Dodgers Bop Braves With Three in Ninth

Baseball may not be a metaphor for life, as some think, but it can be very poetic at times and the Dodgers opening spring game in their final season at Dodgertown was exactly that -- poetic.

With a Brooklyn native managing the team for he first time (Joe Torre), his team managed to put two men on third base at the same time -- shades of Babe Herman -- killing a second inning rally.

Then 31-year-old rookie first baseman John Lindsey, in his first spring training with the Dodgers and who has little chance of making the team, doubled in the last of the night to drive in a three runs to turn a 4-2 Braves lead into a 5-4 Dodger victory after committing an error in the top of the inning that cost a run.

Los Angeles squandered a number of scoring chances during the game, leaving 10 on base. They were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.

The Dodgers jumped into a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Andrew Jones walked and James Loney and Matt Kemp singled to load the bases.

Mark Sweeney slashed a ground single to left field to drive in Jones and Loney moved to third. Matt Kemp roared into third base right after him and was tagged out when he and Loney ended up on the same base. Juan Pierre bounced out to end the inning.

Torre pointed out "Matt was just running with his head down. He's aggressive and he's young. That will get better. He has good presence in the outfield, the wind doesn't bother him. He just needs to look around. It isn't a chronic problem.

Russell Martin singled in the third and attempted to steal second but the Atlanta right fielder caught the ball and nailed him returning to first.

In the sixth, Jones walked again and Jason Repko ran for him. On a single to right by Loney, he was thrown out at third.

"Martin was stealing and didn't pick up the ball and Repko tried to go from first to third with one out. Other than that I was very pleased with the game," Torre said. "Everyone is on their own in spring training, that way we get a feel of how they are thinking.

"I think we are going to have to find a way to manufacture runs and the best way to do that is to be aggressive on the bases. This is the best time for me to get to know the players...we are going to have to made decisions from those observations."

The first five Dodger pitchers of the day held Atlanta to first inning single off Jason Johnson, the only pitcher of the day to go two innings.

Tom Martin was torched for a pair of runs in the seventh on three hits and Eric Hull threw a scoreless eighth.

The Dodgers had tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth after singles by Andre Ethier and Repko. Andy Laroche walked to load the bases and pinch-hitter Terry Tiffee coaxed a walk to tie the score.

Brian Shackelford took over in the ninth and Lindsey's error was followed by two-run homer to give Atlanta a 4-2 lead.

"Shack had a little trouble with his command but he got two outs after the home run and that is important," Torre said. "We threw a lot of strikes today and stayed ahead of the hitters very well. Jason Johnson looked very good. All the pitchers were very aggressive."

He praised Delwyn Young who took over at second base for Jeff Kent. "He made some good plays. He needs to be able to do a lot of things, he is out of options. We'll take a lot at him at third base also.

The team travels to Orlando today to play the Braves in the final meeting ever between the two teams in the spring

 Score by innings
Braves	000 000 202-4
Dodgers	010 000 003-5

	      ab  r  h  bi  ave
Pierre lf	3  0  0  0  .000	
  Hu ss	        1  0  1  0  1.000
Furcal ss	3  0  1  0  .333
 Martin p	0  0  0  0  .000
 Ardoin c	1  0  0  0  .000
 Griffin ph	0  1  0  0  .000
Martin c	3  0  1  0  .333
 Koplove p	0  0  0  0  .000 
 Martin p	0  0  0  0  .000
 Paul ph-rf	1  0  0  0  .000
Kent 2b	        2  0  0  0  .000
 Myers p	0  0  0  0  .000
 Falkenborg p	0  0  0  0  .000
 Ethier rf	2  1  1  1  .500 
Jones cf 	1  1  0  0  .000
 Repko pr-cf	1  0  1  0  1.000
Loney 1b	3  0  2  0  .667
 Lindsey 1b	2  0  1  3  .500
Garciaparra 3b	2  0  1  0  .500
 LaRoche pr-3b	1  0  1  0  1.000
Kemp rf	        3  0  2  0  1.000
 Hull p	        1  0  0  0  .000
 Tiffee ph	0  0  0  0  .000
 Shackelford p	0  0  0  0  .000
Johnson p	0  0  0  0  .000
 Sweeney ph	1  0  1  1  1.000
 Sturtze p	0  0  0  0  .000 
 Young ph	2  0  0  0  .000
  Totals	31  5  12  4
  Braves	33  4   5  2

 Error- Lindsey (1). 2B- Kemp (1), 
Lindsey (1). 3B- Furcal (1). S-
Paul. CS-Hu. LOB- Dodgers 10, Braves
3. 

	        in  h  r-er  bb  so  era
Johnson	        2.0  1  0-0  0  0  0.00
Sturtze	        1.0  0  0-0  0  0  0.00
Myers	        1.0  0  0-0  0  0  0.00
Falkenborg	1.0  0  0-0  0  0  0.00
Koplove	        1.0  0  0-0  0  2  0.00
Martin	        1.0  3  2-2  1  0  18.00
Hull	        1.0  0  0-0  0  1  0.00
Shackelford (w)	1.0  1  2-1  0  0  9.00
 

Dodger Blue Notes-- Chad Billingsley, scratched from the opening game by a tightness in his groin, threw a simulated game and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt declared him good to go. ...Minor leaguer Greg Miller told The Dugout he was "Very Fine". ...Faced with a sellout of the Coliseum against Boston March 29, the Dodgers have made another 25,000 tickets available, boosting the total to 115,000 and becoming the biggest crowd to ever watch a baseball game. Many of the additional tickets will be standing-room only, with people allowed to stand behind the right field fence and tickets will be sold on the peristyle. The proceeds of the game will benefit ThinkCure, the Dodgers fundraising charity for cancer research.