DODGERS T-ERROR-IZED OPENING GAME LOST ON VALENTIN'S GAFFE SAN FRAN. 4, DODGERS 2.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Less than an hour before the official start of a season that ultimately will speak volumes about his abilities as a major-league general manager, the Dodgers' Paul DePodesta was asked about his club's obviously downgraded infield defense. He responded with what amounted to whistling past the graveyard.

``Last year, we were the best in the game,'' DePodesta said. ``I wouldn't make that claim this year, but we're still well above average.''

After one game, a 4-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants in front of a sellout crowd of 42,788 Tuesday at SBC Park, above average appears to be woefully subpar.

Third baseman Jose Valentin, making his Dodgers debut at a position he has played only sparingly during a solid, 13-year career in the big leagues, was perfectly positioned for Moises Alou's inning-ending grounder down the line in the seventh. But with Ray Durham breaking for home and Omar Vizquel coming in hard from second, Valentin bobbled the ball, then picked it up and made a wide throw to first.

That allowed Alou to reach easily and Durham to score uncontested, breaking a 2-2 tie that existed since Edgardo Alfonzo's two-run homer off Derek Lowe in the fourth. In the eighth, the Giants added another unearned run on another error, this one by reliever Giovanni Carrara, to effectively put the game away.

Carrara's play turned out to be moot. Valentin's turned out to be monumental.

``I thought it was going to hit the bag, because it kept coming straight down the line,'' said Valentin, whom the Dodgers signed as a free agent in December. ``I just had a hard time figuring out how hard it was coming to me. I tried to get myself into position to at least knock it down, which I did. But, unfortunately, I couldn't make the play. That's going to happen in baseball.

``But this was my first game with a new team at a new position, and it pretty much cost us the game.''

It also made a loser of Lowe, another offseason free-agent acquisition. Lowe was far from dominating, yielding eight hits over seven innings, and was in trouble repeatedly. But he also deftly pitched out of several jams, including a fifth-inning pickle in which the Giants put runners at second and third with none out. They blew that rally with two foul pops and a grounder to third that Valentin didn't botch, all on three consecutive pitches from Lowe.

``He looked like the Lowe I knew in the American League, the sinkerball pitcher keeping the ball down in the strike zone and getting a lot of ground balls,'' said Vizquel, a nine-time Gold Glove winner who signed with the Giants after 15 years with Seattle and Cleveland. ``That's what really got him out of jams. I don't think people were quite used to seeing him.''

The Giants finally broke through in the seventh. Michael Tucker's leadoff single started the rally, and Lowe's one-out walk to Vizquel set the stage for Valentin's error.

``The guys who were on base at the time didn't have to be there,'' Lowe said.

A typically nasty Jason Schmidt limited the Dodgers to four hits over seven innings while striking out nine. The Dodgers struck out 11 times in the game and had just one hit after the fifth inning, a leadoff single by Jeff Kent in the ninth that was quickly erased when new Giants closer Armando Benitez got Milton Bradley to ground into an easy double play.

Thus, Lowe wasn't the only one trying to deflect blame from Valentin.

``We surrendered (two) runs, but we didn't do a whole lot offensively, either,'' manager Jim Tracy said. ``We had seven baserunners all day. But you have to give (Schmidt) credit. We have seen him do that before.''

The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the second on singles by Bradley and Ricky Ledee and a sacrifice fly by Jason Phillips. Schmidt settled in from there, retiring 10 of the next 11 batters. The Giants tied it in the fourth on Pedro Feliz's leadoff single and Alfonzo's homer, a no-doubt shot into the left-field bleachers that Ledee could only turn and watch.

In the end, the game turned on a single play that wasn't made, a blunder that underscored just how much the Dodgers figure to miss departed third baseman Adrian Beltre, not only at the plate but also in the field.

``Hopefully, the ball won't come to me too much, and it won't happen again,'' Valentin said.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Barry Bonds got four awards before Monday's game, then declared: ``I will be back!''

(2) Jeff Kent and his new teammates lost in his first game against San Francisco since leaving the team.

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

(3) The Dodgers struck out 11 times in Tuesday's game, with new second baseman Jeff Kent being sent back to the dugout in the sixth inning at SBC Park.

Eric Risberg/Associated Press

Box:

(1) DODGERS at SAN FRANCISCO

- Tony Jackson

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC