Gagne Reports No Pain After Easy Throwing

By Steve Springer

April 30, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO — The Petco Park seats were empty. So was the field, except for a few early arrivals. It was hours before the first pitch of Saturday night’s game between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Yet the sight of a solitary figure making a few seemingly casual throws figures to ultimately be more important for the Dodgers’ future than anything that followed Saturday evening.

Closer Eric Gagne, who has yet to pitch this season after undergoing surgery to remove a nerve in his right elbow, was throwing a baseball.

He wasn’t throwing it very hard or very far or for very long.

“It was nice and easy,” Gagne said, “just about 30 to 35 pitches from about 40-45 feet.”

But the important thing was that he was throwing again, beginning a process he hopes will lead to a return to the mound in three to four weeks.

“It felt good,” Gagne said afterward. “There was no pain, no stiffness, no nothing. It’s been a while since I did this and it felt good. My shoulder’s strong. The thing now is to build up some stamina.”

The plan is for Gagne to extend himself in distance and velocity, eventually pitching from a mound and undergoing a rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues before returning to the Dodgers.

Gagne has been trying to return to his role as baseball’s premier closer for two seasons. He appeared in only 14 games last season because of a strained ligament in his right elbow.

When Gagne experienced pain in the elbow in spring training this year, he thought it was the lingering effects of last year’s injury.

“I thought it was scar tissue,” he said.

Although right-hander Danys Baez has filled in admirably for Gagne with seven saves and a 0.00 earned-run average, Dodger Manager Grady Little made it clear after watching Gagne’s brief Saturday throwing session that, long-term, there is no suitable substitute.

“Gagne is the closer for this ballclub,” Little said. “When he’s not in there, we miss him.”

Heading into Saturday night’s game, the Padres ranked last in the league in batting (.228) and home runs (14). Several of the Padres have blamed their field, citing the fact the ball doesn’t carry well at Petco Park.

“There’s a big outfield here,” Dodger right-hander Brad Penny said. “If the hitters are complaining about home runs, they are being selfish. If they are griping about home runs, they are too worried about how many they are hitting individually. They have to remember, it’s hard for the other teams too.

“And you couldn’t ask for a better park to pitch in. Pitchers are always going to want to come here to play.”