Piazza Is Only Doubt in Rout

The high point of the day for the Dodgers Sunday at Turner Field occurred around 5 p.m. in the bowels of the stadium.

The game was long over, the Dodgers, behind the 11-strikeout performance of Chan Ho Park (8-5), having walked off the field with an 8-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

But the best news for the Dodgers came about an hour after the game when catcher Mike Piazza walked out of the trainer’s room with barely a limp.

All sorts of horrible thoughts went through the Dodgers’ collective minds when Piazza, after driving in a run on a first-inning single, turned to go to second and pulled up lame about halfway there, pain shooting through his left hamstring.

But after an examination and an afternoon spent wrapped in ice, Piazza was thought to be suffering from nothing more than a mild strain, although he did say he felt something “pop” in his leg.

A more definite diagnosis can me made today.

“I don’t think it’s too bad,” Piazza said. “Unfortunately, I’ve been here before. I’ve had a couple of these. I think I’ll be OK if I take care of it for a day or two.

“When I rounded first, I went into overdrive and I sort of fell out of gear. I’m like a turtle with a pulled hamstring. You can’t get any slower than that.”

When Manager Bill Russell came out to get him, Piazza argued at first, then headed for the dugout with his head down.

Russell, while as optimistic as Piazza, is a little more cautious.

“You hope it’s not more than a day or two,” Russell said, “but you never know.”

The Dodgers know they can’t afford to lose Piazza’s bat for long.

But they did all right Sunday, thanks largely to Park, whose curveball was sending Brave after Brave back to their dugout shaking his head. Park also mixed in the fastball and the changeup, but he started the hitters off with curves.

And, more often than not, finished them off with a strikeout. Park (8-5) went 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs, six hits and three walks.

The 11 strikeouts were a career high, and tied a Dodger season high twice achieved by Hideo Nomo.

Asked how it felt to strike out 11, Park, who has made as much progress in learning English as he has in learning to pitch in the majors, had an incredulous look on his face.

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the question. He just didn’t believe it.

“Eleven strikeouts? Me?” he said.

It’s all part of Park’s new mental approach to the game.

“I used to think too much,” he said. “I didn’t think about baseball at all [Saturday night]. When I am out there, I just focus on the catcher’s mitt.”

Park said his focus has gotten so good, it didn’t make any difference to him when Piazza went out in the first inning and was replaced by Tom Prince.

“I don’t see Piazza’s face,” he said. “I don’t see Prince’s face. I just see the catcher’s mitt.”

Now in his third major-league season, Park, who had never won more than six games, is focusing on more than only the catcher’s mitt. He knows enough English to know who Cy Young was, and what the Cy Young Award is. And Park wants it.

“I want to be the best pitcher in baseball,” he said.

He’s not quite there yet, but with his third consecutive victory, he was good enough to beat last year’s National League Cy Young winner, John Smoltz (8-9), who is not exactly having another Cy Young year.

The Dodgers got to Smoltz for 11 hits despite the fact that, along with Piazza, the Dodgers were also missing a shortstop. Both Greg Gagne (viral infection) and Tripp Cromer (bruise at the base of the left hand) sat out, forcing second baseman Wilton Guerrero to make his major-league debut at short, a position he played in the minors. Nelson Liriano started at second.

Guerrero responded with an RBI single, Liriano with two singles and an RBI.

Raul Mondesi hit a two-run homer, his 20th.

But it was Park again, this time with a bat in his hands, who was involved in the key play of the game.

With the score tied 2-2 in the fourth, Fred McGriff having driven in a pair of runs with a single, Park came up with two men aboard and slapped a single to center. Atlanta outfielder Andruw Jones came up to field the ball, but let it roll under his glove.

Obviously disgusted with himself, Jones trotted after the ball with about as much speed as Piazza showed after pulling his hamstring, while two Dodgers scored.

Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox didn’t talk about Jones’ attitude after the game.

The Dodgers were happy to be the benefactors. The way they’ve been trudging into the trainer’s room, they can use all the help they can get.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Dodgers on the Move

ON JULY 1

Record: 41-39

Games behind: 5 1/2

Batting average: .282

Runs per game: 5.15

Home runs: 0.9

ERA: 4.70

IN JULY

Record: 13-4

Games behind: 1/2

Batting average: .284

Runs per game: 5.29

Home runs: 1.3

ERA: 3.41