Dodgers Can’t Control Lead

It has been a season of frustration for the Dodgers, a season of going one step forward and one step back, a season when the magic number seems to be .500, a season when the good news always seems to be followed by the bad.

Take Thursday night at Dodger Stadium. It was pretty hard to take for the Dodgers.

Here they were, leading by six runs after one inning against the Houston Astros, their season-high fourth consecutive victory and a chance to go a season-high four games over .500 all but assured.

And it would have been, except for two big problems: pitching and defense.

The Dodgers made two crucial errors and watched their bullpen crumble, allowing the Astros to score a run in the third, five in the eighth and two in the 10th to pull out an 8-6 victory before a disappointed crowd of 40,205.

Dodger reliever Mark Guthrie was responsible for the winning runs. He walked Ricky Gutierrez with the bases loaded in the 10th to force in the first run.

And then, when Derek Bell hit a bouncer to first, Guthrie was late coming off the mound to receive the ball, which had been fielded by Matt Luke.

By the time Guthrie received the ball and touched the bag, Bell had slid in ahead of him.

“They have a good offensive club and they came back at us,” Dodger Manager Glenn Hoffman said. “We’ve got to battle back. We’re professionals. This is why they play 162 games.”

Hoffman, who has been on the job only a month, didn’t say anything to his players after the loss, but might do so before tonight’s game.

“If I do talk to them, it will be individually,” he said. “I’ll see what their mood is coming in.”

The mood of Houston Manager Larry Dierker, of course, was joyous. His team is leading the NL Central at 60-41, it has the best mark ever for an Astro team at this point in the season, and it is the highest-scoring team in the league with 555 runs.

As for the comeback, “We’ve got our fans trained,” Dierker said, “where they don’t leave early.”

The way Thursday night began, the late-arriving crowd might have been tempted to get back in their cars and leave. It seemed as though the game was over before it had begun.

The Astros knew it was going to be a long night three batters into the Dodger half of the first.

Wilton Guerrero opened the game with a line drive that bounced in front of and then over shortstop Ricky Gutierrez.

Gutierrez, who tried to short-hop the ball backhanded, was charged at first with an error, but that was later changed to a hit.

Juan Castro followed with a line drive into right-center that Carl Everett dove for, but couldn’t quite reach, giving Castro a double.

Raul Mondesi then lined a ball into left-center for a two-run triple.

Perhaps if Ozzie Smith were playing shortstop and Willie Mays were in center, the Dodgers would have been retired in order.

But even those all-time greats couldn’t have gotten a glove on what followed. Gary Sheffield collected an RBI single, Eric Karros singled and Matt Luke deposited a 1-and-0 pitch from Houston right-hander Sean Bergman into the seats in right-center for a three-run homer. It was Luke’s eighth homer. He has four home runs and eight RBIs in his last six games.

And just like that, it was 6-0 in the first inning.

All Dodger starter Dave Mlicki had to do was throw strikes. All the rest of the Dodgers, and their fans, had to do was stay awake. Or so it seemed.

But the Astros chipped away a bit in the third, thanks to the first Dodger error.

With two out and a runner at second for Houston, Craig Biggio hit a grounder to third. Adrian Beltre scooped it up, but then threw low to first, Karros unable to come up with the ball. That allowed Brad Ausmus to score the first Astro run.

With Bergman retiring 17 consecutive Dodgers after Luke’s blast, the score remained 6-1.

The Astros finally broke through in the eighth. The rally began with a Biggio double. When Gutierrez drove him home with a single to left, Hoffman came to the mound, carrying a hook with him.

Enter right-hander Antonio Osuna, who has been shaky of late, having surrendered eight runs in his previous five appearances.

After getting the first two hitters he faced, Osuna threw a 1-and-1 pitch that Moises Alou blasted into the seats in right-center for his 24th home run, moving Houston to within two of the Dodgers at 6-4.

But Osuna’s troubles weren’t over yet. Everett walked and Sean Berry singled to right.

That finished Osuna, but not the Astros. Dodger left-hander Scott Radinsky gave up a single to Ausmus that scored Everett with Houston’s fifth run.