Dodgers Happy to Rule Out Ordinary

Dodger third-base coach Joe Amalfitano has been in baseball 44 years and he never saw the call made.

Monday night’s home-plate umpire at Dodger Stadium, Jim Quick, has been in baseball 22 years and he never saw the call made.

Dodger Manager Bill Russell played in 2,181 games, most in Los Angeles Dodger history, and he never saw the call made.

But they all saw it Monday night. So did the rest of the Dodgers and Houston Astros and a crowd of 32,289.

They saw Raul Mondesi initially ruled out in the seventh inning after being hit by a batted ball struck by teammate Todd Zeile, then ruled safe because of obscure rule 5.09. And, as a result, after a sacrifice bunt, they saw Wilton Guerrero single home Mondesi and Zeile to break a 1-1 tie and give the Dodgers a 3-1 victory.

It was a case of a rarely used infielder capitalizing on a rarely used rule to bring the Dodgers to a rare position this season. At 6-6, they have reached the .500 mark for the first time.

“I was surprised,” said Mondesi of the ruling. “But a lot of good things are happening for us.”

With Mondesi at first and moving on a hit-and-run play, and Houston first baseman Jeff Bagwell standing in the vicinity of first, Zeile’s liner struck Mondesi on the heel.

At that instant, Houston second baseman Craig Biggio was nearly to second base, reacting to Mondesi taking off on the pitch.

“Everybody knows that when the ball is hit, the runner is automatically out,” Mondesi said.

So, he trotted back to the dugout, angry at the seemingly bad bounce his team had received.

But as Mondesi fumed, the umpires, at the urging of first-base umpire Joe West, conferred.

According to rule 5.09, if a batted ball gets by one infielder other than the pitcher (the fielder being Bagwell in this case), and no other infielder has a chance to get the ball (Biggio certainly had moved out of position), the runner is not out.

Quick said the call became obvious, “once Joe West pointed it out to us, and rightfully so . . . The first baseman was drawn in and Biggio definitely had no play on the ball.”

Houston Manager Larry Dierker seemed so dumbfounded by the call that he didn’t even argue. And he still seemed dumbfounded after the game.

“My understanding about that play was none,” he said.

His second baseman, Biggio, had no such difficulty.

“The call was right,” he said. “I had no play on it. It’s a weird play.”

Monday’s victory was the result of more than one weird play. It was also the result of starter Hideo Nomo’s best performance this season, and perhaps his best since before the slump that he suffered through in the second half of last season. Nomo (1-1), mixing an effective curveball with his fastball and split-fingered pitch, gave up a run and five hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking one.

And there were extenuating circumstances with that run. With runners on first and second and two out in the first inning, Moises Alou smashed a liner that hit second base before caroming into center to drive in the run.

“It was the old Nomo,” said a delighted Russell.

The Dodgers got even when catcher Tom Prince, giving Mike Piazza his first day off, hit a short fly ball in the third inning. The ball glanced off Biggio’s glove as he raced down the right-field line, allowing Prince to go all the way to third. He scored from there on a groundout to short by Nomo.

Guerrero has become a reserve because of his shaky baserunning and inability to quickly turn the double play. But nobody ever questioned his ability with the bat, corked or otherwise.

So with shortstop Juan Castro zero for 12 on the season, Russell started Guerrero. Guerrero came up in the seventh against Houston starter Jose Lima (2-1) and responded with a single up the middle, driving in the game-winning runs. That boosted Guerrero’s average to .400.

Scott Radinsky, bidding for the closer’s job, picked up his second save by shutting down the Astros in the ninth.

But never mind the statistics. The biggest number in Monday night’s game was 5.09.

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* CLAIRE HOSPITALIZED

Dodger executive Fred Claire, suffering from a viral infection, is expected to be released from hospital today. C7