Ishii Has Opposition Buckling at the Knees

Left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii said in spring training he’d be happy to win 12 games this season, his first in the big leagues after 10 years in Japan. At his current pace, he’ll have 12 wins before the All-Star break.

Ishii became the second pitcher to post five wins without a loss this season--Arizona’s Randy Johnson is 6-0--when he gave up one run and three hits in seven innings of the Dodgers’ 5-4 Game 1 victory Sunday.

With that kind of start, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think Ishii could win 15 or more. Especially if he keeps pitching as well out of the stretch as he did Sunday.

Continuing a pattern from his previous two starts, Ishii struggled early Sunday, giving up Corey Patterson’s home run to lead off the first and walking three and hitting a batter in the first three innings.

But Ishii scrapped his windup to start the fourth, pitching exclusively from the stretch, and struck out six of the next 12 batters before being pulled for a pinch-hitter in the seventh. He gave up one hit and did not walk a batter in his last four innings.

“It was my idea,” Ishii, whose Dodger tenure has been marked by his seemingly endless tinkering with his delivery and mechanics, said through an interpreter. “I felt I had better control and command in that position. The main reason was to control my rhythm.”

Most indicative of Ishii’s quick transformation Sunday was a fifth-inning strikeout of Patterson, who froze on a sharp inside slider and swung meekly as the ball popped into catcher Chad Kreuter’s mitt. The pitch so baffled Patterson, his at-bat could have been scored a strikeout looking and swinging.

“That’s how Nolan Ryan used to throw the breaking ball, by making guys buckle,” Kreuter said. “That pitch started right at [Patterson] and then froze him.”

Kreuter also helped Ishii escape trouble in the seventh. With the Cubs trailing, 2-1, Mark Bellhorn led off with a double, and Robert Machado squared to bunt and missed. Bellhorn strayed too far off second, Kreuter gunned a throw to the bag, and Bellhorn was tagged out in a rundown.

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Chicago slugger Sammy Sosa had a .457 lifetime average with three homers and eight runs batted in against right-hander Andy Ashby before Sunday, but Ashby held him hitless in three at-bats in the nightcap. Ashby struck out Sosa looking at a fastball in the fourth inning.

“It was a matter of making pitches,” said Ashby, who gave up one hit in eight shutout innings. “I was ahead in the count more than I’ve been in the past few starts. I felt great, my rhythm was a lot better, and I mixed my pitches.”

Ashby, who has struggled at times in his return from elbow surgery, said Sunday was the best he’s felt all season.

“I don’t want to get too overconfident, but my timing felt a lot better today,” he said. “I felt good. And not walking six guys [as he did in his last start against San Diego last Sunday] helped.”

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Kevin Brown showed no stiffness, soreness or swelling from Saturday’s 90-pitch workout in Los Angeles and will be activated from the disabled list to start Tuesday night against Cincinnati.

Left-hander Omar Daal, who went 2-0 with an 0.73 ERA in two starts in place of Brown, will return to the bullpen, and reliever Guillermo Mota will probably be sent to triple-A Las Vegas. The Dodgers plan to monitor Brown closely, looking for signs that he might be putting too much stress on his surgically repaired elbow.

“When he’s right, he’s not inclined to throw a lot of balls,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “When [fatigue] happens, it happens very quickly. If he starts to fatigue and if you’re not on top of that, you can get caught off guard.”