Piazza Home Run Awakens Dodgers, Shakes Up Leiter

The Dodgers preached to the masses this spring that it no longer is necessary to live and die by the longball.

With the influx of speed at the top of the order, a revitalized lineup and confidence that they’ve shed their evil ways, who needs homers?

The homily sounded good, but on days such as Thursday when it seems like nothing can go right, the Dodgers discovered it sure is nice to return to the old days.

Catcher Mike Piazza, frustrated while watching the Dodger offense flounder at the most critical of times, decided to do things his way, leading the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in front of 26,979 at Dodger Stadium.

Piazza, doing what he does best, ended the Dodgers’ scoreless drought and awoke his teammates with one swing of the bat.

Piazza again haunted the team he grew up rooting for, slicing a home run into the right-field seats in the sixth inning, and within moments, the Dodgers had all the runs they would need.

“We would have liked to have executed a lot better,” Dodger Manager Bill Russell said, “but it’s nice to have the capability to hit the home run when you need it. The way things were going tonight, we needed it.”

Phillie starter Mark Leiter, who had Piazza down 1-and-2 in the count at one time, could only stand on the mound shaking his head. He wondered aloud if he would ever figure a way to get Piazza out. The catcher is batting .563 against him with five runs batted in in 16 at-bats.

Yet, everywhere Leiter turned in the Phillie clubhouse, he couldn’t find a soul to comfort him. Piazza has tormented the entire staff, batting .344 with 12 homers and 31 RBIs in his career against the Phillies.

“Still, without a doubt, it was nerve-racking,” Piazza said. “This is not a very good ballpark to hit in. The last few nights, it’s been horrible. You just got to do what you can.”

Leiter still was muttering to himself over Piazza’s feat when Eric Karros hit his first pitch into center field for his first hit of the season. If that wasn’t enough, Leiter was caught asleep when he didn’t keep Karros close to the bag. Karros took off running and stole second, only the 17th stolen base of his career.

Todd Zeile was called out on strikes on Karros’ stolen base, bringing up Todd Hollandsworth, last year’s rookie of the year. Hollandsworth hit an opposite-field double to left, scoring Karros for a 2-1 lead.

And just like that, the Dodgers’ anguish of leaving 10 runners on base and going one for 10 with runners in scoring position evaporated.

It was all that Dodger starter Ismael Valdes needed. The only flaw in his seven-inning performance was yielding back-to-back doubles in the fourth inning to Gregg Jefferies and Derrick May for a 1-0 deficit. No matter. The Phillies reached second base only two times off Valdes. He was so dominant--five hits, one walk and four strikeouts in seven innings--that he permitted only three fly balls to the outfield.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the evening for Valdes simply was watching the game once he left. The Dodgers went through three relievers in the eighth inning trying to stop the Phillies. Finally, left-hander Mark Guthrie struck out Darren Daulton with runners at first and second, ending the inning.

The Dodger bullpen, unscored upon in eight innings, kept the streak intact when Todd Worrell pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save.

“The Phillies always give me a hard time,” Valdes said, “but today was my turn to win.”

Certainly, the Dodgers would have been kicking themselves in their sleep if they had blown this game. They threatened all night against Leiter, but every time they had him on the ropes, he escaped.

It began in the first inning when the Dodgers loaded the bases, but quietly ended when Zeile popped up to third base. It simply was a continuation of Zeile’s frustrations. He still is hitless in 10 at-bats this season, stranding 10 baserunners.

“He might be putting a little pressure on himself,” Russell said. “He’s coming back to his hometown wanting to do well.”

Brett Butler, who reached base twice in the game, led off the third inning and reached second on left fielder Jefferies’ error. Yet, again the Dodgers failed to execute.

In the fourth, Hollandsworth was on second with one out, only to watch Greg Gagne and Valdes hit foul pop-ups to first baseman Daulton.