Dodgers' Park Still Right on the Money

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

June 16, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Scott Boras would seem to need another $100-million baseball player like Allen Iverson needs another tattoo--isn’t shortstop Alex Rodriguez ($252 million) and pitcher Kevin Brown ($105 million) enough for one agent?

Perhaps, but every time Chan Ho Park, another Boras client, takes the mound, it seems more inevitable the Dodger pitcher will break the bank in free agency this winter and make Boras look like he’s running up the score.

The only question: Will it be the Dodgers or some other team that sends Park into baseball’s financial stratosphere?

Park showed again Friday night why Boras might be justified in seeking a $20-million-a-year contract for him, extending his string of dominating performances in the Dodgers’ 6-2 interleague victory over the Angels before 42,287 at Edison Field.

Park, who complements a 95-mph fastball with a nasty slider and a dive-bombing split-fingered fastball, gave up only two runs on six hits in 7 1/3 innings, striking out nine and walking three.

In improving his record to 8-4 and his earned-run average to 2.73, Park moved the second-place Dodgers to within three games of Arizona in the National League West.

Park also helped extend an Angel losing streak to four games and push the Angels 20 games behind Seattle in the American League West, a predicament that sparked a 10-minute closed-door meeting in the Angel clubhouse after the game.

The Dodger right-hander has held opponents to three earned runs or less and pitched into the seventh inning in 13 of his 15 starts. He’s 6-2 with a 2.07 ERA in his last 10 starts and is 3-1 with a 3.31 ERA in eight career games against the Angels. He’s fourth in the NL with 105 strikeouts.

“Anybody would want Chan Ho Park--when this guy just goes out and throws the ball, he can be unhittable,” Dodger left fielder Gary Sheffield said. “You’re not going to get many hits against him. I don’t think I’ve seen a team get three in a row against him all year.

“On any other staff without Kevin Brown, he’s an ace. He stops losing streaks and gives us a chance.”

The Dodgers backed Park with a 17-hit attack, which included three singles by first baseman Eric Karros in his first game back from the disabled list, but they weren’t able to put the Angels away until Sheffield’s two-run home run off reliever Mark Lukasiewicz in the seventh.

Park, who has replaced the injured Brown at the top of the rotation, kept the Dodgers in front by striking out Darin Erstad on three pitches and retiring Troy Glaus on a fly to right with runners on second and third to end the third, and striking out Adam Kennedy with two on to end the seventh.

He gave up a solo home run to Scott Spiezio in the second, and his balk contributed to the Angels’ second run, which came on Garret Anderson’s RBI groundout in the sixth.

He needed some help from reliever Mike Fetters, who replaced Park with two on in the eighth and retired Tim Salmon (strikeout) and Spiezio (pop to shortstop), but otherwise, Park was in command.

“Tonight was a perfect example of his previous starts,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “He’s the ace we’ve been missing in the absence of our ace. . . . When he pitches like that, I don’t care who the opposition is; you’re going to have a heck of a time beating that guy. His stuff is too good.”

Angel starter Ramon Ortiz’s stuff wasn’t too good. The right-hander gave up four runs--two of them earned--on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings, snapping a string of three superb starts, in which he gave up four earned runs in 19 2/3 innings.

But the focus of Manager Mike Scioscia’s post-game dealings seemed to be the Angels’ anemic offense, which ranks 13th out of 14 AL teams in runs.

Scioscia met privately with Tim Salmon, whose average slipped to .211 after going hitless in four at-bats Friday night, and he said he would bench the struggling right fielder tonight and Sunday.

“We’re going to take a little step back,” Scioscia said. “He’s been pounding his head against the wall, trying so hard to get out of it. He can unwind a little bit and be ready to come back Tuesday.”

There also seemed to be some residual effects from their three-game sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants this past week, when they lost to two marginal pitchers, Kirk Rueter and Mark Gardner.

“Park is a good pitcher, but we have to have better at-bats,” said catcher Jorge Fabregas, who is hitting .203. “We’ve let a lot of guys off the hook.

“We’ll run into guys like Park and Roger Clemens where we’ll have to battle all day. But there are some guys that have no business doing what they’re doing to us.”

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INTERLEAGUE PLAY

A look at some numbers since play began in 1997:

NL vs. AL

1997: National, 117-98

1998: American, 114-110

1999: National, 135-116

2000: American, 136-115

2001: American, 55-42

Overall: American, 519-519

DODGERS vs. ANGELS

1997: Dodgers, 4-0