Giants Prove That Problems With Perez Still Run Deep

It appears that reports of Carlos Perez’s resurrection were greatly exaggerated.

Or, is that as good as he gets?

The Dodgers hoped Perez had turned a corner after his strong outing against San Francisco last weekend, but the disappointing pitcher reverted to form in the Giants’ 6-3 victory Friday night.

The National League West leaders hit four home runs against Perez--five overall--in only five-plus ineffective innings, including two by Barry Bonds. Again, the left-hander simply did not have good velocity on his pitches, throwing what amounted to extended batting practice for the Giants (45-35).

It was business as usual for the last-place Dodgers (34-43). They lost their fifth in a row and dropped a season-high nine games below .500.

Not that it matters much at this point, but the Dodgers also trail San Francisco by 9 1/2 games in the NL West.

The Dodgers turned to Perez (2-9) in yet another moment of desperation--and that’s a proven mistake.

Not that the struggling Dodger offense provided much help. A sellout crowd of 53,869 was treated to fireworks after the game.

Typically, the Dodgers didn’t provide enough during.

“We just haven’t been scoring enough to make things easy on our pitchers,” perplexed manager Davey Johnson said. “If you give them some runs to work with, it makes things a lot easier.

“It doesn’t always have to be do-or-die all the time out there. We’re just not helping them enough.”

The Dodgers rallied to tie the score, 3-3, in the fourth on a run-scoring double by Todd Hundley and Adrian Beltre’s eighth homer--a two-out, two-run blast to left-center against Giant starter Chris Brock (6-6). Then Perez struck again in the fifth.

With two out, Bonds homered for the second time to give San Francisco a 4-3 lead. Bonds hit his seventh and eighth homers, marking his first multihomer game of the season and the 34th of his career.

Jeff Kent followed Bonds’ homer in the fifth with a double, and Ellis Burks then provided a run-scoring single to put the Giants ahead, 5-3.

Marvin Benard added a solo shot against closer Jeff Shaw in the ninth. Giant closer Robb Nen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 21st save.

In addition to the four homers, Perez also gave up a double and a single. Perez has given up 19 homers this season, moving into a three-way tie for the team lead with Chan Ho Park and Ismael Valdes.

Perez’s earned-run average increased from 6.92 to 7.06. He has not won since pitching five-plus scoreless innings in a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on May 29.

Johnson gave the crowd what it wanted in the sixth, removing Perez after Rich Aurilia walked to lead off the inning. In what has become a familiar scene at Chavez Ravine, the guy who signed a three-year, $15.6-million contract in the off-season jogged from the mound to the dugout while being resoundingly booed.

At least no water coolers got in his way this time.

“Our club bounced back, Beltre got a big hit, and then it was boom-boom [in the fifth],” Johnson said of Perez, who used a bat to pummel water coolers in the dugout after being removed from another bad outing June 16 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Dodgers were optimistic about Perez because of what he did against the Giants last Saturday. Perez came up big after Johnson reinstated him in the starting rotation.

He gave up only seven hits and two runs while working 6 2/3 strong innings in a 7-6 victory. Perez got a no-decision because the bullpen failed to protect a lead, but all that mattered to Perez was that he pitched well.

Johnson was also extremely encouraged by the solid outing. Johnson had stuck with Perez through many rocky moments, and he figured the Dodgers were being rewarded for his patience.

But the rosy outlook from that day has turned as cold as the fans have been toward Perez. And after Perez’s latest disturbing show, one wonders how much longer the Dodgers will let this continue.