Now Even Nomo Is Worried About Nomo

Hideo Nomo concedes that he is concerned. The Dodger right-hander has finally admitted that all is not right with his pitching motion.

“I don’t know the point which I should fix,” Nomo told Shin Murano of the Nikkan Sports News.

When he meets with American reporters, the Japanese-born pitcher, who does not speak English, has maintained a stoic front, saying only that he is continuing to work on his pitching form.

But after his latest effort, after giving up three home runs in three innings to the Florida Marlins on Monday, after seeing his record drop to 13-11 and his earned-run average soar to 4.30, Nomo watched himself on videotape and came out of the session still confused, and unable to pinpoint the reason for his struggles.

Manager Bill Russell also admits he’s not happy.

“I’m concerned with his control, whether it’s mechanics or whatever it is,” Russell said. “Both his control and his velocity can be affected by mechanics.”

The Dodgers will go with a three- or four-man rotation in the postseason, if they qualify.

At this point, Nomo wouldn’t qualify to be one of those three or four men.

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Pitcher Tom Candiotti has had 130,000 computer users call up his new personal Web page in one week. Over that same span, he has received 700 E-mail messages, some from as far away as Korea.

“Many of them thanked me for being friends with [pitcher] Chan Ho Park,” Candiotti said, “and for taking care of him, not only in baseball, but in life.”

Many of the other E-mailers want advice from Candiotti on how to throw the knuckleball.

Candiotti estimates that he and his wife, Donna, spend 90 minutes a day answering E-mail.

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The Dodgers have called up right-hander Rick Gorecki from double-A San Antonio. The 24-year-old Gorecki was a combined 6-5 with a 2.71 ERA for San Antonio and Class-A San Bernardino with 91 strikeouts and 47 walks in 96 1/3 innings. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning Wednesday.

The Dodgers waited to call up Gorecki until the San Antonio Missions had completed postseason play by winning their first Texas League championship in 37 years.

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The Dodgers will spend today’s off day, one of only two remaining on the regular-season schedule, traveling to Houston, where they will open a three-game series and a seven-game trip Friday night.

The Dodgers then play two games in St. Louis before going to San Francisco for next week’s showdown games against the Giants on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.