DODGERS CHOKE, FALL IN BIG (BAD) APPLE : NEW YORK 2 DODGERS 1.Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer Live with it. These are the Dodgers, and they will continue to be your Dodgers for the next 53 painful games. They know it. Everyone knows it, and there's nothing they can do about it. Dodgers manager Davey Johnson ``We've been doing the same bull for four months, so it's not going to change,'' shortstop Mark Grudzielanek Mark James Grudzielanek (born June 30, 1970 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a second baseman in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Kansas City Royals. Previously, Grudzielanek played with the Montreal Expos (1995-1998), Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2002), Chicago Cubs said before the Dodgers opened a four-game series Friday against the Mets. Grudzielanek hit it on the nose, and the Dodgers went out and lost 2-1 to the Mets at Shea Stadium • • [ . Mets rookie Octavio ``Cy Young du jour'' Dotel struck out a career-high 10 and allowed three hits in seven innings. The only run the Dodgers scored was on a bases-loaded balk balk the action of a horse when it refuses to obey a command to which it usually responds. See also jibbing. in the third. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what they (management) expect the last two months,'' Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros There are myriad reasons the Dodgers lose, from starting pitching to bullpen to offense to the inability to execute in the small areas to defense to anything else associated with the game. The Mets scored both runs against Dodgers starter Chan Ho Park (6-9) on sacrifice flies in the third and fourth innings. The Dodgers went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when he is on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batter hits an extra base hit, while a runner on and are 1 for 22 through the first four games of the 10-game road trip. They've lost three so far, have 20 hits in the four games and appear disinterested, at times, at the plate. ``I know I'm not giving away at-bats,'' Karros said. ``I don't think anyone else is, either. We've run into a few good pitchers.'' Those pitchers include Shane Reynolds
But it goes beyond good pitching. On a team spearheaded by calm, cool manager Davey Johnson, there are few players who play with out-and-out fire. ``That's why (Johnson) is trying to mix it up, get guys in there, guys with energy,'' said Grudzielanek, who lost his share of games in Montreal. ``We were supposed to lose in Montreal. We didn't have an $80 million payroll. We had $10 million. We were supposed to lose. We were young. We weren't supposed to play the Yankees in the World Series.'' No one can really figure out how the season went south so quickly. ``We've been a marked team since opening day,'' said Dodgers catcher Todd Hundley, who spent nine years with the Mets. ``The Mets were a hated team when I was here, but my God, I haven't seen a marked team like we have here. Everywhere we go, it's `Beat L.A. Beat L.A.' Obviously, the way (Fox News Corp chairman Rupert) Murdoch spent in the winter and the expectations on this team, we're a marked team. But I think it's fun.'' The Dodgers signed free agents Kevin Brown, Devon White and Alan Mills in the offseason. They also extended deals with Jeff Shaw and Carlos Perez. Those signings were supposed to aid the Dodgers not only on the field, but in the clubhouse. It hasn't worked that way. ``We don't have that chemistry,'' Grudzielanek said. ``We started off good and everyone was getting along. We need to get that. If that means a change in personnel, then that's what it means, or go with it the way it is.'' |
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