Perez Takes Care of Phillies, Unsung Dodgers Do the Rest

These aren’t the Dodgers who started this season. Heck, these aren’t even the Dodgers who started last month.

With their playoff prospects bleak at best and their bigger-named, bigger-salaried teammates either ailing or failing, some distinctly lesser-profile Dodgers took advantage of this September dog-day evening.

Carlos Perez won his first game as a Dodger by tossing a sizzling two-hitter and Roger Cedeno, Mark Grudzielanek and Matt Luke combined for five hits and drove in a run apiece as the Dodgers defeated the free-falling Philadelphia Phillies, 6-0, on Wednesday night before 32,630 at Dodger Stadium.

‘We know there’s opportunities for some new players,” Luke said. “Some guys are injured, it’s September, and we’re still in the race. We still have to fight, and we haven’t given up.

“What we need is to step up and produce in those opportunities.”

Gary Sheffield? Out for the season.

Ramon Martinez? Out long ago.

Mike Piazza, Todd Zeile? Long gone.

Eric Young? Taking a deserved day off.

But on Wednesday, at least, the Dodgers got out to a quick lead, and Perez (who threw 126 pitches, 78 for strikes) completely shackled the Phillies to record his first shutout of the season.

It was his seventh career shutout.

Perez made another quirky statement after the game, choosing the minutes after pitching by far his best game as a Dodger to decline to speak to the media.

“He’s a competitor, and that’s what you like to see,” said Manager Glenn Hoffman, acting as his pitcher’s spokesman. “He wants to win and he shows that.

“He’s got to be tickled to death with that one.”

Hoffman said he thought Perez had a better fastball than he had in past outings, which set up his best pitches--his forkball and change-up.

Perez even scored two runs--after drawing two walks--in the Dodgers’ biggest margin of victory since defeating St. Louis, 8-2, on July 16.

It was the second complete game turned in by a Dodger starter this week. Dave Mlicki went the full nine innings on Sunday in a 4-2 defeat of the New York Mets.

Luke, playing right field in place of the injured Sheffield, started the scoring by leading off the Dodger fourth with his 10th home run of the season, blasting Green’s 2-1 offering three rows into the right-field pavilion.

Cedeno drove in another run an inning later, lacing a drive into the left-center gap to score Perez, who had walked to lead off the inning.

The next batter, Grudzielanek, hit the next pitch from starter Tyler Green (6-9) into left field, to score Cedeno and give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.

It was Luke’s 26th run batted in this season, Grudzielanek’s 49th (and eighth as a Dodger in 30 games), and Cedeno’s 13th.

Cedeno, however, left the game in the sixth suffering from dizziness.

Eric Karros extended the Dodger lead to 4-0 with a solo homer to right field against reliever Mike Grace in the seventh. It was his 21st of the season.

Meanwhile, Perez (8-13) was at his dancing, darting best.

The quirky left-hander limited the Phillies to two hits, including 11 ground-ball outs and five strikeouts, each strikeout punctuated by his traditional celebratory body gestures.

The Dodgers had lost all six of Perez’s starts for the team since he was acquired, along with Grudzielanek, from the Montreal Expos on July 31.

Perez personally was 0-3 during that span, with a 6.31 earned-run average, and had not gone more than seven innings in any Dodger outing.

Even though it was Perez’s first victory as a Dodger, it was his third victory over the Phillies this season, against one defeat.