They Get Relief From Doldrums

Terry Mulholland walked up and greeted Mike Trombley in the clubhouse, welcoming him to the team. Mulholland had been in a Dodger uniform only one hour longer.

Both pitchers were acquired Tuesday, as the Dodgers shored up their pitching to continue their drive for the National League West Division title. Mulholland and Trombley will have prominent roles in a bullpen that has relied heavily on Matt Herges.

For Mulholland, this is business as usual. He has been shipped into pennant races before, to Atlanta in 1999, to the Giants in 1997, to Seattle in 1996. He has been traded five times during his career.

“I’ve become very familiar with the people at Mail Boxes Etc.,” said Mulholland, who has played with the San Francisco Giants (twice), Philadelphia Phillies (twice), Chicago Cubs (twice), New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh.

For Trombley, this is new. His first trade and his first pennant race since he was a rookie starting pitcher with the 1992 Minnesota Twins.

“We went into Oakland down by one game and they swept us,” Trombley said. “It took me a while get back into another one.”

He can expect a lot of work.

The Dodgers were desperate for help in the bullpen.

Mulholland, 38, and Trombley, 34, will provide veteran leadership, but, then, so did Gregg Olson and Mike Fetters. Neither of them provided much pitching.

The Dodgers need to take pressure off Herges, who has pitched a league-high 71 1/3 innings.

“We had a good bullpen that just got stronger,” Herges said. “I’m not fatigued at all. But the experience these guys have is going to makes us a lot better.”

Mulholland has been a starter much of his career. He appeared in 54 games with the Braves last season, 20 of which were starts. He’ll be used in relief, as Dodger Manager Jim Tracy has no plans to start him.

“I hope not,” Tracy said. “That would probably mean someone is injured.”

If Mulholland pitches like he did Wednesday night in a 10-5 loss to the Reds, he might not get many opportunities from the bullpen either. He gave up four runs and five hits in one inning, making his ERA with the Dodgers a lofty 36.00.

Trombley, who is signed through 2002 at $2-million per season, will probably split time with Herges as a set-up man. He was 3-4 with a 3.46 earned-run average in 50 games with the Orioles this season.

“It was hard to leave friends, but I got sent to a team that is in first place and to a league where the hitters haven’t ever seen me before,” Trombley said. “Maybe I can fool them for a while.”

Mulholland has been in pennant races the last three seasons, the last two with the Atlanta Braves and in 1998 with the Cubs. He signed a two-year $6-million contract with the Pirates as a free agent during the off-season.

He had no decisions and a 3.72 ERA in 22 games with the Pirates before suffering a broken index finger on his left hand when he was struck by a line drive against Minnesota on June 22.

Mulholland was on a rehabilitation assignment with double-A Altoona when he was traded. He pitched one inning Friday and 1 1/3 innings Saturday.

“It’s not real hard to get motivated pitching in a pennant race,” Mulholland said. “The hard thing to do is to find something to get you going when you’re pitching meaningless game in September. This is a chance to go for the brass ring.”