Nomo Showing the Art of a Winner

We interrupt our regularly scheduled flogging of the Dodger offense with this special report: There are still some uplifting stories in the team’s clubhouse, even if you have to wade through a sea of negative batting statistics to find them.

One is pitcher Hideo Nomo, a.k.a. the Tornado, and ever since the Japanese right-hander blew into Los Angeles for a second stint with the Dodgers in 2002, he has left an indelible mark on Southern California’s baseball landscape.

Instead of making Chavez Ravine a barren wasteland in 2002, the Dodgers, despite numerous injuries and a suspect offense, won 92 games and remained in the playoff race until the final weekend.

Instead of wallowing in their offensive mediocrity in 2003, the Dodgers are 45-35 and in the thick of the playoff picture entering tonight’s game against San Diego in Dodger Stadium, where Nomo will oppose Padre right-hander Brian Lawrence.

Much of the credit should go to Nomo, who was 16-6 with a 3.39 earned-run average in 2002, not losing a decision after July 16. He is 9-6 with a 2.41 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 2003, a record hardly indicative of his effectiveness.

“Don’t be misled by 9-6, because 9-6 now could very easily be 14-1,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said. “The only thing that has kept him from that is a lack of run support.”

Indeed, the Dodgers have scored eight runs in Nomo’s six losses. Had they gotten a key hit here, a run or two there, Nomo, and not Kevin Brown (10-3), would be the Dodger being touted as a possible All-Star game starter.

Nomo has been no less dominant than he was in 2002, and pitching coach Jim Colborn believes the 34-year-old has actually pitched “a little better” this season than he did last season. Nomo has limited opponents to a National League-low .193 average. He has the third-best ERA in the league, he ranks second in innings pitched (123 1/3), fifth in strikeouts and second with two shutouts.

While so many Dodger pitchers have gone down with injuries over the past year and a half, Nomo has not missed a start.

“Where is this team at now if Nomo is not contributing in the manner in which he has contributed since last year?” Tracy said. “Where would this club be?”

The mere thought of the answer would make Tracy wince. Without Nomo, the Dodger offense drags the team down with it. Without Nomo, the Dodgers are a .500 team at best. With Nomo, the Dodgers eke out a 2-1 win over the Mets on May 7 and a 2-1 win over the Marlins on May 18, games in which the Dodgers combined for 10 hits. With Nomo, the Dodgers shut out the Diamondbacks (March 31) and Giants (June 25) on the road.

“What he’s brought is a tremendous desire to win and overcome all obstacles,” General Manager Dan Evans said. “There is never any indication of him giving in to the opposition, and that resiliency is what I respect most about him.”

That resiliency, along with his drive, determination and work ethic -- not to mention a sound shoulder -- has helped Nomo rebound from a bewildering three-year stretch in which he was 26-32 with a 4.73 ERA for four teams -- the Dodgers, Mets, Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers--from 1998-2000.

A no-hitter in his Boston debut helped propel Nomo to a 13-10 record and 4.50 ERA in 2001, and he has flourished in Los Angeles since signing a two-year, $13.25-million deal, with an option for a third year, before 2002.

“I saw him [in 1998] here, and though he never had surgery, his shoulder was never healthy,” Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca said. “He was throwing 85-88 mph then, but now he can go to 91-92 mph when he has to. The big difference is his velocity. He doesn’t talk about it, but I think the last few years he has been healthy.”

Nomo, through an interpreter, said his pitching “hasn’t changed that much” throughout his nine-year career, which started with his whirlwind, Nomo-mania rookie season (13-6, 2.54 ERA, 236 strikeouts) with the Dodgers in 1995.

Nomo has simply gotten better at what he always has done, spotting his fastball more consistently on the corners and mixing two very effective split-fingered pitches, one that starts high and drops into the strike zone and one that starts in the strike zone and drops toward the dirt.

“He knows now that he can throw the split for a strike whenever he needs to or bounce it whenever he needs to, and that’s huge,” Lo Duca said. “He can throw more 1-and-0 and 2-and-0 splits for strikes, and that makes his fastball even more effective.”

Fueling Nomo’s consistency is a between-starts workout regimen that focuses on his shoulder, elbow and back, all areas he has injured in the past, and includes plenty of running and exercise-bike work.

“As I get older I won’t be able to cruise by without doing any work,” Nomo said. “So gradually, I have to increase the amount of training I do.”

Nomo, who makes $7 million this season, has an $8-million option for 2004 that will vest if he throws 360 innings from 2002 through 2003 and 175 innings this season. With 220 1/3 innings in 2002 and 123 1/3 innings this season, Nomo is only 16 1/3 innings shy of the first threshold and 51 2/3 shy of the second.

In today’s market, with so many inflated pitching salaries, the Dodgers have a bargain in Nomo, who has gone seven innings or more in 16 of 17 starts, allowing Tracy the luxury of using his bullpen more liberally on the days before and after Nomo pitches.

Nomo’s walk count (50) is a little high, and his first-pitch strike ratio (277 of 492 pitches for 56.3%) is a little low, but he has gone to 3-and-0 on only 23 batters, two of whom were intentionally walked.

Most important to the Dodgers: Nomo has kept them in every game he has started with a style of pitching that at times has resembled art.

“He doesn’t throw as hard as Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling or Kevin Brown, or almost any of the other premier starters, but the fact he knows what to do with his stuff puts him in the same class as those guys,” Colborn said. “That’s how good of a pitcher he is. For the professionals, he’s really fun to watch.”