Green Has Home in Record Book

PHOENIX — Shawn Green hit two more home runs Saturday night, giving him nine homers in five games and carving another niche for himself in baseball’s record book, and the Dodger right fielder admitted after a 10-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks that this whole power trip is beginning to seem a bit surreal.

“It feels like it’s not me doing this,” said Green, who dazzled a Bank One Ballpark crowd of 47,356 with a three-run homer in the fifth inning and a two-run shot in the ninth. “It’s like it’s someone else, and I’m along for the ride.”

And who might that someone else be? Hank Aaron? Willie Mays? Babe Ruth? Barry Bonds? Or all of the above, rolled up in one and dressed for the past week in Dodger blue?

Green, who was in such a horrendous slump he failed to drive a ball out of the infield in five consecutive games on the last home-stand, is 14 for 21 with 17 runs batted in over his last five games, raising his average from .231 to .282.

He became the 14th player in major league history to hit four home runs in a game Thursday at Milwaukee. He has seven home runs in his last three games, breaking the major league record of six, held by 11 players. He set a National League record with nine home runs in a calendar week.

That broke the previous mark of eight homers that was held by Pittsburgh’s Ralph Kiner (1947), Cincinnati’s Ted Kluszewski (1956) and San Diego’s Nate Colbert (1972). Washington’s Frank Howard (1968) holds the major league record with 10 homers in a week.

“He’s in quite a groove; this is something I don’t think a lot of us will see again in the course of our lifetime,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “He’s [14 for 21] and nine of those hits are home runs. That would be unbelievable enough if the [14] hits were singles. It’s just an unbelievable feat.”

Even more remarkable: Green’s last homer, a 387-foot screaming line drive into the left-field seats that was his 12th of the season, was a broken-bat hit. Green hit all nine of his homers during the streak with the bat, a Rawlings 456 B model, 34 inches, 32 ounces, but the wounded lumber is now headed to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“It died here,” Green said. “I’m gonna miss that bat. I got a lot of mileage out of it. Hopefully, it wasn’t just the bat.”

Green’s first homer off Arizona starter Rick Helling, which traveled an estimated 414 feet to straight-away center field, gave the Dodgers a 7-1 lead in the fifth. He also ripped a sacrifice fly to right in the seventh, and his two-run shot in the ninth gave him six RBIs.

“When you’re locked in like that,” Arizona Manager Bob Brenly said, “you might as well roll it up there.”

Green is on such a tear that he overshadowed another rare feat--a grand slam by Dave Roberts, the diminutive Dodger leadoff batter who had all of three home runs in 110 previous big league games before his two-out shot in the second inning that jump-started the Dodger offense and was the second grand slam of his career.

Roberts also doubled and scored an insurance run in the seventh and reached on an infield single and scored on Green’s homer in the ninth, helping the Dodgers assure they would not be swept by the Diamondbacks, who will send Randy Johnson to the mound for today’s series finale.

Green’s last homer provided some breathing room for the Dodgers after Arizona tagged reliever Giovanni Carrara for three runs in the eighth, the final coming on Junior Spivey’s RBI triple, to turn an 8-2 lead to an 8-5 lead.

But Tracy summoned closer Eric Gagne, who retired Luis Gonzalez on a fly ball to left to end the eighth. Green’s homer made it 10-5 in the ninth, and Gagne blanked the Diamondbacks in the bottom of the ninth for his 16th save.

Right-hander Andy Ashby gave up two runs and five hits in 52/3 innings, pitching his way out of several jams and benefiting from several Diamondback base-running gaffes to even his record at 4-4. He struck out five, walked four and hit a batter.

But with the way Green has been hitting, Dodger pitchers can afford to make a few mistakes here and there.

“You almost snicker about [Green’s hot streak], but it’s a snicker of awe, like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Tracy said. “He’s got nine home runs in five games. That’s a season for some guys. And a couple have been balls that didn’t look like they were going out. But when the guy is right, with the backspin he puts on the ball, it never comes down until it reaches the seats.”

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*--* Green’s Road Show It has been quite a trip for Shawn Green, who became the 14th major league player to hit four home runs in a game Thursday at Milwaukee and the first to hit seven in three games Saturday at Arizona. His statistics in the five-game power surge: Before Trip During Trip For the Season AB 156 21 177 Runs 17 12 29 Hits 36 14 50 HR 3 9 12 RBI 21 17 38 BA 231 667 282 OB% 339 696 377 SLG% 346 2.143 554

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