Dodgers Bowl Over Arizona

The Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks turned the temperature up on an already heated rivalry Tuesday night, scorching the desert with a flurry of fighting words and angry insinuations after the Dodgers’ 8-0 victory before 39,211 in Bank One Ballpark.

Omar Daal (7-3) threw five shutout innings, reliever Giovanni Carrara added three scoreless innings, and Paul Lo Duca, Cesar Izturis and Eric Karros homered as the Dodgers shut out the Diamondbacks for the second straight game and increased their lead in the National League West to 3 1/2 games.

The Dodgers (52-31) have won 11 of 14 games and have not allowed a run in 24 consecutive innings, dating to the third inning of Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Angels. They are tied with Atlanta and Seattle for the best record in baseball.

But those details were secondary to the main event that unfolded afterward, when Dodger Manager Jim Tracy took exception to a Rick Helling pitch that hit Dodger third baseman Adrian Beltre in the back and Helling, responding to an insinuation that he may have faked an injury to avoid a fight, called Tracy “an idiot.”

At the root of the dispute was a sixth-inning collision at home plate between Dodger outfielder Brian Jordan, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound former NFL defensive back, and Helling, a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder who played linebacker at the University of North Dakota.

With a 1-0 Dodger lead, Jordan doubled to left, scoring Dave Roberts from second and Karros from first. As Karros slid home, the ball got by catcher Damian Miller.

Jordan headed for the plate, and Miller’s throw to Helling at home was in time. But Helling, who was blocking the plate, bobbled the ball. Jordan flipped over Helling and had to reach underneath the pitcher to find the plate, tagging it for a 4-0 lead before Helling retrieved the ball.

Helling drilled Beltre in the back with his next pitch, and Beltre, believing the pitch was intentional, took several steps toward the mound as both benches emptied. But Helling stumbled off the mound in pain after the pitch--he suffered a sprained right ankle in the collision with Jordan and aggravated it on the pitch to Beltre.

No fight ensued, and Helling left the game. As it turns out, the teams were just getting warmed up.

“Let me make something perfectly clear--we as a club are not interested in starting any unnecessary activity,” Tracy said. “Brian Jordan was trying to score, the plate was blocked, [Helling] dropped the ball and he was still trying to impede Jordan. But you are not going to stop Brian Jordan from scoring on that play.

“And then that next pitch ... I hope [Helling] did hurt himself. Not to be nasty or anything, but if he didn’t hurt himself on the previous play, then it was unnecessary to hit Adrian Beltre in the back. I hear he hurt his ankle. If he did turn his ankle, I can see how a ball would get away from him and hit a guy in the back. But we’ll see how he is in five days.”

The insinuation was clear. If Helling makes his next start, Tracy will question whether he really was hurt or if he was feigning injury to avoid a bench-clearing brawl. When told of Tracy’s remarks, Helling fumed.

“As soon as I put weight on the leg, I thought I broke it in half,” Helling said. “It was pretty obvious my leg gave out. I’ve never missed a start in my major league career, and I’m the last person to fake an injury. That’s ridiculous.

“I loved the contact at the plate. That was the first contact I’ve had since college football, and I’m not afraid of it. If someone wanted to charge the mound, I’d love it. I tell you what, I’ll be pitching five days from now. And if [Tracy] thinks I faked an injury to avoid a fight, then he’s an idiot.”

Beltre did not want to discuss the incident. “I don’t want to say anything I’ll probably regret,” he said. Jordan, who left the game in the eighth inning because of a stiff back, thought it was a clean play and didn’t criticize Helling.

Arizona Manager Bob Brenly thought Tracy overreacted.

“Rick Helling is a tough guy, and after that collision, it was apparent something was wrong with him,” Brenly said. “He refused a trainer, and on the next pitch he sprained his ankle. He thought his leg was broken. Beltre didn’t do anything. Why would we want to hit him? I think [Tracy] read too much into that.”

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*--* Half Century After 81 games, the Dodgers were 50-31, which marks only the fourth time since moving to L.A. that they have won at least 50 games at the halfway point of the season. A look at their best records after 81 games: YEAR RECORD FINISH 1977* 54-27 98-64 1962 51-30 102-63 1973 51-30 95-66 2002 50-31 CURRENTLY 52-31 1991 49-32 93-69 1961 48-33 89-65 1963** 48-33 99-63 1970 48-33 87-74 1983* 48-33 91-71 1988** 48-33 94-67 *-made playoffs; **-won World Series

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