Nolte Has the Nerve, the Curve : Baseball: Padre left-hander shuts down Dodgers, 6-3. Offense continues its tear with 14 hits.

Padre pitcher Eric Nolte’s eyes were watery. His voice was quivering. Deep down in his heart, he knew there would be days like this, but he never realized how good it would feel.

Nolte, who figured a few months ago that the only way he’d be in Dodger Stadium this night was as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department, shut down the Dodgers, 6-3, Saturday in perhaps what will be the first step in resurrecting his career.

How big was this for Nolte, who applied for the Los Angeles Police Academy during the winter in case no else wanted him in baseball?

Consider this: It was his first victory in the major leagues since Aug. 29, 1987, and only his second start in the past four seasons.

Welcome back.

The only trouble Nolte, 26, encountered was when he was fighting his nerves in the first inning. Staked to a 3-0 lead before he even took the mound, Nolte gave back two runs when he struggled with his control.

“I think I threw the ball pretty decently after I got the butterflies out of my system,” he said.

But after Juan Samuel’s run-scoring single in the first inning, Nolte retired 20 of the next 24 batters before leaving the game with a blister two outs in the sixth inning. He made the mighty Dodger lineup look like 98-pound weaklings. He allowed just only hits--all singles--and only one of final 11 batters hit the ball out of the infield.

Considering the way the Padres are hitting, it proved to be enough. They unleashed a 14-hit attack and scored all six of their runs in he first two innings. Everyone in the Padre lineup except Nolte and third baseman Jim Presley had at least one hit in their first two plate appearances.

Padre left fielder Jerald Clark went going three for four with three RBIs. He reached base eight times in a row the past two games before striking out in the ninth, falling short of the franchise record for reaching base--nine consecutive times by Tony Gwynn and Bip Roberts in 1989.

Clark finishes the week batting .588 with a team-leading seven RBIs, 455 points higher than Dodger outfielder Darryl Strawberry’s batting average.

It’s been that kind of week for the Padres, who lead the National League West with a 4-1 record and lead all of the major leagues in hitting at .335.

But even with their offense, none of the Padres wanted to steal the spotlight from Nolte, who already has stolen the hearts of most of the veterans.

After advancing from double-A to the big leagues in 1987, Nolte spent the past three years languishing in the minors, wondering if perhaps it would be best to find another line of work.

“The past three years,” he acknowledged, “I’ve pretty much been through the meat grinder, so to speak.”

In fact, he considers himself lucky to be alive, having suffered a perforated ulcer and carrying a six-inch scar in his stomatch as a reminder. But always, he persevered.

Yet after going 2-11 with a 8.56 ERA last season in triple-A, yielding a whopping 187 hits in 122 2/3 innings, who could blame Nolte for wanting to be a police officer. In the academy, they could care less how well your breaking balls move.

“I took the test and everything,” Nolte said, “but I wasn’t ready to give up. I just wanted to give this one more chance.”

Then one afternoon, early in spring training, Nolte said, his entire outlook changed. It happened on the bank of a creek in Yuma, Ariz. He and his longtime buddy Greg Harris, who came up with him in professional ball 1985, went fishing one afternoon.

Harris looked at Nolte square in the eyes, and said: “Eric, you’ve done it once, you can do it again.”

Said Nolte: “I didn’t know what to say. It was like, all the lights came on when he said that. I started thinking, and I thought, ‘Why not. Why can’t I do it again.’ ”

Nolte did his part, tearing up the spring-training camp with a 0.75 ERA, and fate did the rest. First, Atlee Hammaker broke his finger lifting weights. Dennis Rasmussen suffered tendinitis in his left shoulder. Calvin Schiraldi pitched himself out of the organization. Nolte was the survivor.

“I knew he could do it,” said Harris, his best friend on the team, “but he was under so much pressure. That’s why I said that to him, to get him to relax. Really, he’s just going for broke now. He’s got absolutely nothing to lose. And you know, I think he’s going to make it.”

Nolte, who spent three years at UCLA and is within a few hours of completing his degree in geography at UC Riverside, understandably was nervous when he awoke Saturday morning for his big start.

He spent the morning watching one of his favorite movies, “Pumping Iron,” marveling at the strength of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. He went to lunch with teammate Pat Clements, only to return to find his car vandalized.

When Nolte showed up to the clubhouse, he tried to sit still as long as he possibly could. But he finally went into the trainers’ room and began curling dumbbells, one after another, trying to work off his excess energy.

Whatever works, right?

What calmed Nolte more than anything was Dodger starter Kevin Gross, who showed that no matter how much experience you have (eight years) and no matter how much money you make ($6.7 million over three years), you’re entitled to your bad days.

Gross lasted only 1 1/3 innings. The only out he recorded among the first six batters he faced was when Fred McGriff hit a fly ball to the warning track in center, scoring Bip Roberts from third. It never got any better.

Gross gave up seven hits and five earned runs and walked two batters before he mercifully was pulled.

The Padres, once again, made it interesting down the stretch with their bullpen. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the eighth inning off Rich Rodriguez, but the Padres survived when McGriff was able to spear Eddie Murray’s hard bouncer down the right-field line off Mike Maddux.

Maddux, after another spectacular grab by McGriff at first, finished the ninth for only the second save of his career. His other save came on April 5, 1989, against Chicago.