Gagne Makes Short Work of Debut

Eric Gagne’s spring debut was short but sweet, the Dodger closer needing only five pitches to retire the side in the fourth inning of the team’s 9-4 Grapefruit League victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.

“Five pitches or 15, I’ll take five every time,” he said.

Gagne, still rounding into shape after season-ending surgery on his right elbow in June, hadn’t pitched in a competitive situation since June 12.

“I feel like I hadn’t pitched in like 15 years,” the right-hander said after throwing nothing but fastballs in retiring Eli Whiteside on a long fly ball and David Newhan and Corey Patterson on grounders. “It’s been a long time.”

His pitches were clocked in the high 80s and low 90s.

“I’m fine with that,” Gagne said. “During the year, hopefully it’s going to go up and up and up. I felt good, felt like it was coming out of my hand pretty good.”

Said Manager Grady Little: “His ball, it had some life to it and he had a smile on his face, so that’s great.”

Indeed, Gagne said he enjoyed his short time on the mound.

“It was fun,” he said. “When you’re in the bullpen, it’s easy to miss your spots because it doesn’t really cost you anything. So, just to go out there and be able to try to hit my spots [was productive].

“I could tell when I missed because they hit the ball pretty hard.”

Gagne, who is scheduled to pitch again Saturday against the Washington Nationals, said his elbow had given him no reason for concern.

“It felt great,” he said. “I didn’t really push it too hard in the bullpen and I got to the mound and it felt perfect. I didn’t really think about it.”

Before the game, Little worried that Gagne might overextend himself.

“He’s the type of character that we’re going to have to probably try to hold back, put a rein on him the best we can,” Little said. “Whether we can, I don’t know, because once he’s in a game he’s a different individual and he’s hard to hold back. But we’ll try.”

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Jeff Kent, coming off surgery on his right wrist in January, also made his spring debut, punching two soft line drives into center field for singles and going two for three as a designated hitter.

“The wrist felt OK today and it worked out,” said Kent, who was penciled in at second base today against the Boston Red Sox.

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Little indicated that he wouldn’t revisit the past before today’s game, though the former Red Sox manager was prepared for an onslaught of questions from Boston reporters. Grilled by the Boston media for his failure to lift Pedro Martinez in the tide-turning eighth inning of a Game 7 loss to the New York Yankees in the 2003 American League championship series, he was fired soon after.

“There’s not going to be a whole lot of conversation about the year 2003,” he said. “If people want information on what’s going on with the L.A. Dodgers in 2006, we’ll talk as long as anybody wants to talk, but 2003 is past. We’re going forward.”

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Sandy Alomar Jr., Bill Mueller, Cody Ross and Joel Guzman hit home runs for the Dodgers, Guzman’s a towering shot that landed far beyond the fence in center field. ... Kent, a vocal advocate in the past for stronger steroid testing, declined to take questions about former teammate Barry Bonds. ... Outfielder Andre Ethier, who injured a shoulder Tuesday, was scheduled for an MRI exam.