Patience at plate shows Loney is growing up

James Loney said he doesn’t feel like a kid anymore.

The “kid” has a mortgage to pay on a four-bedroom house he purchased last winter in his home state of Texas.

“It feels good,” said the first baseman, who will turn 25 next month.

The sometimes absent-minded kid with the goofy smile -- Manager Joe Torre likes to compare him to former New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams -- also looks as if he’s growing up on the field.

Proof of that was in the two bases-loaded walks he drew in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory over San Francisco on Wednesday night, the second of which pushed in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“You look at that last at-bat, he was as calm as could be,” Torre said.

Loney said part of that was because the situation he encountered no longer felt new to him.

With only one out, Loney said he was looking for something up that he could lift into the outfield to drive in a run on a sacrifice fly.

But Giants closer Brian Wilson wasn’t cooperating.

“Obviously, he was keeping the ball down, trying to get a ground ball for a double play,” Loney said.

Loney let go every one of the six pitches he saw in the at-bat, including two strikes.

“James is a good person to have up in that situation,” Torre said.

That might not have been the case a season ago, when Loney walked 45 times in 651 plate appearances -- once every 14.5 trips to the plate. In his 40 plate appearances entering Thursday’s game, Loney had six walks in 40 plate appearances -- one every 6.7.

Hudson happy at No. 2

Like Jeff Kent last summer, Orlando Hudson was initially defensive when asked about the benefits of hitting in front of Manny Ramirez.

“I didn’t hit in front of Manny last year, I hit .305,” Hudson said. “I didn’t hit in front of Manny the year before, I made the All-Star team.”

But the more Hudson talked, the less insecure he became.

“It’s definitely fun, man,” said the second baseman, who was batting .368 with two home runs, two triples, two doubles and five runs batted in through Wednesday.

“I did hit in front of Vernon Wells and [Carlos] Delgado [in Toronto], but Manny is Manny,” Hudson said. “Things are going good right now. We know it’s not going happen like that for 162, but you have to ride the wave.”

Hudson said it’s too early to tell if he’s being pitched differently because Ramirez is behind him in the lineup.

“I know one thing: If I were a pitcher, I’d rather not pitch to him,” he said. “He is the best hitter, to me, in baseball.”

Reflecting on brilliance

What pleased Clayton Kershaw more than the career-high 13 strikeouts he recorded in the Dodgers’ win Wednesday night were the seven innings he completed.

Kershaw needed 105 pitches to get to that point, the same number he threw in the five innings he pitched in his first start of the season.

“That was the thing I was the most happy about,” the 21-year-old left-hander said. “Going deep in the game is something I’m trying to focus on this season.”

Torre was impressed that Kershaw was able to limit the Giants to one run, one hit and one walk in such a close game. The Dodgers led, 2-1, when Kershaw left the game.

“You watch him pitch a game like that, at 2-1 as opposed to 6-0, every pitch meant something,” Torre said.

Short hops

Russell Martin and Rafael Furcal could both be given days off on Saturday, which is a day game after a night game. Brad Ausmus would start in place of Martin and Juan Castro in place of Furcal.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com