Atlanta Tires of Martinez in 5-2 Dodger Win

He should have been tired. He sure looked tired.

Nearing his 400th pitch in 10 days, Ramon Martinez entered the seventh inning Monday night against the Atlanta Braves with his cap askew and his uniform wet with sweat. The bullpen was on watch.

And Martinez breezed through the last three innings.

Only three of the last nine Atlanta batters hit fair balls, two of them struck out. Martinez threw the ball so hard to three others that they could only hit weak foul popups, the last one completing the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory.

It was an ending that was symbolic of a beginning. Martinez is no longer just a curiosity. Before 16,738 fans at Atlanta Stadium on Fireworks Night, he approached a level shared by only the National League’s best pitchers.

“Where, I ask you, where do you see a pitcher throwing the ball as hard as he does for so long?” Manager Tom Lasorda asked after Martinez’s eight-hit complete game. “He just comes out and fires the ball, doesn’t he? Could you believe him in the last couple of innings? Can you believe how hard he was still throwing?”

OK, so he only struck out nine, half as many Braves as he struck out when he last faced them, on June 4 in a Dodger record-tying performance. But he still leads the major leagues with 121 strikeouts. Based on 35 total starts, he is on a pace to strike out 282, which would rank fourth on the Dodgers’ all- time single season list.

And strikeouts weren’t even as eye-popping on Monday as his number of walks--none.

“You’re kidding me,” said Mike Sharperson, who had two of the Dodgers’ 11 hits against Atlanta’s Charlie Leibrandt (2-1). “He didn’t walk anybody? And it didn’t even look like he was at his best.”

Said catcher Mike Scioscia: “That is the thing that is most impressive about Ramon lately. Even when he isn’t at his best, he is consistent.”

And when he is good? In his last nine starts, he is 7-1 with a 1.54 earned-run average. He is 9-3 with a 2.62 ERA for the season, ranking him among the league leaders in both categories.

He is even learning a little show biz.

Remember his pledge to throw the ball into the stands after each complete-game victory? On Monday he walked the ball to the Dodger dugout, reached up, and handed it to a child.

“He was cute,” said Martinez, 22. “Why not?”

This four-day rotation obviously doesn’t bother him. It seems as if he could pitch for four consecutive days.

In his last three starts, he has thrown 399 total pitches. Yet he felt so good after Monday’s win, he had to be reminded to use ice.

“My arm gets sore, I get tired,” Martinez claimed. “But mainly early in the season.

“The bad part for me is sitting the bench when the game is going on and I’m not playing. Then, I get nervous. I want to pitch.”

Said Dodger trainer Charlie Strasser: “He started on our strength program so young, he is way ahead of guys who join us from other organizations. If he continues with the proper work, who knows how long he can do this?”

Martinez was buoyed by two things Monday: Memories of the only other time he pitched here, and five Dodger runs in the first three innings.

Last year he was recalled from triple-A Albuquerque June 5 to make one start in Atlanta. In an unparalleled act of optimism, he brought six suitcases full of his life’s belongings. He pitched a 7-0 shutout and still was returned to Albuquerque the next day.

“That was a very hard time for me,” Martinez said. “I wonder, ‘What can I do to stay here?’ I think about that this time when I get to the hotel.”

After RBIs by Mickey Hatcher, Hubie Brooks and Mike Scioscia in the first inning, and RBIs by Scioscia and Juan Samuel in the third inning, the pitching and thinking was easy.

Martinez allowed gave up a first-inning homer by Ron Gant, his 15th. And the Dodger starter allowed an unearned run in the eighth on a run-scoring single by Jeff Treadway that scored Oddibe McDowell, who beat out a bunt and continued to third on Martinez’s wild throw.

“I get the lead and I say, ‘Well, just throw strikes,’ ” said Martinez, who is 4-1 with an 0.39 ERA against the Braves.

Dodger Notes

Roy Campanella is back in Northridge Hospital Medical Center with respiratory difficulties. The Dodger Hall of Fame catcher was admitted late last week after apparently recovering from a lengthy stay this winter due to pneumonia. . . . Stan Javier went hitless in five at-bats, ending his hitting streak at 13 games.

Atlanta pitching coach Leo Mazzone was ejected by home plate umpire Jerry Crawford for disputing Crawford’s claim that he was spending too much time on the pitching mound. The ejection came in just Mazzone’s third big-league game since 1985, as he joined new Manager Bobby Cox’s staff Saturday. . . . Kal Daniels’ back was still bothering him Monday. He only took batting practice underneath the stadium against soft tosses from batting coach Ben Hines, and missed his third straight start. Mickey Hatcher started in his place, collecting two hits and a run batted in. While Daniels has been out, replacements Hatcher and Chris Gwynn have gone six for 12 with a home run and four RBIs.

Kirk Gibson took regular batting practice and ran in the outfield Monday. He needs to run the bases before rejoining the lineup, which could happen any day. . . .

Ron Walden, the Dodgers’ top pick in the recent June draft, won his pro debut Saturday for Great Falls in the Pioneer rookie League. In a 1-0 win over Helena, Walden allowed just two hits with five strikeouts in six innings. . . . In John Wetteland’s first scheduled start for triple-A Albuquerque Sunday, he strained a rib cage warming up and could not pitch.