U.S. Olympic spoiler attempts to make Dodgers this spring

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Late innings, late night at spring training. Pretty quiet until No. 67 for Los Angeles lines a laser to deep, dim center field.

It's an RBI double, and puts the visiting Dodgers farther ahead of the Florida Marlins.

"You're not supposed to do that!" a man shouts, drawing laughs from a half-empty section.

No telling what he would've yelled if he had known who No. 67 was, and what he'd already done.

His name is Luis Garcia, a first baseman-outfielder who's bounced around the minors a bunch but never made it to the majors. Oh, he's also the guy who hit the home run that kept the United States from going to this summer's Olympics.

Garcia's ninth-inning shot lifted Mexico over the U.S. team 2-1 at a qualifying tournament in Panama in November. The loss eliminated the heavily favored Americans from competing in the Athens Games.

"At the time, I did not realize how huge it was," Garcia said. "We are so used to seeing the USA in every sport in the Olympics, especially baseball."

"But I hope I will go on to do more in the future," he said. "I do not want to be known just for that home run."

It's certainly brought him a lot of attention around Dodgertown.

Longtime manager Tom Lasorda, who guided the U.S. team to the 2000 gold medal in Sydney, sure noticed the newcomer.

On the afternoon Garcia homered, Lasorda called it a "very sad" day, saying it was a "shock and a disgrace that the Americans won't be represented in the Olympics."

Lasorda finds it funny he's now encouraging the player who delivered the key hit.

"It's unbelievable, that's what it is!" the Hall of Famer said. "I've thought about that a couple of times. I'm out there telling him how great he is and complimenting him, can you believe it?"

Garcia, 25, is making quite an impression for a nonroster player. He's 8-for-13 in exhibition play, including home runs Sunday and Monday.

Originally signed by Boston, he tried pitching before becoming an everyday player. He hit 20 homers at Class A in 2000. Garcia was traded to St. Louis in the deal for Dustin Hermanson after the 2001 season. Garcia was sent to Cleveland in July 2002 in a package for Chuck Finley.

Garcia slumped last year, hitting .215 with seven home runs and 51 RBIs for Triple-A Buffalo, and was released.