Mariners Give Valdes, Dodgers a Swift Kick

SEATTLE —  Nervous Seattle Mariner officials killed a proposed deal Tuesday that would have sent ace left-hander Randy Johnson to the Dodgers.

In doing so, they denied their fans the opportunity to watch right-hander Ismael Valdes--who was offered in a two-player package--pitch regularly at the Kingdome.

Valdes overcame his early problems Friday night, but the Dodgers couldn’t overcome the deficit created by his mediocre effort in a 4-0 interleague loss to the Mariners before 39,053 at the Kingdome.

Maybe those uneasy Mariner bosses had the right idea, with the way Valdes has pitched in this building.

After winning the final two games in a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Dodgers lost their interleague opener to the Mariners, whom they will play today and Sunday. They dropped two games under .500 at 29-31 and remained 7 1/2 games behind the first-place San Diego Padres in the National League West.

Mariner starter Bill Swift (5-3) gave up nine hits in 6 1/3 solid innings, and the team’s shaky bullpen didn’t disappoint for a change. Mike Timlin and Heathcliff Slocumb combined to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings, and joined Swift in completing the shutout that ended the Mariners’ four-game losing streak.

The Dodgers left nine runners on base--including the bases loaded in the seventh when Gary Sheffield grounded out to third against Timlin.

The Dodgers still are struggling to overcome the effects of a traumatic week of trades, near-trades and rampant speculation about the future of team officials in their first year under the Fox Group’s control.

Things may have settled down for now, but the Dodgers’ performance is still somewhat shaky.

“All the off-field stuff seems to be quieting down, and everyone feels good about the guys we have in here now,” second baseman Eric Young said. “We know we have a team that can get a lot done here.

“But it’s not going to happen overnight. There’s been a lot of stuff going on, and we’ve been battling to get through it.”

No one more so than Valdes.

The loss to the Mariners was the latest negative event in a troubling week for Valdes (4-7), in which he thought he might be pitching against the Dodgers in this series. The trade reports admittedly took a toll on Valdes, and the week can’t end soon enough for him.

“Every day it was something,” he said. “I tried to block it out, because trades and rumors are part of baseball, but it wasn’t easy.”

Neither was watching Valdes at times Friday.

He gave up nine hits and four runs--three earned--in 7 1/3 innings, which wasn’t bad. But he wasn’t sharp, walking three with four strikeouts while throwing 126 pitches, 76 strikes.

Valdes performed better this time than in his previous Kingdome appearance. In an interleague game last season, he gave up five hits and five runs in five innings. He also walked eight in an 8-2 loss to Seattle.

On Friday, David Segui opened the second inning by reaching first on third baseman Bobby Bonilla’s fielding error. One-out, run-scoring singles by Glenallen Hill and Dan Wilson gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead, which was more than enough with the way Swift, Timlin and Slocumb pitched.

The Mariners took a 3-0 lead in the fifth when Alex Rodriguez drove in Joey Cora, who opened the inning by tripling to right-center, with a groundout to short. They scored their final run in the sixth when Rob Ducey scored from third on Wilson’s one-out single to the mound. Wilson attempted a squeeze play but hit a popup that Valdes dropped after attempting to make a sliding catch between the mound and first.

And with the way Valdes’ week went, that wasn’t surprising.