Johnson Kicks In His Support for Park

Dodger Manager Davey Johnson supported pitcher Chan Ho Park after a fight Saturday that led to Park’s ejection during a 7-4 victory over the Angels.

Park shoved his left forearm into the face of Angel starter Tim Belcher and kicked him during the incident that flared when Park took exception to Belcher’s conduct on his sacrifice bunt. Park, trained in the martial art taekwondo, was angered because he felt Belcher tagged him uncommonly hard on his chest and made disrespectful comments.

“That was a very unfortunate incident,” Johnson said. “Chan Ho felt the tag was excessively hard. Chan Ho responded by basically asking what was up with that? Then Belcher said something that wasn’t so nice.”

Johnson intimated that Belcher may have been retaliating for Park throwing three pitches that nearly hit Angel second baseman Randy Velarde in the fourth and fifth innings. Johnson said Park was not intentionally throwing at Velarde, who dropped to the ground each time.

“I know how it works,” Johnson said. “Instead of knocking a pitcher down or hitting somebody they tag you a little harder.

“I never condone it when two guys fight on the field, but I wouldn’t like it if some guy shoved a ball into my [sternum] either. I hope neither one of them gets suspended. Things happen in the heat of battle. The thing I was arguing about [with the umpires] is that it takes two to tango.”

Park also ignited a bench-clearing incident between the teams July 2, 1997 when former Angel leadoff batter Tony Phillps took exception to pitches the right-hander threw close to him in a 5-4 Dodger victory at Anaheim Stadium.

“I’ve never done anything to them [on purpose],” said Park, whose parents and 91-year-old grandfather attended the game as guests of Dodger President Bob Graziano. “He [Belcher] pushes the ball into my chest. That’s not a normal feeling. What’s he trying to do? Hurt me?

“I can’t understand why he did that. He charged me and I was just protecting myself. He had no reason to do that.”

Park’s teammates praised him for not backing down.

“He felt he was being disrespected and he had to stand his ground,” second baseman Eric Young said. “He earned respect in this clubhouse. A lot of respect.”

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The Angels were stunned by Park’s fifth-inning meltdown.

“If you punch a guy, you punch a guy, but to kick a guy with your spikes, that’s totally uncalled for,” catcher Matt Walbeck said.

The kick was the main complaint from the Angels side.

“From the looks of it, he’s not the most intelligent person when it comes to playing the game,” injured shortstop Gary DiSarcina said.

Angel Manager Terry Collins was more reserved. Asked if it was a cheap shot, he said, “I’m not going to get into that kind of stuff,” but also said, “it needs to be reviewed.”

Angel first baseman Mo Vaughn said he didn’t see what happened, but was worried about the team’s future. The Angels have nine players on the disabled list and Vaughn has a tender left ankle.

“We have enough people injured right now,” Vaughn said. “I don’t need someone to roll over onto my ankle.

“It was a crazy way for a brawl to start. I kept screaming, ‘What is going on out here?’ [Dodger coach John] Shelby grabbed [Belcher] and I grabbed Shelby to get him to let Tim go. It was weird.”

The fight came a year after the Angels’ brawl with the Kansas City Royals. There were three bench-clearing incidents in that June 2, 1998 game, and in one the Royals’ Felix Martinez sucker-punched the Angels’ Frank Bolick.

Collins and others later credited that fight for igniting the Angels. They went 22-6 last June, the best month in the club’s history.

“This is different, this was a fluke,” relief pitcher Troy Percival said. “Last year, there was some real anger involved.”

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Pitcher Omar Olivares, who suffered a strained hamstring running out a ground ball Friday, will be reexamined today, but was hopeful the injury would not keep him from starting Wednesday.

“I don’t think it is that bad,” Olivares said. “I can walk normal, nothing fancy, but I can walk. At worst, I will miss one start. I hope.”

Still, even missing one start would be bad for the Angels. Olivares has been their most consistent starter. He is 6-4 with a 3.47 earned-run average.

If Olivares misses Wednesday’s start, Collins said he would start one of his relievers, possibly Mark Petkovsek, Scott Schoeneweis or Shigetoshi Hasegawa.

The odds seem to favor Schoeneweis, who was a starter throughout his three seasons in the minor leagues.

“We wouldn’t ask a guy to go six or seven innings,” Collins said. “Maybe one guy could go four innings, one guy three.”

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Dodger catcher Todd Hundley said Saturday his sprained left wrist was healing faster than he expected.

In fact, Hundley even considered playing during the Dodger victory. Of course, Hundley knew Johnson wouldn’t permit him to play.

Hundley hopes to return to the lineup Monday against the Texas Rangers, and he figures Johnson won’t have a problem with that.

“That’s what I’m looking at for sure,” Hundley said of his targeted return. “It’s gotten better every day and it felt really good today [Saturday]. Sure, it’s still a little sore, but I really feel like I could go out there. I couldn’t say that a few days ago.”

Hundley suffered the sprain during Wednesday’s 8-4 trip-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Johnson took another big step in establishing himself as the Dodger boss Friday in a move that younger managers may have avoided.

Walking to the mound to take out the highest-paid player in baseball in the seventh inning with two out and nobody on base?

After he has retired eight of the last nine batters? With the opponent’s best hitter coming up?

“That’s my job,” said Johnson, who lifted Kevin Brown and then watched his bullpen give up only one hit in the final 2 1/3 innings to save Brown’s 5-4 win over the Angels.

Brown stalked off the mound but later said he understood.

“Of course I wanted to stay, but that’s Davey’s call, so I’m going along with it,” he said. “This is about the team winning, it’s not about keeping records, and if Davey thinks that’s what we have to do, then we’ll do it.”

Johnson said he knew Brown was having trouble locating his pitches for the first six innings, and he figured he would bring in left-handed Pedro Borbon at the first sign of a left-handed hitter.

That would be Vaughn.

“I had my mind made up when I went out to the mound,” said Johnson, who left a weary Brown in the game too long earlier in the week in Atlanta. “It really takes watching these guys under fire to know when they need help. And I thought he needed help.”

Johnson said he couldn’t help but learn about pitching after playing the infield for 13 years.

“You see so much pitching out here, you see what works and what doesn’t, that you almost become like another pitching coach,” he said.

TODAY

ANGELS’

KEN HILL

(2-4, 4.61 ERA)

vs.

DODGERS’

CARLOS PEREZ

(2-6, 5.73 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 1 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KLAC (570), KWKW (1330), XPRS (1090), KAVL (610).

* Records--Dodgers 28-26, Angels 26-29.

* Series record--Dodgers, 2-0.

* Update--Johnson hopes Perez is back on track after his solid outing last Saturday against Atlanta. The left-hander gave up only two hits in five-plus scoreless innings during a 2-1 victory. Hill is making the 14th start of his career against the Dodgers. He has done well against them with a record of 5-4 and a 2.62 ERA.

* Tickets--(323) 224-1HIT.