Candiotti Wins Again, Now Waits

It may have been the toughest game Tom Candiotti has ever pitched.

In a professional baseball career that goes back to 1979, Candiotti, 39, always knew he would go as far as his right arm would take him.

But not now. Not Sunday.

Candiotti (7-3) pitched a strong 7 1/3 innings to lead the Dodgers to a 7-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in front of 36,481 at Dodger Stadium.

He pitched the game that enabled the Dodgers to sweep the three-game series over the Phillies--who have the worst record in baseball at 30-72--and move within 1 1/2 games of the San Francisco Giants in the National League West.

He watched as the Dodgers got 10 hits, including a home run and a triple from center fielder Roger Cedeno and another homer from Tripp Cromer.

Candiotti watched and smiled and agonized, because he knew that no matter what he did, the Dodgers are about to make decisions that will affect his future. And there is nothing he can do about that. Probably not even a no-hitter or a perfect game would have affected those decisions.

The trading deadline without waivers is Thursday. A week beyond that, right-hander Ramon Martinez is expected to come off the disabled list.

And that means Candiotti is expendable. He figures either to go back to the bullpen or to another club. His manager, Bill Russell, said after Sunday’s game that he does not expect Candiotti to be traded.

That would leave the bullpen, where Candiotti clearly does not want to go.

“Circumstances will probably dictate where I go,” he said. “I have no idea what will happen. . . . The decision is not mine. I enjoy starting. That is what I do best. . . . I’m going to try to lobby for a six-man rotation.”

That last part was a joke.

It was no laughing matter for Candiotti when he came to spring training and found that Chan Ho Park was penciled in for the final spot in the rotation. Candiotti, who had started 346 of the 359 games he had pitched, suddenly found himself a relief pitcher. He didn’t like it, but he bit his lip.

“I could have said a lot of things I may have thought, but I’m glad I didn’t,” Candiotti said. “That wouldn’t do anybody any good, not the team or the organization. But it was very tough.

“There were a lot of negatives. It could have spelled failure all around. But once I accepted my role, it all fell into place.”

It figures to be tougher this time, but Candiotti is trying to focus on the positive.

And there are plenty of those for a Dodger team that suddenly has more hot hands than a poker player dealing from the bottom of the deck. From the bottom of the lineup to the top, the Dodgers have shown power and clutch hitting in recent days.

In the previous two games, they received a power boost from the usual suspects, such as Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile.

Sunday, it came from the top of the lineup. Cromer’s fourth homer gave the Dodgers the lead in the third inning. Gregg Jefferies tied it with his ninth home run in the sixth.

And then, in their half of the sixth, the Dodgers scored five runs off starter and loser Matt Beech (0-6) to blow open the game and give them their seventh victory against Philadelphia in eight meetings.

Cedeno’s second homer of the season was followed by two singles, an error, a walk, a double steal, a sacrifice fly and a double.

Candiotti may have run out of gas when he loaded the bases in the eighth inning. Russell wasn’t about to take a chance. He brought in reliever Darren Hall, who got Kevin Jordan to ground into a double play.

Candiotti’s win was safe.

His spot in the rotation, however, is another matter.