Belcher Too Much for Padres : Dodgers: Pitcher shows no ill effects of shortened spring training as he wins, 1-0.

So you read somewhere that a short spring training would hurt power pitchers like Tim Belcher?

After what happened in the Dodgers’ 1-0 victory Tuesday night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, try telling that to the radar gun. Try telling that to the inside of catcher Mike Scioscia’s glove.

Then try telling that to the San Diego Padres, whose bats were rendered useless by Belcher as he allowed only three hits.

You read right. Throwing fastballs that hit Scioscia’s glove as hard in the ninth inning as in the first inning, Belcher made a mid-April night sound like August. Two days into the season, it was the longest outing in the major leagues thus far, and it’ll probably be the most impressive for some time.

He did not walk anyone and faced just two batters over the minimum of 27. And he did this with just three weeks of spring training, after just one official spring game.

Granted, Belcher needed just a fifth-inning home run by Juan Samuel, who with Hubie Brooks becomes the second Dodger newcomer to win a game with a homer in two games this season. But he took care of the rest himself.

“Just like a good spring training workout,” Belcher said afterward with an embarrassed grin. “Really, I feel like it’s still spring training. I don’t feel like I was overpowering.

“It wasn’t like last August or September where I felt like whatever I threw up there, they weren’t going to hit it. . . I was just able to get a few pitches up there where I wanted them.”

Oh yes, last August and September. Belcher was the best pitcher in the league during that time, going unbeaten in his last eight starts of last season, at 7-0 with a 1.25 earned-run average. That stretch helped him lead the major leagues with eight shutouts.

On Tuesday, he yielded a first-inning single to Roberto Alomar, and then picked him off first base. He gave up a fourth-inning single to Tony Gwynn. He gave up a two-out, ninth-inning single to Phil Stephenson.

And nothing more. He threw 110 pitches, 30 more than in his final spring outing in a triple-A game in Vero Beach last Thursday, but he threw no wild pitches, and certainly showed no signs of a weak arm.

This despite having thrown so little this spring. Tuesday was the first time since last season that he had pitched to Mike Scioscia.

“I got out there for the opening warmups and I said, ‘Oh, it’s Scioscia,’ ” Belcher said after disappointing the Padres home opener crowd of 52,254. “I guess I really had not worked that much.”

That is small consolation to the Padres, favored by most to win the West Division. In their first two games this season, they have managed just three runs against four Dodger pitchers.

It was the first time in 66 games that the Padres had been shut out, the longest such streak in the major leagues.

“All Tim Belcher did tonight was put on a clinic,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “It was just a little short of perfection. He knew what he wanted to throw, and where he wanted to throw it, and that’s exactly what he did.”

In the Padre ninth, with most of the 52,254 fans still in the park, he retired the first two left-handed hitters he faced, Garry Templeton and Mike Pagliarulo, on fly balls to left field. This meant they could not get around on his fastball. After the single to Stephenson, Belcher finished the game by retiring the left-handed hitting Alomar on another fly ball to left field.

“Even then, they couldn’t catch up with him,” Lasorda said.

In all, the Padres hit 13 fly balls, nine to left field, which Belcher translates to mean he was a bit lucky.

“They say this is a game of inches, well, tonight it was a game of fractions,” he said.

Lasorda was asked if Belcher was ever one batter from leaving the game, considering the bullpen was working through the last couple of innings.

“He was three batters ahead of staying in the game,” Lasorda said.

Said the Padres’ Tony Gwynn: “He didn’t lead the league in shutouts for nothing.”

The Dodgers scored their run in the fifth, but typical of night in which they got nine hits, they should have had more. Alfredo Griffin began the inning with a line drive between first and second base, his second hit of the night, and third in his first five at-bats of the season. Belcher bunted him to second, setting up a nice plate appearance with a runner in scoring position for Samuel.

One pitch later, catcher Benito Santiago caught Griffin wandering off second base. He threw to second baseman Alomar, who threw to third baseman Roberts, who tagged the charging Griffin.

This cost the Dodgers a run, as Samuel belted a 2-2 fastball over the left-center field wall for his first homer. He had just 11 last season after averaging 18 in his previous five big-league seasons.

Dodger Notes

Jay Howell said his shoulder felt better Tuesday after he threw lightly on Monday, adding, “The next time I throw could be in a game.” That could come as soon as today, although it’s more likely he’ll make his season debut Thursday or Friday. The Dodger bullpen ace said that because the shoulder has been stiff since he struck out the side in one inning against Atlanta a week ago in spring training, he has not wanted to “cut loose” until he felt certain it would not cause problems. He said he will have to cut loose (throw hard) before entering a game, and will probably do it in the bullpen on the first night he is ready to pitch. “If it feels fine in the bullpen, I’ll come in the game, and if it doesn’t, I’ll sit down,” Howell said.