Dodgers Get Lefferts Off to Rough Start : Baseball: Ex-reliever lasts only one-third of an inning, and Padres fall in home opener, 6-3.

He waited nearly nine years for this moment. It would be the day of his rebirth. The game that would silence every last one of his critics.

Padre pitcher Craig Lefferts, who most believed would be long gone before spring training, instead found himself on center stage Thursday, vowing that this would be only the beginning of his career in the starting rotation.

Unfortunately for a large segment of fans who got caught in pregame traffic outside Jack Murphy Stadium, they still have yet to see Lefferts as a starting pitcher.

Lefferts, starting his first game since Aug. 16, 1983, flopped on opening night, and the offensive supporting cast did little to rescue him in the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Padres in front of 51,280.

Lefferts’ performance lasted all of 13 minutes. Pulled after pitching only one-third of an inning, he surrendered two home runs, four hits and two walks. The Dodgers led, 4-0.

The game he had eagerly anticipated--family and friends had a huge get-together in the stadium parking lot--lasted a mere 23 pitches.

“Well, it’s obviously a disappointment,” Lefferts said. “I’ll just go out in six days and have a better day. Being opening day, there was a lot of excitement for me, and I just didn’t execute.”

Instead of the game being remembered for its historical value--Lefferts having pitched more games between starts, 542, than any active pitcher in baseball--it will be commemorated as the shortest outing by a Padre starter since Eric Nolte a year ago.

So much for nostalgia.

Brett Butler hit Lefferts’ third pitch of the game over the right-field fence for a home run. He walked the next batter, Mike Sharperson, on five pitches. Two pitches later, rookie Eric Karros hit his first homer of his career, deep into the left-field seats, bringing the first chorus of boos from the crowd.

Padre first baseman Fred McGriff walked to the mound to try to calm Lefferts, and he responded by inducing a weak grounder by Darryl Strawberry. That would be the end of his heroics, leaving only gory details in his wake:

Eric Davis reached first on an infield single, stole second and went to third on catcher Benito Santiago’s throwing error. Juan Samuel walked. Mike Scioscia singled to right, scoring Davis.

The boos grew louder and louder; then they turned into sarcastic cheers when Padre Manager Greg Riddoch walked to the mound and asked for the ball.

In the third inning, there was a cruel twist. A trivia question appeared on the scoreboard: “He was the winning pitcher of the pennant-clincher in 1984?

Moments later, the answer appeared: Craig Lefferts.

The fans booed lustily.

It turned out to be the last vocal outburst by the fans, who watched Dodger starter Tom Candiotti become the first knuckleball pitcher to win in the National League since Joe Niekro in 1987.

Candiotti surrendered solo home runs to former American League players Fred McGriff in the second inning and Tony Fernandez in the eighth, but in between, he was masterful. It took another 20 batters before the Padres would reach second base again after McGriff’s homer, and he faced 12 batters in one stretch without allowing the ball out of the infield.

“I had asked some of the guys (who faced Candiotti in the American League) about him,” Gwynn said, managing a weak smile, “but they didn’t know. They’re as clueless as me.

“Believe me, it’s easier to hit a guy throwing 95 m.p.h. than a guy throwing 70.”

The Padres, who put a scare into the Dodgers once they knocked Candiotti out of the game in the eighth, were genuinely sorrowful afterward in the clubhouse. Their hearts went out to Lefferts.

“This was supposed to be a dream come true for him,” said teammate Tim Teufel, his closest friend on the team. “He waited his whole career to become a starter again. It’s a shame.”

Said teammate Kevin Ward: “He’ll be OK. It’s just one game. I mean, he already surprised everyone by being in the rotation in the first place.

“When he told us during the winter he wanted to be a starter, we all kind of said, ‘Sure, Lefty, whatever you say.’ We were hoping the best for him, but we thought he’d be back in the bullpen by the middle of spring training.

“Look what he did this spring.”

Lefferts was 3-0 this spring with a 3.78 ERA, but as Gwynn said before the game, “Spring training doesn’t mean squat.”

The Padres attributed Lefferts’ dismantling as a simple case of nerves. After all, it’s not as if Lefferts has had previous problems with the Dodgers. He entered the game with a 9-1 career record and 2.13 ERA in 62 games against the Dodgers.

“Everybody is nervous for their first start,” Padre starter Andy Benes said, “but when you haven’t started in nine years, now that’s nervousness.

“Come on, nine years? I was playing second base in high school nine years ago.”

There will be other days for Lefferts. The Padres aren’t giving up so quickly on this idea of having him in the rotation. Besides, if Lefferts ever listened to the critics, he would have been out of this game a long time ago.

He was cut from his high school team . . . his American Legion team . . . and his college team. He also is an asthmatic with a wandering eye that causes double vision.

“This is nothing new,” Lefferts said, “I’ve been going through this my whole life. I get psyched up when people say I can’t do something. I like to prove them wrong.

“And I can’t wait to do it again.”