Dodgers Ride Gravy Train

So nobody got in for $2. Fans got to see a train derail and the Dodgers get on the right track.

The Dodgers touched previously unbeaten left-hander Dontrelle Willis, a.k.a. the D-Train, for four runs in the first inning, then tacked on a bundle against his successors in a 14-5 victory over the Florida Marlins before an announced 37,481 at Dodger Stadium.

The crowd was about 5,500 less than the Dodgers averaged during two “$2 Tuesday” promotions that filled up the pavilions and upper deck with fans whose rowdy behavior prompted the team to hire LAPD officers and bolster security procedures.

Dodger officials said the promotion might eventually return, but for one night everyone paid full price.

Including the Marlins.

Cesar Izturis had five hits and Olmedo Saenz drove in five runs with a home run and a double. Jason Repko had two doubles and a single. Jeff Kent drove in four runs on three hits. Derek Lowe (3-4) pitched well enough to win, giving up three runs in 6 2/3 innings.

And Eric Gagne thundered out of the bullpen with a grin and a nine-run lead, striking out two in a 1-2-3 ninth.

“We’ve been struggling with the bats, so it was good to see the two-out hits and the high-quality at-bats,” Gagne said.

The Dodgers (22-17) had 19 hits, pouring it on with four runs in the seventh and six in the eighth. But it all started in the first against Willis.

For seven starts D-Train had rendered batters as helpless as hapless “Choo-Choo” Coleman, who batted .197 in four seasons for the Phillies and Mets in the 1960s. Willis led the majors with a 1.08 earned-run average and held opposing batters to a .193 average.

Yet in the first inning he looked more like the pitcher who had gone 0-2 with a 15.43 ERA in his two career starts against the Dodgers.

Izturis led off with a single and Repko hit a ground-rule double. Repko, a rookie, was not intimidated by Willis, having hit a home run against him in double A in 2003. After J.D. Drew struck out, Kent drove in both runners with a single to right field.

Milton Bradley surprised Willis with a bunt and a low throw was dropped by first baseman Carlos Delgado. Saenz drove the ball over center fielder Juan Pierre’s head, scoring both runners to give the Dodgers four runs, more than Willis had allowed in any of his seven starts.

“He’s a really tough pitcher because of that jerky motion,” Repko said. “He hides the ball so well it makes it tough to recognize a change of speed.”

Willis (7-1) settled down, holding the Dodgers scoreless from the second through the sixth. But three Marlin relievers were the equivalent of batting practice.

“We busted out,” Bradley said. “That’s what we are capable of doing.”

Benefiting was Lowe, who appeared unusually contemplative before the game, sitting in front of his locker rubbing his eyes and temples. Turns out he had a sinus infection. Either that or allergies.

“I’ve had something the last couple days,” he said. “I don’t know what it is.”

He gave up a two-run home run to Delgado on a changeup in the fourth and a single run in the fifth. However, he withstood an error by third baseman Mike Edwards in the sixth and got two outs in the seventh before giving way to left-hander Kelly Wunsch, who made Pierre look silly with sliders, striking him out to end the inning.

Then came the barrage of runs, which the Dodgers only hope carries over into today’s game against right-hander Josh Beckett.

“We hadn’t been hitting and we woke up,” Saenz said. “We’re facing another good pitcher. We’ll see if we can get him out of there and get to the bullpen again.”