Dodgers Tiptoe Up Next to the Giants

CHICAGO — Temper that pennant fever. Don’t start selling those playoff tickets just yet.

It’s Aug. 1, not Oct. 1.

After chasing the San Francisco Giants for 108 days, for 97 games, through spring into summer, through injuries and confrontations and slumps into one of the best Julys in club history, the Dodgers finally caught them on a warm Thursday night in Chicago by winning their sixth game in a row, beating the Cubs, 4-1, in front of a Wrigley Field crowd of 39,145.

But when Eric Karros clutched the ball at first to officially record the last out, pulling the Dodgers into a tie with San Francisco atop the NL West at 59-49, there were no celebrations of joy.

This was not a team acting as if it had concluded a marathon, bursting the tape at the finish line.

This was a team acting as if it were getting into the starting blocks, the long road still ahead.

Caution not celebration, reality not revelry were being talked about in the Dodger clubhouse.

“We’ve still got a third of the way to go,” Karros said. “It’s better than chasing them, but all we’ve really done is to kill two-thirds of the season.

“We are starting from scratch right now. It will be fun.”

A couple of factors helped to keep the Dodgers’ emotions in check.

For one thing, they learned before the game that the Giants had acquired three pitchers from the Chicago White Sox--Wilson Alvarez, Danny Darwin and Roberto Hernandez--in exchange for six minor leaguers earlier in the day to bolster San Francisco for the stretch run, shoring up an area that had been considered the Giants’ biggest weakness.

For another, the Dodgers learned that second baseman Tripp Cromer, the player who had inspired them with his unexpected clutch hits and unselfish attitude, was going on the disabled list because of a strained right elbow.

But perhaps the saddest thought of all for the Dodgers is that July is over.

When the month began, they were eight games behind the Giants, a struggling team three games below .500. In July, however, the Dodgers won 20 of 27 games, one victory shy of their best July ever.

And two of the key players in that hot streak, pitcher Chan Ho Park and outfielder Raul Mondesi, were major contributors in Thursday night’s milestone victory.

The loss, charged to Terry Mulholland (6-11) was Chicago’s eighth in a row.

Park (10-5) won his career-high fifth consecutive game, pitching eight innings plus, yielding one run and three hits. He struck out seven and walked only two.

“I am still excited for my future,” Park said. “I am learning a lot each game, game after game.”

Park’s manager, Bill Russell, saw the growth in Park in the very first inning.

The Dodgers already had given Park a two-run lead before he took the mound. Karros had driven in one run on a single and Mondesi the other on a fielder’s choice.

In the bottom half of that inning, Park had loaded the bases. Then, with two out, he hit Kevin Orie in the helmet, sending the Chicago third baseman crashing to the ground and a run home.

Orie was unhurt, which was a relief to Park.

“I don’t want to hurt anybody,” Park said.

Park didn’t let the incident hurt his game. He got Scott Servais on a fly to center to end the inning.

“Earlier, Chan Ho might have let that first inning rattle him,” Russell said. “It might have bothered him to the point of losing his concentration.”

Not this time. After giving up a second-inning single to Doug Glanville, Park retired 19 in a row before walking Sammy Sosa to open the ninth.

In the meantime, the Dodgers had padded their lead. Mondesi, on a three-for-four night, hit his 23rd home run clear out of Wrigley Field in left-center field and Greg Gagne drove in a run with a single.

Todd Worrell, making his fifth appearance in the Dodgers’ last six games, came on to get his 27th save.

“It’s a nothing to get excited about,” Worrell said. “The hardest part of the season is still ahead.”

Maybe so, but it figures to be easier if a team at least starts even.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Park Place

A look at Chan Ho Park in July: *--*

Date, Opp. IP H ER BB SO ERA W-L July 2, Angels 5 2/3 4 1 4 4 1.59 ND July 10, Giants 7 3 0 1 5 0.00 W July 15, Rockies 6 1/3 7 3 1 3 4.27 W July 20, Braves 6 1/3 6 3 2 11 4.27 W July 25, Phillies 8 4 1 4 4 1.13 W July 31, Cubs 8 3 1 2 7 1.13 W Totals 41 1/3 27 9 14 34 1.96 5-0

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