Will Daal Deal Haunt Dodgers Too?

The loss of Pedro Martinez will live in Dodger infamy, but the Dodgers did receive an all-star second baseman in Delino DeShields, who simply failed to live up to his credentials. For Omar Daal, traded to Montreal in December 1995, the Dodgers got . . . Rick Clelland?

It would be a stretch to suggest that Daal’s ceiling was as high as Martinez’s, but there are similarities.

Both had live arms and both have suggested that former manager Tom Lasorda believed they were too slight and lacked the stamina to become full-time starters.

“When I worked with the Dodgers I was always a reliever,” said Daal, who has raised his ceiling significantly in two years with the Arizona Diamondbacks and will face the New York Mets in Game 3 of the division series tonight.

“I would always go in and face a left-handed hitter like Larry Walker or Tony Gwynn and I would have to throw my best pitch, which was a fastball or slider. I could never throw my changeup, so it wasn’t easy. Guys like Walker and Gwynn can hit left-handers as well as right-handers.”

There was not the margin of error that Daal has as a starter. Nor was he encouraged to expand his repertoire. Luis Tiant, then a minor league instructor with the Dodgers, talked to Daal about the benefits of movement and using different deliveries to confuse the hitter.

“Randy Johnson throws 95 [mph],” Daal said. “I only throw 87, 88. My game is to move the ball around.”

Daal started 23 games last year, was 8-12 with a 2.88 earned-run average. He started 32 times this year and was 16-9 with a 3.65 ERA, the NL’s 10th best.

*

Johnson, who threw 138 pitches in Game 1, will not be brought back in Game 4, even if the Diamondbacks need to win to survive, Arizona Manager Buck Showalter said.

*

DIAMONDBACKS’ OMAR DAAL

(16-9, 3.65 ERA)

vs.

METS’ RICK REED

(11-5, 4.58)

Shea Stadium, New York, 5 p.m. PDT

TV--Channel 4

* Update--Reed says he “pretty much struggled” all year, but he delivered a three-hit, 7-0 shutout over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the middle game of the Mets’ final-weekend sweep to set up the wild-card playoff with Cincinnati.