Dodgers Lose Game, but Find a Little Bit of Self-Respect

The last great Dodger homestand of 1998 came and went Sunday night, and all that was left was a bruised team grappling for the right way to accept reality and a quiet clubhouse that emptied quickly.

What’s the best approach for the final three weeks of the season? By fighting until the bell sounds, the Dodgers told themselves, or until the 10-count is at last applied.

“These guys are battling,” said Manager Glenn Hoffman after the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants, “and we’ll battle until the end. Even with the guys we had out of the lineup, we still felt we had a shot.”

With Gary Sheffield and Raul Mondesi, the team’s best two hitters, out of the lineup due to injuries, the Dodgers still had a chance to complete a three-game sweep of the Giants.

It was a cherished opportunity to kick San Francisco lower in the wild-card race.

The Dodgers could also have finished the 12-game homestand with a 9-3 mark, stretched their season-high winning streak to five games, and could have nudged themselves within two games of the fading Giants.

But Dodger starter Brian Bohanon struggled with his fastball, hung a few breaking balls early, gave up three quick runs, and the hodgepodge Dodger lineup could not compensate before 39,803 at Dodger Stadium.

So the last big Dodger homestand ended with the Dodgers winning eight, losing four, and losing several of their most important players.

“It’s almost like a boxing match out there--we’ve got to claw and fight our way through it,” outfielder Trenidad Hubbard said. “We know we’re going to be outmanned. . . .

“Our big guys aren’t out there, so we’ve got to play our little game, we have to hit-and-run, lay down bunts. That’s what we have to do, because our big bats have been silenced.”

The Dodgers beat the Giants in the first two games of this series by getting tough starting pitching, and by jumping on the Giants’ starters.

On Sunday, after a two-run home run by Ellis Burks, it was 2-0 Giants with no out in the second inning. By the end of the inning, it was 3-0.

“I just didn’t have good stuff today,” said Bohanon (6-9), who lost his fourth consecutive game. “I didn’t have good control of my fastball, and I need that to set up my breaking pitches.”

The Dodgers got two runs in their half of the second, but never got closer as Giant starter Mark Gardner (12-5) settled down on his way to an eight-inning outing.

Some uncharacteristic Bohanon wildness--he walked four on the day, and hit a batter--led to two more Giant runs in the fifth, both scoring on Jeff Kent’s one-out double down the left-field line.

“If you’re going to win only one game,” said Giant Manager Dusty Baker, whose team got back within three games of the wild-card-leading Chicago Cubs, “even though you’d prefer to win all three, the last one is the one to get.”

Baker nursed home another Giant run in the eighth when catcher Brian Johnson laid down a perfect squeeze bunt, scoring Joe Carter from third with one out.

And by then, it was clear that the depleted Dodger offense would not be able to muster another challenge.

Gardner gave up only five hits, and Robb Nen pitched a perfect ninth to seal the victory.

“Today’s game was played perfectly by the Giants,” Hubbard said. “You know, timely hitting, good pitching. . . .”

Said Hoffman: “I just wish we could’ve gotten the last one [of the homestand] so we could’ve made it 9-3. We knew either us or the Giants were going to pick up a game in the wild-card race, because the other two teams [the Mets and the Cubs] lost.”

The only real bright spot for the Dodgers was the debut of left-hander Jeff Kubenka, whose darting screwball produced a scoreless ninth and two strikeouts.

“When you play hard, sometimes you still don’t win,” Hubbard said. “We’re disappointed, but we know we’re going to play hard until the end.”