Martinez Is an All-Star for a Night : Dodgers: After failing to make the NL team for the first time in three seasons, he pitches 2-1 victory.

Maybe something clicked inside Ramon Martinez when he looked across the clubhouse and saw Mike Sharperson walking around as if in a daze.

Or maybe it happened when he looked across the field and saw the St. Louis Cardinals’ Bob Tewksbury nearly skipping from the dugout to the mound.

For the first time in three seasons Thursday, unlike Sharperson and Tewksbury, Martinez was not named a National League All-Star.

But for one of the first times this season, he pitched like one, giving up three hits in eight shutout innings with eight strikeouts to lead the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory before 31,359 at Dodger Stadium.

“I know I didn’t pitch good enough this first half, not like past years, Martinez said. “I make it my goal to get back to the All-Star game next year. If I pitch like this, I can do it.

Roger McDowell took over in the ninth inning and gave up an unearned run on a single by Todd Zeile, a booted double-play grounder by Jose Offerman and a balk.

But with a runner on third, McDowell struck out Gerald Perry and retired Milt Thompson on a slow grounder to third baseman Dave Hansen, who threw on the run to Eric Karros.

McDowell responded to the out by running into the arms of Manager Tom Lasorda. These days, the last-place Dodgers will embrace happiness where they can find it.

“This could be a great way to end the first half and start the second half,” Darryl Strawberry said. “He was awesome tonight. Nobody could even hit the ball good off him.”

The Dodgers improved to 11-8 on this home stand, with three games remaining with the Cardinals this weekend.

Even if they win all three and the division-leading Cincinnati Reds lose all three, the Dodgers can be no closer than 11 games back at the All-Star break.

Considering their dismal present, the Dodgers are playing for nights like Thursday, when they can catch glimpses of a brighter future.

Much of that future rests on Martinez’s right arm, which was working on three days’ rest for the first time this season.

“I didn’t even know I was pitching on three days’ rest,” Martinez said. “I didn’t think I’d do it again, but if it works. . . .”

Last year during the championship race, that experiment failed miserably, as did Martinez after the All-Star break.

Last season at the break, Martinez was 12-3 with a 2.54 earned-run average. Since then, he has a 10-16 record with a 3.82 ERA, 5-6 with a 3.51 ERA this season.

But Thursday, the short rest and everything else worked. On one of the first days this week when the players could breathe comfortably, Martinez took advantage of the lower humidity by taking away the Cardinals’ breath.

His eight strikeouts were his second-highest total this season and most in more than two months. The three hits he gave up were singles. He allowed only one runner as far as third base.

The hard fastball was back. The slow changeup was working. Batters were not merely swinging and missing, but looking bad in the process.

The sudden difference may be the result of work done with Orel Hershiser, who showed Martinez highlights of his delivery two seasons ago, compared to this season.

Hershiser would not comment on the work, but Martinez said: “Yeah, he showed me a few things. We looked at a few things.

Said Strawberry: “I know Orel and Ramon have been working the last few days together on Ramon using his legs more and getting back on top of his delivery. You could see the results tonight.

Martinez needed only a two-out, run-scoring single by Eric Davis in the sixth inning and a booted grounded by Felix Jose in right field in the seventh, which accounted for another run.

It was enough to stop one of the league’s hottest teams--five victories in seven games--and hottest pitchers. Tewksbury had the major leagues’ best ERA at 1.82 and the league’s best winning percentage, with his 9-2 record.

But it was Martinez, with a 1-5 record in his last six starts, who held the opposition hitless until Tim Jones lined a ball past Karros at first base with two out in the fifth inning.

And it was Martinez, with a 4.78 ERA in six starts since shutting out the Chicago Cubs on May 29, who toughened when in trouble.

* PARTING COMPANY

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