Mark Davis Sets Table and Then Cleans Up Dodgers, 3-1 : Padre Reliever Works Out of Last-Inning Jam

Mark Davis entered Saturday night’s game amid relative calm, in the ninth inning with his San Diego Padres leading, 3-1, and a Dodger on first base.

Time for him to get comfortable. After striking out Eddie Murray, he caught a Jeff Hamilton grounder in his bare hand, spun and threw the ball into center field. Runners on first and third.

He threw four balls to pinch-hitter Mickey Hatcher. Bases loaded.

There. Now Davis had the Dodgers just where he wanted them.

With a left hand that was growing numb, he threw John Shelby a strike and then fooled him into a fly-ball out. He threw Rick Dempsey a strike and then fooled him into another fly-ball out.

End of game, continuation of Davis’ roll. The Padres’ 3-1 victory before 32,539 fans at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium--their eighth straight win that Davis has saved--did more than just enhance Davis’ reputation as the best relief pitcher in the National League.

The Padres think the left-hander, 28, might be the best pitcher in the league, period.

“If we come back and win this thing, he has to be the Cy Young (Award) winner,” said Mark Parent, who caught Davis’ ninth inning Saturday. “Day in, day out, nobody has done what he has done.”

Even though the Padres won Saturday’s game on the strength of a tiebreaking, two-run fifth inning off loser John Wetteland--featuring rookie Jerald Clark’s run-scoring double and Bip Roberts’ run-scoring single--the lasting memories will be of Davis.

He has a club-record 39 saves. He has a 2.16 earned-run average. And the Padres can’t keep him off the mound. He has pitched in seven of the Padres’ last eight games.

There should be no wonder why the Padres are on a club-record run of 14 victories in 16 games and have moved within five games of first-place San Francisco in the National League West. The Padres are tied with Houston, which defeated the Giants, 4-1, Saturday behind the pitching of another Cy Young candidate, Mike Scott.

“That’s what it should come down to, him or Scott,” Padre pitching coach Pat Dobson said. “When you look at a pitcher’s value to a team, you have to consider Mark.

“Where would we be without him? I can’t speculate. I don’t even want to speculate.”

The Dodgers might be five victories richer if it weren’t for Davis, who has saved five of the Padres’ 10 wins over the Dodgers this year.

“He’s got that great curveball, a real biting curveball, and he makes you hit it,” Dodger pitcher Tim Belcher said. “I’m even more impressed with how much he pitches, but I wonder, how long can he go like that while breaking off those curves?

“In three years, is he going to have a fastball left? Is he going to have an arm left?”

The quiet Davis shrugged.

“I really don’t twist my arm that much in my curve,” he said. “It really feels like a fastball. And as long as the thought process is the same, I’ll feel fine.”

But about that Cy Young talk, he is almost apathetic.

“It is not something I’m going to think about,” he said. “It’s not going to help our team right now.”

Something that did help the Padres Saturday was the pitching of starter Ed Whitson, who allowed only five hits in eight innings. And one of those hits was by pinch-hitter Mike Davis, whose eighth-inning single was his first hit since June 30, which was a few days before he underwent arthroscopic surgery on both knees.

Whitson’s pitching surprised the Dodgers because they usually pound him. He entered with a 10-16 career record and a 4.17 ERA against them. He had already lost to them three times this season, including a 10-1 defeat in Los Angeles July 30 in which he allowed five runs in two innings.

The Dodger starter and loser, Wetteland (4-7, 3.26 ERA), proved again that he could use a rule change. He needs a fourth-inning stretch. In his last four starts, Wetteland has been splendid in the first three innings, allowing three runs on nine hits during that span covering 12 innings.

But after the third inning, he has lasted an averaged of less than three more innings a game. And during that time, nine innings total, he has allowed 10 runs on 14 hits.

Saturday, he allowed a run-scoring double to Jack Clark in the first inning but then settled down to stop the Padres on one more hit until the fifth. Then it was the same old story.

Benito Santiago, who had drawn only 22 walks in 402 previous at-bats, led off with a walk. Wetteland then threw his 13th wild pitch of the season, bringing him closer to Sandy Koufax’s club record of 17 set in 1958.

One out later, facing .158-hitting rookie Jerald Clark, Wetteland made a wild pitch within the strike zone. The ball hung, Clark swung, and seconds later Clark was gliding into second base with a run-scoring double into the right-field corner.

Wetteland appeared to calm down when he retired Whitson on a fly-ball out. But then Roberts lined a run-scoring single to left to complete the scoring.

Dodger Notes

Mike Marshall missed his second start in the last four games, again with a stiff lower back. Marshall finally admitted what several opposing players have guessed--he has been playing in pain. “I cost the team the game (Friday) night--I have to take myself out when I start directly affecting outcomes,” Marshall said of Friday’s 1-0 loss to San Diego in which he hit a weak foul pop-up to the first baseman with one out and runners on second and third in the sixth. “It’s been hurting the last couple of weeks, and normally I can deal with it. But when it’s hurting more than me, it’s time to rest.” Marshall said he knew he might not be able to play every day after missing 27 games in June with a stiff lower back. “This is a major thing I’m going through--I knew the problems wouldn’t end when I came off the disabled list,” he said. “I knew I would have good times and bad times. But when you look at it, the bad times have been few and far between.” Marshall has missed only eight of 63 games since coming off the disabled list. He said he hopes that this winter he can strengthen his back so it will no longer be a topic of discussion. “I’m slowly building the back up, I’ve got the winter to work hard, I know what I’ve got to do to strengthen it,” Marshall said. “Right now, it’s very frustrating.”

The Dodgers recalled right-handed pitchers Jeff Fischer and Mike Hartley and shortstop Jose Vizcaino from their triple-A Albuquerque club. Fischer was 12-10 as a starter with a 3.47 ERA, and Hartley was 7-4 as a reliever with a 2.79 ERA. Vizcaino hit .283 with one home run and 44 RBIs. Not that any of the three will see any action. Catcher Darrin Fletcher was recalled Sept. 1 and has yet to play.

Padre catcher Mark Parent walked up to Dodger catcher Mike Scioscia before Friday’s game here and said, “I have a thank-you card for you, but I forgot to send it.” Scioscia wondered why Parent would be sending a card. “For that big contract you just signed,” Parent said of Scioscia’s three-year, $5.55-million deal. “You’ve made life better for catchers everywhere.”