Piazza Keeps On Ticking

Dodger catcher Mike Piazza’s right knee constantly throbs. His body aches. His hands are swollen. His body is pockmarked with nicks and cuts.

Piazza winced after the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory Saturday afternoon over the New York Mets, trying to remember the last time he played without pain. He smiled weakly, shrugged his shoulders, and said in a matter-of-fact tone:

“Spring training.”

In a time when his body craves a day off, Piazza continued to play in pain, realizing that his presence affects the entire Dodger lineup.

Piazza, 15 hours after Friday night’s game and having to catch knuckleballer Tom Candiotti, insisted Saturday morning to Manager Bill Russell that he was able to play.

He promptly went out and not only caught a near-flawless game--throwing out a runner and preventing all but one wild pitch--but also produced two run-scoring doubles, the first time he had two doubles this season and his first RBIs in seven games.

“People don’t realize how tough what he’s doing right now is,” said backup catcher Tom Prince, who tentatively is scheduled to start today. “Your body just wears down. He caught all nine innings [Friday], and to turn around and do what he did today is tough. You just don’t have a whole lot of time to recoup.

“You never even hear the guy complaining. I’ve got all of the respect in the world for him.”

Piazza, who probably will need arthroscopic surgery to remove torn cartilage from his right knee in the off-season, noticeably limps on the field. He was in obvious pain Friday night when he slid into third base. And then, he had had to catch Candiotti’s knuckleball Saturday.

“It’s amazing what he did out there,” said Candiotti (8-9), who struck out a season-high eight batters in seven innings. “The ball was doing circles, flying every which way. He must have gotten hit two or three times.

“You’re asking an awful lot of a guy catching a day game after a night game, particularly a knuckleball. He just took a beating out there today. A real beating.

“But we have to have him out there, and he knows it.”

Piazza, bidding to become the first catcher to win a batting title since Ernie Lombardi of the Boston Braves in 1942, also could become the first catcher to win the MVP award since Johnny Bench in 1972. He not only has played 116 games, but is batting .342 with 30 homers and 83 RBIs. Who knows how many RBIs he’d have if he hadn’t been intentionally walked 17 times this season, nine more than any other teammate?

“It’s been frustrating for me,” Piazza said, “because I don’t like it when I’m not feeling 100%. But I also realize I need to be out there, and accept that. When I’m out of the lineup, I feel like I let the team down. This is the time of year when the team needs me.

“I’ll probably take [today] off, but there aren’t too many days I can take off the rest of the way. I mean, people ask me all of the time how I like L.A. I can’t even tell them because all I do is go straight home to bed.

“I’m starting to look forward now to the off-season, to tell you the truth, but hopefully that won’t come until after the World Series.”

Dodger left fielder Todd Hollandsworth provided the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the second inning with a two-run home run. The Mets tied the game in the third, but it was Candiotti who hit a two-out single up the middle in the fourth, scoring Delino DeShields for a 3-2 lead.

“I really wanted to get a hit there because I haven’t talked to [Met first baseman] Carlos Baerga since I left Cleveland,” Candiotti said. “I know a hit like that can be a back-breaker. It kind of switched the momentum of the game.”

Piazza hit a one-out double off the left-field fence in the fifth for a 4-2 lead. And the Dodgers broke it open with three runs in the sixth, thanks to a solo homer by Tim Wallach, a run-scoring single by Wayne Kirby, and another run-scoring double by Piazza.

After the Mets scored three runs in the eighth to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 7-5, Todd Worrell worked the ninth for his 34th save.

“This was a big game today,” Candiotti said. “Now, we’ve got to beat teams, win series, and take it to them.”