[0] VALDES' OUTING BLISTERS CARDINALS : DODGERS 6, ST. LOUIS 1.

Byline: Brian Dohn Daily News Staff Writer

Dodgers manager Davey Johnson called a team meeting prior to Saturday's game with St. Louis. It was a low-key talk about the batters trying to do too much and the pitchers trying to be too fine.

Right-hander Ismael Valdes promptly went out and pitched the first Dodgers complete game of the season. He struck out 10 as the Dodgers beat the Cardinals 6-1 before a sellout crowd of 53,964 at Dodger Stadium.

It makes one wonder how well Valdes would have pitched had he attended the meeting.

As is Valdes' routine on days he pitches, he arrives at the ballpark approximately two hours before game time. The meeting took place three hours before the first pitch.

``I missed the meeting, but I get his point,'' Valdes said. ``You have to get ahead in the count.''

Johnson wasn't upset Valdes was absent. Otherwise, there's no way Valdes would have been able to talk his manager out of getting pulled in the eighth inning.

Valdes had five outs to go but a blister, which knocked him out of his last start after 6-1/3 innings, was building on his middle finger.

``I went to the mound and I said, `Nice going,' '' Johnson said. ``He pleaded with me, `No, let me finish.' The trainers, he must have them in his pocket, because they said it was the normal thing he got.''

This blister was near the tip of his nail as opposed to the middle of his finger in his last start. It doesn't sound like much, but it made all the difference.

Valdes allowed six hits, including a Fernando Tatis solo homer to lead off the seventh inning. But there was far less fanfare than when Tatis hit two grand slams in the same inning Friday.

By the time Tatis homered, the Dodgers built a 6-0 lead.

``The first five innings he was painting inside, outside, and throwing strikes on anything he wanted to,'' Dodgers catcher Paul LoDuca said said of Valdes. ``He painted (Mark) McGwire on one. To be honest, he threw one bad pitch, and that was the one Tatis hit out. It seemed like with two strikes we could have called any pitch we wanted because he was throwing strikes with everything.''

It's the continuation of splendid spring training for Valdes, who breezed through the Grapefruit League with 4-0 mark and a 1.46 ERA.

But Valdes' success may be more than the 25-year-old being on top of his game. In past seasons he may not have demonstrated the moxie to work through the blister, not to mention plead with his manager to remain in the game. That appears to be changing.

``I had good control and I was getting ahead of the hitters, throwing the ball in and out,'' Valdes said. ``I was feeling pretty good. I've had worse blisters in the past. I would like to pitch without blisters, but I wanted to keep going.''

Valdes was aided by a Dodgers phenomenon - a comfortable lead after the first inning. It began when Eric Young (3 for 4) led off the bottom of the inning with a homer, his first of the season and the 10th time in his career he's led off the first inning with a homer.

Gary Sheffield drew a one-out walk off Donovan Osborne (0-2) and Eric Karros hit an 0-1 pitch over the left-field fence. His fourth homer gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.

Moreso, it provided Valdes with a cushion. In the Dodgers' first 17 games, they scored a combined four runs in the first inning and were 8-9. The three runs also represented the first time the Dodgers scored more than one run in the first inning.

``It's good when you can score well in the first inning, but we know we have eight more innings if we don't score then,'' Young said. ``You could tell (Valdes) was on. Once Rocket gets into a rhythm and is hitting his spots, he's got a bounce to his step and then the defense knows to be ready.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) As Gary Sheffield rounds third on Eric Karros' first-inning homer, Cardinals pitcher Donovan Osborne waits.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

(2) Cardinals catcher Eli Marrero can't handle a throw, allowing Dodgers' Eric Young to score in the third.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

(3) VALDES