Nomo’s Smile Is a Winner

As Hideo Nomo rounded third base Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, the stone face he normally shows the world cracked into a big smile.

Nomo doesn’t show much emotion on the field. Or even in the locker room.

Even at the height of Nomomania, he would merely tug on his cap and go about his business as if he expected to be among the best pitchers in baseball.

Tuesday night, Nomo reached back and came up with a performance worthy of the almost-forgotten days of Nomomania, striking out 11 en route to a 6-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 29,791.

But the huge grin was caused by something more, something never seen in the glory days of Nomomania--Hideo Nomo, home-run slugger.

In the seventh inning, Nomo put an exclamation point on his evening by hitting a pitch from Milwaukee starter and loser Jose Mercedes (2-1) over the left-field fence into the Dodger bullpen.

Now that was worth a smile.

Asked how it compared to his no-hitter two years ago against the Colorado Rockies, Nomo said through an interpreter, “This will be more memorable.”

To remember the moment, Nomo, whose record improved to 2-3, saved the bat and the ball.

There was another big home run hit Tuesday night by a Dodger to give Nomo a cushion that was, in a way, even more shocking.

It’s not so shocking that Matt Luke, a 6-5, 220-pound first baseman/outfielder, was able to stroke a Mercedes fastball into the bleachers in left-center field two batters before Nomo’s blast as part of the Dodgers’ six-run seventh inning.

No, in Luke’s case, the shock is that he’s even in a position to make such a contribution.

That’s not the way it figured to be when spring training began. It was supposed to be Paul Konerko who was going to be battling for a starting job at either first base or in left field.

Luke?

He was some guy the New York Yankees had put on waivers, a career minor-leaguer who had appeared in one big-league game in six seasons.

But now, at the end of April, Konerko is back at triple-A Albuquerque trying to figure out what happened to his swing and Luke has just been named as the Dodgers’ starting left fielder against right-handed pitching.

Did Luke ever envision things turning out this way?

“Not in my wildest dreams,” he said. “But the year is just beginning.”

Luke insisted he didn’t even know he had made the starting lineup on a platoon basis.

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “If my name is in the lineup, I just go play and try to get in my hacks.”

The Dodgers needed his hacks after Milwaukee outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, who drove in the winning run in Milwaukee’s victory over the Dodgers on Monday night, hit his eighth home run with nobody aboard in his first at-bat against Nomo.

But, with all his pitches working and his control sharp, Nomo held the Brewers scoreless until the Dodger bats, his own included, could come alive.

Mike Piazza opened the seventh-inning rally with a single. Todd Zeile got aboard when Brewer third baseman Jeff Cirillo threw away his grounder for an error. Raul Mondesi then hit an inside pitch that just eluded shortstop Jose Valentin. By the time Valentin retrieved it in short center field, Piazza had scored and Mondesi was on his way to second with a double. Eric Karros then hit a liner into right that hit the grass just in front of the onrushing Burnitz, driving in a second run.

The homers by Luke and Nomo kept the pressure off Nomo when Eric Owens hit a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth.

Nomo got the next hitter, Darrin Jackson, to line to second baseman Eric Young, giving Nomo his second consecutive complete game.

Piazza, however, focused on Nomo’s reaction to his own home run.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen him smile like that on the field in a long time,” Piazza said.

If Nomo keeps pitching the way he did Tuesday, there will be a lot of smiles in the Dodger dugout.