HENDRICKSON'S ERA PSHRINKING LEFTY TOSSES SIX SHUTOUT INNINGS DODGERS 2, ARIZONA 1.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

Staff Writer

When he arrived in Los Angeles last summer, the toughest part of pitching for Mark Hendrickson was letting go -- not of the baseball, but of what might become of it.

Would the umpire call it a strike? Would the batter crush it? Would the defense let him down? And if he did give up a run, would his teammates ever get it back?

So this winter, after being bumped from the rotation and watching the Dodgers bring in free agents Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf, Hendrickson enlisted the help of a sports psychologist, who worked with him on his concentration.

Now, with his head straight, Hendrickson's arm is following and the 6-foot-9 left-hander has suddenly become a tall order for the rest of the National League.

Hendrickson tossed a three-hit shutout over six-plus innings Wednesday afternoon, as the Dodgers won a 2-1 pitcher's duel against Arizona for the second consecutive day at Dodger Stadium.

The win moved the Dodgers 1 1/2 games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the N.L. West.

This kind of performance is becoming a habit for Hendrickson, who is 2-0 with a major-league leading 1.30earned-run average after his third strong start in place of the injured Schmidt.

"He's throwing the ball over the plate," manager Grady Little said, a distinction from the pitcher who last year would nibble at the edges. "He's making the other team get themselves out. He's building confidence with every inning he pitches. That's the big thing for him right now."

Hendrickson was one of the American League's toughest pitchers to hit against for Tampa Bay last year, but when the Dodgers acquired him at the end of June he floundered with a 1-7 record and 5.32ERA, eventually getting bumped to the bullpen, where he pitched well in the playoffs.

"This game is about confidence," Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. "When you come over to a new club, things can get rolling the right way or the wrong way real easily. Right now, he's very confident."

This was a game that Hendrickson might not have won last summer. Since the start of the 2006 season, he's received less run support -- 3.2 runs per start -- than any other pitcher in baseball.

And with the Dodgers in a stretch where they would scored six runs in 41 innings, he might have tried to be too perfect.

Hendrickson credits the change to his talks with Ken Ravizza, a Los Angeles sports psychologist.

"Things are going to happen in this wacky game that we play that are out of my control, so I have to focus on what I can do, and that's making pitches," said Hendrickson, who walked one and struck out seven.

"I can make a great pitch and the guy can hit it out. I can throw it right down the middle and he can swing through. As a pitcher, sometimes I think we have an illusion that we can control more than we can."

Hendrickson showed no hesitation Wednesday about coming inside with his cut fastball, a risky proposition to right-handers if left over the plate.

But the Diamondbacks put a runner in scoring position just once -- with two out in the third, a threat that ended when Chris Young flied out.

"He threw me a lot of cutters that started out over the middle of the plate and ended up coming in on my hands," Young said. "With him being so tall, the ball gets on you a little bit."

Arizona left-hander Doug Davis (2-3) used the same formula -- cutters in, changeups away -- to stymie the Dodgers.

The only difference between the two pitchers was that Davis was betrayed by his defense.

In the sixth, Young took a poor angle to Rafael Furcal's drive into the right-center gap and dropped the ball for a two-base error.

With the outfield playing surprisingly deep, Juan Pierre, who has just four extra-base hits this season, dropped a liner in front of right fielder Carlos Quentin that drove in Furcal.

Andre Ethier's two-out single in the eighth made it 2-0, and the insurance run proved to be just that. Eric Byrnes singled in a run in the ninth against Takashi Saito, who then struck out Quentin and Stephen Drew to convert his 14th consecutive save and eighth this season.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Dodgers starter Mark Hendrickson threw six innings without giving up a run and scattered three hits Wednesday.

(2) Arizona's Chris Young misses Rafael Furcal's blooper. Young's error allowed Furcal to score on Juan Pierre's single.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer