Dodgers Get a Lift From Green

Tommy Lasorda is not shy about sharing his opinions, so the Hall of Fame manager made his feelings clear Thursday to Shawn Green.

The struggling slugger apparently got the message, responding to Lasorda’s pep talk with a home run and the game-winning hit as the Dodgers rallied for a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.

“Lasorda gave me some words of encouragement and it helped,” said Green, dropped from cleanup to sixth in the batting order.

“It was just nice to hear, especially from Tommy.”

After hitting his 10th home run in the seventh off Giant ace Jason Schmidt, Green delivered again in the eighth against setup man Felix Rodriguez, driving in Milton Bradley from first base with a one-out double to deep left-center.

The consecutive clutch hits prompted many in a sellout crowd of 54,717 to cheer for Green, something rarely associated with his name these days.

“That’s what I was talking about,” Lasorda said. “You think this guy forgot how to hit? No way.”

Closer Eric Gagne certainly hasn’t forgotten how to finish games.

Gagne struck out the side in the ninth to record his 20th save while extending his major league-record streak to 83 in a row.

The right-hander also notched his 127th save to tie Todd Worrell for second place on the franchise list. Setup man Guillermo Mota (5-3) pitched two-thirds of an inning in the eighth for the win.

The Dodgers withstood another powerful show from Barry Bonds, who connected for a 446-foot leadoff homer in the seventh against Jose Lima. But Bonds’ 21st homer of the season and 679th of his career wasn’t enough to prevent the National League West leaders from dropping two of three to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers (40-36) moved back into second place, percentage points ahead of San Diego, 2 1/2 games behind San Francisco (44-35).

“Greenie got a talking to today by Tommy, and he just looked a lot more confident up there,” left fielder Dave Roberts said. “That’s the Shawn Green that everyone expects and he expects from himself. I think this could be a turning point for Greenie and for us.”

The Giants scored twice in the seventh to take a 4-2 lead against Lima. Bonds led off the inning with a deep home run to left-center on a 3-and-0 pitch.

“That almost cost me the game, pitching to Barry Bonds,” said Lima, who worked 6 1/3 innings. “I think Barry Bonds is like facing God.”

The Dodgers scored twice against Schmidt in the bottom of the seventh to get Lima off the hook. Green led off with a first-pitch homer to left and Roberts’ two-out single tied the score.

Rodriguez (2-4) replaced Schmidt to start the eighth. Adrian Beltre flied out and Bradley walked with Green on deck.

Running on the pitch, Bradley scored easily on Green’s drive into left-center.

“This guy has the talent, it’s still there, he just had to be reminded what he needs to do up there,” said Lasorda, who returned to Dodger Stadium on Thursday after spending time in Japan.

“I just wanted to give him a little pep talk to make sure he understands that.”

Green’s teammates still believe.

“We know that Greenie is the best hitter on this team,” third baseman Adrian Beltre said.

“No matter what Greenie is hitting, he’s the guy. He felt good and had a couple of big hits. He stepped up today.”

Catcher Paul Lo Duca said he was encouraged.

“It’s only a matter of time, it really is, and hopefully he’ll start to come out of it now,” Lo Duca said.

“He’s our guy. If he gets hot, we’re going to go, that’s just the bottom line.”

With the way things have gone for Green to this point, he said any encouragement would be welcomed.

“Tommy told me to keep going and just believe in myself,” said Green, batting .254 with 36 runs batted in. “More than anything, that just made me feel good.”