Dodgers on the Wrong End of Latest Mile-High Slugfest

DENVER — The Dodgers and Colorado Rockies figured they would be engaged in a down-to-the-wire race in the National League West.

Well, they were right, in a sense.

The Dodgers and Rockies are locked in a tight battle--to determine who finishes in the basement.

The last-place Rockies pulled to within half a game of the fourth-place Dodgers by pounding their guests Friday night during a typically offensive 18-10 victory at Coors Field.

The Rockies scored their most runs this season and blasted six home runs among a season-high 20 hits in improving to 8-3 against the Dodgers. Left fielder Dante Bichette did the most damage--hitting a grand slam and a three-run shot while establishing a new career high with seven runs batted in.

The Dodgers were troubled by another poor performance by starter Ismael Valdes, who lasted only two innings in the second-shortest outing of his career. The suddenly shaky right-hander gave up seven runs in the second inning and eight overall in his third consecutive horrible outing.

Compounding the problem, Valdes and pitching coach Claude Osteen clearly are not on the same page based on comments each made after the debacle.

“If I had to put my finger on it, it doesn’t look like he’s prepared,” an irritated Osteen said of Valdes, who has given up 24 hits and 20 earned runs in his last 10 innings. “I don’t know what’s going on up there [in Valdes’ mind]. He might have some insight into what it is, but he hasn’t shared it with me.”

Valdes appeared perturbed when informed of Osteen’s comments.

“He can say all he wants to say,” said Valdes, who gave up nine hits--including two homers. “He doesn’t know how I feel. The last three starts . . . physically, I’m not healthy. I’ve been having back problems, spasms. He [Osteen] doesn’t know . . . “

The Dodgers temporarily overcame Valdes’ poor work. They scored six runs in the third--highlighted by Raul Mondesi’s 30th homer--against ineffective Colorado starter Darryl Kile, and rallied to tie the score at 8-8 in the fourth.

However, the Dodgers couldn’t overcome their weak bullpen.

Colorado took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth on a run-scoring single by Vinny Castilla. Then the Rockies applied more pressure in the fifth after first baseman Eric Karros committed an error on a potential double-play ball with one on and none out.

With one out, Bichette hit the seventh grand slam of his career against reliever Robinson Checo (1-1), and Todd Helton followed with his second homer of the game. The Rockies had a 14-8 lead, pleasing a crowd of 44,170.

Bichette hit his three-run homer against Mike Maddux, the fifth Dodger pitcher, in the Rockies’ four-run eighth. Maddux gave up two homers among five hits in one inning of mop-up duty.

“The less said about that one the better,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “I don’t know what more to say.”

Bichette had 31 homers after his 16th multihomer game, joining Helton (33), Larry Walker (37) and Castilla (30) in the Rockies’ 30-homer club. Four players have hit at least 30 homers four times in the franchise’s seven-year history.

The Dodgers also had some individual accomplishments during another team disaster.

Mondesi’s three-run shot in the third gave him 30 homers with 30 stolen bases, marking the second time the right fielder has accomplished the feat in his career.

“If you do something good, and you don’t win the game, it doesn’t matter,” said Mondesi, who reached 30 homers for the third time. “The whole season has been like this.”

Karros is the all-time leader in homers at Coors Field by a visiting player, and he pushed his total to 16 here with his 32nd homer. He had three of the Dodgers’ 11 hits to break out of a three-for-23 slump beginning play Friday, and he drove in four runs to give him a team-leading 101 RBIs.

He has reached the 100-RBI plateau four times, but Karros said he can’t feel good about anything that has occurred this season.

“It has been as frustrating a year as I’ve ever been a part of,” Karros said. “Regardless of what happens the remainder of the season, it has been a long season.”