Whatever Dodgers Do, It Works Out

The law of averages doesn’t seem to apply to the Dodgers, who have trotted out four first basemen and three third basemen yet won eight of their first 10 games. Neither does the baseball law that states a pitcher who owns an opponent will continue such ownership.

The Dodgers hadn’t beaten Adam Eaton in his eight previous starts at Dodger Stadium. So they went out Saturday night and scored one run in the first inning, two in the second and two in the third, then cruised to an 8-3 victory before a sellout crowd of 54,704.

This is their best start since 1983 and they’ve already taken it to the teams considered their strongest competition in the National League West, beating the Padres twice and the San Francisco Giants in four of five.

Every move Manager Jim Tracy makes seems to work. He started Jason Grabowski -- normally an outfielder -- at first base and he drove in a run with a single in the second inning. Then Tracy replaced Grabowski with Norihiro Nakamura -- normally a third baseman -- and although Nakamura dropped a throw for an error, it didn’t cost the Dodgers.

Tracy said he wanted to give the seldom-used Grabowski at-bats, but the expected move would have been to start him in left field. Instead, Tracy went with Ricky Ledee in left, and Ledee hit his first home run since July in the seventh.

“It’s not a matter of whose turn it is, it’s putting your guys in situations that give them a chance to succeed,” Tracy said.

Eaton had known nothing but success at Dodger Stadium, going 4-0 with a 1.11 earned-run average. But it was Dodger Scott Erickson who had batters eating out of his hands.

The air was drier and the crowd considerably larger, but Erickson (1-0) closely resembled the pitcher who wowed the Dodgers during spring training to earn a berth in the starting rotation.

And he was a far cry from the guy who gave up four home runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks in his first regular-season start. Erickson stymied the Padres, giving up two runs on four hits in six innings.

Although only 49 of his 83 pitchers were strikes, he got ahead in the count more often than in his first start.

“Scott is a guy who is not going to have success going ball one, ball two,” Tracy said. “He got ahead and that opened some doors for him to use other pitches and use other parts of the plate.”

Erickson helped himself when he poked a single to right field in the second inning with one out and Grabowski on second. Right fielder Brian Giles mad a bad throw to cutoff man Phil Nevin, allowing Grabowski to score and increase the lead to 3-0.

Erickson, who spent nearly all of his previous 13 major leagues seasons in the American League, was two for 24 in his career when he stepped to the plate, with both hits coming in 2000.

The Dodgers are getting production from top to bottom. Catcher Jason Phillips, batting seventh, had three hits and drove in two runs to improve his batting average to .333. Every starter had at least one hit except third baseman Jose Valentin, who walked twice and scored.

Erickson appreciated the support, saying, “Even one run gives you more confidence to challenge hitters.”

J.D. Drew’s first run batted in as a Dodger came on a sacrifice fly in the first, scoring Cesar Izturis. Padre shortstop Khalil Greene left the game with a fractured right ring finger after Izturis stole second. Greene will not play today and the injury will be evaluated Monday.

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Eatin’ him up

Before giving up three runs Saturday, the Padres’ Adam Eaton had been dominant in his last six starts at Dodger Stadium:

*--* Year IP H ER BB SO W-L ERA 2002 7 3 0 1 8 0-0 0.00 2003 12 12 1 5 10 1-0 0.75 2004 22 10 1 4 12 2-0 0.41 2005 6 8 3 3 3 0-1 4.50 Total 47 33 5 13 33 3-1 0.96

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Good for Starters

With Saturday’s victory, the Dodgers have started the season 8-2 for the fifth time since coming to Los Angeles in 1958. A look:

*--* Season Start Finish 1972 8-2 85-70 (3rd in NL West) 1977 8-2 98-64 (Lost World Series) 1981 9-1 63-47 (Won World Series) 1983 8-2 91-71 (Lost in NLCS)

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Up Next

A look at the upcoming series for the Dodgers, following today’s series finale with the Padres:

*--* Monday-Tuesday Two games at Milwaukee Wednesday-Thursday Two games at San Diego Friday-April 24 Three games at Colorado April 25-27 Three games vs. Arizona

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