|
|
|
|
 |
|
Scores Schedules Standings Statistics Transactions Injuries: AL | NL Players Weekly Lineup Message Board Minor Leagues MLB Stat Search Clubhouses |
| Sport Sections |
|
|
| |
Sunday, Jul. 16 8:10pm ET
Hollandsworth lifts Dodgers | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Gary Sheffield was thinking about ailing manager Davey Johnson after the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. "I think it would have stressed him out even more if we would have lost the game, but we won it in dramatic fashion," said Sheffield, whose RBI single contributed to a six-run eighth inning that gave the Dodgers a 7-3 victory Sunday night. "Winning ballgames will make him feel better and make us feel a lot better." Johnson was hospitalized Sunday after experiencing dizziness caused by an irregular heart rhythm. Sheffield was affected by the news perhaps more than anyone else on the team. When Sheffield was a teenager living in Florida, Johnson used to let him take batting practice with the New York Mets when he visited uncle Dwight Gooden during spring training. It must have paid off. Sheffield leads the majors with 31 homers. "I was on the freeway, heading to the stadium, and I got a call from one of the clubhouse guys that Davey was rushed to the hospital," Sheffield said. "I just had to pull over and said a little prayer for him. "Davey's very special to me. He's like a father figure to me. He came to visit me in the offseason, which showed a lot of respect, and I give him just as much respect. I hope he recovers well. All of us in this room are pulling for our skipper." Jim Tracy, in his second season as the Dodgers' bench coach, got the news about Johnson before leaving for the ballpark and held a closed-door clubhouse meeting with the players before the game. "I knew when I came in that he was putting me in charge and wanted me to run things," said Tracy, whose previous managerial experience was with Montreal's Triple-A Ottawa farm club in 1994. "I think he knows that I know how he would have wanted it done. And that's exactly what I tried to do. "Anytime something like that happens within a family like this, sure it distracts you. But I think we did a great job of staying focused. I hope he hurries back. We miss him already. But the main thing really is to try to make sure that this club is in as good a shape as it possibly can be in when he does come back. That's our goal." Held to just two hits by Jimmy Anderson through the first six innings, and in danger of slipping back to the .500 mark for the first time since April 8, the Dodgers closed to 3-1 in the seventh on Kevin Elster's RBI double. In the eighth, they pounced on a Pittsburgh bullpen that had a 2.00 ERA in its previous 14 games. Jason Christiansen walked Paul LoDuca and allowed a single to Shawn Green. Sheffield greeted Mike Williams (2-2) with an RBI single, and Williams walked Eric Karros and Adrian Beltre, forcing home the tying run. Todd Hollandsworth's two-run single put the Dodgers ahead 5-3, and Elster chased Williams with an RBI single. LoDuca capped the rally with a run-scoring infield hit off Chris Peters. "Our bullpen's been fine," Pittsburgh manager Gene Lamont said. "Christiansen is as good a lefty as there is in the league, and Mike Williams has done a great job closing for us. Those two guys have been great for us. Tonight they just didn't have very good control, but anybody who could complain about the job they've done this year would be crazy." John Vander Wal and Wil Cordero homered for the Pirates (38-52), who tied a season high with their fifth straight loss and are 14 games under .500 for the first time this year. Terry Adams (4-3) pitched the eighth for the win. Pittsburgh went ahead in the first when Eric Gagne walked Kevin Young with the bases loaded, Vander Wal homered in the fourth and Cordero in the sixth. The Pirates left the bases loaded in the first and sixth innings. Game notesJohnson spent the night at the Tommy Lasorda Heart Institute at Centinela Hospital Medical Center. Lasorda, the Dodgers' senior vice president, was forced to end his 20-year managerial stint with the Dodgers in July 1996 because of a mild heart attack. ... Green, in an 8-for-64 slump that has dropped his average from .326 to .287, does not want to be dropped in the batting order. ... Dodgers 2B Mark Grudzielanek rejoined the team after spending more than a week away because of a viral infection. He played the last two innings in the field and struck out twice, once as a pinch-hitter for Alex Cora. ... Pittsburgh recalled Bronson Arroyo from Triple-A Nashville to start Monday night's game against Darren Dreifort. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Pittsburgh Clubhouse Los Angeles Clubhouse Davey Johnson hospitalized with irregular heartbeat
RECAPS Boston 5 Montreal 2
Los Angeles 7
| |||||