Astacio, Dodgers Still Hot in July

Pedro Astacio responded to the question the way he responds to batters these days: with confidence in his manner and defiance in his eyes.

Did he ever worry, during the dark days of June, that he might be headed to the bullpen?

“For what?” he asked forcefully. “Because I have one bad game? Because I have two bad games? Why would you think that way?”

Maybe because he had an ugly confrontation with his manager, Bill Russell, in the dugout and a seven-game losing streak on the mound and a hot left-hander named Dennis Reyes in the minors bidding for his spot in one of baseball’s best rotations.

It’s understandable that Astacio would wave all that off now. He’s earned the right. June seems more than a month ago. It seems a year ago for Astacio.

And the Dodgers.

He won his fourth consecutive decision Tuesday, going 7 1/3 innings in a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before a matinee Dodger Stadium crowd of 43,791, improving his record to 7-7.

And the Dodgers, who had sunk to eight games behind the National League West-leading San Francisco Giants on the final day of June, have come roaring back with a hot July to move a season-high nine games above .500 and stay within one game of the Giants.

The Dodgers have won 19 of their 26 games this month, leaving them two shy of the team record for July with a game to play in Chicago on Thursday, July 31.

Tuesday’s victory gave the Dodgers consecutive sweeps of the Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies, five consecutive victories and six wins in the just-concluded, eight-game homestand.

A lot of reasons have been offered for the resurgence, from the confrontations Russell had with Astacio and fellow right-hander Ismael Valdes, to a bench-emptying confrontation with the Angels at the start of July, to the airing of concern over the cultural differences in the Dodger clubhouse, to the emergence of such players as Tripp Cromer and Roger Cedeno.

First baseman Eric Karros doesn’t buy any of that.

“All that stuff makes nice stories,” he said. “But I think it was just inevitable. We’ve got so much talent . . . that at some point, we were going to start playing the way we are capable of playing.”

The cause of Astacio’s resurgence is easier to pinpoint.

“I think it’s because he’s getting the curve over now,” Russell said. “And he’s getting the sign and throwing the ball quickly, getting into a rhythm.”

Russell doesn’t minimize his confrontations with Astacio and Valdes.

“We started winning and I think they starting pitching better after that,” Russell said. “They were frustrated. The team was frustrated. I know I was.”

Astacio insists that it came down to his own confidence, his ability to believe in himself no matter what his record looked like, no matter how much speculation swirled that there was a spot in the bullpen being reserved for him.

“You have to have confidence in yourself,” he said. “If you go to work thinking you are going to lose your job, then you are going to lose that job.”

Astacio was brimming with confidence Tuesday. And with good reason. He shut out the Pirates through seven innings, extending his scoreless-innings streak to 17 2/3 before giving up a leadoff homer in the eighth inning to Jose Guillen. It was Guillen’s ninth home run of the season.

And by then, the Dodgers had given Astacio a three-run cushion. They had scored a pair of unearned runs in the first after an error by Pittsburgh all-star second baseman Tony Womack. Karros got one run across on a groundout, and Raul Mondesi singled home the other.

The Dodgers scored their other run in the seventh on an RBI single by Brett Butler, who went three for three with a walk, boosting his average to .323.

With Dodger closer Todd Worrell pitching in the ninth, Pittsburgh’s Al Martin and Joe Randa were on base via singles when Jason Kendall came up with one out and hit a drive off Worrell that sent center fielder Cedeno to the wall, 400 feet away. Cedeno tucked the ball away in his glove before shoving his shoulder into the wall.

Worrell then struck out Mark Smith, nailing down his 26th save.

And if the Dodgers have any regrets at this point, it may be that there are only 31 days in July.