WHEN'S ENOUGH ENOUGH? DODGERS TACTICS ANNOY D'BACKS DODGERS 11, ARIZONA 5.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

PHOENIX - It was only the fourth inning, but the Dodgers already had an eight-run lead and Arizona apparently wasn't too pleased with Marquis Grissom's decision to steal second.

So Mark Grudzielanek got buzzed inside, Diamondbacks reliever Miguel Batista got tossed and all of a sudden there was some flare to the Dodgers' 11-5 win Wednesday night in front of 25,974, the smallest crowd in Bank One Ballpark history.

The Dodgers hit four home runs, including two from left fielder Gary Sheffield, but there are different undertones set for tonight's series finale, not to mention the other 13 times these teams will play this season.

``I was surprised at the situation. It kind of caught me off guard,'' said Grudzielanek, who avoided getting hit.

``I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was definitely obvious. What do you do to that? Obviously, they're upset at that and they didn't feel it was right. But it's (8-0), and a couple of runs and they're right back in it. It was one of those things that I thought was definitely not a right thing to do there.''

Dodgers manager Jim Tracy didn't know what all the hubbub was about, especially at that juncture of the game. Grissom's stolen base set the way for three more runs in the inning to make it 11-0, but the Diamondbacks countered with four runs in fifth that seemed to support such thinking.

``That's fairly early in the game to just quit playing,'' Tracy said. ``I've seen some leads in this ballpark evaporate pretty quickly.''

Sheffield's second and third homers marked the 20th time he's hit two in one game. A 451-foot two-run shot by Phil Hiatt and Eric Karros third homer were more than enough to help Darren Dreifort win his first as the Dodgers continued to win via the long ball.

The Dodgers lead the major leagues in homers with 19 in nine games. In their five wins, the Dodgers hit 17 homers. In their four losses, they have two homers and haven't won a game in which they didn't homer.

But there was a bigger issue.

Staked to an 11-0 lead, Dreifort (1-1) allowed four runs (two earned) in five innings but avenged last week's pummeling at the hands of the Diamondbacks in which he yielded six runs and was booed off the Dodger Stadium field after 4 2/3 innings. Dreifort struck out two and walked two in six innings.

The Dodgers battered Arizona lefty Brian Anderson for the second time in less than a week, then knocked him from the game in the fourth inning when Jeff Reboulet singled and Dreifort doubled. Batista allowed an RBI single to Marquis Grissom, who stole second. Batista was ejected when his next pitch almost hit Grudzielanek.

``It's a very gray area and I'm sure Jim Tracy would say if we guaranteed we weren't going to try and score any more runs, they'd stop running,'' Arizona manager Bob Brenly said of Grissom's stolen base. ``As a former catcher I don't like it, but I'm sure they wanted to score more runs.''

In the fifth inning, one out away from qualifying for the win, Dreifort hit Diamondbacks leadoff man Tony Womack in the ribs.

``I was trying to go in on it and it just got away from me,'' Dreifort said. ``I didn't even see (the Grudzielanek pitch) myself, but it's still early in the ballgame and the way I pitch sometimes, we pretty much have to take everything we can get.''