Finishing What Candiotti Starts

Dodger closer Todd Worrell asked for the baseball after recording his 200th save by pitching a perfect ninth inning in the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday.

“I’m having one of our clubhouse guys who’s an artist put all the necessary dates on it and it will probably collect dust on a shelf somewhere,” Worrell said.

The 19th player in major league history with 200 saves, Worrell might be nearing his 300th if he hadn’t been sidelined for two seasons because of a torn ligament in his right elbow.

“It’s kind of weird, but I’ve never led the league [in saves] one time,” Worrell said. “But I’ve been consistent and the consistency has proved out. I honestly think if I’d been healthy, I’d be saving 300 instead of 200 right now, but that’s life. You deal with what you’re dealt and try to make the best of it.”

Worrell, the first reliever in major league history with at least 30 saves in his first three seasons, sat out the 1990 season while recuperating from elbow surgery and made only three minor league appearances in 1991 before tearing the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

Signed by the Dodgers as a free agent in December 1992, he appeared in only 35 games in 1993 because of arm problems. He struggled in 1994, leading the National League with eight blown saves.

But Worrell has been one of the most effective closers in baseball for the last two seasons.

After setting a team record with 32 saves last season, Worrell has a league-high 23 saves. The first Dodger with 20 or more saves in successive seasons since Jay Howell saved 21 games in 1988 and 28 in 1989, Worrell has been selected to play in his second consecutive All-Star game Tuesday night in Philadelphia.

“I feel like I’m as effective now as I was before I had the arm surgery,” Worrell said. “Other than being older, I’m feeling good throwing the ball and I feel healthy. To have that kind of feeling and be throwing the ball at 36 years of age, that to me has made all the work that I had to do feel like a payoff.”

Reliever Antonio Osuna set the stage for Worrell.

He entered the game in the sixth inning, after starter Tom Candiotti’s right elbow was bruised when he was hit by a pitch by Mark Thompson in the bottom of the fifth. Osuna retired nine of the 10 batters he faced in three innings for his first win since May 24.

“He was probably the unsung hero of this game because he came in and shut them down,” said catcher Mike Piazza, whose two-out, two-run eighth-inning homer gave the Dodgers their 22nd come-from-behind victory of the season.

Osuna, who matched his longest outing of the season, retired the first eight batters he faced before walking Ellis Burks with one out in the eighth. Then Osuna struck out Trenidad Hubbard to end the inning.

“Osuna was just as much a key in the game as Piazza’s home run,” Rocky Manager Don Baylor said. “He shut us out for three innings and kept the game close.”

Osuna (4-3 with a 1.95 earned-run average) hasn’t given up a run in 24 of his 28 appearances since May 3. He credits Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax for helping him to develop an off-speed pitch in spring training.

“Before I was a thrower, now I’m a pitcher,” Osuna said. “I have more confidence now. I think this was my best game because I’d never retired eight in a row before.”

Osuna had more than baseball on his mind.

He left immediately after the game for Mexico to be with his ailing mother, Antonia, who’s suffering from high blood pressure. Given permission by the Dodgers to miss today’s game against the Rockies, Osuna is scheduled to return Wednesday.