Park’s Strong Shutout Turns Into a Blowout

The Dodger sticks were rattling at the plate Thursday night.

And the balloon sticks were rattling in the right-field stands.

And when all the rattling was done, it was the San Francisco Giants who were the most rattled of all.

The Dodgers showed no respect for the National League West leaders, using Chan Ho Park’s strong seven innings and battering them, 11-0, Thursday night at Dodger Stadium with a 16-hit attack that powered the Dodgers to their seventh consecutive victory and cut the Giants’ division lead over them to five games.

San Francisco came into Dodger Stadium with a four-game winning streak, but the Giants left after the first of a four-game series as a humble and shell-shocked crew, their lead only a little more than half the eight-game advantage they had over the Dodgers when L.A.’s streak began July 1.

“It seemed like we picked up just where we left off,” said Dodger catcher Mike Piazza, referring to the All-Star break that some were worried might put a dent in the Dodgers’ momentum. “We still have three games left with these guys. We’ve got to come out [Friday] and do the same thing to them again.”

Giant Manager Dusty Baker tried to look ahead at the series as a whole.

“The series is important in that we maintain our lead,” he said. “This is only one of four. And it doesn’t matter if it’s 1-0 or 11-0. A loss is a loss.”

It didn’t seem to matter what buttons Manager Bill Russell pushed with his offense Thursday, the result was almost always a jackpot on a evening when a tense showdown turned into late-night batting practice for the Dodgers.

The usual suspects did their expected damage:

* Piazza hit his 17th home run and drove in two.

* First baseman Eric Karros had two singles and a run batted in.

* Right fielder Raul Mondesi had a single and a double.

* Third baseman Todd Zeile had a single and drove in two.

But there was also the unexpected:

* Second baseman Tripp Cromer hit a three-run shot into the right-field stands, his first home run since June of 1995 and only the sixth of his career.

Cromer got into the lineup because starting second baseman Wilton Guerrero has a sore shoulder. But at this rate, Guerrero, despite the fact that he is tied for the major league lead in triples with eight and is the fastest man on the team, will have to cool his hot heels in the dugout and be satisfied to be a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner until Cromer cools down.

That might take a while. Cromer came into the game batting .367 and went three for five.

“We’ll go with the hot hand,” Russell said. “The team is playing well and he [Cromer] will be in there until he shows he should not be used.”

Russell said that before the game, but presumably, nothing he saw Thursday night changed his mind.

Cromer, of course, is overjoyed.

“I’m feeling good,” he said. “I’m getting chances to play and I’m taking advantage of it. . . . It’s a lot more relaxing around here when we are winning.”

* Reserve catcher Tom Prince got a chance to bat in the eighth inning when the Dodgers sent 10 men to the plate and scored six times. Prince, who stepped up to the plate batting .229 with five RBIs, responded with a two-run double off the left-field wall.

On the mound, right-hander Park delivered the emotional boost the club needed on the day Ismael Valdes (strained hamstring) joined fellow right-hander Ramon Martinez on the disabled list. Park gave up three hits and struck out five in seven innings before Darren Dreifort and Antonio Osuna came on to preserve the shutout.

Baker was impressed with Park.

“We hit the ball hard in the first few innings,” Baker said, “but we didn’t score. Park looked stronger as the game went on.”

Nomomania may have crested, as the fervor over Hideo Nomo has cooled. But the excitement over Park, who improved to 6-5, might be only beginning.

Among the crowd of 42,942 was a group from a Korean fan club for Park, seated in the right-field pavilion. In their hands were balloons shaped like sticks that were supplied by a Korean company.

They shook them together as long as Park was in there, but never more passionately than in the sixth inning when Park, faced with runners on second and third, two outs and a full count to Jeff Kent, struck out the Giant second baseman.

“That showed that he’s learning to pitch out of jams,” Piazza said. “We got him [Kent] 3-2 and decided, if he was going to get a hit, it was going to be off Park’s best pitch. He got a knee-high fastball.

“If there is just one thing tonight, he had a lot of pitches going into the eighth inning [119], but that might be nit-picking tonight.”

Just ask those fans with the balloon sticks.