BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : For Wilson, It’s Ecstasy and Agony

Steve Wilson will never forget the first weekend of last September. He joined the Dodgers from the Chicago Cubs and hours later struck out Barry Bonds in the eighth inning of a victory in Pittsburgh.

One year later, Wilson won’t forget the first weekend in September for another reason.

He was asked to hold the Pirates to a 4-1 lead in the eighth inning Saturday night. But he walked Bonds. Then he gave up three hits and two runs as the Pirates finished off a 6-1 victory.

Since the All-Star break, Wilson has yielded 14 runs in 18 innings (7.00 earned-run average). He has blown all four save opportunities this season.

With each game, he grows more visibly upset. And the Dodgers grow more worried about him.

“It’s just not working,” Wilson said slowly. “It’s hard. It’s so frustrating. I’m trying so hard.”

Ron Perranoski, Dodger pitching coach, met with Wilson Saturday to discuss a newly discovered flaw in his mechanics.

“We just hope it will help,” Perranoski said. “You can just look at him and tell he’s going through a bad time. We want him to know he can work out of this.”

Pedro Astacio will start in place of Ramon Martinez Monday in Atlanta. The Dodgers are expected to give him a tryout in the bullpen as soon as Martinez recovers from tennis elbow. . . Eric Davis is visibly effected by his sore left wrist when he hits, perhaps accounting for his .160 average on this trip. He continues to insist that he will wait until after the season to consider surgery. . . Brett Butler, who batted .430 in July, is batting .133 in September and is hitting .166 on this trip. “I’m mentally blown up,” Butler said. . . Jim Leyland, the normally cordial manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, has stopped talking to the media because he claimed he was misquoted in a story in New York’s Village Voice. The quote, which was reported in USA Today, was a disparaging remark about the New York Mets’ Vince Coleman. The USA Today writer who reported the quote has been banned from the Pirate clubhouse. . . Todd Benzinger’s pinch grand slam Friday night was the Dodgers’ first in more than eight years, since Steve Yeager hit one on June 21, 1984, at Cincinnati.