Dodgers Cry Fair

There was something foul about the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to Arizona before 45,882 in Dodger Stadium on Thursday night, a defeat that narrowed their gap over the Diamondbacks in the National League West to 1 1/2 games.

Or was it something fair?

That’s what the Dodgers were wondering after first-base umpire Bill Hohn blew an eighth-inning call that prevented the Dodgers from scoring the tying run in the first game of a critical four-game series.

With pinch-runner Hiram Bocachica on first base, two out and a full count on Mark Grudzielanek, Bocachica was running on the pitch as Grudzielanek lofted a fly ball down the line in medium right field.

Arizona right fielder Quinton McCracken, whose run-scoring double in the top of the eighth had given the Diamondbacks the lead, raced over and was in fair territory when the ball nicked off his glove and hit the ground.

Hohn waved the play foul as Bocachica rounded third, but replays showed that the ball touched the turf about six inches inside the line.

Bocachica returned to first, and Grudzielanek took a called third strike from newly acquired reliever Mike Fetters, ending the inning.

Arizona closer Byung-Hyun Kim retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth for his 23rd save, and the Dodgers headed to their clubhouse to look at the replays, which only added to their frustration.

“It’s obvious we had one taken away from us,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “It was a badly missed call at a critical point of the game. The ball clearly tipped off his glove when he was in fair territory, and it dropped in fair territory as well. I don’t know how you can miss a call when you’re that close to it.”

Said catcher Paul Lo Duca: “That ball was fair, but if we play good defense, it wouldn’t even have mattered. That’s the way I look at it.”

The Dodgers looked rusty after the three-day All-Star break, committing three errors in the first four innings after not committing three errors in a game all season, and those miscues contributed to a 3-2 Arizona lead.

Struggling third baseman Adrian Beltre’s two-out solo home run in the sixth off Randy Johnson tied the score, 3-3, and two innings later, Arizona Manager Bob Brenly had his own beef, disputing third-base umpire Fieldin Culbreth’s call on Steve Finley’s drive to lead off the eighth, a play that was ruled a double even though the ball appeared to hit a fan’s hands above the short fence in left field before bouncing back into play.

Two batters later, the question was moot.

McCracken, who beat Dodger closer Eric Gagne with a two-run triple in the eighth inning the last time these teams met, on July 3 in Phoenix, delivered again, banging a two-out RBI double to right-center for a 4-3 lead.

The Dodgers’ Paul Quantrill (1-3), who had not given up a run in 16 appearances dating to June 2, a span of 12 2/3 innings, gave up both doubles in the eighth after relieving starter Hideo Nomo to begin the inning. Kim saved the win for Arizona rookie Mike Koplove (1-0).

Nomo, who was 7-0 with a 2.60 earned-run average in his previous nine starts, and Diamondback starter Johnson, who was 5-0 with a 1.77 ERA in eight career games in Dodger Stadium, both pitched well, but neither got a decision.

Nomo gave up three runs--two earned--and six hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking three.

Johnson gave up three runs and six hits in a laborious six innings, striking out five and throwing 124 pitches.

While the Dodgers struggled defensively, the Diamondbacks looked like baseball’s version of the Steel Curtain, using three Gold Glove-caliber plays to limit Dodger damage.

Arizona left fielder Luis Gonzalez leaped at the wall to catch Lo Duca’s first-inning fly ball, just before Shawn Green’s home run, a solo shot that was his 27th homer of the season and 24th since May 21.

McCracken robbed Lo Duca in the third, diving in the gap in right-center to snag his drive just before the ball hit the turf, a play that prevented the Dodgers from scoring more than one run in the inning.

And second baseman Junior Spivey raced straight back into shallow right for an over-the-shoulder catch of Marquis Grissom’s sixth-inning blooper, a play that preceded Beltre’s home run.

Gonzalez’s two-run single in the first wouldn’t have been possible had Dodger shortstop Cesar Izturis not dropped Craig Counsell’s flare to shallow center for an error, and Lo Duca’s throwing error and Brian Jordan’s fielding error in left contributed to Arizona’s run in the fourth.

“The fact remains we didn’t play well in the first inning, when we surrendered those two runs,” Tracy said. “We had outs there for the taking, and we didn’t take them.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*--* Leaning to the Left Randy Johnson didn’t beat the Dodgers, but the Diamondbacks put a dent in their league-best mark against left-handed starters: TEAM RECORD PCT Dodgers 13-8 619 Houston 11-9 550 St. Louis 11-9 550

*--*