Dodgers Take the Long Way

One stunning swing of Mark Grudzielanek’s bat in the bottom of the eighth inning, and all was forgiven Friday night.

As Grudzielanek’s three-run home run sailed over the center-field wall, giving the Dodgers an emotional 7-6 come-from-behind victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, so too went the dejection of shortstop Alex Cora, who made a critical eighth-inning error, the shock of reliever Paul Shuey, who gave up an eighth-inning grand slam to Pat Burrell, and the questions surrounding Manager Jim Tracy’s decision to pull starter Omar Daal after seven effective, pitch-efficient innings.

Grudzielanek, who is batting .354 since the All-Star break, electrified a Dodger Stadium crowd of 40,688 when he smashed an 0-2 Mike Timlin fastball for his game-winning home run with two out in the eighth to give the Dodgers their third consecutive victory and fifth win in seven games.

“There are so many things to think about, I just relaxed,” Grudzielanek said. “I approached it differently--just see it and hit it. Take everything out of my mind and let my hands react to it. It was total reaction.”

Grudzielanek received a standing ovation and came out of the dugout for a curtain call, only moments after Burrell had silenced the same crowd with his two-out grand slam off Shuey in the top of the eighth, which gave the Phillies a 6-4 lead.

But Paul Lo Duca, mired in a two-for-30 slump, singled to left off Rheal Cormier with two out in the bottom of the eighth, and pinch-hitter Eric Karros singled to right off Timlin. Grudzielanek followed with his sixth homer of the season, and closer Eric Gagne threw a one-two-three ninth for his 38th save.

“These guys don’t quit,” Tracy said. “This is a huge game for us after what happened in the top of the eighth. This may be a game we look back on and say, this was a special game to win.... You make a mistake that can cost you a game and spiral you downward, and then come back to win. That can catapult a team into thinking it’s not going to lose for a while.”

Daal limited the Phillies to two runs and seven hits in seven innings, not allowing a runner to reach second base from the third through seventh innings. He had thrown only 73 pitches and looked fresh when Tracy pulled the left-hander for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh with the Dodgers leading, 4-2.

Paul Quantrill started the eighth and allowed a leadoff single to Tomas Perez. Pinch-hitter Ricky Ledee struck out, and Phillies’ Manager Larry Bowa sent left-handed Jeremy Giambi up to hit for Doug Glanville.

Tracy summoned left-hander Jesse Orosco, and Bowa countered with right-handed Jason Michaels, who flied to center. In came Shuey, who got Placido Polanco to hit a slow roller to shortstop, but Cora charged and bobbled the ball for an error.

Shuey, who gave up three runs in the eighth inning of a 7-5 loss to the Phillies, got ahead of Bobby Abreu, 0 and 2, but walked him. The right-hander went 0 and 2 to Burrell and thought he struck him out with a fastball near the outside corner that home plate umpire Paul Emmel called a ball.

Burrell then golfed a 2-2 low-and-away curveball to deep left field, where Marquis Grissom, who homered in the first and third innings, leaped over the short wall but came up about a foot short. Burrell’s sixth grand slam of his career gave the Phillies four unearned runs and a 6-4 lead.

“When Burrell hit that ball, my heart sunk lower than anyone in the stadium,” said Shuey, who has struggled with a 7.50 earned run average in eight appearances since being acquired from Cleveland on July 28. “Then [Grudzielanek] takes you from being.... It’s still a bad outing, but you have to take the positives from it. Grud was the hero, and I got swept to the side.”

Shuey thought he located the pitch well and said it was the first time in his eight-year career he could recall giving up a home run on a curveball.

The Dodgers had taken a 1-0 lead in the first when Grissom homered off Philadelphia starter Brett Myers. Burrell’s leadoff homer and Tomas Perez’s RBI double in the top of the second put the Phillies ahead, 2-1, but Grissom struck again in the third, belting a 2-2 Myers pitch for a home run.