Waste Line Looks OK to Dodgers

As he sat in his office chair, pondering the bright side of leading the major leagues in runners left on base, Dodger Manager Grady Little channeled Casey Stengel.

“The positive thing about leaving people on base is getting them out there,” Little said.

That’s folksy charm, but only if you’re winning. The Dodgers had lost four of their first five one-run decisions this season, and they stranded another handful of men Saturday, but they smiled nonetheless. With Odalis Perez and two relievers combining on a five-hitter, the Dodgers parlayed five hits of their own and a shaky San Francisco defense into a 3-1 victory over the Giants at Dodger Stadium.

Situational hitting problems? What situational hitting problems?

“The situation is, we ended up with more runs than the other team,” Little said.

As Perez earned the victory and Danys Baez the save, Takashi Saito continued to stake his claim to the eighth inning. The 36-year-old Japanese rookie protected a one-run lead in the eighth, stranding the tying run on third base and with Barry Bonds on deck.

“Saito’s making a case for me to call on him pretty often,” Little said.

Bonds doubled to start the ninth, poking a liner through the vacated third-base hole in the now-traditional Bonds shift, but Baez retired the next three hitters for his third save. Saito and Baez have combined to pitch 10 1/3 scoreless innings this season, with one walk and eight strikeouts.

The Dodgers did their best to disprove the cliche about walks coming to back to haunt a pitcher. San Francisco starter Jason Schmidt walked seven; one scored. The Dodgers stranded eight runners and had one hit in eight at-bats with men in scoring position.

With two out in the third inning, Rafael Furcal walked. He was the walk that scored.

Kenny Lofton, in his first start of the season, lined a drive into right-center field. Steve Finley, at 41, was a step late in trying to cut off the ball, which rolled to the wall for the triple that scored Furcal.

Jeff Kent led off the fourth inning with a double, and two walks and one strikeout later the Dodgers had the bases loaded. Dioner Navarro hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Lance Niekro, an apparent inning-ending double play, but Niekro struggled to get the ball out of his glove and had to settle for retiring Navarro at first. Kent scored on the ground out.

Navarro singled home an insurance run in the eighth inning.

Perez pitched wonderfully, earning his second victory by scattering three hits over seven innings. Finley singled home Ray Durham in the second, but Perez did not allow a hit after Omar Vizquel singled in the third.

Perez provided one of the finest starts this season for a team in desperate need of quality starts. He breezed through seven innings in 94 pitches, he threw first-pitch strikes, and he speared a line drive and turned it into a double play.

“We just need that to be a little contagious,” Little said.

For a team with Bonds, this might be the most curious statistic of the young season: The Giants rank last in the majors in home runs

Bonds has none. Chris Shelton of the Detroit Tigers has seven.

The Giants have five, three by Moises Alou, who has not played in this series because of a strained calf. Of the eight position players in San Francisco’s starting lineup on Saturday, four carried a batting average below .200, Bonds included.

In three at-bats off Perez, Bonds lined out, grounded out and was walked intentionally. He is batting .190.

“You see pitches he used to hit and hit good, the last three, four, five, seven years,” Perez said. “I don’t know if he’s thinking too much, but he’s swinging at bad pitches.”

However, Perez suggested Bonds could explode at any time.

“He might not be swinging at the right pitches,” Perez said. “He’s a very dangerous player.”