Dodgers Thrive in San Diego
SAN DIEGO — Got pitchers who are struggling? Looking to rest your bullpen? Have an earned-run average that needs to be lowered or a confidence level that needs to be raised?
Come to Petco Park, where the Padres, the worst-hitting team in the National League, consider a two-run game an offensive outburst.
The Padres, who are also last in the league in home runs with 14, like to blame their offensive inefficiency on the thick ocean air, believed to be the cause of fly balls that seem to hang forever and rarely land outside the playing field.
Whatever the reason, the Dodgers aren’t about to complain. They beat San Diego, 4-2, on Saturday night after shutting San Diego out, 3-0, on two hits in the series opener Friday night.
San Diego, last in the NL West at 8-15, has scored five runs in its last five games at Petco.
“The ball has a tendency to hang up here,†said Dodger right-hander Brett Tomko (3-1), who went seven innings to get the victory, giving up five hits. “You can be more aggressive here.â€
Dodger outfielder J.D. Drew was certainly aggressive Saturday night, with the bat and the glove.
Not only did he drive in his team-leading 18th RBI with a single, but taking advantage of that thick air, he ran down a towering fly ball by Brian Giles with two out and a man aboard in the fifth inning, catching up to the ball in right-center field just before banging into the 402-foot sign on the outfield fence.
“I think that was the whole game there,†Tomko said. “If he doesn’t catch that, you don’t know what could happen.â€
“I went a long way,†Drew said, “put my glove up and hope it went in. It worked out pretty well.â€
It worked out great for the Dodgers, who have gotten back to .500 (12-12) in their two games at Petco. The series finale is this afternoon.
Dodger first baseman Normar Garciaparra put the night’s first run on the scoreboard with two out in the fourth, smacking a slider from San Diego starter Clay Hensley (1-2) into the left-field stands, the drive carrying 403 feet, thick air and all.
Garciaparra had been struggling on this trip, having gone two for 15 in the first four games.
Considering this was the Padres, that one run might have been enough to secure the victory.
But on Saturday night, the Dodgers gave beleaguered San Diego a break, which the Padres used to break into the scoring column.
It began with a seemingly harmless fly ball with one out in the fourth by Mike Cameron. Dodger shortstop Rafael Furcal drifted back onto the outfield grass, poised to catch the ball, then backed off, assuming left fielder Jose Cruz Jr. was coming up behind him.
Furcal assumed wrong, and the ball dropped in for a hit. It was gift Cameron was all too happy to receive.
He had been 0 for 12 over his last three games with five strikeouts.
“Any time a fly ball hangs up there that long,†Dodger Manager Grady Little said, “it needs to be caught.â€
There was nothing tainted about the next hit. Mark Bellhorn picked on a Tomko changeup and drove it over Drew’s outstretched glove in right field for an RBI triple. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a sacrifice fly to right to put San Diego ahead, 2-1.
But the Dodgers rallied in the sixth. After back-to-back walks to Furcal and Kenny Lofton, Drew got his RBI single. Jeff Kent followed with a sacrifice fly to center to put the Dodgers in front, 3-2.
The Dodgers added a run in the eighth, when Garciaparra earned his second RBI of the night on a sacrifice fly to left.
Against the Padres in Petco, a two-run lead is more than just a cushion. It’s the whole couch.
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