Game draws record crowd

The Dodgers used a five-man infield against the Boston Red Sox. Too bad they weren’t allowed to put a player or two in the Los Angeles Coliseum stands.

Kevin Cash and Kevin Youkilis hit cheap homers off Esteban Loaiza to account for five runs in the first three innings, and the Red Sox beat the Dodgers 7-4 Saturday before an announced crowd of 115,300 – the largest to watch a baseball game.

The previous record of about 114,000 attended an exhibition between the Australian national team and an American services team during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

This exhibition game was part of the Dodgers’ 50th anniversary celebration of their move west from Brooklyn in 1958. They played at the Coliseum for four years before moving to Dodger Stadium in 1962.

In the last baseball game played at the Coliseum, on Sept. 20, 1961, Sandy Koufax pitched all 13 innings in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs before a crowd of 12,068.

Routine fly balls, even popups, soared over a 42-foot high screen in left field, where the distance from home plate to the foul pole was just 251 feet. Meanwhile, drives to right and center of more than 400 feet were easy outs.

The distance to the left-field foul pole for this game was 201 feet and the screen was 60 feet high.

Cash lined a two-out, three-run homer to left-center in the second. Youkilis connected with two outs in the third, popping the ball over the screen with a runner aboard.

Surprisingly, there were only two more homers, a solo shot by Dodgers’ first baseman James Loney in the seventh off Bryan Corey, and a two-run blast by rookie Blake DeWitt off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.

While Loaiza struggled, Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield excelled, allowing five hits and an unearned run in five innings to make a mockery of catcher Jason Varitek’s pre-game forecast of doom.

“Wakie’s a fly ball pitcher. That’s great,” Varitek said some 3 1/2 hours before the game as he walked down the Coliseum tunnel and glanced toward the left-field screen.

Then, in his best broadcast voice, Varitek intoned: “Dodgers 85, Red Sox 81.”

He was way off.

Astros release Williams

Woody Williams was put on unconditional release waivers by the Houston Astros, who owe the pitcher $6.5 million.

The 41-year-old right-hander had an 11.32 ERA in spring training this year. Williams will reportedly retire.