing it in person.

This night, he had no choice.

Lasorda, diagnosed earlier in the day with an ulcer, listened to the broadcast while resting comfortably at Centinela Hospital.

Well, at least he was resting comfortably most of the game.

“I talked to him after the game,” said Jo Lasorda, Tom’s wife, “and I told him, ‘Did you do what Vinny [Scully] said?’ It was so funny. Vinny said, ‘Tommy, if you’re listening to the game, turn it off.’

“Tom said he heard Vinny say it, but he didn’t listen.’ ”

The Dodgers were silenced on six hits by Cub starter Steve Trachsel, who pitched the second shutout of his career in front of a paid crowd of 37,448 at Dodger Stadium.

Yet, just as quiet was the Dodger bench, without the presence of Lasorda.

“It was kind of quiet,” left fielder Billy Ashley said. “It was kind of different when you got to the plate and didn’t hear him cheering you or shouting out instructions.

“It was kind of an empty feeling.”

Lasorda, who was hospitalized Monday after he complained of severe abdominal pains, could return to the dugout as soon as Thursday for the Dodgers’ four-game series against the Colorado Rockies in Denver. He was kept overnight for further tests to be completed.

“I think it’s very good news it’s just an ulcer,” Jo Lasorda said. “I told him, ‘No more hot peppers for you.’ That was one of his downfalls. He was always eating those things.

“When his brother, Harry, called today, I told him the news that he had an ulcer.

“He said, ‘Come on, how can Tom have an ulcer? He only gives them, he never gets them.’ ”

Certainly, Lasorda was spared the anguish of watching the Dodgers get humbled by Trachsel, who lowered his ERA to 2.15, second-lowest in the league. Trachsel’s 6-4 record may be the most deceiving in baseball.

He was so dominant that the hardest ball hit the entire night was by Dodger starter Hideo Nomo.

Nomo ripped a one-out double in the third inning, the Dodgers’ only extra-base hit of the game.

“He just pitched a good game, whether we had Tommy there or not,” Ashley said. “We had a job to do. I’m sure he wouldn’t want us sitting there and talking about him being in the hospital.”

Bill Russell, Dodger bench coach, was appointed the interim manager in Lasorda’s absence. He filled out the lineup card and made all of the changes. Russell conceded that he was nervous at the outset, but was calmed by Lasorda’s call before the game.

“But I told them if the phone started ringing in the dugout [during the game], I wasn’t going to answer it,” Russell said.

“I know Tommy was listening. He was dying like all of us, but he’ll be OK. He sounded very good on the phone. He’s feeling well and anxious to get back.”

Perhaps the most painful aspect of the game for the Dodgers was watching Nomo’s performance wasted. Nomo (8-7) yielded only four hits and two runs (one earned) on 95 pitches in eight innings, but it simply wasn’t good enough.

“I personally am really worried about [Lasorda],” Nomo said, “but that didn’t change my pitching. It would have been different if it was a change in a catching or outfield positions.

“It was just real quiet.”

The Cubs got a run-scoring single from Brian McRae in the third inning, and Trachsel’s single scored Scott Servais in the fifth after Servais reached on shortstop Greg Gagne’s throwing error.

Lasorda should learn today when he can return to the dugout, and as Jo Lasorda said, it may be difficult keeping him hospitalized any longer.

“They want to make sure he gets his rest and everything’s under control,” Jo Lasorda said. “You know Tommy. They tell him he can leave at 2 o’clock, and he’ll be at the ballpark by 2:30.”