Shaw Is Exposed in Ninth Inning

By PAUL GUTIERREZ

Aug. 15, 2001 12 AM PT

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Say what you will about Chan Ho Park clinging to Chad Kreuter, his caddie of a catcher, like Linus clutched his security blanket in all of those Peanuts cartoons.

And there may be truth to the talk that before Park can truly become an elite pitcher deserving of the big bucks, he must be weaned off Kreuter as his catcher.

Otherwise, it seemingly becomes a package deal and the journeyman catcher who was out of work two winters ago is due a sizable chunk of the $100-million contract Park will be seeking this winter as a free agent.

It was all too evident through eight innings Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, as Park was throwing shutout ball at the Montreal Expos while giving up three hits and Kreuter was supplying the Dodger offense with a solo home run.

But closer Jeff Shaw blew Park’s gem by giving up four runs in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ 4-1 loss in front of 30,085, many of whom booed Shaw as he walked off the mound after his outing.

It was the fifth loss in a row for the Dodgers, who fell three games behind Arizona in the National League West.

Shaw (3-3) faced nine batters in the ninth and gave up four hits, including a bases-clearing double by Orlando Cabrera to the base of the left-center wall with the bases loaded.

Montreal left-handed reliever Graeme Lloyd (8-3), the Expos’ fifth pitcher of the night, picked up the win with 11/3 innings of relief.

The Dodgers left 12 runners on base.

Park had no-hit the Expos for 52/3 innings and gave up three hits while striking out four and walking two. He threw 106 pitches, 64 for strikes.

In his previous two starts, Park was 0-2 with a 6.40 earned-run average and was coming off one of his worst starts of the year, an 8-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in which he gave up seven runs on seven hits--including two home runs--in five innings.

But against the Expos, Park lowered his earned-run average to 1.59 in 14 Dodger Stadium starts.

There have been many conversations of late that the Dodgers are doing themselves a disservice by catching Kreuter instead of Paul Lo Duca, who entered the game batting 105 points higher than Kreuter, yet sat until being called to pinch-hit for Alex Cora with two out in the eighth inning and the bases loaded.

Lo Duca struck out.

Kreuter, considered the better defensive catcher, entered the game tied with four other catchers--the Chicago Cubs’ Joe Giradi, the Minnesota Twins’ Tom Prince and the Seattle Mariners’ duo of Tom Lampkin and Dan Wilson--for top fielding percentage among catchers with a perfect 1.000. Kreuter had not committed an error in 434 chances.

Kreuter gave the Dodgers their 1-0 lead in the second inning when he sat back on a full-count, letter-high fastball from Tony Armas Jr. and hit a towering shot over the wall in center field.

It was Kreuter’s third home run of the season and the switch-hitter’s first from the left side of the plate.

Montreal leadoff batter Peter Bergeron broke up Park’s no-hit bid in the sixth inning when the left-handed hitter lined a two-out triple into the right-field corner.

Bergeron is a former Dodger fourth-round draft choice who was traded away in a seven-player deal in 1998 that landed the Dodgers Mark Grudzielanek, Hiram Bocachica and Carlos Perez.

Bergeron led off the ninth inning against Shaw with an infield single before Geoff Blum popped up his bunt attempt.

Vladimir Guerrero doubled into the right-center gap to put runners at second and third before Shaw intentionally walked Lee Stevens to set up a potential game-ending double play.

But Cabrera drove in three with his double before Mark Smith singled softly to left to put runners at the corners with one out.

Randy Knorr’s soft comebacker to Shaw allowed Cabrera to score.

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STANDINGS

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W L GB Arizona 68 51 -- San Francisco 67 52 1 Dodgers 65 54 3 San Diego 58 60 9 1/2 Colorado 50 68 17 1/2

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