BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Candiotti Still Loves Indians

It has been four years since he last wore a Cleveland Indians uniform, but Dodger starter Tom Candiotti’s love affair with his former team hasn’t waned.

It’s the first team he checks out in the boxscores each morning. He scans the scoreboard each night. He still talks to many of the players.

“While some of the guys couldn’t wait to leave there,” Candiotti said, “I never wanted to leave. I loved it there. I went through 5 1/2 years of pretty bad baseball over there, and now I’m not there to enjoy the good times.”

This is why, Candiotti says, he doesn’t want to leave the Dodgers.

Although he surely will become a free agent at the end of he season, and would be one of the top pitchers in the marketplace, Candiotti would like to retire a Dodger.

“I don’t want what happened to me in Cleveland to happen to me here,” Candiotti said. “When I got here, the Dodgers had just lost the division by one game, and looked like we would be the team to beat. Instead, everything happened to [Darryl] Strawberry and Eric [Davis], and nothing happened.

“Well, I suffered through all of those bad times and growing pains, and now that we’re on the verge of winning again, I’d like to reap the benefits.”

Candiotti (5-8) who has yielded a 1.59 earned-run average in 12 consecutive starts, now has a 2.96 ERA for the season. It’s the league’s ninth-lowest ERA.

*

First baseman Eric Karros, on his pick to win this year’s National League Most Valuable Player award: “Derek Bell of the Astros. No doubt about it. Just look at what he’s done.” Bell is batting .345 after going two for four Monday. He has six homers and 71 RBIs.

*

Hideo Nomo’s interpreter, Michael Okumura, left the team to return to Los Angeles to be with his wife, who was having complications with her pregnancy.