Butler Suffers Another Bad Break

Dodger center fielder Brett Butler, who only four days ago made his dramatic and emotional comeback from cancer, broke his left hand Tuesday night and is expected to be out the remainder of the season.

“It’s a devastating blow to him and us,” Dodger Manager Bill Russell said. “I’d say it’s highly unlikely he’ll be back.”

The news of Butler’s injury was emotionally devastating, ruining any giddiness from the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in front of 28,237 at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers (80-64), who moved to a season-high 16 games over .500, remain .001 ahead of the San Diego Padres for first place in the National League West.

Yet, on this night, it hardly mattered.

The Dodgers instead were left teary-eyed and angry. It’s not fair, they kept saying.

“The guy worked so hard to get back,” first baseman Eric Karros said, “and for his season to end like this is unbelievable. You feel so sorry for him. I still can’t believe it.”

Said Dodger third baseman Mike Blowers, also a victim of a season-ending injury: “I don’t know what to think. You think of everything the man has gone through, and how hard he has worked, and for this to happen. Man, I can’t explain it. You wonder, though.”

The injury occurred in the fourth inning when Butler tried to bunt off reliever Giovanni Carrara. Butler stepped up, and the fastball sailed into his hand, fracturing the fifth metacarpal.

He fell to the ground in pain and was led off the field. The Dodgers originally announced that it was only a bruise and that he would get precautionary X-rays this morning at Centinela Medical Center. Yet, the swelling and pain increased, and the Dodgers decided to take him to the hospital.

It’s quite possible the 32 radiation treatments Butler underwent for throat cancer left his bones more brittle than usual. Yet, Dodger trainer Charlie Strasser said it’s impossible to know whether his hand would have been fractured without the radiation.

“We knew it hit hard,” Russell said. “The bones are brittle on the hand. When I went out there, his hand was turning blue.”

Butler’s hand was placed in a splint, and he will be reexamined today by Dr. Norm Zemel. Yet, in all likelihood, his season is over.

Butler, who was hitting .286 with a .444 on-base percentage since his return Saturday night, has said all along that he likely will retire after the season, although it’s now unclear whether he’ll change his mind after the injury.

“You hear him mention God doing a miracle here,” Russell said. “There’s probably some mixed emotions. He might be asking, ‘Is he trying to tell me something again here?’

“Hopefully, he’ll be sitting next to me on the bench.”

Butler, who sat out four months of the season after undergoing two surgeries for cancer of the tonsils and 32 radiation treatments, will now be replaced in the lineup by the platoon of Wayne Kirby and Chad Curtis.

“We hate to lose him under these circumstances,” said left fielder Todd Hollandsworth, who went three for four. “He’s part of this team, and will always be.

“But we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We still have to go out there, work hard and try to win ballgames.

“But I won’t lie. It’s devastating to this team to lose him.”

The Dodgers still lead the Padres by one game in the loss column, and they increased their lead to a season-high two games over the Montreal Expos in the wild-card race.

“We’re just focusing on winning the division,” Russell said. “If the numbers are there, you should have the wild card too.”

Knuckleballer Tom Candiotti (9-9), with an emotional boost from right fielder Raul Mondesi, baffled the Reds. Candiotti yielded four hits and permitted only five fly balls to leave the infield. He struck out seven, including Curtis Goodwin in the eighth for his 1,500th career strikeout.

Candiotti was spotted a 5-0 lead by the second inning, and made sure it stayed intact. The only time he was in trouble occurred in the sixth. The Reds had runners on first and second with two outs and Hal Morris at the plate.

Morris, who has a career .125 batting average against Candiotti, swung at the first pitch and fouled out to third baseman Tim Wallach.

Candiotti retired the final six batters he faced, and could likely have finished for the Dodgers’ first complete game since June 22. But Russell and pitching coach Dave Wallace decided to turn the game over to Todd Worrell, who yielded two runs but still produced his 41st save.

Mondesi once again led the Dodgers’ offense. He limped into the clubhouse with a sprained right ankle suffered Monday night, but shrugged it off.

He hit a two-run triple in his first at-bat, a double in his second at-bat and then a single. Needing a home run in the seventh to become the first Dodger since Wes Parker in 1970 to hit for the cycle, Mondesi hit another single.

Mondesi has seven consecutive hits, two shy of the club record set by Ron Cey in 1977.

* DRAMA FOR PADRES: Steve Finley’s two-out, two-run homer in ninth inning beats Pirates. C4