Slugging It Out Just Isn’t the Dodgers’ Bag

The Dodgers, after proving the last few days they can win the old-fashioned way, decided to put a little variety in their routine.

They decided to try this American League brand of baseball they keep hearing about Tuesday night, wondering just how enjoyable it can be when they start interleague play.

Well, after losing 8-5, to the Florida Marlins in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 31,185, the Dodgers shrugged their shoulders and says it’s back to basics.

The Dodgers may have scored their most runs in a loss since Aug. 28, 1996, but they learned they simply aren’t ready to go toe-to-toe with the big boys. The Dodger pitching staff yielded 17 hits and 22 baserunners, and never could recover in the 3-hour 20-minute affair.

The Dodgers finished their home stand with a 3-2 record, falling three games behind the San Francisco Giants. Yet, just the fact that they beat the Atlanta Braves in two of three games and split with the Marlins left them more encouraged than they’ve been in weeks.

“We know we can play with anybody,” Dodger left fielder Billy Ashley said. “We just have to go out and prove it.”

The Dodgers and Marlins, who figured to have a classic pitcher’s duel between All-Star pitchers Hideo Nomo and Al Leiter, instead watched the game turn into a slugfest, with neither starter lasting past five innings.

Nomo (5-4), who had not given up more than four runs in a start this season, gave up four runs in the first inning. He was rocked for nine hits and six runs (five earned) in only four innings. It was his worst outing at Dodger Stadium since Sept. 19, 1995, when he gave up six runs against the San Francisco Giants. It was also his shortest outing anywhere since April 3, 1996, against the Houston Astros when he lasted four innings at the Astrodome.

It was a simple case of lost control. The Marlins loaded the bases in the first inning on two walks and a single, setting the stage for longtime Dodger nemesis Jim Eisenreich.

Nomo fell behind 2-and-0, and paid the price when Eisenreich slapped a fastball down the right-field line. By the time Raul Mondesi fielded the ball, the Marlins had a 3-0 lead and Eisenreich was standing on third with a triple.

“I really don’t know what it is,” said Eisenreich, who has a career .423 batting average against the Dodgers with seven homers and 43 runs batted in. “I can’t explain why I hit so well against them. It’s just one of those things.”

Bobby Bonilla followed Eisenreich’s triple with a single to center, and before the crowd had even settled in to the seats, the Marlins had a 4-0 lead.

Yet, just when Leiter (4-3) was thinking this night was good to be true, he also was plagued by wildness. Leiter yielded back-to-back one-out singles to Greg Gagne and Raul Mondesi. Suddenly, he couldn’t find the strike zone. He walked Mike Piazza on a full-count, loading the bases for Eric Karros, and then walked him too.

Todd Zeile struck out for the second out, but up stepped Billy Ashley, the Dodgers’ hottest hitter of late. Ashley hit a 2-and-0 fastball up the middle for a two-run single, and just like that, it was a one-run game.

It was the latest in a string of heroics for Ashley, who is hitting .407 with two homers and nine RBIs in his last eight starts. He is now firmly entrenched in a left-field platoon with Eric Anthony. “I don’t even know if it’s a point of proving myself anymore,” Ashley said. “It’s not a case of saying, ‘See, I told you I can do this.’ It’s just a matter of coming up in certain situations and making things happen.”

The Marlins, realizing this would be one of those nights, came back and scored two more runs in the fourth inning on Zeile’s two-out, throwing error. Zeile helped atone for the miscue by hitting a solo homer to the right-field seats, cutting the deficit to 6-4.

The Marlins continued their onslaught against knuckleballer Tom Candiotti in the fifth, scoring two more runs on RBIs by Renteria and Floyd, and this time, the Marlins 8-4 lead simply was too much to overcome.