LONEY HAS THE ANSWER FOR DODGERS NEW NO. 3 HITTER GETS WINNING HR DODGERS 2, ST. LOUIS 1.

Byline: TONY JACKSON

Staff Writer

ST. LOUIS -- It was roughly twohours to game time, and Grady Little didn't really have an answer.

So when the Dodgers manager was asked why he had handed the all- important third spot in the batting order to James Loney, a rookie first baseman who might win a slew of batting titles and Gold Gloves but will never, ever lead the league in home runs, and why he plans to leave Loney there at least through the weekend, Little offered only a handful of vagaries about Loney's tendency to take good at-bats and make things happen.

Nine stomach-churning innings later, in the Dodgers' 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals, Loney answered the question Little couldn't.

Finally bringing resolution to a game that was threatening to drag on until dawn, Loney hammered a misplaced fastball from theretofore-unhittable St. Louis right-hander Adam Wainwright and dropped it about six rows deep in right-center field.

The blast came with a man aboard, broke a scoreless tie and gave the Dodgers all they would need over the Cardinals in front of a sellout crowd of 44,595 Friday night at Busch Stadium.

The real reason Loney was hitting third, of course, was that Little was willing to try anything, no matter how unconventional, to inject life into the Dodgers' sputtering offense. The threehole had been vacated a day earlier, when catcher Russell Martin was moved up to second and center fielder Juan Pierre down to seventh. After the little-used Olmedo Saenz hit third for one game, Little needed a more permanent replacement.

Loney, who now has ninehome runs in 273 career at-bats in the majors and never hit more than 11 in a season in the minors, made Little look like a managerial genius.

"It doesn't matter to me where I hit, because I just want to get good pitches to hit," Loney said. "I'm trying to have an idea what I want to do at the plate. I was seeing the ball well from the left side against him and just trying to pick out good pitches."

Loney had almost taken Wainwright deep in the fourth inning, turning on an inside pitch and driving it high and long down the right-field line before it curved foul. He eventually struck out and wound up going hitless in his first three at-bats. But after Wainwright shut out the Dodgers on four hits over the first eightinnings, Martin managed to shoot a ball past diving third baseman Scott Rolen with oneout in the ninth.

Loney then ruined Wainwright's evening on his 108thpitch of the game.

"I feel confident with James (batting third)," Little said before the game. "We're going to give him a shot up there. If it doesn't look like it's a comfortable spot for him, we'll change it. But you will probably see him there every day this weekend."

The Dodgers (60-55) still aren't scoring much. They entered the ninth having been shut out in 43of their previous 48 innings and having scored one run in each of the other five. So far, there is no strong indicator Little's latest lineup overhaul was the right one. Moreover, Loney's home run was the first ball he hit out of the infield all night.

But while Loney isn't a prototype No. 3 hitter, he isn't that far off. Club officials remain convinced he can hit 15-20 homers in a full big-league season. And even if he doesn't, he hits for a high-enough average (currently .322), and gets enough extra-base hits (nine doubles, three triples) to produce runs batting behind whatever 1-2 alignment Little eventually settles on.

Wainwright wasn't the only hard-luck pitcher in this one. Dodgers ace Brad Penny got nothing but a no-decision to show for his seven shutout innings. In his past three starts, two of them losses, Penny has allowed sixruns over 20 innings. The Dodgers have scored three runs in those starts.

Joe Beimel (3-1) relieved Penny to start the eighth. With two outs, Beimel fell behind the dangerous Albert Pujols 2-0 before intentionally walking him with the bases empty. But before he threw a pitch to Jim Edmonds, Beimel picked Pujols off first, without even really meaning to. Furcal applied the tag after a short rundown.

"For a guy who doesn't steal a lot of bases, he had a pretty good lead," Beimel said. "I remembered last year, when he stole on my first movement, and I didn't want that to happen again. So I threw over there just to keep him closer to the bag, and he took off."

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Dodgers (Lowe 8-10) at St. Louis (Looper 9-9), 12:55 p.m., Busch Stadium. TV: Ch. 11.

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Photo:

Dodgers pitcher Takashi Saito, right, celebrates his 29th save with catcher Russell Martin after the final out Friday.

Tom Gannam/Associated Press