DeShields Is at Home in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS — Delino DeShields’ ears still ring from the boos he heard from Dodger Stadium fans after he batted .224 and made 17 errors, second highest on the team behind Greg Gagne’s 25, last season.

DeShields--nicknamed “Bop”--bopped the Dodgers, scoring the winning run after Gagne, his former double-play partner, committed two errors in the eighth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Dodgers, 4-2, Thursday night.

“I’ve never seen a home player get booed here,” said DeShields, who signed with the Cardinals last November. “I’ve heard that it’s happened, but you’d have to do something really bad, like not giving an effort or [making an obscene gesture].”

DeShields received a standing ovation from a Busch Stadium crowd of 28,497 when he led off the eighth inning with the Cardinals leading, 2-1.

Shortstop Royce Clayton had taken away a potential RBI single by Dodger center fielder Todd Hollandsworth by making a diving stop of a grounder into the hole with two outs and a runner on second in the top of the inning.

DeShields, who yelled at Clayton to throw to first when he saw pinch-runner Roger Cedeno break for third on Hollandsworth’s grounder, didn’t gloat over beating the Dodgers.

“I don’t have any ill feelings toward anybody over there, except a couple people and they know who they are,” DeShields said. “It was frustrating because I was injured. I just couldn’t get it together. I gave them all I had.”

DeShields reached base after Gagne, who has committed a team-high seven errors, threw high to first. DeShields advanced to second when when he knocked the ball out of Gagne’s glove while he was making a tag after taking a throw from Eric Karros after reliever Mark Guthrie had seemed to have DeShields picked off.

“I had a few of them [errors],” said Dodger Manager Bill Russell, who played 17 years at shortstop for the club. “If you play this game long enough it will happen.”

Said Gagne: “We’ve all taken our share of lumps on this team. Hopefully, we can all deal with that and win some games.”

Ray Lankford singled in DeShields, and John Mabry singled in another run with two outs as the Cardinals extended the Dodgers’ losing streak to two games.

The Dodgers, who stranded five runners, had a chance to tie the score in the ninth inning after Mike Piazza, who had two hits in four at-bats with two RBIs, singled in Raul Mondesi.

Mondesi had three hits, including a double, in four at-bats.

But Dennis Eckersley struck out Eric Karros, induced Todd Zeile to hit into a force play and struck out Eric Anthony for his 10th save.

The Dodgers, who entered the game tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the second-fewest runs scored, lost a potential run in the first inning when rookie infielder Wilton Guerrero, who led off with a single, was caught stealing when he took off during a pitchout.

Guerrero, who has been caught stealing three times in eight attempts this season, probably would have scored on Mondesi’s ensuing double.

Cardinal starter Matt Morris (2-3), who gave up one one on three hits in the first inning, stifled the Dodgers before he was relieved by Eckersley in the ninth. Morris gave up five hits and no runs in his final seven innings, with seven strikeouts.

Dodger starter Pedro Astacio (3-4), who registered a season-best eight strikeouts, pitched well enough to win, giving up two runs on five hits, including a one-out fourth-inning home run by Gary Gaetti.