Trade Talk May Be a Start for Javier : Baseball: Dodger outfielder gets a key pinch-hit in a 5-2 victory over the Cubs. If Gibson is dealt, a starter’s role might result.

CHICAGO —  Stan Javier proved Friday that Kirk Gibson’s trade demands can be a distraction to his Dodger teammates.

A pleasant, game-winning distraction.

Javier acknowledged that the news of Gibson’s possible departure has made him think about his chances of becoming the regular center fielder. Warmed by that hope, he stepped into the cold wind in the ninth inning and hit a pinch run-scoring single against the Chicago Cubs’ Shawn Boskie to break a 2-2 tie and help the Dodgers to a 5-2 victory before 31,438 at Wrigley Field.

“There is a lot of talk going on; I know something is going to happen, and I want to be ready when it does,” Javier said after helping Ramon Martinez win his 10th game, while the Dodgers improved to 4-0 here this season.

“I’ve got a good feeling that things are going to work out for me here,” Javier said. “I don’t know when or where or how . . . but something is going to work out.”

If so, it will be because of days like this, when Javier was summoned to bat for Martinez with two out in the ninth inning and pinch-runner Jose Vizcaino on second base after a leadoff double by Mike Scioscia.

Javier could have entered the game sulking. He has been benched since Gibson’s recovery from injuries, even though Javier was hitting .328 in his first 40 games as a Dodger since being trade by the Oakland Athletics May 12.

But he does not sulk, he studies. By the time he stepped in against Boskie, Javier had watched the rookie and made an educated guess about what he would be throwing.

“I had been talking to everybody about him during the game, and just before me, I saw him throw Alfredo (Griffin) a couple of changeups, and I thought, that might be what I see,” Javier said.

On Boskie’s third pitch, Javier lofted a changeup to center field, scoring Vizcaino. After Mitch Williams replaced Boskie, Lenny Harris singled and Gibson got his third hit of the game, a two-run double to complete the scoring. Jay Howell finished with a perfect ninth inning for his second save in two days and sixth overall.

“I would like to have that one pitch back,” said Boskie, who is 3-5 with a 3.76 earned-run average in his first 10 major league starts. “My changeup is my second- or third-best pitch, and you hate to get beat with that.”

But the way Javier deals with those pressure at-bats, Boskie might have thrown him anything and still lost.

“Up there as a pinch-hitter in that situation, I don’t have anything to lose,” said Javier, who has two hits in six at-bats as a pinch-hitter. “If you get a hit, you are a hero. If you don’t get a hit, it’s just another out.

“I wish every time I would pinch-hit, it would be in that situation.”

What Javier really wishes is that he would not have to pinch-hit. Although he has been outwardly calm, he said Friday that he has not been happy since being told recently by Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda that as long as his three veteran outfielders can play, Javier would be benched. That outfield also includes Kal Daniels, who doubled and scored Friday, and Hubie Brooks, whose single drove in Daniels for the Dodgers’ first run.

“I get mad every time I’m not in the lineup, sure,” said Javier, 24. “But I think everybody ought to be mad every day they are not in the lineup. If you’re not mad, you’re stealing money.

“I just don’t know I am mad. I take it easy. I be cool. I wait for something to happen.”

Lasorda likes Javier’s attitude. If Gibson is traded, Javier could be given the chance to prove himself as a regular.

“That was a big, big base hit,” Lasorda said of Javier’s pinch-hit. “Like all of our young kids, he likes to play; he understands what has happened so that he can’t play every day, and he is working hard. I like that.”

Another young Dodger, Martinez, lowered his ERA to 3.14, giving up only five hits in eight innings. With Joe Girardi on third base and two out in the eighth, Martinez struck out All-Star Ryne Sandberg, after Sandberg had hit four consecutive foul balls.

For Martinez, 22, it was a confrontation and victory similar to one against Oakland’s Jose Canseco on this field Tuesday night in the All-Star game.

“To be able to show so much composure at such a young age, that shows you what kind of pitcher he is going to be,” said catcher Mike Scioscia, who also caught Martinez in the All-Star game.

Said Martinez: “I know Sandberg can hit almost any pitch. So I throw him a lot of stuff--fastball, curveball, changeup--and make sure I make no mistake.”

After Martinez fell behind, 2-0, on RBIs by Girardi and Marvell Wynne, the Dodgers tied the score in the sixth inning on Daniels’ double, a walk to Eddie Murray and a line drive to left field by Brooks that scored both runners when right fielder Andre Dawson threw wildly to second base when Brooks apparently surprised him by going for a double.

Dodger Notes

Detroit General Manager Bill Lajoie has privately expressed confidence that he can acquire outfielder Kirk Gibson by the end of next week. The Dodgers remain interested in pitcher Steve Searcy, who was recalled from the Tigers’ triple-A team July 7 and is scheduled to make his first major league start of the season Sunday against the Texas Rangers. Searcy, a left-hander who has been the Tigers’ top prospect for several years, has made one appearance in relief, giving up a run in two innings.

Dodger pitcher Ramon Martinez is still smiling about retiring the Oakland Athletics’ Jose Canseco. “That was a lot of fun--I was throwing all fastballs, and he was swinging at everything,” Martinez said of the six-pitch battle that ended in a weak grounder to second base by Canseco. Martinez’s second pitch sailed underneath Canseco’s chin, which Martinez also remembered as fun. “As soon as I throw it, I hear all the fans yelling, ‘Ohhhh,’ and I see Canseco walking around looking at me. . . . It was something,” Martinez said. “But I don’t just throw inside to get him, I throw inside to everybody. I don’t change for him.”

Tim Belcher threw for the first time Friday since receiving a cortisone shot Sunday in his right shoulder. He said his arm felt stronger than usual, adding that he will make his scheduled start Sunday. . . . Reliever Pat Perry threw off a mound Friday for the first time since going on the disabled list June 10 because of shoulder tendinitis. He said he felt good but does not want to rush his return, as he did earlier this season, when he came off the disabled list May 24 and broke down again a week later after pitching three consecutive days in St. Louis and Pittsburgh. If he continues to feel good, he will throw on the side for a couple of weeks before returning to the minor leagues for two weeks of rehabilitation.

The funeral for Merritt Willey, former Dodger marketing director, will be Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn in Glendale. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to charity.