No One’s Perfect: Valdes Is Close

Ismael Valdes is a fatalist, and he figured Saturday night wasn’t his turn.

Some night, maybe, but not this night, and that made it easier for him to deal with Kevin Young’s single that opened the eighth inning and broke up Valdes’ perfect game in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 37,821 at Dodger Stadium.

“I just think that if it’s my destiny to throw a no-hitter, then I will throw one,� Valdes said after his one-hit, seven-strikeout complete game in which Raul Mondesi singled in the two runs in the sixth inning.

“Tonight, it was not my night.�

Oh, yes it was.

“I’ve never seen him throw better,� Pirate Manager Gene Lamont said. “He had great control of his fastball, great control over his forkball, or whatever it is he throws.

“He threw the fastball the first time through the order, then started throwing breaking balls. He got one guy out on a 3-2 breaking ball.�

That was the idea.

“We wanted to establish the fastball,� catcher Charles Johnson said. “Then we wanted to throw breaking balls so they couldn’t sit on the fastball. Then we wanted to mix it up.�

Valdes used only 96 pitches--68 of them strikes--in the 26th one-hitter in Los Angeles Dodger history.

Young’s single on the first pitch of the eighth didn’t rattle Valdes, who had coasted through 21 hitters in a game reminiscent of the two-hitter he threw June 10, in which he no-hit Oakland for 6 2/3 innings before settling for a two-hitter and a 1-0 victory.

“I just figured that I needed to get the next three outs,� Valdes said, downplaying the moment. “I used to get worried about things like that, really get nervous, but I’m not anymore.�

He showed it, getting three more ground-ball outs, then zipping through the ninth to finish the Pirates.

That was his method all night: Sweep the rubber with the right foot, sweep it with the left, sweep it again with the right, then throw a strike.

Or a ground ball.

“The whole night, I just wanted to get the ball over, to throw strikes and get ahead of the hitters,� Valdes (6-7) said.

That he did, with Manager Glenn Hoffman sitting nervously, enjoying the show almost as much as he enjoyed an opportunity to rest the Dodger bullpen.

“I was on pins and needles,� said Hoffman, 3-3 as the Dodger manager. “I was excited for him, but I couldn’t show it because you don’t want to show a lot of emotion and distract him. He was an artist, painting the corners out there.�

It was only fair that center fielder Mondesi get the winning hit. Dodger outfielders weren’t exactly taxed defensively, because only Jason Kendall and Lou Collier hit fly balls to the outfield, both to Gary Sheffield in right.

It also figured that Pittsburgh’s Francisco Cordova (6-6) was going to be the victim. The Pirates have scored only six runs in his six losses.

After surviving the first inning, which was ended when Mondesi hit into a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded, Cordova retired 13 hitters in a row, a streak that was ended by Eric Young’s one-out double down the left-field line in the sixth inning.

It gave Young an 11-game hitting streak, the Dodgers’ longest of the season.

Cordova almost made it out of the sixth unscathed, retiring Wilton Guerrero on a fly to center field before walking Sheffield on three unintentional balls and one on purpose, and adding to his problems by walking Eric Karros to load the bases.

What happened next figured.

Cordova had thrown eight balls in a row, and here was Mondesi, stepping in with two outs.

Eight balls in a row . . . but forget waiting to see if Cordova had forgotten how to throw a strike. Mondesi, among baseball’s least-disciplined hitters, swung on the first pitch, driving a single to left field to score Young and Sheffield with the game’s only runs.

“It was exciting,� Johnson said. “To see [Kevin Young’s] single, you’re just like the fans. You’re disappointed.�

Not Valdes. At least, not outwardly. Que sera, sera. And Saturday night, it wasn’t to be.

* ROSS NEWHAN

How about Dave Stewart and Davey Lopes running the Dodgers? C9