SEO SPOILS RELIEF EFFORT HE WASTES AN OTHERWISE STELLAR NIGHT BY THE BULLPEN OAKLAND 5, DODGERS 4 (17).

Byline: TONY JACKSON  Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- They have been bashed, mashed and trashed, by fans and the media as much as by opposing hitters; but a funny thing happened to the Dodgers' much-maligned cast of relievers Saturday night, at a time when the club needed the m more than ever.

Facing an impossible situation against baseball's hottest team, they stood tall. Facing eight consecutive innings in which one curve that hung or one fastball that ran could have sent them walking off with their heads down, they kept going.

And going, and going, and going.

In the end, though, the Dodgers bullpen was only as strong as its weakest link. And as links go, Jae Seo is pretty weak.

The enigmatic right-hander and erstwhile fifth starter walked three of the six batters he faced, including Bobby Crosby with the bases loaded, to stick the Dodgers with a 5-4, 17-inning loss to the Oakland A's and finally end a five-hour, two-minute marathon.

Seo gave up a leadoff single to Marco Scutaro, struck out Jason Kendall, walked Nick Swisher, struck out Antonio Perez and then walked Eric Chavez to load the bases. When he started Crosby off 3-0, what was left of the crowd rose to its feet. Two pitches later, it was over.

The final tally for the quintet of Danys Baez, Jonathan Broxton, Takashi Saito and Joe Beimel: no runs on four hits and a walk, for eight nerve- wracking, heart-pounding innings.

If you're scoring at home, that's one former All-Star closer, one rookie, one former Japanese All-Star officially classified as a rookie and one guy the Dodgers rescued from the scrap heap of minor-league free agency. All of whom dutifully trudged in from what is alleged to be one of the shakiest bullpens in all of baseball and did exactly what was asked of them.

Their teammates could have made it easier on them.

The Dodgers tied the score with a dramatic, ninth-inning rally after there were two outs and none on against Oakland closer and reigning American League Rookie of the Year Huston Street.

That came on a six-pitch walk by the slumping Rafael Furcal and a seven- pitch at-bat by Kenny Lofton that resulted in a triple that changed the course of the next few hours for many in the sellout crowd of 35,077at McAfee Coliseum.

From there, though, the Dodgers wasted chance after chance. They stranded seven baserunners from the 10th inning through the 16th, five of them in scoring position.

Before it even got to that point, Derek Lowe had to blow a two-run lead in the eighth, a rally that began when he thought he had struck out Bobby Kielty, only to have plate umpire Tom Hallion signal ball four.

Lowe shouted an obscenity at Hallion, one that was all too easy to lip-read on televised replays. From there, the ceiling caved in. Marco Scutaro hit Lowe's next pitch up the gap in right-center for a tying double, and the A's wound up taking a 4-3 lead on a two-out, two-run double by Bobby Crosby that sent Lowe to the showers on an evening when, for seven innings, he had utterly dominated.

So with that, the bullpen went to work.

Baez, the former All-Star whom the Dodgers acquired from Tampa Bay in January specifically in case closer Eric Gagne got hurt but who ultimately lost the closer role to Saito in Gagne's absence, struck out Jay Payton to end the eighth, stranding Crosby and Chavez in scoring position, then held the A's to a single an inning over the next two, getting a comebacker from Jason Kendall to end the ninth with Dan Johnson on third.

Broxton, the real rookie, followed with two innings of smoke-throwing. All the A's managed off him was a measly infield single by Scutaro to begin the 12th, after which Kendall bunted Scutaro into scoring position. But after intentionally walking Nick Swisher, Broxton got out of the jam with a key strikeout of Adam Melhuse and a lazy fly to center by Chavez.

That brought on Saito, the technical rookie and the club's closer du jour, and he retired six consecutive Oakland hitters by throwing strikes. He struck out three.

Joe Beimel, the reclamation project-turned-reliable left-hander, got through the next two innings in business-like fashion, working around a two-out walk in the 15th and a one-out single in the 16th.

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Photo:

Derek Lowe was masterful into the eigth inning, when he imploded after walking Bobby Kielty.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS at OAKLAND

-Tony Jackson