Game of Catch Is Won by Martinez, Dodgers, 5-2

Despite the trappings of a near-full Dodger Stadium and a national television audience, Saturday’s baseball game came down to a couple of guys playing catch.

Dodger pitcher Ramon Martinez was on one end, catcher Mike Scioscia was on the other.

When Martinez struggled, Scioscia calmed him. When Martinez fooled with his motion, Scioscia fixed it.

For nine innings they played catch with such togetherness that the San Diego Padres could only watch. The Padres scored two runs on four hits in the first three innings, but not did not get another hit off Martinez. A seventh-inning home run by Scioscia capped the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory before 36,819.

While much of the Dodger spotlight this summer has been focused on Martinez and his climb toward stardom, Saturday’s game proved that he is not making that trip alone.

“Today was like what Ramon has said to me before,” teammate Jose Gonzalez said after the Dodgers broke a five-game losing streak. “He has done well this year because Scioscia has driven him real good. Scioscia has been there with him every turn.

“It is like driving on a freeway. If you’ve never driven anywhere, you go crazy. Ramon was like that. Scioscia has kept him going straight.”

Saturday’s performance could help Martinez go straight to his first All-Star game next month, not to mention helping Scioscia’s chances of joining him.

Martinez retired the last 14 Padre hitters, only two Padres getting on base--via walks--after a two-run single by Joe Carter with one out in the third inning. He finished with eight strikeouts, increasing his National League-leading total to 102. He improved to 7-3 with a 2.78 earned-run average and is 6-0 at Dodger Stadium.

And with each victory, he gets more excited. On Saturday, during his customary tossing of the game ball into the stands behind the dugout after a complete-game victory, he tried, in vain, to throw it into the orange seats in the second deck. It was his only wild pitch.

“There isn’t many times you are going to strike out 18 batters, so a game like this gives me confidence,” said Martinez, referring to his earlier Dodger record-tying strikeout performance against Atlanta. “Scioscia, he helps me with that confidence. He calls the pitches. He tells me exactly what to do.”

Scioscia also seems to know exactly what Martinez needs. With the Dodgers trailing, 2-1, after Carter’s league-leading 53rd and 54th RBIs in the third, Scioscia helped end the outburst by throwing out Carter when he attempted to steal third.

In the bottom of the inning, Scioscia coaxed a walk from Padre starter and loser Mike Dunne. He kept alive a threat that was capped with an RBI single by Mike Sharperson and an RBI grounder by Alfredo Griffin.

Scioscia then hit his seventh homer to start the seventh inning against reliever Calvin Schiraldi. He has already hit more homers than in seven of his previous nine full seasons. With 25 RBIs, he is also on a pace for a career-high in that category.

But as any Dodger will tell you, he has been most valuable working with Martinez. That is, any Dodger but Scioscia.

“People actually said that about me?” Scioscia said after being told of several post-game compliments. “Hey, I’m not going to take credit for that guy. He could throw to a brick wall.”

The statistics, then, will probably surprise Scioscia even more. He has caught 10 of Martinez’ 13 starts. During that time, Martinez is 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA. When not caught by Scioscia, he is 1-1 with a 5.29 ERA.

“Scioscia is a great handler of pitchers. . . . I talk to a lot of managers, and they always compliment him,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “I know when I pitched, I didn’t care if my catcher hit the ball out of the infield. I just wanted him to do my thinking for me.

“And Mike is great at the retention of his pitchers strengths and weaknesses, and the same for opponents.”

Both Martinez and Scioscia played like All-Stars in the early innings Saturday. Carter singled, Jack Clark was hit by a pitch and Mike Pagliarulo walked to load the bases with none out in the second inning. But Scioscia noticed a flaw in Martinez’s delivery.

“He saw me dropping my arm, so for the rest of the game, he would move his arm behind the plate to remind me,” Martinez said.

He escaped the jam by striking out Mark Parent, getting Joey Cora on a fly out, and striking out Mike Dunne. Carter put him back in trouble in the third inning by following an error by Eddie Murray and an infield single by Roberto Alomar with a bloop, two-run double.

But with runners on first and third and one out, Scioscia threw out Carter and Pagliarulo hit a grounder back to the mound to end the inning. At that point, in three innings, Martinez had thrown 71 pitches. He was so dominant in the final six innings, he threw only 74 more.

Dodger Notes

Juan Samuel, hitless in his last 30 at-bats, was benched Saturday and could remain on the sidelines for several days. Lenny Harris was moved to second base and Mike Sharperson played third despite the presence of right-handed Padre starter Mike Dunne. Sharperson responded with an RBI single. “I think (Samuel) needs to sit down for some games, get himself back together,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “You could tell he is really, really trying. Maybe it would be better for him if he just watched for a while.” Samuel’s infield partner Alfredo Griffin had just one hit in his last 28 at-bats, but he is still the only Dodger to appear in each of the team’s 62 games. Samuel is batting .207 while Griffin is batting .243. . . . Hubie Brooks was sidelined for a third consecutive game Saturday because of a sore right wrist that he said will take a few more days to heal. Brooks said he hurt the wrist last month, but continued to play. He said doctors told him the wrist contained calcium deposits, but that the injury is probably not disabling. Stan Javier had a single and an RBI in Brooks’ place Saturday, making him four-for-13 with a home run, a double and three RBIs since taking over in right field three games ago.