Cautionary Tale Ends in Dodger Loss

These are tense times for the Dodgers, who since early July have wilted in the heat of the pennant race, and Tuesday night’s 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, in which pivotal decisions by third base coach Glenn Hoffman and Manager Jim Tracy backfired, will only add to the mounting pressure.

Adam Hyzdu, Kevin Young and Jason Kendall each hit solo home runs off left-hander Odalis Perez, and Pittsburgh right-hander Josh Fogg (11-7) gave up one run and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings before a Dodger Stadium crowd of 31,254, dropping the Dodgers to 8-17 since the All-Star break and a half-game behind San Francisco in the wild-card race.

But the outcome might have been different had Hoffman not been uncharacteristically cautious, had Mark Grudzielanek been running with his head up and had Tracy not been so protective of a bullpen that had been battered for 31 earned runs in 44 innings (a 6.34 earned-run average) in the previous 14 games, blowing three of seven save opportunities.

With runners on first and second and no outs in the sixth inning of a 1-1 game, Tracy let No. 7 batter Grudzielanek swing away instead of bunt. If Grudzielanek sacrificed, Tracy figured, the Pirates would walk Alex Cora, the No. 8 hitter, force him to pull Perez for a pinch-hitter and go to his bullpen in the seventh.

But Grudzielanek struck out, Cora flied to right, Perez grounded to first, and a promising rally died.

Pittsburgh first baseman Kevin Young golfed a Perez fastball into the left-field seats in the top of the seventh, giving the Pirates a 2-1 lead, Kendall homered off the glove of leaping left fielder Brian Jordan in the eighth for a 3-1 lead, and Pirate closer Mike Williams retired the side in order in the ninth for his 33rd save.

Tracy seemed determined to give his bullpen some rest. Paul Quantrill appeared in eight of nine games before Tuesday, and recently acquired Paul Shuey pitched in six of seven, accumulating a 9.64 ERA.

Middle reliever Giovanni Carrara has looked ragged at times, left-hander Jesse Orosco has warmed up so often he hasn’t been available some days, and even closer Eric Gagne gave up runs in three of his last five appearances.

Tracy has often emphasized the importance of pacing the bullpen, so as to avoid a repeat of 2001, when he practically ran his only two reliable relievers, Matt Herges and Carrara, into the ground in an effort to keep the Dodgers’ playoff hopes alive in August and September.

“Are we kind of pushing it to the limit? Yes, we are,” Tracy said of the bullpen’s workload. “Have we passed the limit? I don’t think so. You do get to the point where you have to draw a line, and five days in a row [for Quantrill] was enough. ...

“But we’re nowhere near to the extent [of being overworked] as we were last year with Herges and Carrara. We had two choices then--use them and stay in the race or rest them and drop out of the race. We have more options this year.”

Not offensively. The Dodgers, who have been held to two runs or less in 11 of 25 games since the All-Star break, seem to invent ways to squander scoring opportunities, and they came up with a new one Tuesday night.

With Adrian Beltre on first and one out in the second, Grudzielanek blooped a broken-bat fly to shallow left. Brian Giles rushed in and attempted a diving catch, but the ball caromed off his cap and into center field.

Beltre, who held near second until the ball dropped, took off for third and reached the bag as Hyzdu reached the ball in medium center. It appeared Beltre would score--Grudzielanek thought so, because he never stopped around second--but Hoffman held Beltre.

The Dodgers wound up with two runners on third, and Beltre was tagged out. Cora, whose RBI single in the fourth tied the game, 1-1, followed with a groundout to shortstop that probably would have scored a runner from third.

“It was a freak play, the ball bounced off [Giles’] head and rolled to center,” Hoffman said. “It was a screwed-up play. I stopped [Beltre], that was my decision, and [Grudzielanek] kept going.”

Perez went eight innings, giving up three runs and eight hits, but the Dodgers went one for 10 with runners in scoring position.

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His ‘A’ Game

*--* Comparing Alex Cora’s 2001 season with 2002: 2001 2002 Average 217 298 Runners-on avg 235 385 Road average 232 289 Home average 201 309

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