In a Season of Sour Notes, Dodgers Get 9th Symphony

The Dodgers displayed a pulse for one of the few times this season in rallying from a four-run deficit Saturday night during a 7-6 victory over the Mets at Shea Stadium.

The Dodgers took a 7-5 lead with three runs in the ninth on a solo home run by Gary Sheffield and a two-out, two-run double by Craig Counsell. Dodger closer Jeff Shaw gave up a run in the Mets’ half of the inning but held on for his 23rd save.

That capped the rally for the Dodgers, who trailed 4-0 after two innings against the National League East leaders. The Mets (67-44) lost for only the fifth time in 22 games since the All-Star break, and they still lead the Atlanta Braves by half a game in the division.

The Dodgers (48-62) are in last place in the NL West, and they haven’t had many good times this season. For a change, they had fun Saturday.

“It seems that everything that could go wrong for us has gone wrong this year,” said reliever Pedro Borbon (3-1), who earned the victory by pitching one-third of an inning in the eighth.

“Every time we go on the field, it seems like the other teams have gotten all the breaks. Not to make any excuses, we obviously haven’t played well, but we also haven’t gotten many breaks. To be down like we were tonight, and come back like we did, that’s a good, positive feeling for a change.”

Left-hander Al Leiter pitched 7 2/3 strong innings for the Mets and was removed with a 5-4 lead in the eighth before a sellout crowd of 53,656. The Mets staked Leiter to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Dodger rookie right-hander Jamie Arnold, who was making only his third major league start.

However, Leiter wound up with a no-decision because Sheffield led off the ninth with his 19th homer to tie the score, 5-5, against newly acquired reliever Billy Taylor (0-1).

Taylor, whom the Mets got from the Oakland Athletics, also walked Raul Mondesi with one out. Mondesi stole second and the Mets intentionally walked Adrian Beltre.

With runners on first and second, Todd Hundley pinch hit for catcher Paul LoDuca. Left-hander Chuck McElroy, recently acquired from the Colorado Rockies, came in to face the switch-hitting Hundley.

Hundley batted from the right side, where he had a .108 average beginning play Saturday. The Dodgers completed their second double steal of the game to put two runners in scoring position. Hundley flied out to right field and the runners did not advance.

But they did when Counsell doubled off the wall in right.

“It [the count] was 3-and-1 and I was looking for a fastball,” the second baseman said. “He [McElroy] threw one right down the middle.”

But the Mets weren’t finished.

Leadoff batter Roger Cedeno singled in the bottom of the ninth against Shaw. Cedeno stole his major league-leading 56th base and went to third on Sheffield’s error on a shallow pop fly to left by Edgardo Alfonzo.

Cedeno scored on John Olerud’s single to right against a drawn-in infield, and Alfonzo advanced to third. The Mets trailed 7-6 with no out, the potential tying run on third and Mike Piazza at the plate.

Talk about a seemingly great situation for the Mets. However, it didn’t turn out that way because Piazza grounded into a double play and Alfonzo did not leave the bag at third.

“I think it’s a case where that’s the one play [a double play in that situation] that beats them,” Counsell said. “Shaw made a great pitch to get the ground ball.”

All of a sudden, the Mets were down to their final out, and pinch-hitter Benny Agbayani grounded out to end the game, and the Dodgers completed an improbable comeback.

Of course, all comebacks have been improbable for the Dodgers this season.

“Yeah, that hasn’t happened a lot for us,” said shortstop Jose Vizcaino, who started the key double play. “If we did that more [rally], we would be in a much better position than we are now.”