Karros Gets in Driver’s Seat as Dodgers Make Race Closer

Dodger first baseman Eric Karros refused to panic. He told everyone to wait until the season’s conclusion before drawing any judgments.

Five weeks remain, but Karros once again has come to the forefront in the most critical time of the season, leading the Dodgers to a 7-5 victory Friday night over the New York Mets in front of 36,909 at Dodger Stadium.

The victory, their ninth in the last 13 games, enabled the Dodgers to move within one game of the division-leading San Diego Padres and pull even in the loss column. The Dodgers also picked up a game on the Colorado Rockies, who remain 3 1/2 games in back of the Padres.

“I know people are saying we should be ahead by 10 games,” Karros said, “but the fact of the matter is that we’re not. It makes this the fun time of the year.

“It seems like every game we play now is like a playoff game.”

Karros, who thrived a year ago during the pennant stretch when he hit 15 homers and drove in 46 runs in August and September, is delivering an encore. He produced the key hit of the game with a two-run double in the Dodgers’ four-run fifth inning. He has driven in 29 runs in his last 26 games--including at least one RBI in all but six of those games.

Those first six weeks of the season--when Karros’ batting average failed to surpass .200--now seem like only a faded memory. Karros leads the team with 86 RBIs, and with his 27 homers, is on pace for a career-high 34 homers and 109 RBIs.

“Eric’s been our guy,” Manager Bill Russell said. “He’s driven in a tremendous amount of runs lately. You’ve got to have those kind of guys.”

It was in the fifth inning, with the Dodgers trailing 2-0, when Karros took center stage. The Dodgers had failed to score an earned run in 31 consecutive innings against Met starter Mark Clark, but Ramon Martinez (10-6) led off the fifth with his second single of the game.

Todd Hollandsworth flied to center for the first out. Center fielder Wayne Kirby, starting ahead of Chad Curtis for the third consecutive game, then lined a double into the right-field corner, advancing Martinez to third. Mike Piazza was intentionally walked, bringing Karros to the plate with the bases loaded.

Karros watched Clark fall behind 2-and-0 and then lined a double into the left-field corner, scoring Martinez and Kirby, advancing Piazza to third. Raul Mondesi, batting .312 since the end of May, then doubled past shortstop Rey Ordonez for a 4-2 lead. The Dodgers made it 7-2 in the seventh after Ordonez’s two-run, bases-loaded error.

Met left fielder Bernard Gilkey hit a three-run homer off reliever Antonio Osuna in the eighth to trim the Dodger lead to 7-5, providing closer Todd Worrell the opportunity to set the Dodger franchise record in the ninth with his 33rd save of the season.

“This is the fun time of year,” Russell said. “The players should enjoy it. The fans are getting into it. A lot of scoreboard watching. A lot of cheering.

“There are a lot of teams that are out of it right now, but we’re in it, and we’ll be in it to the end.”

The Dodgers had a 1 1/2-game lead over the Colorado Rockies a year ago at this time, fell two games behind the Rockies on Sept. 16, and clinched the National League West on the next-to-last day of the season.

“The biggest difference from last year,” second baseman Delino DeShields said, “is that now we expect to win it. Last year, we just didn’t know. I think when you win it, there are always expectations.

“We haven’t set the world on fire by any means, but we’ve got a good baseball team, and we have a chance to win it.”

“We’ve played well in stretches,” Karros said, “but we’re still struggling for consistency. That’s why we’re in the position we’re in.

“We’ve got to have a stretch of 25 games where we play good ball.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Putting Out the Fire

Todd Worrell broke his Dodger record for saves in a season. The list:

PLAYER, YEAR: SAVES

* Todd Worrell, 1996: 33

* Todd Worrell, 1995: 32

* Jay Howell, 1989: 28

* Jim Gott, 1993: 25

* Jim Hughes, 1954: 24

* Jim Brewer, 1970: 24