Bullpen Falters, but Dodgers Win in 14

The folks at the networks can argue about who is king of late-night television, but Brett Butler is the czar of late-night baseball.

Butler stole the show once again Wednesday by scoring the winning run in the 14th inning of the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the New York Mets before 28,056 at Dodger Stadium.

Butler singled to lead off the 14th and scored on Mike Piazza’s one-out single off Met reliever Barry Manuel.

The Dodgers, behind the brilliant performance of starter Chan Ho Park, and backed by a two-run homer by Todd Zeile, had a 2-1 lead in the ninth.

Todd Worrell, who was perfect in his first three save opportunities, entered the game after Scott Radinsky pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Worrell opened the ninth by striking out pinch-hitter Steve Bieser on three pitches. Then, he made the critical mistake of walking Lance Johnson on a full count. Johnson, well aware of Worrell’s troubles of holding on runners, easily stole second on the first pitch.

Worrell struck out pinch-hitter Andy Tomberlin for the second out, bringing left-handed hitter John Olerud to the plate. Worrell, who never had faced Olerud, tried to get ahead with a quick strike. Olerud pounced on it and slapped a single to center, scoring Johnson for a 2-2 tie.

The Dodger bullpen’s streak of 32 1/3 innings without yielding an earned run had come to a halt.

The shame of it was that it wasted Park’s performance. Park, starting with only three days’ rest, yielded only two hits and one run without a walk in seven innings. The only mistake he made was surrendering a seventh-inning solo homer to catcher Todd Hundley.

“The more times we get him out there, the better,” Manager Bill Russell said. “He needs work. So it’s good to get him out there when we can.

“The nice thing is that because he won’t have thrown many innings, he should be stronger at the end of the season.

Park, who is scheduled to start again April 30, matched his career-high with his seven-inning stint. He still felt strong, but left the game because he had thrown 93 pitches. The Dodgers don’t want any of their starters to throw more than 90 pitches this early in the season. Besides, with the way the bullpen has been pitching, they figured why take chances?

Yet, while the bullpen finally faltered, the Dodgers’ offensive ineptness once again was magnified, producing four hits through 13 innings.

Their only offense was generated by third baseman Todd Zeile, who entered the game batting .148. Zeile hit a two-run homer into the stiff breeze into the left-field seats in the second inning.

It was sweet redemption for Zeile, who was robbed of two hits Tuesday night. This time, he simply hit it where no one could catch it.

“Ozzie Smith used to always tell me that hitting them hard is overrated,” Zeile said. “I’m starting to believe him.”

That was the extent of the offense for the Dodgers.

Russell tried to shake up the offense by benching second baseman Wilton Guerrero. He replaced him with Chad Fonville, who entered the game with five hits in seven at-bats against Met starter Dave Mlicki. Fonville batted eighth, and left fielder Todd Hollandsworth was moved to the second spot.

Still, it made no difference. The top five hitters in the lineup produced three singles.

The Dodgers have scored three or fewer runs in six of their nine games. They’re batting only .183 with runners in scoring position.

The Dodgers have yet to produce three consecutive hits in any of the 85 innings they’ve played this season.

“We have to start scoring some runs,” Russell said.

“We had a nice home stand, but with the way the pitching’s been, we could have been 9-0.”