Dodgers Complete Sweep of Phillies, 4-1

It was after the fourth inning, Chan Ho Park said, when he glanced at the Dodger Stadium scoreboard and saw that the Philadelphia Phillies were without a hit.

“I saw that and just said, ‘Why not try for it, a no-hitter?’ ” Park said. “I was feeling very strong and my fastball was very strong, making my curveball and change-up strong.”

With one out in the seventh inning, however, Park left a 3-and-1 fastball up and left-handed hitting Bobby Abreu caught up with it, sending a towering shot down the right-field line that landed two rows into the field-level seats. Abreu’s fifth home run of the season ended Park’s no-hit bid and shutout but did not blur Park’s focus.

Park (3-2) lasted through the inning and earned the victory in the Dodgers’ series-sweeping 4-1 victory over the Phillies in front of 43,589 Sunday afternoon.

Park’s 10 strikeouts are a season-high by a Dodger pitcher. It was the ninth time in his career that he has struck out 10 or more. In his first victory since April 8, Park gave up a run and two hits in seven innings and walked one.

“I just said, ‘OK, it’s done. Who’s the next guy [batter]?’ ” Park said of his reaction to giving up the homer.

Chad Kreuter, Park’s personal catcher, and first baseman Eric Karros paid a brief visit to Park to remind him to stay focused after Abreu’s blast.

“Any time he goes out there and pitches like he’s capable of pitching, he can throw a no-hitter,” Kreuter said, “like he flirted with today.

“It takes a special guy to be able to narrow his focus like that after giving up a home run [to end a no-hitter].”

Said Dodger Manager Jim Tracy: “It’s a situation where Chan Ho got his stuff going and then he started getting ahead of the batters. With that arsenal of pitches he has, it makes it extremely difficult for the opposing team.”

Philadelphia left-handed starter Randy Wolf (1-4), a former standout at Pepperdine, took the loss. He gave up four runs, three earned, and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked two, one intentionally.

“You know it’s going to be a close game [facing Park],” Wolf said. “You just try to limit the number of baserunners.”

Mike Fetters, pitching for the first time in a week after battling sinus and ear infections and bronchitis, threw a scoreless eighth inning before Jeff Shaw closed it out for his eighth save.

With the sweep of the National League East-leading Phillies, the NL West-leading Dodgers have won five consecutive. They are 8-2 since former general manager Kevin Malone resigned under pressure.

“When one of your guys throws that well, it just rubs off on the rest of the team,” said left fielder Marquis Grissom, playing his fourthconsecutive game in place of injured Gary Sheffield. Leading 1-0 after a Grissom homer in the fourth, Park helped his own cause in the fifth with a one-out, ground-rule double that bounced off the synthetic warning track and into the right-field pavilion, scoring Alex Cora.

Said Park: “I had fun hitting and pitching. I had one hit but I also had two strikeouts. That’s kind of embarrassing to get two strikeouts.”

The Dodgers scored twice in the sixth.

The first run came on a single by Hiram Bocachica, scoring Grissom. After an intentional walk to load the bases, Cora dropped a squeeze bunt which Wolf fielded cleanly and flipped to catcher Gary Bennett.

But Bennett tried to tag a sliding Karros, who slid into Bennett hard enough to cause the catcher to bobble the ball, prompting plate umpire Ted Barrett to call Karros safe.