BATISTA'S HEAT MELTS DODGERS L.A. GOES DOWN QUICKLY, QUIETLY TORONTO 4, DODGERS 0.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

TORONTO - The Dodgers had seen Miguel Batista on 25 previous occasions over the years, but the veteran right-hander looked dramatically different Wednesday night. It had nothing to do with the fact he was wearing a new uniform.

``He always threw hard, but I don't remember him throwing that hard,'' Dodgers third baseman Adrian Beltre said. ``He was throwing his cutter 92 and 93 (mph), and his fastball 95 and 97. That's something we didn't see last year.''

Dodgers left fielder Dave Roberts said: ``That's the best I have seen him throw. He has never thrown the ball like that.''

The result for Batista, who as a free agent last winter signed a three-year, $13.5 million deal with Toronto, was a masterful, four-hit shutout. The result for the Dodgers, as is so often the case against great pitchers, good pitchers and even a few mediocre pitchers, is that they never had a chance.

They lost to the Blue Jays again, this time 4-0 in front of 18,003 at SkyDome.

For the past three seasons, the talented Batista toiled in virtual anonymity as the Arizona Diamondbacks' trivia answer of a No. 3 starter, overshadowed by superstar teammates Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling and overlooked by everyone except the hitters who had to actually face him. Now, at a time when reigning American League Cy Young winner Roy Halladay is on the Blue Jays' disabled list, Batista is casting his own shadows.

The only thing he cast over the Dodgers was a pall.

The complete game was Batista's second this season. He got through it on an economical 113 pitches and in an even more economical 1 hour, 57 minutes, the fastest game in the majors this season. It might have lasted a bit longer had the Dodgers hitters not been so accommodating.

For starters, they swung at Batista's first pitch on several occasions, a futile strategy that Dodgers manager Jim Tracy later defended.

``I don't know that when you see a guy commanding the strike zone like that, that you want to get yourself down in the count,'' said Tracy, whose club also was stymied Tuesday night by Toronto left-hander Ted Lilly. ``(Batista) becomes very difficult to deal with when you get down in the count. Sometimes, you have to give credit where credit is due. The guy on the other side of the field is capable of pitching a good ballgame. Unfortunately for us, we have seen two of those the last two nights.''

Then, to make matters worse on an evening when they never came close to mounting a rally, the Dodgers (30-26) ran themselves out of two potential ones.

With two outs in the eighth, Alex Cora poked a hot grounder just inside third base and down the line. Cora initially rounded first and slowed up, then took off again when left fielder Reed Johnson fell down fielding the ball. Johnson got up and made a perfect throw to get Cora, who jammed his thumb slightly when he slid head-first into second.

Cora finished the game and will be re-evaluated today.

Finally, Roberts led off the ninth with a solid single up the middle. Cesar Izturis followed with what looked like a hit-and-run single to right until first baseman Howie Clark, who had just put the game away with an eighth-inning homer, dived far to his right to stop it. Clark got up and ran to the bag to get Izturis. Roberts, who had made it safely to second but thought Clark had caught Izturis' ball before it hit the ground, wandered off the bag. Clark fired the ball to second baseman Chris Gomez, who tagged an utterly-bewildered Roberts for the double play.

Milton Bradley then struck out weakly to end it, running his hitless streak to nine at-bats.

``I thought I had gotten doubled off first,'' Roberts said. ``I knew we were down four runs, and I just wanted to try to be aggressive. We were having trouble putting hits together as it was. Next time, I'll stay on second base.''

Ultimately, those plays didn't matter. The Dodgers were basically done after the fourth, when the Blue Jays scored three runs off Jose Lima (4-2). Lima had been perfect through the first three innings, but that wasn't enough. These days, when the Dodgers face a quality starting pitcher, their own starter has to be perfect pretty much all night.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Jose Lima loses his grip after his wild pitch allowed a run to score during the fourth inning Wednesday.

Aaron Harris/Associated Press

(2) HOWIE CLARK

Second career HR

Box:

GAME RECAP