Now That It’s July, Blowers Is in Full Bloom

Dodger third baseman Mike Blowers said it would be like this.

A perennial slow starter, Blowers, who came into the season with an .091 career average in April, batted only .205 in the first month of the season.

However, Blowers has flourished in the last two months.

Blowers extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 consecutive games with a fourth-inning RBI double as the Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres, 7-3, to take sole possession of first place in the West on Tuesday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“April has always been a tough month for me for whatever reason and this year wasn’t any different,” Blowers said. “I think [the hitting streak] is a combination of me just swinging the bat better and seeing teams for the second time. Obviously, this is the first time I’ve seen San Diego, but I’m seeing teams for the second and third time and I just feel a lot more confident.

“Being new to the organization and the league it would have been nice to get off to a good start, but I got off to one of my typical starts and I just tried to keep my confidence up and feel like things were going to turn around.”

And Blowers has turned it around.

Blowers, who was batting .194 with one home run and nine runs batted in on May 12, has batted .307 with four homers and 23 RBIs since then.

Blowers batted .289 with one home run and 10 RBIs in May and .290 with three homers and 13 RBIs in June. He is batting .355 with a home run and four RBIs during his streak.

Blowers drove in what turned out to be the winning run when he doubled in Eric Karros off starter Fernando Valenzuela, who gave up five runs on six hits in five innings.

If last season is any indication, Blowers, who was acquired from Seattle during the winter, is likely to blossom in the second half. Blowers drove in 64 runs after the All-Star break to help the Mariners win the American League West.

“I don’t feel real comfortable at the plate right now,” Blowers said. “I’m a little banged up and I’m trying to work through that. Hopefully, I can keep going and when the break comes I’ll enjoy it.”

Dodger hitting coach Reggie Smith wasn’t worried about Blowers’ slow start.

“Not knowing very much about him other than what you see on tape and what was told about him, I didn’t want to be too concerned about him because he always seemed to get started slowly,” Smith said. “In his first 100 to 125 at-bats he didn’t do very much, but around May-June he started to hit and he’s started to do it again this year.”

Dodger Coach Bill Russell, who is running the team until Manager Tom Lasorda returns, agreed.

“He’s really come on,” Russell said. “I think everybody was worried about him at the start of the season, but he was playing for a new team in a new league and it’s a transition. He’s settled into things and right now he’s playing like we heard he played and the scouting report said he played.”

The Dodgers, who dropped out of first place after losing three of four games to the Colorado Rockies last weekend, did everything right as they took a 6-0 seventh-inning lead en route to beating the Padres for the second consecutive night.

First baseman Eric Karros had two hits in his first three at-bats and scored a run and shortstop Greg Gagne had two hits in his first three at-bats and drove in two runs as the Dodgers won without Mike Piazza, who was given the night off.

Gagne drove in two runs in the second inning with a triple off the glove of Padre center fielder Steve Finley and later scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by catcher Tom Prince, who started in place of Piazza.

Right fielder Raul Mondesi had three hits in five at-bats and drove in three runs.