Dodgers’ Big Inning Is End for Rockies

In the 1960s, it was the Dodgers and the Giants.

In the 1970s, it was the Dodgers and Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine.

In 1996, the Colorado Rockies want to join the club.

“Everybody wants to beat the Dodgers because they’ve had so much success,” Colorado right fielder Dante Bichette said. “Everybody’s out shooting for them.”

After losing three of four games to the Rockies in last weekend’s homerfest in Denver, the Dodgers scored eight runs on seven hits in the second inning, including two-run homers by Delino DeShields and Eric Karros, and beat the Rockies, 9-4, Thursday night before a sellout of 54,331 at Dodger Stadium.

The victory kept the Dodgers tied for first in the National League West with San Diego.

Interim Manager Bill Russell said the Rockies, who finished one game behind the Dodgers in the NL West last season, have fueled the feud.

“There’s been a lot of talk, I think more on their side than anywhere,” Russell said. “Dante Bichette had an article in Denver [in which he was quoted as saying that the Dodger pitchers benefit as much from pitching here as the Colorado hitters do from playing in Denver] and when he was with the Angels they didn’t like the Dodgers.

“We obviously get a lot of press out here in Hollywood. The bottom line is we’re the Dodgers, we have a winning tradition, and players get up for us wherever we go. The other team is always at their best to beat the Dodgers and it’s always been that way since 1969 [when Russell joined the Dodgers].”

Dodger catcher Mike Piazza agreed: “I don’t know about hate; I know we’re both not very popular with each other. It’s really no secret, but that’s what makes the game fun. I guess we don’t like each other at all, but we respect each other, and that’s what makes it a good rivalry.”

After being battered for 52 runs, 69 hits and 12 homers last weekend in Denver, the Dodger pitching staff, which came into the game with a 9.58 earned-run average against the Rockies, seemed resolved to shut them down.

Ismael Valdes (9-5), who gave up three runs on 10 hits in seven-plus innings in last Saturday’s 13-10 victory over the Rockies, gave up only two runs on five hits before he was replaced by Chan Ho Park with one out and a runner on first in the eighth. Valdes, 2-0 against Colorado this season, registered six strikeouts, three against Andres Galarraga, who struck out four times in all.

“He pitched his normal game,” Russell said of Valdes, who left after throwing 127 pitches. “He did the same thing in Colorado. He had a 13-0 lead and ran out of gas in that seventh inning.”

Park wasn’t impressive, giving up two runs on a walk and three singles in a third of an inning before he was replaced by Mark Guthrie, who struck out pinch-hitter Trenidad Hubbard to end the inning.

The Dodgers’ biggest crowd of the season came to see fireworks after the game, but they got them in the second inning as the Dodgers sent 11 batters to the plate and tied season highs for runs and hits in an inning.

Rocky Manager Don Baylor shuffled his rotation for the four-game series, starting Marvin Freeman. But Freeman (6-5), who gave up four runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings in last Friday’s 13-4 victory, lasted only two innings before he was replaced by Lance Painter.

Freeman could have gotten out of the second inning without giving up a run, but third baseman Vinny Castilla botched a double play on a grounder by Raul Mondesi after Karros had led off with a walk.

Mondesi advanced to third on a single by Mike Blowers, who extended his hitting streak to 17 games, and scored on Todd Hollandsworth’s single to right.

After Greg Gagne singled in Blowers, the Dodgers used aggressive baserunning to score again.

The Rockies went to sleep on a sacrifice bunt by Valdes, and Hollandsworth raced home from third as Freeman threw to first.

After Chad Fonville singled in Gagne, DeShields hit his fifth home run of the season and Piazza followed with a single to center before Karros hit his 20th home run.

Fonville made a leaping catch at the center-field fence to rob Castilla of a home run in the second inning and Mondesi made a leaping catch at the right-field fence to end the game and take away a two-run homer from Ellis Burks.

“They hit some balls tonight that might have been out in Denver, but they’re not in Denver, they’re here,” Russell said.