BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Brother Act Wants to Stay Separated

It’s the pitching match-up everyone wants to see:

Big brother vs. little brother.

Ramon Martinez vs. Pedro Martinez.

The Dodgers would like to see it. The Expos would like to see it. Virtually everyone in baseball would like to see it.

The two men involved hope they never see it.

“It would be too hard,” Expo starter Pedro Martinez said. “Nobody in my family wants to see it. It would be too hard, especially on my mom. I don’t think she could handle it.”

This is the second season the Martinez brothers have been apart since Pedro was traded to the Expos from the Dodgers. They’re not scheduled to face one another.

Ramon starts tonight against the Expos, and in the Expos’ visit to Los Angeles in two weeks, Pedro is not scheduled to pitch.

“I told Pedro, ‘Let’s just face it, it’s going to happen some time,’ ” Ramon said. “ ‘It’s just a game. Don’t worry if you win or lose. Just pretend I’m somebody else.’

“He told me, ‘Ramon, I don’t want to do that. We are brothers. We are friends. Please, I don’t want it to happen.’ ”

The way Ramon figures it, there’s only one way to ensure that they never face one another: They have to be teammates.

Considering Ramon is eligible for free agency at the season’s conclusion, would he want to join the Expos?

“Well, actually, I’m hoping it can be the other way around,” Ramon said. “I’d like to see Pedro traded back to us.”

*

Dodger starter Hideo Nomo, who has struggled his last three starts, yielding a 4.57 earned-run average, worked on a flaw in his pitching delivery before the game.

Dodger pitching coach Dave Wallace detected that Nomo was falling off-balance in his last start Sunday against the New York Mets, and had Nomo make a slight adjustment.

“He was getting a little bit out of position,” Wallace said. “It wasn’t anything major, but I think it might help. We’ll see in his next start.”

Nomo is scheduled to start Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.

*

Just who’s responsible for Dodger second baseman Delino DeShields’ sudden hitting?

Would you believe pitcher Willie Banks?

Banks, waived two weeks ago by the Dodgers, left behind his bats for DeShields.

DeShields started using Banks’ bats, which are slightly lighter than his own. He is seven for 12 with two home runs in the last three games.

*

Dodger catcher Mike Piazza hit two homers in a game for the third time this season, and the first since June 14. Piazza has hit four homers in the last seven games, compared to two homers in the previous 20 games. . . . Billy Ashley, appearing for the first time in eight games, had a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning. It was his first hit since Aug. 2. . . . Dodger outfielder Mitch Webster is on the disabled list because of a broken right hand, but it didn’t stop him from throwing batting practice.