CLASSIC DUEL IN DESERT FINLEY LEAVES D'BACKS SNAKEBITTEN, WINS IT IN 13TH DODGERS 4, ARIZONA 1.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

PHOENIX - The popular strategy among major league managers when facing Arizona's Randy Johnson is to stack the lineup with right-handed batters. It isn't so much an attempt to generate more offense as it is an effort to protect left-handed hitters from falling into slumps that last for weeks.

Dodgers manager Jim Tracy has never put much stock into that philosophy. And for that, Steve Finley is grateful.

Making his first appearance at Bank One Ballpark since the Diamondbacks traded him to the Dodgers a month ago, the left-handed hitting Finley made it clear to Tracy on Tuesday night that he wanted to be in the lineup against Johnson. Tracy obliged, and Finley responded by driving in all four runs, including a ringing homer off Johnson, in what became a 4-1, 13-inning victory for the Dodgers over the Diamondbacks in front of 39,167.

After striking out twice against Johnson on an evening when the five-time Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer finished with 15 - his highest single-game total in almost two years - Finley stepped to the plate with two outs in the sixth and swatted Johnson's first pitch onto the concourse in center field, just to the right of the batter's eye.

With that, Finley became just the second left-handed hitter to take Johnson deep this year, joining Philadelphia's Jim Thome, who did it May 7.

``I like the challenge of facing him,'' said Finley, who had last batted against Johnson while with San Diego in a 1998 National League Division Series when Johnson was with Houston. ``I have always said that after facing Randy, it makes every other left-hander not so tough. He's obviously one of the best pitchers in the game and a Hall of Famer.''

For a while, it looked like the run would hold up. Jeff Weaver, who has emerged as the unquestionable ace of the Dodgers starting staff, matched Johnson pitch for pitch and inning for inning, if not strikeout for strikeout. Weaver came into the game knowing he couldn't afford a mistake with Johnson pitching, and he made it all the way to the bottom of the eighth before he finally made one.

Weaver, who didn't walk a batter all night, began that fateful frame by hitting Carlos Baerga. The Diamondbacks then moved pinch runner Stephen Randolph around the bases in classic National League style. Andy Green bunted him to second. Quinton McCracken followed with a sharp single to right. With Milton Bradley charging the ball, Diamondbacks third-base coach Glenn Sherlock held Randolph, a decision that drew jeers when Bradley had trouble picking up the ball.

For Sherlock, redemption came quickly. Alex Cintron hit a flyball to deep center, allowing Randolph to jog home with the tying run.

Unfazed, Weaver bore down and struck out Danny Bautista to end the inning. It was Weaver's ninth strikeout of the game, matching his season high, after which he gave way to a pinch hitter in the top of the ninth. From there, the likely duel between Weaver and Johnson became an unlikely duel between one of the league's best bullpens (the Dodgers') and one of its worst.

Yhency Brazoban matched Arizona's Mike Koplove with two shutout innings, getting the game to the 11th. Eric Gagne (5-3) matched Greg Aquino with two more, getting it to the 13th.

Finally, after Alex Cora led off with a single off reliever Brian Bruney (3-4) and Bruney walked Hee-Seop Choi intentionally and Cesar Izturis unintentionally, Finley drove one off the wall in left-center for a bases-clearing double. Giovanni Carrara pitched a perfect bottom of the inning for his second save.

His untimely nick of Baerga aside, though, it was Weaver who had set the stage.

``Jeff Weaver has pitched some great games for us this year, a number of them,'' Tracy said. ``But I think he saved his best game of the year thus far for tonight. With Randy Johnson pitching, you know you have to have that type of game in order to have any opportunity to win it.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

(color) Dodgers starter Jeff Weaver matched Arizona's Randy Johnson with a strong effort Tuesday night in Arizona.

Roy Dabner/Associated Press

Box:

(1) NATIONAL LEAGUE WILD CARD STANDINGS

(2) GAME RECAP