Nothing but Bad Vibes for Dodgers

On the Dodger Stadium field after the game Sunday, K.C. and the Sunshine Band was entertaining the crowd with a concert.

But in the Dodger clubhouse, nobody was singing. Certainly not the band’s signature song, “That’s The Way (I Like It).”

What’s to like?

None of the developments below:

--Right-hander Hideo Nomo found another team he couldn’t stop.

--Dodger batters found another pitcher they couldn’t get started against.

--The team ended a disappointing 4-3 homestand by losing to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-0, at Dodger Stadium in front of a crowd of 51,245, which at least got some music for its money.

--The loss cost the Dodgers a game in the standings because the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants won earlier in the day, dropping the Dodgers 2 1/2 games behind.

--The Dodgers, 27-31 on the road, now face a trip in which they must play 10 games in nine days.

--And if all that weren’t bad enough, outfielder Todd Hollandsworth, who was about to be brought off the disabled list after a 15-day stay because of a fracture near his right elbow and put right back in the starting lineup, experienced sharp pain in the injured area during batting practice and had to be scratched.

Most of those in the crowd may have been disappointed with the outcome of the game, but there were at least 80 fans who couldn’t have been happier. They had been supplied tickets by Cincinnati right-hander Brett Tomko to see the former El Dorado High and Mt. San Antonio star pitch for the Reds.

Staked to an 3-0 first-inning lead thanks to an erratic Nomo, Tomko (8-4), pitching with confidence and precision, shut down the Dodgers for seven innings, giving up seven hits and no walks. He struck out two.

“It was almost like a home game for me,” Tomko said. “The amount of people that I had in the stands really pumped me up. To actually get out on that field was a huge thrill.”

His best weapons were a good fastball, sharp curve and steady control. Tomko got his first pitch in for a strike to 22 of the 29 batters he faced.

“The game plan was to throw his fastball until they did something with it,” Cincinnati pitching coach Don Gullett said. “His fastball is what got him in the big leagues and will keep him here.”

Tomko, 24, has won three of his last four for a Cincinnati club that is only 54-68.

Included in those victories was a 7-0 win over the San Diego Padres in which Tomko went seven innings. That, however, didn’t stop the Padres from referring to his pitches as “average.”

That information raised the eyebrows of Dodger Manager Bill Russell.

“He had above-average stuff [Sunday],” Russell said. “If he has average stuff, we didn’t see it. Just go ask those guys out there.”

He was referring to his players. But they didn’t have any answers as to why they couldn’t handle Tomko or several other pitchers recently who didn’t have big names coming into this season, pitchers such as Gabe White, Mike Remlinger and Miguel Batista, all of whom have pitched effectively against the Dodgers in recent days.

The Dodgers left 47 men on base in the homestand, an average of nearly seven a game.

Sunday, the Reds got all the runs they would need in the first inning off Nomo (11-10), whose earned-run average over his last four starts is 5.96.

In the first inning Sunday, a Jon Nunnally single, an Eduardo Perez double and a walk to Reggie Sanders loaded the bases. Willie Greene’s single into right-center drove in a pair and the third run came over a wild pitch by Nomo.

Chris Stynes, who first got hot against the Dodgers a week ago in Cincinnati after he was recalled from the Reds’ Indianapolis farm team and is batting .514, drove in the Reds’ fourth run with an RBI single in the fifth.

Stynes, who had seven hits in a row against the Dodgers a week ago, got three hits Sunday.

Cincinnati’s final run came across on a seventh-inning error by Mike Piazza, the Dodger catcher unable to handle a toss from Nomo as Stynes crossed the plate on a little dribbler by Sanders.

Nomo gave up four earned runs on eight hits in seven innings, striking out 10 and walking four.

And the Dodgers left nine men on base.

What’s to like?