Two Rookies Are Pitching and Glowing

Pitchers Mark Deschenes and Frank Lankford didn’t expect to be here, and they hope the trip is only beginning.

The right-handers were selected by the Dodgers in the major league phase of the annual Rule V draft of minor league players, and they are competing to make the opening-day roster. This is the break they had waited for, and they said they won’t waste the opportunity.

“Just being here is really a dream come true,” said Deschenes, selected from the Cleveland Indians’ organization. “I figured that next year I’d be in double A, and then I’d just take it from there. Now, here I am in major league camp, and at Dodgertown. It’s pretty wild.”

Lankford is similarly impressed by his surroundings.

“The Dodgers are a lot different from [the New York Yankee organization],” he said. “I’ve been treated great, and everyone has made me feel welcome.”

Deschenes, 25, was converted from a shortstop to a closer in 1996, his second professional season. Last season, he was selected the Indians’ minor league pitcher of the year after combining to go 4-2 with 29 saves and a 1.52 earned-run average for two teams in Class A. Deschenes had 108 strikeouts in 65 innings.

Lankford, 27, was primarily a starter, going a combined 11-6 with a 2.78 ERA while playing in double A and triple A. He is 33-34 with a 2.83 ERA in five seasons.

Deschenes and Lankford cost the Dodgers $50,000 apiece, and they must be retained on the major league roster in 1998 or offered back to their previous clubs for $25,000. If the previous clubs choose not to take the pitchers, they can be optioned to the minors.

Neither shined in his initial audition.

Lankford took the loss in a four-inning intrasquad game Wednesday, giving up four hits and three runs, two earned, in an inning. Deschenes walked four and gave up a run in two-thirds of an inning.

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The exhibition season begins Friday against the Houston Astros at Holman Stadium at 10 a.m. Pacific time. The game won’t be televised, but it can be heard on AM 1150 and KWKW (1330). . . . Hideo Nomo threw a 50-pitch, two-inning simulated game. Nomo, who underwent off-season surgery on his pitching elbow, is scheduled to make his exhibition debut March 4 against the New York Mets at Port St. Lucie.