WEAVER HAS WEAK OUTING PITCHER LIT UP AGAIN IN DODGERS' LOSS SAN FRAN. 5, DODGERS 3.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Jeff Weaver, whistling past the proverbial graveyard, insisted last week that the only thing wrong with his right shoulder is a touch of weakness. Dodgers officials, for the most part, corroborated Weaver's story.

But Weaver's performance Tuesday night, in a 5-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants before 39,226 at SBC Park, provided more evidence to the contrary.

This time, he lasted just four innings, his third early exit in 10 starts this season. And while he flirted with various degrees of disaster throughout that brief stint, there were three at-bats in particular that Weaver will remember for a long, long time.

First, he got ahead in the count 0-2 to opposing starter Jason Schmidt leading off the third, setting him up for an easy first out of the inning. Weaver then threw two balls, and Schmidt hammered his 2-2 delivery into the front row of the left-field bleachers, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead. It was the fifth home run of Schmidt's 11-year big-league career.

Second, Weaver got ahead 0-2 on Ray Durham leading off the fourth, then failed to put Durham away. Seven pitches later, Durham lined a 3-2 pitch off the wall in right-center for a double.

Finally, with one out, Durham on third and Edgardo Alfonzo on first later in that inning, Weaver got ahead 0-1 to Mike Matheny after Matheny tried to bunt his way on, only to have the ball roll foul halfway up the third-base line. Matheny swatted Weaver's next pitch deep into the bleachers in left-center, making it 5-1.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers were as punchless as ever against Schmidt, who for four innings kept them typically off-balance. After the Dodgers took a brief 1-0 lead in the top of the second - a lead that might have been more had Milton Bradley not been thrown out at the plate by 10 feet trying to score from second on Antonio Perez's single - Schmidt settled in and retired seven consecutive batters before running into trouble in the fifth.

While pulling within 5-3 in the top of the fifth, the Dodgers might have again cost themselves a bigger inning. Perez led off with a ground-rule double, and Schmidt walked Mike Edwards, who was hitting for Weaver.

That brought up Cesar Izturis, the hottest hitter in the Dodgers' lineup. Izturis came into the game leading the National League in hits, with a hitting streak he had extended to eight games with a first-inning single, and he was batting .302 (13 for 43) for the season with runners in scoring position.

But in classic, by-the-book, N.L. style, Izturis laid down a sacrifice bunt. It was successful, moving the runners to second and third, but it also burned an out when the Dodgers could ill afford to do so.

Schmidt walked J.D. Drew to load the bases, balked in a run, then gave up a sacrifice fly to Hee-Seop Choi. But Jeff Kent then popped up on the first pitch, ending the inning, and the Dodgers (23-21) never came close to scoring again.

And no one will ever know what would have happened if Izturis, with the Dodgers trailing by four and runners on first and second with none out, would have taken his sizzling bat and simply swung away.

The Dodgers failed yet again to win back-to-back games, something they haven't done since winning a third consecutive game on May 1.

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, 4 boxes

Photo:

Jeff Kent, right, throws his bat after striking out Tuesday against the Giants' Jason Schmidt. Kent went 0 for 4 in the Dodgers' loss.

George Nikitin/Associated Press

Box:

(1) DODGERS at SAN FERNANDO

- Tony Jackson

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC