Lima Time Is Not Prime in the Dodgers’ 6-3 Loss

The Dodgers sure were an ornery bunch Wednesday night after their latest loss. Duaner Sanchez complained about getting ejected after hitting Tony Batista in the head, an ejection Manager Jim Tracy said he could not dispute. Closer Eric Gagne, denied when he asked Tracy for an inning of work Tuesday, did not pitch in his hometown again Wednesday and has not pitched in six days. Jose Lima gave up four home runs, railed against the suspicion he is a cheater and took sole responsibility for defeat.

“I take all the blame,” Lima said. “It was all my fault, bottom line.”

The Dodgers lost another game on their shrinking National League West lead, which dropped to four after a 6-3 loss to the Montreal Expos. The Dodgers have lost eight of 14 games since building a season-high 7 1/2 -game lead two weeks ago, and the last-place Expos have a better record this month than the Dodgers.

After the Dodgers handed Lima a 3-1 lead, he handed it back to the Expos, giving up consecutive home runs to Batista and Juan Rivera in the third inning.

Lima then gave up a three-run homer to Brian Schneider in the sixth and has given up 27 homers, third-highest in the league.

In the seventh, Sanchez faced Batista, throwing the first pitch far inside and hitting Batista on the helmet with his second. No warning was given after the first pitch, but umpire Tim Timmons ejected Sanchez after the second.

“He had hit a home run earlier in the game,” Timmons said. “The first pitch was behind him. I gave him the benefit of the doubt the first time. The second time, when he comes up and hits him in the head, I just got rid of him.”

Said Sanchez: “Because he hit a home run earlier in the game? That’s not how I play the game.”

The pitch chipped Batista’s helmet. He fell to the ground immediately, but after several moments got up and sprinted to first base.

“I knew he was going to do that,” Adrian Beltre said. “He always does that in winter ball.”

“I just started laughing,” said Sanchez, who said he is a lifelong friend of his Dominican countryman. “I felt good he was all right.”

Batista said he was fine but would not comment otherwise. Neither Tracy nor Montreal Manager Frank Robinson said they believed Sanchez was intentionally throwing at Batista, but Tracy said he could not argue the ejection.

“If the first pitch is a strike and the second pitch gets away, that’s another thing,” Tracy said.

Before the game, Tracy said Gagne would almost certainly pitch Wednesday, after Gagne lobbied unsuccessfully to appear Tuesday. Instead, Yhency Brazoban mopped up the mess created by Lima.

Lima (11-4) lost for the first time in 11 starts. He walked two -- after walking one in his previous 29 innings -- and expressed exasperation over what he regarded as an inconsistent strike zone.

But he was most irritated by a visit from the umpires, checking to see whether the spot on the right leg of his uniform pants was pine tar, which is a no-no. Lima said he has played with a patch of dirt on his pants all his life and has been checked -- and cleared -- before.

“If I cheat, I’ll win 20 games every year,” he said.

Robinson said he had consulted with umpires, but only to alert them to the condition of his pitcher, Tony Armas, who left because of leg spasms.

Still, Lima is well aware that umpires rarely initiate checks.

“I’m not going to let a little thing like checking my pants bother me,” Lima said. “I’m better than that.”