Dodgers Wonder Who’s on Second : Baseball: Infield foul-up in ninth helps Phillies gain 5-4 victory.

PHILADELPHIA —  When the game was over Monday night, Eric Karros was left sprawled on the ground near first base, his foot still stretched to the bag. Gary Wayne, who just experienced another disaster, stood nearby in disbelief.

And later in an already quiet clubhouse, Jose Offerman refused to explain why he failed to cover second base on a double-play ball, a gaffe that helped the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-4 victory at Veterans Stadium.

“I don’t have anything to say,” Offerman said.

In a season in which the Dodgers seem to communicate well only when they score 19 runs, they experienced yet another breakdown, this one coming in the ninth inning.

With the score tied, 4-4, and Wayne pitching, John Kruk led off with a single to center. Wayne conferred with Offerman and second baseman Delino DeShields. It was decided that if Dave Hollins, the next batter, hit the ball to Wayne, Offerman would cover the bag for the double play.

But as Wayne turned to face Hollins, Offerman picked up the pitch sign from Mike Piazza. Because Piazza had called for an off-speed pitch, Offerman thought Hollins might pull the ball, and he shifted toward third base.

Wayne didn’t know Offerman had shifted, and when Hollins hit a bouncer back to the mound, Wayne turned to make the throw to second.

“I picked up Offy right away so I (threw the ball) to lead him as he was running for the bag,” Wayne said.

DeShields broke toward the middle when the ball was hit, and when he saw that Offerman wasn’t covering the base, he lunged across the bag to make the catch, but the throw, obviously wide, pulled him off the bag and Kruk and Hollins were safe.

“Was anybody else there?” asked DeShields, who said he didn’t know Offerman had shifted. “My momentum took me right there and I took over the situation.

“When we establish the coverage, it doesn’t change.”

Darren Daulton grounded into a double play, which moved Kruk, who represented the winning run, to third. Jim Eisenreich followed with a soft liner off the side of the mound that Wayne (0-2) lunged for but missed by inches. DeShields charged it, and made the throw to Karros.

Karros stretched as much as he could to make the catch, but Eisenreich barely beat the throw.

“It was a lucky hit,” Eisenreich said.

“Everyone can talk about what happened at the end, but it never should have come to that in the first place,” Karros said. “We had our chances.”

The Phillies took a 3-0 lead after the third inning off starter Ramon Martinez. Cory Snyder scored in the fourth inning on a single by Offerman.

Then in the seventh, Offerman walked and Dave Hansen doubled to move Offerman to third.

David West, a left-hander, relieved starter Ben Rivera and got two outs before facing Piazza. The count was 2-1 when West came back with a fastball down the middle for a called strike. Then West threw a fastball outside, and Piazza hit it off the barrel.

There was so much hang time nobody was sure where it would land. But the ball carried down the line about 330 feet and dropped behind the wall into the Phillies’ bullpen, putting the Dodgers ahead, 4-3.

“I thought I got under it too much and he would be right there,” said Piazza, who was two for four and is batting .370 (10 for 27) in the past seven games.

But the lead didn’t last long. In the seventh, Jim Gott, who relieved Martinez, gave up consecutive singles to Daulton and Eisenreich with two outs. Milt Thompson hit a shot down the left-field line that bounced past third base and caromed off the wall, scoring Daulton to make it 4-4.

“When have you seen a left-handed hitter hit it over the third-base bag?” Manager Tom Lasorda asked. “That’s the way things are going.”