Dodgers Follow Leader

Outfielder Todd Hollandsworth has become the Dodger catalyst since replacing the injured Brett Butler as the leadoff hitter.

Hollandsworth, batting leadoff for the third consecutive game, singled in the tying run and scored the winning run in a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Expos on Friday night before 41,234 at Dodger Stadium.

“Hollandsworth is hitting well there,” Manager Bill Russell said. “He’s an aggressive hitter. You get different pitches in the leadoff spot. You get more fastballs. They’re not going to pitch around you as much as where he used to bat, sixth or seventh, because there were always men on base.

“When we put him there last year the team took off and that’s what happened the other day when he got two hits. He’d been struggling.”

With the Dodgers trailing the Expos, 1-0, Hollandsworth singled in rookie second baseman Wilton Guerrero with one out in the eighth inning as the Dodgers scored five runs off reliever Ugueth Urbina.

That was after they had been held to four hits in seven innings by Dustin Hermanson and Dario Veres.

Hollandsworth is hitting. 375 with two doubles, three runs and two RBIs in four games as the leadoff hitter.

“I’m trying to play ball the way I did [last season] and get the swing back and go up there and get on base,” said Hollandsworth, the 1996 rookie of the year. “My main objective is to be a catalyst at the top of the lineup like last year. I’m just trying to go up there and be aggressive.”

Guerrero led off the eighth inning with a double into the right-field corner, was sacrificed to third by pinch-hitter Nelson Liriano. After Hollandsworth singled him in, Urbina (1-2) loaded the bases by issuing back-to-back, two-out walks to Mike Piazza and Eric Karros.

Raul Mondesi and Todd Zeile followed with back-to-back, two-run doubles as the Dodgers won for the eighth time in their last 10 games.

Dodger starter Ismael Valdes looked disgusted as he walked slowly to the dugout after he was pulled for reliever Scott Radinsky with two outs and runners on first and third in the seventh inning.

“There’s going to be better times,” Valdes said. “I’m glad tonight because we won.”

Radinsky (1-0) picked up the win, throwing only two pitches.

“I feel bad for Ismael,” Hollandsworth said. “He pitched outstanding, but we scored our runs late. I really don’t know how to put into words how you feel about something like that.”

Valdes pitched well enough to win, registering nine strikeouts and while giving up seven hits and walking one, but the Dodgers didn’t give him any support and he left trailing, 1-0.

The Dodgers have scored only 10 runs in Valdes’ seven starts this season.

“He’s been excellent this season,” Russell said. “Each pitcher who goes out there has a job to do, and his job is to give his teammates an opportunity to win. He’s going to get a lot of runs before it’s all said and done.”

The Dodgers squandered their best chance to give Valdes a run in the bottom of the seventh when Mondesi made a baserunning blunder and was thrown out rounding third on Zeile’s infield single.

Mondesi, who had singled and stolen second, didn’t pick up third-base coach Joe Amalfitano’s stop sign and was thrown out by first baseman Joe Orsulak, who made an alert play.

The Expos got their run in the first inning. Mark Grudzielanek drilled Valdes’ first pitch off the right-field wall for a triple. Mondesi seemed to lose the ball in the twilight sky.

Mike Lansing drove in Grudzielanek with a sacrifice fly that sent Hollandsworth to the warning track, and that was the way it stood until the bottom of the eighth.

Russell said Valdes, who had not won in his last four starts despite a 1.57 earned-run average, hasn’t lost his confidence.

“I don’t see any frustration,” Russell said. “He pitched a great game in his last start, but we didn’t get any runs for him.

“He’s got good stuff and he’s young. He’s going to win a lot of games. He’s just getting into his own. He’s a great pitcher with all the pitches that he has and the command that he has.”