BASEBALL : DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Martinez Expects to Pitch Tuesday

Ramon Martinez, sporting a slight bruise on his upper right arm from being hit by a line drive Tuesday, said he felt confident he will be able to make his next scheduled start, Tuesday at Chicago.

Trainers said the swelling on his bruised biceps was minimal. Martinez said he will be able to test the arm this weekend at St. Louis.

“It hurt a little bit during the night, but it feels much better now,” said Martinez, who gave the Dodgers a scare when he dropped to the ground in the fifth inning after he was struck by a ball hit by the San Diego Padres’ Jack Howell. “I’m lucky the ball didn’t hit me lower in the arm. I will be fine.”

After throwing 76 pitches Wednesday, Orel Hershiser was confident that last week’s shoulder tightening, “was just like a glitch on the screen. Everything is fine again.”

Hershiser, who was removed in the first inning of his last start, Friday against Houston, because of flu and a tight shoulder, acknowledged that Wednesday’s performance was important, and not only because he won his fourth consecutive decision.

“It was a relief to get back on the mound and get feeling good again,” he said. “If I go out there and pitch just one inning again, a lot of rumors start flying again. I warmed up as well as I have warmed up all year, and I felt good in the game.”

Darryl Strawberry said he acknowledged the standing-ovation curtain call for his seventh-inning home run after ignoring the curtain call for his fifth-inning grand slam because: “Curtain calls are only for when the game has been decided. I like them in the late innings, but not earlier. Too many things can happen.” Strawberry had much experience with curtain calls while playing at Shea Stadium with the New York Mets. “But I guess they haven’t had many curtain calls there lately,” he said with a laugh. . . . The Dodgers scored four or more runs in an inning Wednesday for the first time in 240 innings. . . . The Padres, who dropped from third place to fifth during this three-game series, were missing starters Tony Gwynn (ankle), Bip Roberts (knee) and Tony Fernandez (ankle) Wednesday. Roberts will be sidelined several more weeks. . . . After pitching a scoreless ninth inning Wednesday, Jay Howell has not allowed a run in seven appearances since Roger McDowell briefly took his stopper role.