Dodgers Fail to See Errors of Their Ways

The early architectural reviews of renovated Dodger Stadium promise to be more flattering than any assessment of the Dodger defense, which faltered again in the late innings of another fall-from-ahead defeat.

One night after the Dodgers committed three errors in the seventh inning, leading to seven Angel runs, shortstop Joel Guzman made a critical mistake in the eighth Saturday night that allowed the Angels to score the go-ahead run in a 6-4 victory in the second game of the Freeway Series at Dodger Stadium.

With one out in the eighth, Guzman was in position to tag out Juan Rivera attempting to steal second but whiffed on catcher Paul Bako’s perfectly placed throw. Rivera went to third as the ball skipped into center field and scored on Curtis Pride’s single to left that completed the Angels’ comeback from a 4-0 deficit.

Guzman’s error, the Dodgers’ fifth in two games, was met by boos from the crowd of 42,017.

Francisco Rodriguez escaped a one-out, two-on jam in the eighth by striking out Mike Edwards and Guzman, and Lou Merloni drove in an insurance run for the Angels with a ninth-inning single.

Vladimir Guerrero had put the Angels in position for the comeback by hitting a three-run homer to left-center in the fifth to tie the score, 4-4.

Neither Dodger starter Jeff Weaver nor his Angel counterpart, John Lackey, was particularly sharp in his final spring outing. Weaver gave up four runs in seven innings, failing to hold a 4-0 lead; Lackey gave up four runs and five hits in five innings.

Ricky Ledee, who will be the Dodgers’ opening-day left fielder Tuesday against San Francisco while regular Jayson Werth recovers from a broken left wrist, hit a two-run homer to right-center in the second to put the Dodgers ahead, 3-0. Jose Valentin had given the Dodgers a one-run lead earlier in the inning when he drove in Jeff Kent from third with a groundout.

Cesar Izturis made it 4-0 in the third when he singled through the left side of the infield, went to third on Hee-Seop Choi’s single up the middle and scored on Kent’s sacrifice fly to center.

The Angels broke through for their first run in the fourth when Garret Anderson doubled with two out and scored on Steve Finley’s double to left-center.