Martinez Waits on Word From Doctor

Starter Ramon Martinez, who suffered a strained groin on Saturday, is scheduled to be examined by Dr. Frank Jobe today, but the Dodgers don’t expect to know until later in the week how long Martinez will be sidelined.

Martinez could be out at least six weeks, particularly considering he might have to go on a brief rehabilitative assignment when he’s able to pitch again.

“When I fell, it was like something broke, a pop,” said Martinez, who walked in pain Sunday, but without crutches. “I was scared because nothing like that had happened to me before. I was almost paralyzed. That’s the worst pain I ever felt.

“It’s hard to say when I’ll be back, because right now, I barely can walk. Every time I move to the side, there’s sharp pain.

“I just want to get back out and pitch. If I can give 75% out of 100%, I’ll be there.”

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The word started spreading early Sunday morning in South Korea, and by the time everyone awoke, the country was celebrating pitcher Chan Ho Park’s historic feat.

Park became the first Korean-born pitcher to win a major league game Saturday in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs, and already, the country was calling it one of the greatest individual sports feats in its history. It is considered as significant as wrestler Jung Mo Yang becoming the first gold medalist in the 1976 Olympics and Kisoo Kim winning the middleweight world championship in 1965, according to sportswriter Michael Min of the Daily Sports Chosun in Korea.

“They were national heroes,” Min said. “Maybe Chan Ho is as big as them now. Believe me, it was history-making in Korea.”

Min said he filed four stories alone on Park, and 10 other sportswriters on his staff wrote other stories on Park in today’s edition of his newspaper. Park’s scheduled start on Thursday, the second of his career, is expected to be nationally televised in Korea with seven to 10 Korean journalists covering the event. Min also predicts a frenzy in Los Angeles approaching Nomomania proportions because of the 500,000 Koreans who live in Los Angeles.

“I’m very happy,” said Park, who was barraged with messages from Korean diplomats, sportswriters and fans when he returned from dinner. “This is a special game in history.”

Park said he telephoned his parents in Korea when he returned from the game, and jokingly told them, “I have bad news for you.”

“My mom got scared, and then I told her, ‘I just got my first win.’

“She said, ‘Oh, thank you.’ I said, ‘No, thank you.’

“I love my parents so much. We didn’t have much money, so they couldn’t give me a lot, but they gave me a lot of love.”

Park, who also telephoned and thanked Burt Hooton, his pitching coach the last two years in the minors, said he will send the game ball to his father.

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Center fielder Brett Butler, 38, couldn’t help but occasionally glance toward the luxury suite in Wrigley Field during the four-game series, remembering his terminally ill mother, Betty, watching him play last July for a final time.

“It was tough coming back,” said Butler, who set a New York Met record with three consecutive four-hit games with his mother watching. “When I came home, I told my sister, ‘It’s just not the same with Mom and Dad not here.’ ”