Dodgers Lose a Game of Tag

Bill Russell was fit to be tied.

The Dodger manager was ejected in the wild ninth inning of a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals for disputing a controversial call by home plate umpire Gary Darling Friday night before 36,657 at Dodger Stadium.

With runners on first and second, no outs and no score, Cardinal catcher Danny Sheaffer laid down a sacrifice bunt that first baseman Eric Karros fielded and threw to second baseman Delino DeShields, who was covering first.

Pinch-runner Miguel Mejia never stopped rounding third and DeShields threw home to catcher Mike Piazza, who was blocking the plate and appeared to make a clean tag.

Russell raced out of the dugout to protest the call. Darling ejected Russell and third baseman Tim Wallach. Moments later, Luis Alicea followed with a sacrifice fly to score Mike Gallego.

“We didn’t score any runs, so there’s not much I can say,” said Russell, who was ejected after kicking the catcher’s mask. “You saw where the marks were and you saw where Mike’s marks were, so you figure he couldn’t get around him and he didn’t go over him.”

It appeared from video replays that Mejia was out. Pitcher Mark Guthrie confronted Darling after getting the final out of the inning and was also ejected.

“[Darling] did the best he can, there’s nothing malicious about it,” Guthrie said. “As a player, you get frustrated when a play doesn’t go your way, but the guy thought he was safe and he’s out there every night and he’s one of the best in the world. I don’t mean to be sitting here harassing him. Obviously, I didn’t see it the way he does, but he does the best he can.”

Spectators tossed a beach ball onto the field and a water bottle just missed the umpires as they were escorted off the field by a crew of security guards.

Fearing retribution from the league, the Dodgers didn’t criticize the call after the game.

“A call is a call, what can you do?” Piazza said. “You can’t assume anything. Apparently, I didn’t tag him. Obviously, the guy kept coming from second. I guess he beat the throw; it’s an unfortunate break. I guess I didn’t tag him.

“It’s an emotional race. We’re playing as hard as we can. In this game I don’t get too surprised by anything.”

Darling thought he made the right call.

“He never tagged him,” Darling said. “He made contact with the body and bounced over and hit his hand on the back of the plate.”

Asked if he was in good position, Darling said, “that’s the place to see that play, he still hasn’t tagged him and he didn’t.”

Wallach saw it differently.

“It looked like he was out; that’s what I saw,” Wallach said. “he might have put his hand on home plate, but he was out. That’s just what I saw, I wasn’t right there.”

The Dodgers remained half a game ahead of the San Diego Padres, who lost to the Cincinnati Reds, in the NL West, while the Cardinals took a two-game lead over the Houston Astros in the NL Central.

Piazza’s 19-game hitting streak ended along with the Dodgers’ four-game winning streak. Piazza was hitless in four at-bats, striking out twice.

The Dodgers, who were shut out for the 11th time this season, blew a good scoring chance on a baserunning blunder by rookie Todd Hollandsworth in the eighth inning.

Hollandsworth, who had doubled with one out, was doubled off second on a liner by Chad Curtis. Hollandsworth, running with his head down, assumed Curtis’ sinking liner was going to drop in front of Ron Gant, but Gant caught the ball at his belt and threw to second to catch Hollandsworth, who was rounding third.

Hollandsworth knocked Cardinal starter Todd Stottlemyre (12-11), out of the game when he drilled a liner that hit Stottlemyre in the right thigh just above the knee with one out in the sixth inning.

Stottlemyre, who lasted only two innings before leaving with a bad back in his last start against the Dodgers on Aug. 13 in St. Louis, was on the ground for several minutes before he was helped off the field by first baseman John Mabry. Stottlemyre was taken to Centinela Hospital Medical Center for X-rays, which were negative.

Stottlemyre had stymied the Dodger offense before he was forced out, giving up only one hit in the first five innings.

T.J. Mathews replaced Stottlemyre and ended the sixth by getting Wayne Kirby to force Hollandsworth at second and Piazza on a fly to right.

The Dodgers, who got only one runner as far as third in the first six innings, squandered a seventh-inning scoring opportunity with runners at first and third and one out.