It’s All Bad for Dodgers

It’s not only the big hits that are beating the Dodgers.

Oh, there are plenty of those, such as Craig Biggio’s bases-loaded double in the eighth inning Tuesday night that broke open a tight game and enabled the Houston Astros to beat the Dodgers, 6-3, and move into a tie for the NL Central lead with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

But it’s the small plays that turn into big disasters that are killing the Dodgers.

For example, Tuesday there was:

* A walk by Dodger relief pitcher Antonio Osuna to pinch-hitter Bill Spiers, loading the bases for Biggio.

That shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. It was the 12th consecutive time Spiers reached base, two short of the league record.

“You can’t walk him and have that type of hitter [Biggio] coming up there,” Dodger Manager Bill Russell said.

* A bounced throw by catcher Mike Piazza on a steal by Biggio that enabled him to go to third in the seventh inning. Biggio eventually scored.

* A loss of concentration by relief pitcher Darren Hall, who allowed Jeff Bagwell to steal an uncontested base in the seventh. By the time Piazza had the ball in his glove, Bagwell could have crawled to second.

* A missed cutoff throw by center fielder Brett Butler in the Astros’ four-run eighth.

Little things. Big losses.

When it came down to Osuna against Biggio, the Astro second baseman, who also had another double and a single in a three-for-five night, figured Osuna would be going with his strength, the fastball.

“I faced him before,” Biggio said. “I know what he throws. When you throw that hard, you get beat with your best pitch.”

Sure enough, Osuna’s first pitch to Biggio was a fastball that wound up caroming off the left-center wall. Thomas Howard followed with an RBI single to give Houston a 6-2 lead and drop Osuna’s record to 1-2.

The Dodgers made one last run at Houston in the bottom of the inning when Butler singled, Todd Zeile walked and Piazza followed with an RBI single, cutting the margin to 6-3.

The Dodgers still had two of their big bats waiting in Eric Karros and Raul Mondesi.

But Karros took a called third strike and Mondesi bounced into a double play to end the threat.

Mike Magnante, the third Houston pitcher got the victory, improving to 2-0, and Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 12th save. The Dodger starter, right-hander Ismael Valdes, who exploded at Russell last week when he was yanked after five innings, seemed headed for an even earlier exit Tuesday.

Valdes gave up a leadoff double to Biggio in the first inning, the Houston second baseman scoring on a sacrifice fly to right by Bagwell.

Before the inning was over, Valdes had loaded the bases, giving up two singles and a walk. But he escaped without further damage by getting Ray Montgomery to pop to short.

Valdes settled down after that, giving up only four more hits and no additional runs over the ensuing five innings.

But the way Shane Reynolds started off, it appeared the Dodgers were going to have to struggle just to get even.

Reynolds hadn’t won in more than a month, having gone 0-4 over seven starts with a 6.08 earned-run average. But through three innings Tuesday, he allowed only a single to Karros.

But, just when Reynolds appeared to have finally found the groove he had been so desperately searching for, misfortune struck. Reynolds strained his right knee, forcing him to leave after only three innings.

Wilton Guerrero, back in the lineup after having missed eight games because of a suspension, got a clutch RBI single in the seventh to tie the score.

“That’s the kind of thing we need more of,” Zeile said of Guerrero’s big hit.

That and a little more concentration on the little things.