Dodgers Put an Ace in a Hole

Roughly three hours after the curtain went up on the 2003 season Monday afternoon, the Dodgers found themselves with an almost impossible act to follow.

Hideo Nomo threw with the precision of a Swiss watch, needing only 103 pitches to complete a four-hit shutout. The Dodgers pounded Arizona ace Randy Johnson, handing the towering left-hander his first loss in 11 opening-day starts. And they played flawless defense in an 8-0 victory over the Diamondbacks before a sellout crowd of 47,356 in Bank One Ballpark.

“To beat Randy Johnson on opening day, you can’t get much better than that,” said Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca, whose clutch two-out, two-run single pushed a 3-0 lead to 5-0 in the seventh inning. “We got great pitching, timely hitting, played great defense.... If we just repeat that for 161 more games, we’ll be fine.”

Sure, no problem. Play every game as the Dodgers did Monday, and they should have the National League West wrapped by, oh, July. Lo Duca, of course, was joking. The Dodgers know it’s impossible to sustain this kind of play for a few days in a row, let alone a few months. But they also don’t think they’ll be one-hit wonders.

“We came into spring training with a lot of confidence because we didn’t have the questions we had going into last season,” said left fielder Brian Jordan, whose RBI single in the first and two-run homer in the sixth keyed a 13-hit attack. “Having [Kevin] Brown and [Darren] Dreifort in great shape gave us even more confidence. We know we have a good team. We feel we can challenge anyone.”

Challenge No. 2 will come tonight, when the Dodgers face Arizona co-ace Curt Schilling, who went 23-7 with 316 strikeouts last season. Johnson and Schilling have lost on consecutive days only once in their 2 1/2 seasons together in Arizona, last Aug. 30 and 31 to San Francisco. Schilling hasn’t lost to the Dodgers since 1997.

“We take pride in playing the two big guys here tough,” said Dodger right fielder Shawn Green, who doubled twice and scored two runs. “A lot of guys see their one-two punch and don’t battle as much, they give in a bit. This team ... we want to win more against those guys.”

Johnson was his usual intimidating self Monday, coming inside to just about every left-handed batter and drilling Dave Roberts in the rib cage in the seventh. But the five-time Cy Young Award winner did not have the stuff to match his bluster, giving up five runs -- three earned -- on nine hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out only five.

Green doubled to right in the first and Jordan smacked an RBI single to left for a 1-0 lead, which held through five innings. With Roberts on third and two out in the sixth, Jordan up and the left-handed Fred McGriff on deck, Arizona Manager Bob Brenly went to the mound.

“I wanted to give him the option [of walking Jordan],” Brenly said. “But with R.J.’s stuff and knowledge of opposing hitters, he said, ‘I’ve got to make pitches no matter who’s in the box.’ I felt confident he could make the pitches he needed to make.”

Johnson was perturbed by Brenly’s visit.

“I don’t know why Bob came out there, to be honest with you,” Johnson said. “No disrespect to him, but I’m pitching that game, and I’m fully aware Fred McGriff is on deck. When he came out, I assumed he’d take me out and not tell me how to pitch.... If he wants to [walk Jordan intentionally] then come out there and tell me to do it. Don’t just come out there.”

Johnson’s next pitch was a slider, up and in, that Jordan lined into the left-field seats for a home run. “His first pitch in my first two at-bats were sliders,” Jordan said. “I went up guessing slider and got it.” McGriff then grounded weakly to short to end the inning.

Jolbert Cabrera’s double, Cesar Izturis’ single -- a liner off Johnson’s glove -- and Roberts’ hit by pitch loaded the bases in the seventh for Lo Duca, who grounded an opposite-field, two-run single to right to seal the victory.

Not that the Dodgers needed much insurance. Nomo, who was 14-1 in his last 26 starts of 2002 and teamed with Odalis Perez to keep the Dodgers in the playoff race while the rest of the rotation collapsed last September, was almost untouchable Monday.

Mixing a devastating split-fingered pitch with pinpoint control of his fastball, Nomo struck out seven and walked one. He threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of 30 batters and had only four three-ball counts. Of his 103 pitches, 70 were strikes.

“You never think you’re going to go the distance on opening day, but he threw only 103 pitches,” Lo Duca said. “He usually has that in the fifth or sixth inning.”