For Cubs, It’s No Stroll in the Park

Game after game, Dodger righthander Chan Ho Park would stand on the mound in frustration, watching Manager Bill Russell walk out to get him.

Game after game, Park would reluctantly hand Russell the ball and march toward the dugout with an empty feeling in his stomach.

It is true that he had the distinction of being the first of the Dodger imports from the Far East. Without question, he has become one of the team’s steadiest pitchers. There is no denying that his legions of fans are growing.

But one goal had constantly eluded Park. On his career stats, under the category of complete games, there was a big, fat zero.

Recently, Park was asked if he ever considered arguing with the manager to let him stay in.

“Maybe in three years, he will listen to me,” Park said.

Monday night, Park didn’t have to argue.

Pitching so well that his manager never asked for the ball, Park threw his first complete game in his 33rd career start in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 45,955, beating the Chicago Cubs, 2-1.

When it was over, when he struck out Shawon Dunston to end the game, Park spun around on the mound and shook his fist as if he’d just won the World Series.

Not quite.

But he did enable the Dodgers to break a two-game losing streak and pick up a game on the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants, who lost to Cincinnati, 7-4. The Dodgers trail the Giants by 1 1/2 games.

“He was on a mission,” Russell said of Park. “He wanted to go nine and we wanted him to go nine.”

It was a night fraught with potential peril for the Dodgers. For the third consecutive game, they were facing a relative unknown on the mound.

After the other two games, everybody knew who Gabe White and Mike Remlinger were. Both Cincinnati Red pitchers beat the Dodgers, White after not pitching in the majors since 1995 and Remlinger a converted reliever thrown into the Red rotation because of a slew of injuries.

Now the Dodgers had to face Miguel Batista. Having made 10 appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Florida Marlins, Batista was making his first major-league start Monday night.

And like the no-names before him, Batista quickly made a name for himself, holding the Dodgers to two runs and seven hits, while striking out seven and walking three in seven innings.

But Park was better, holding the Cubs to a run and four hits while striking out seven and walking only one.

The Dodgers had given Park all the margin he would need by the fourth inning.

In the first, Brett Butler walked, went to third on Mike Piazza’s single and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Eric Karros. In the fourth, Raul Mondesi doubled and scored on a single by Greg Gagne.

After that, it was up to Park.

He gave up only three singles until the eighth inning, when pinch-hitter Dave Hansen smacked the first pitch he saw from Park over the right-field fence for his second home run of the year, the ball barely eluding a leaping Mondesi.

“I was looking for a shutout,” said Park, who improved to 11-6 to tie Hideo Nomo for the top victory total on the Dodger staff, “but I gave up that home run to Hansen on the first pitch. That made me a little bit mad.”

Heading into the ninth inning, Russell might have gone to closer Todd Worrell with his team clinging to a narrow lead.

But not this time.

“He [Park] still had good stuff,” Russell said, “so there was no reason for him not to be out there.”

With one out and the bases empty, Park faced Sammy Sosa, who had beaten the Dodgers the last time they saw him on a 12th-inning homer.

“I thought about the last game,” Park said. “I thought I’d better throw strikes.”

He did. Park got Sosa on a groundout and Dunston on strikes.

And he finally got to keep the ball out of his manager’s hands.

*

* ONLY A RUMOR

Fox says rumors that Michael Milken might gain key role with Dodgers are untrue. C5

* GIANTS LOSE

The Reds defeated the Giants, helping the Dodgers close within 1 1/2 games of first. C4