Piazza, Dodgers Down Diamondbacks

Mike Piazza found a way to turn the jeers into cheers. All it took was two home runs and six RBI.

Piazza, who hadn't homered or driven in a run in his team's first seven games, hit a two-run homer and grand slam in his first two at-bats Thursday night to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2.

"Fortunately, I had a couple good pitches to hit and didn't miss them," said Piazza who entered the game with only five hits in 29 at-bats.

He sent a pitch from Jeff Suppan (0-2) halfway up the pavilion in left-center field after Jose Vizcaino walked in the first, a drive estimated at 445 feet.

In the third, Piazza hit his sixth career slam after Ismael Valdes (1-1) singled, and Eric Young and Vizcaino bunted for hits. This time, Piazza's fly to left-center barely cleared the fence. In fact, center fielder Devon White said he should have caught it.

"It's been a little frustrating, getting off to a tough start," Piazza said. "But it's such a long year. Tonight, I felt very relaxed, like I turned a page and moved on."

Piazza, who came out of the dugout for a brief curtain call after the slam, was booed vigorously during first two games of the year at Dodger Stadium -- a reaction to stalled contract negotiations.

"They wanted me to come out, that's what I did," he said.

Eligible for free agency after the season, Piazza announced Wednesday he had instructed his agent to break off negotiations on a contract extension, and apologized to fans and teammates for allowing the talks to become a distraction.

"I said what I wanted to say and that was it," Piazza said. "I feel like it's ridiculous to rehash. What is done is done. I can't bring back the past. You make mistakes and you move on. You've got to bury it."

When he came to bat for the first time, the reaction from the crowd of 39,541 didn't seem nearly as negative as the past two days. After that, just about all he heard were cheers.

"I don't want to over-analyze the whole thing a million times," he said. "Things happen. You're only human, sometimes you get a little sensitive to things like that. It's not like a problem, it's not like a life-and-death situation."

Piazza also struck out in the fifth and drew an intentional walk from Clint Sodowsky in the seventh before Todd Zeile's run-scoring single.

"He carried the team tonight," Dodgers manager Bill Russell said. "He got his swing together tonight. He was in a situation where they had to pitch to him.

Suppan, a 23-year-old right-hander who grew up in the nearby San Fernando Valley, said he got the pitches to Piazza "pretty much where I wanted."

"He did what he does," Suppan said. "He's strong."

Arizona catcher Jorge Fabregas agreed that the pitches Piazza hit were good.

"The second one, he muscled it out," Fabregas said. "I thought it was a popup. The next thing, it was over the fence."

White leaped above the wall to try and catch the grand slam, and said he should have made the play.

"It went in my glove and just popped out," he said.

Arizona, which dropped to 2-7, scored its runs in the seventh on a run-scoring double by Andy Stankiewicz and an RBI groundout by White.

Valdes allowed eight hits in 6 2-3 innings, while Suppan gave up six runs and eight hits in four innings.

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