It’s a Near-Perfect 10

Wrigley Field didn’t bring its A game Friday. It was cold all right, a frigid 43 degrees, and the winds were whipping at 15 mph, certainly B-plus material for one of baseball’s most inhospitable April climes. But it’s going to take a lot more to faze Dodger pitcher Odalis Perez. Maybe a blizzard.

The 23-year-old left-hander from the Dominican Republic warmed to the conditions as he does to his pregame merengue music, coming within one bad-hop single of a perfect game to lead the Dodgers to a 10-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs before 23,686.

Perez faced the minimum 27 batters--Corey Patterson was erased on a double play after his seventh-inning infield hit--and struck out six, narrowly missing what would have been the 16th regular-season perfect game in major league history and first since Yankee right-hander David Cone’s gem against Montreal on July 18, 1999.

Perez threw 91 pitches, 62 for strikes, and had only two three-ball counts, becoming the first Dodger pitcher to face the minimum 27 batters since Tim Belcher accomplished the feat in a one-hit, one-walk shutout of Pittsburgh on July 21, 1990.

“It was hard to get a grip on the ball because it was so dry and windy,” said Perez, who is 3-1 with a 1.64 earned-run average in five starts. “But nothing is going to bother me. Whether it’s hot or cold, you have to have the same approach.”

Perez breezed through six innings, striking out five of 18 batters, and the closest the Cubs came to a hit was Patterson’s fourth-inning popup, which caused confusion between first baseman Eric Karros and second baseman Mark Grudzielanek before Grudzielanek made the catch, and Sammy Sosa’s low liner to first, which Karros stabbed to end the fourth.

The speedy Patterson opened the seventh with a grounder up the middle. Shortstop Cesar Izturis was there, but the ball took a bad hop into his chest. Izturis was able to cradle the ball, but his throw was not in time to catch Patterson.

Izturis ranged to the hole for Chris Stynes’ ensuing grounder to start a 6-4-3 double play, and Perez retired the next seven batters for his second complete game in his last three starts.

“That was absolutely a phenomenal performance,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “He was one bad hop away from a perfect game. If that ball doesn’t take a funny bounce, Cesar makes the play. He did a phenomenal job just to catch that ball.”

There was no hesitation from official scorer Don Friske, who immediately ruled the play a hit, and there was no dispute in the Dodger clubhouse.

“I’m sure a one-hit shutout won’t disappoint [Perez], but you would have liked to have seen a hard-hit line drive or grounder up the middle,” Tracy said. “But a hit is a hit. Patterson was probably the only guy who would have beaten that out. It was scored correctly.”

The fact that Perez went on to retire the next eight batters after Patterson’s hit didn’t make it any easier for Izturis. If not for that bad hop, Perez would have become the second Dodger to throw a perfect game, joining Sandy Koufax (Sept. 9, 1965 against the Cubs).

“It’s hard to think that’s all that separated him from a perfect game,” said Izturis, who had three hits, including a run-scoring double in the Dodgers’ six-run sixth. “It ticked me off because it was a routine play, and the ball kicked off my shoulder. It was tough.”

So is Perez. The Dodgers raved about Perez’s stuff when they acquired him with outfielder Brian Jordan from Atlanta for Gary Sheffield in January, and Perez has masterfully mixed his fastball, slider and changeup, but what has impressed them most is his confidence and fearlessness.

Perez didn’t flinch when facing San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds in his first two starts, brushing back baseball’s home run king several times, and he threw a complete game in the hitter’s haven that is Coors Field on April 15. As easy as it was to blow on his hand between pitches Friday, he blew away the Cubs.

“He has that attitude, that swagger, and he’s dominant right now,” catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “Everything he throws, he throws with conviction. He has that I-don’t-care attitude and the stuff to back it up.”

Jordan said Perez has been buoyed by the confidence the Dodgers have shown in him. In Atlanta, Perez shuttled between the rotation and bullpen, often getting demoted after a subpar start.

“When you’re pitching behind Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, it’s easy to get overshadowed,” Jordan said. “He’s a young guy, and he was always looking over his shoulder in Atlanta. I knew if he just got the ball every fifth day, he’d relax and show what he can do.”

Now look at him.

“He’s more aggressive; he’s not afraid to throw inside and take control out there,” Jordan said. “He’s just having fun. He plays his Latin music before the game, he’s relaxed. You don’t even realize that it’s his day to pitch.”

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*--* The Ones to Watch The one-hitter by Odalis Perez against the Chicago Cubs was the 31st in Los Angeles Dodger history. A look at some of them:

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*--* MULTIPLE

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*--* 5 Don Sutton (1969, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977) 2 Sandy Koufax (1960, 1965) Jerry Reuss (both in 1982) Orel Hershiser (both in 1985) Bob Welch (1980, 1983)

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COMBINED--Five times: Most recently by Andy Ashby and Omar Daal, April 5, 2002 vs. Colorado

*--* BY LEFT-HANDERS

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*--* Sandy Koufax (1960, 1965) Jerry Reuss (two in 1982) Claude Osteen (1965) Mike Kekich (1968) Rick Honeycutt (1984) Odalis Perez (2002)

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*--* L.A. Gems Odalis Perez faced the minimum 27 batters in the Dodgers’ 10-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday, but he had to settle for a one-hitter. Here are the seven Los Angeles Dodgers who have thrown no-hitters: 4 Sandy Koufax (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965*) 1 Bill Singer (1970) Jerry Reuss (1980) Fernando Valenzuela (1990) Kevin Gross (1992) Ramon Martinez (1995) Hideo Nomo (1996) *perfect game against the Cubs

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