Candiotti Starts to Feel Fine

Dodger pitcher Tom Candiotti probably felt like his only friend was his dog, a Maltese named Casper.

Dogged by fans and the media after winning only nine of 27 starts last season, Candiotti had been sent to the bullpen for 1997.

Moved into the starting rotation when Ramon Martinez suffered a shoulder injury last month, Candiotti is back.

Candiotti won for the second time in four starts, giving up one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings Sunday as the Dodgers extended their winning streak to season-best six games with a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres before 35,862 at Qualcomm Park.

“This was the first start since I [began] starting again that I felt totally fine,” said Candiotti, who made 23 relief appearances. “I didn’t have any stiffness or soreness. After that first game in San Francisco, I was sore for a week.”

The Dodgers, who swept a three-game series from the Padres here for the first time since June 10-12, 1988, are six games behind the Giants in the NL West going into the All-Star break.

The Dodgers (45-42), who have split six games with the Giants, open a four-game series against them Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

They are confident they can catch San Francisco.

“It’s definitely going to be tough,” first baseman Eric Karros said. “I’d rather be the team that was six games up, but we’ve put ourselves in this position and hopefully we can play well the second half and catch them.”

Candiotti has given up 13 hits and eight runs in four starts.

“I thought Candiotti’s performance was great,” Dodger Manager Bill Russell said. “He got us into the eighth inning. You can’t ask anything more of a starter.

“We’re fortunate to have a guy like that who could replace Ramon and give us those kind of quality innings. Usually teams don’t have a guy around like Candiotti when they lose a starter. A lot of you guys [the media] didn’t understand why [Dodger Executive Vice President] Fred Claire would keep him here.

“He was our insurance policy. Sometimes they’re expensive, but Candiotti has done everything we wanted him to.”

Candiotti sailed through the first seven innings, giving up two hits as the Dodgers took a 5-0 lead.

He was relieved by Scott Radinsky after issuing a one-out walk to Quilvio Veras to load the bases in the eighth inning.

Radinsky induced Tony Gwynn to fly out to deep center field to drive in a run.

Radinsky got center fielder Steve Finley to fly out to right field to end the inning.

“In the key part of the game, Radinsky came in with the bases loaded and got out of that with only one run,” Candiotti said. “That was an awesome job of pitching right there, because that could have turned the whole game around. He should have gotten the save.”

After Radinsky gave up a ninth-inning, one-out RBI single by shortstop Chris Gomez, Dodger closer Todd Worrell got pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney to hit into a game-ending double play and registered his 20th save.

Brett Butler, hitting .267 since he was activated June 3, got the key hit, a two-out two-run single off Sean Bergman (2-3) in the fourth inning that gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.

Butler, 40, who was held out of the two-game series against the Angels last week because Russell said he needed a rest, was five for 14 in the three-game series against San Diego.