Even at Worst, Maddux Better

The Dodgers faced Greg Maddux on an uncommonly bad night for the pitcher considered the best of his generation.

And typically during their dreadful season, they wasted the opportunity.

Eric Karros had his second multi-homer game of the season Sunday, but it wasn’t enough in a 12-7 loss to the Atlanta Braves before 45,179 at Turner Field.

Maddux overcame his worst performance of the season, pitching five shaky innings to become the National League’s first 17-game winner. The four-time Cy Young Award winner gave up a season-high seven runs, and matched his season high by giving up 10 hits.

The Dodgers rallied to a 6-5 lead in the third after trailing, 4-0, in the first. But they couldn’t overcome themselves.

“We had Maddux down, we were swinging the bats well and we were right there,” Manager Glenn Hoffman said. “You don’t expect that from Maddux, and we had our shot against him. That was a tough one to lose.”

The Dodgers dropped two games under .500 (64-66) despite getting 11 hits, including Karros’ 16th and 17th homers and Gary Sheffield’s 21st. They failed to gain ground in the NL wild-card race on the front-running New York Mets, continuing to trail by eight games with 32 remaining.

The Dodgers suffered their seventh loss in eight games to the NL East-leading Braves (86-44). They dropped to 0-5 at Turner Field and face 16-game winner Tom Glavine in the final game of the series today.

The mood in the Dodger clubhouse was somber as players acknowledged their chances of qualifying for the playoffs are fading.

“I’m not going to deny that guys are frustrated,” said Karros, who went three for five with five runs batted in to end a four-for-25 slump. “We knew that we had an opportunity today with the [Mets] losing, but I still feel we can accomplish this. We have to make something happen. Every loss now makes it more and more improbable, but it’s still not impossible.”

The Dodgers thought they had caught a break against Maddux.

He threw 63 strikes in 88 pitches, while striking out seven and walking two. But he didn’t display his typical command early in counts.

Maddux (17-6) gave up successive homers and three homers in a game for the first time in his career. His major league leading earned-run average increased from 1.65 to 1.91 in one of the most un-Maddux-like performances of the right-hander’s brilliant 12-year career.

But Maddux’s Dodger counterpart was even worse.

Left-hander Carlos Perez was out of sync from the outset, dropping to 0-3 in five starts since he was acquired from the Montreal Expos on July 31. The Dodgers are 0-5 in his starts.

Perez matched his career high by giving up eight earned runs--nine overall--and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out two while throwing 79 pitches, 47 for strikes.

After giving up seven earned runs in a 9-0 loss to the Expos on Aug. 6, Perez said he doubted he could pitch that badly again.

Maybe he meant only against the Expos.

“His control and his location concerned me,” Hoffman said. “You can’t go leave the ball over the plate, because they’ll hit it.”

The Braves took a 4-0 lead in the first, scoring after there were none on and two out in the inning.

Chipper Jones singled after Gerald Williams grounded into a double play. Andres Galarraga then hit his third homer of the season against the Dodgers, and his 40th overall. Eddie Perez also had a two-run homer in the inning.

But the Dodgers scored three runs against Maddux in the second. They took their only lead, 6-5, on Karros’ three-run homer in the third with none out.

Karros also homered twice in an 11-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies on June 21. He has 10 multi-homer games in his career, but had struggled against Maddux before Sunday.

Karros hit his first homers in 30 career at-bats against Maddux. He had only two hits in 27 at-bats (.074) entering the game.

“It didn’t amount to much,” Karros said. “I would have gladly [gone hitless] if that would have helped us win instead.”

* STILL HEATED: Brave Manager Bobby Cox’s comments on Dodger starter Darren Dreifort add more fuel to a fire. C7