No Practice Makes Perfect

If this keeps up, the Dodgers may never take batting practice again.

After canceling batting practice for the second day in a row, the Dodgers won their third consecutive game, beating the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-2, Thursday night before 25,960 at Dodger Stadium.

“We’re going to [cancel it] again tomorrow,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “We won tonight, didn’t we? Why change it? We were looking for something to get us going.

“In the [Pacific] Coast League one year we went eight days and never [had batting practice], but we scored a ton of runs. That’s the name of the game. Baseball is like driving, it’s the one that gets home safe that counts. We’ve been getting runs, thats good enough for me.”

Third baseman Mike Blowers doubled, tripled and singled for his first three-hit game of the season and drove in two runs. Blowers, who batted .205 in the first month of the season, has hit .455 in his last three games.

“It’s been an ongoing process,” Blowers said. “For whatever reason, my first 100 at-bats are always a struggle. I’m more comfortable when we get into the grind of the season.”

Right fielder Raul Mondesi doubled and singled in four at-bats and drove in three runs. Mondesi, who singled in his first three at-bats and drove in two runs Wednesday night, has batted .387 with six RBIs, nine runs, four doubles and two home runs in his last seven games.

“I have more confidence now,” Mondesi said. “I feel much better. I have more patience at home plate and I’m waiting for good pitches to hit. I’ve relaxed more because Reggie [Smith] told me to have more patience.”

Mondesi says the Dodgers are more relaxed without batting practice.

“You have more time to think about the game,” he said. “I feel more comfortable.”

The Dodgers have scored 15 runs and have 18 hits in their last two games.

“It was nice to sit back and see eight runs on the board, especially the way things have been going,” Lasorda said. “To score 15 runs in the last two games, that’s great.”

Dodger starter Ismael Valdes (4-2) gave up one unearned run and three hits in six innings. He is 4-1 in his last six starts with a 1.94 earned-run average.

“I got some run support and I was happy because I was kind of wild tonight,” said Valdes, who threw 115 pitches, 71 for strikes. “I was lucky. I had a lot of full counts and walks tonight.”

Chan Ho Park struck out four batters and gave up one run and three hits in two innings, and Joey Eischen shut out the Phillies in the ninth.

The Dodgers, who went 71 consecutive innings without scoring three runs in an inning before scoring three runs in the fourth and fifth innings Wednesday night, got three runs in the first inning against starter Michael Mimbs, who spent the first three years of his pro career in the Dodger organization. They sent nine men to the plate in the fifth inning and scored five runs on four hits and an error against Mimbs (0-2) and reliever Michael Williams.

Catcher Mike Piazza, who sat out the game, thought skipping batting practice was a nice diversion.

“It was just something different,” Piazza said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a lasting thing. It was just something to get guys out of a little rut that they were in, just show up and play the game. You’ve got to do what you can to combat any sort of inconsistency.

“I enjoy [batting practice] sometimes. It’s not really relative to the game, it’s just a way to get loose and work on some things.”

The Dodgers loaded the bases in the fifth on Carlos Hernandez’s leadoff single and back-to-back walks to Valdes and Chad Fonville, who were trying to bunt, to chase Mimbs.

Williams, who began the season in the starting rotation but was demoted after going 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA in his first six starts, got Roger Cedeno to hit a grounder to first baseman Ricky Jordan, who forced Hernandez at the plate.

However, catcher Benito Santiago threw the ball away while trying to get Cedeno at first, which allowed Fonville and Valdes to score.

Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi argued that Cedeno should have been called out for running outside the lane, but he lost the argument. However, TV replays seemed to support Fregosi’s contention.

Mondesi singled in Cedeno and pinch-hitter Todd Hollandsworth singled in Mondesi, who had advanced to second on a wild pitch.