Grudzielanek Gets Most Out of Minimum

By PAUL GUTIERREZ

June 10, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

When Mark Grudzielanek strode to the plate in the ninth inning Saturday afternoon, he had to work a little harder at maintaining his composure.

There was one out, the winning run was 90 feet away and the Angels had gone to a five-man infield to cut off ground balls. And Grudzielanek was 0 for 4.

“You see that and you try not to change your approach,” Grudzielanek said. “I didn’t want to hit a weak ground ball . . . so I wanted to stay back and see it.”

What Grudzielanek saw was a fat 0-and-2 fastball from Angel reliever Ben Weber. So he took the pitch the opposite way, the ball flying over the head of drawn-in right fielder Tim Salmon for a single to drive in Alex Cora and give the Dodgers a 2-1 interleague victory in front of a Dodger Stadium sellout crowd of 54,415.

“I sat back and made sure I went to right field with it,” Grudzielanek said, “and it worked out.”

The game-winning hit also extended Grudzielanek’s team-high hitting streak to 11 games, and Cora equaled a season high with three hits.

“This is some of the growth and maturity that you’re seeing in Mark Grudzielanek,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “I think that Mark Grudzielanek has been a key guy on this ballclub with everything that’s gone on with injuries and the season that he’s putting together right now.

“In the past, maybe his previous at-bats would have done something to him as far as his mind-set is concerned,” Tracy added. “But he was able to put those other at-bats in the bat rack with the bat as each one occurred.”

Dodger closer Jeff Shaw (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth and got the win. Weber (3-1) pitched only one inning and suffered his first loss.

The Angels, who left 13 runners on base, had plenty of opportunities. But Dodger starter Chan Ho Park, who gave the Angels most of their chances, was able to get out of jam after jam.

“It was a tough game mentally,” said Park, who equaled a season high by walking six batters--he also hit two others--in seven innings. “It was more fun watching the last inning because I was so tired mentally.”

Park, who allowed the leadoff batter to reach base in each of his last three innings, gave up one run on six hits and also struck out six.

“When Chan Ho does not walk people and . . . forces the other club to put two and three hits in a row together off of him to score a run, it’s virtually impossible to do,” Tracy said.

“He is uncanny at making pitches when he has to, or getting the big strikeout when he has to. That’s a special quality.”

Said Angel Manager Mike Scioscia: “We definitely had our chances. We just couldn’t get the big hit.”

Leading the way in lost Angel opportunities was Salmon, who was 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position, dropping his season average in such situations to .065 (three for 46).

Lost in the Angel loss was starter Ramon Ortiz’s sterling performance.

The right-hander gave up one run while scattering seven hits in seven innings. He struck out six and walked three, and he continued a string of strong outings by Angel starters. Collectively they are 7-2 with an earned-run average of 1.89 in their last 12 games.

But it was Ortiz’s baserunning gaffe that was costly.

With the Dodgers leading, 1-0, the Angels tied the score in the fourth inning and could have taken a lead were it not for Ortiz’s non-slide.

With two out and Adam Kennedy on second and Ortiz on first, David Eckstein doubled into the left-center gap, enabling Kennedy to score easily. But when Gary Sheffield threw to second in an attempt to get Eckstein, Ortiz took off for home. Ortiz beat Cora’s throw to catcher Chad Kreuter but instead of sliding, the Angel pitcher missed the plate as he ran by, starting a game of chase between Ortiz and Kreuter that ended when Ortiz gave himself up.

As an American League pitcher, Ortiz is not accustomed to batting, let alone running the bases, and said he was afraid of “breaking my leg.”

“Sliding is more an instinct,” Scioscia said.

The Dodgers scored their first run in the second inning.

Marquis Grissom doubled off the bullpen fence in left field to lead off the inning and after Adrian Beltre’s bloop single to right put runners at the corners a batter later, Kreuter grounded into a double play that enabled Grissom to score.

“We’ve done what we’ve needed to do to keep us in games,” Tracy said.

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Grudzielanek Gets Most Out of Minimum

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