NO DEJA BLUE FOR DODGERS; THEY OVERCOME SCARY 7TH.

Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer

Sweaty, bloody and exhausted, Mike Piazza tried to absorb Tuesday evening's events. He just couldn't.

On the winning side of a surreal night, though, he could smile as he repeatedly inhaled and exhaled and whispered, ``Thank God. Thank God.''

The Dodgers survived an embarrassing blunder in the seventh inning that cost them a lead, scored two runs in an equally bizarre ninth and held on to first place with a 6-4 victory over the Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.

``I don't know what I'm feeling,'' Piazza said. ``It was a very strange game. It was almost like the `Twilight Zone.' ''

It also was one of the best things to happen to the Dodgers, who are 7-2 on this trip. A loss, coming as it would after losing a two-run lead in the ninth inning Monday, may have been crippling.

``If we had lost,'' manager Bill Russell said, ``that really would have been a terrible blow - two nights in a row.''

The victory left everyone amazed and ecstatic.

``If that's not a character builder I don't know what is,'' Brett Butler said. ``After what we went through last night, to survive and go through what we did tonight.''

The Dodgers scored four runs in the first inning Monday and then seemed content to watch starter Chan Ho Park dominate the Pirates. After a solo home run by Al Martin with two outs in the first inning, Park retired 16 straight batters. Problem was, he lost his sharpness and a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning, loading the bases on a walk and two singles.

Behind 3-1 to Jason Kendall, Park induced a high pop-up just in front of the plate that caused the Dodgers infielders to breathe a sigh of relief. Problem was, they were sighing and not chasing the ball.

Piazza watched what he called ``one of the highest pop-ups I've ever seen'' and expected to look back down and see first baseman Eric Karros or Park underneath it. What he saw instead was Park still on the mound and Karros getting a late jump. Then, just as Karros started to sprint for the ball, Piazza went after it. Neither called for the ball. They collided, the ball nicked Piazza's glove, bounced off Karros' chest and went careening beyond the third base line as two runs scored.

Park, correctly, blamed himself, though Karros and Piazza shouldered the responsibility individually.

``I missed the call to Piazza,'' Park said. ``I was just watching it. I should have called to Piazza. . . . I thought, `Oh yeah. We're out of the inning.' '' Park walked the next batter to reload the bases. Darren Hall replaced him and promptly walked pinch-hitter Eddie Williams to bring in the tying run. Scott Radinsky came in and got Tony Womack to end the inning with a grounder.

The Dodgers went in order in the eighth. Darren Dreifort had to come in and get an inning-ending strikeout to quell a Pirates' rally in the eighth, leaving a man at second.

Eric Young, who is batting .351 in nine games since being traded from Colorado, led off the ninth with a single. He went to second on Butler's sacrifice bunt. Piazza was intentionally walked before Karros flared a single off the handle of his bat over leaping second baseman Womack and into right field.

``It was luck,'' Karros said. ``I got jammed to death, but I'll take it.'' Sure. Because it was the catalyst for the following sequence of events.

Right fielder Jose Guillen grabbed Karros' single and rifled the ball into the infield, trying to get Piazza, who had rounded second. The ball sailed way left of Womack, however and bounced into the Dodgers dugout. Young, who would have stopped at third, scored. Raul Mondesi then completed a 3-for-4, three-RBI night with a single to score Piazza.

Partly because closer Todd Worrell had pitched four of the previous five days and eight times in the past week, Dreifort stayed in the ninth. He got two outs before a walk and two singles loaded the bases.

The game almost ended on the most bizarre play of the night. After Jermaine Allensworth beat out a grounder to first to load the bases, Karros secretly kept the ball. As Allensworth drifted off first base, Karros tagged him and first base umpire Ed Rapuano called him out. But as the Dodgers gleefully ran out of the dugout, home plate umpire Bill Hohn revealed he had called time. So Dreifort was forced to get the final out, which he did by getting Martin on a grounder to first.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Dodgers right-hander

Chan Ho Park pitched well again.

(2) Mike Piazza and Eric Karros battle for popup.

Associated Press