Martinez Says No to All Hitters : Baseball: Dodger pitcher allows only a walk in the eighth inning while beating Florida, 7-0, for the team’s ninth no-hitter in Los Angeles.

Dodger starter Ramon Martinez’s eyes started to swell with tears Friday night the moment the ball left Quilvio Veras’ bat and dropped into left fielder Roberto Kelly’s glove.

He turned around, waited for catcher Mike Piazza, and leaped mightily into his arms, celebrating the most glorious night of his baseball career.

Martinez became the first pitcher this season to throw a no-hitter, shutting out the Florida Marlins, 7-0, and coming within one batter of pitching a perfect game.

The announced crowd of 30,998, some who viciously booed Martinez in his last start at Dodger Stadium, this time were screaming until their lungs hurt.

Martinez, letting the crowd know that all is forgiven, kept pumping his right fist into the air, over and over again, soaking in the affection. This was no time for bitterness.

“I have pride,” said Martinez (9-6), “and I wanted to let people know that I can still pitch. You know something, I think people had forgotten about me.”

No more.

Martinez, whose younger brother, Pedro Martinez of the Montreal Expos, pitched a perfect game for nine innings last month against the San Diego Padres, will remain etched in the Dodger record book forever.

He becomes the 19th pitcher in franchise history, and the ninth since the team moved to Los Angeles, to throw a no-hitter. It’s the first no-hitter in the major leagues since Kenny Rogers’ no-hitter July 28, 1994, against the Angels.

“I swear to God on my father’s grave,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said, “I knew he was going to pitch a no-hitter. I told [coach Bill] Russell in the second inning, ‘I’m going to tell you something after the game.’ ”

Why not tell him then?

“You kidding, I didn’t want to chance it. I sat on the same seat during the game. I never moved. I never even went to the bathroom.”

Said Dodger outfielder Chris Gwynn, who was on the bench the entire game: “We were trying to be cool about it, acting as if nothing was happening. I thought we were home-free until Rocket [pitcher Ismael Valdes] couldn’t control his enthusiasm.

“Finally, I just said, ‘Rocket, shut up will you.’ ”

The crowd began sensing the no-hitter in the sixth inning. When Martinez struck out pinch-hitter Mario Diaz to end the inning, they gave a loud, rousing ovation.

The Dodgers, who broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth on Jose Offerman’s bases-loaded triple, now worried whether they had taken too long to score. Martinez had not pitched for nearly 15 minutes when he took the mound in the seventh.

Martinez showed the effect of the long layoff when he fell behind 2-and-0 to Veras, his buddy that he worked out with during the strike in the Dominican Republic. Veras then hit a ground ball to second baseman Delino DeShields for the first out.

The rest was easy.

Chuck Carr, who attempted to bunt in the fourth inning, popped up to DeShields for the second out. Jeff Conine, the most valuable player of the All-Star game, then struck out on three pitches.

“I’ve been through it before when Dennis Martinez had his perfect game,” DeShields said, “but you can’t help but get nervous. You saw all of those zeros on the board, and you didn’t want to be the one to mess it up.”

In the eighth inning, it nearly happened.

Terry Pendleton swung on the first pitch and hit a long fly ball toward the gap in right-center. Rookie Todd Hollandsworth, making his first career start, kept running and didn’t stop. He raised his glove, and caught the ball over his shoulder on the warning track.

“I was hoping he could catch it,” Martinez said, “but when I saw it kept going, I was thinking, ‘Oh well, at least I can still get the win.’ ”

Said Hollandsworth: “You kidding me, there was no way I was going to let the ball drop. I was going to run that ball down. I would have dove on the ground. Leaped against the fence. Jumped over the wall.

“That ball wasn’t dropping on me.”

Hollandsworth, who had three hits and two RBIs, then paused and said, “Hey, that was kind of fun. My first start, and I’m part of a no-hitter.”

Greg Colbrunn made the second out of the inning when he hit a 1-0 pitch to Hollandsworth, but then, Martinez got careless. He fell behind, 2-0, to Tommy Gregg. Martinez evened the count with two strikes, but Gregg watched two balls, and walked, ruining the perfect game.

“That was the only time I felt nervous,” Martinez said. “I felt myself shaking a little bit.”

He stepped off the mound, collected himself, and then struck out Kyle Abbott, ending the inning. Martinez ran off the mound, and the crowd stood on its feet, cheering first for Martinez, and then Hollandsworth.

“That’s when we started getting excited in the bullpen,” reliever Todd Worrells said. “There’s too many times you see no-hitters get broken up in that eighth inning, so we were trying to keep calm.

“But when that inning was over, that’s when we started to lose it.”

Martinez, who had not thrown anything but a fastball since the third inning, came out in the ninth while the crowd roared. He looked at catcher Mike Piazza, and Piazza kept signaling for fastballs.

Charles Johnson went down swinging on four pitches.

Pinch-hitter Chuck Carr hit the first pitch, a grounder to DeShields, for the second out.

Veras, his buddy from the Dominican Republic, was up next. He was the last man standing in his way of infamy.

Veras, working the count to 2-2, then hit a lazy fly ball to Kelly. Kelly barely had to move. The ball dropped in his glove, and the celebration begun.

“I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe it,” Martinez said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Lasorda and pitching Coach Dave Wallace, who brought Martinez into his office for a counseling session earlier in the day, also will forever cherish the moment.

“We needed it,” Lasorda said. “He needed it. But I’ll tell you something, when I saw him throw his first fastball in the first inning, I looked over at Dave Wallace and said, “Oh-oh.’

“I hadn’t seen that fastball in a while.”

Said Wallace: “I think right then we knew the old Ramon was back. Boy, was he ever.”

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L.A. Dodger No-Hitters No-hitters thrown by Dodger pitchers since the team moved to Los Angeles:

DATE PITCHER CLUB SCORE CATCHER June 30, 1962 Sandy Koufax New York 5-0 Roseboro May 11, 1963 Sandy Koufax San Francisco 8-0 Roseboro June 4, 1964 Sandy Koufax at Philadelphia 3-0 Camilli Sept. 9, 1965 Sandy Koufax Chicago* 1-0 Torborg July 20, 1970 Bill Singer Philadelphia 5-0 Torborg June 27, 1980 Jerry Reuss at San Francisco 8-0 Yeager June 29, 1990 Fernando Valenzuela St. Louis 6-0 Scioscia Aug. 17, 1992 Kevin Gross San Francisco 2-0 Scioscia July 14, 1995 Ramon Martinez Florida 7-0 Piazza

*--Perfect game

Source: Los Angeles Dodgers media guide