NOMO'S HICCUP PROVES DOWNFALL BUMPY THIRD SPELLS LOSS IN RETURN ARIZONA 3, DODGERS 1.

Byline: Tony Jackson Staff Writer

PHOENIX - Hideo Nomo's long-awaited return to the Dodgers rotation was in every way encouraging. But it was in no way triumphant.

The veteran right-hander suffered just one significant meltdown, but that in itself represented a dramatic improvement over the kind of erratic performance Nomo routinely delivered before going down two months ago with rotator-cuff inflammation.

The good news was that this time, he quickly recovered, settled into a nice rhythm and pitched deep into the game. The bad news was that the Dodgers never did recover. Not from Nomo's bad inning, not from second-base umpire Joe West's bad call, and not from their own ineptitude at the plate.

The result was a lackluster, 3-1 loss to the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks before 34,149 on Wednesday night at Bank One Ballpark, snapping what for the Dodgers had been an eight-game winning streak against the team with the worst record in baseball.

Nomo retired the first eight batters he faced, looking every bit the part of the crafty veteran whose cachet of accomplishments includes a National League Rookie of the Year award and two no-hitters. But with two outs in the third, he inexplicably walked pitcher Brandon Webb, officially beginning Nomo's brief-but-damaging meltdown.

He followed by issuing another walk to Andy Green before Alex Cintron lined a double over the head of Adrian Beltre and down the left field line to score Webb. Nomo appeared on the verge of minimizing the damage when he got two quick strikes on Danny Bautista, but walked him to load the bases.

Shea Hillenbrand capitalized with a two-run single just in front of Milton Bradley in left.

The Diamondbacks might have scored more, but shortstop Cesar Izturis made a spectacular, leaping grab of Chad Tracy's line drive, finally recording the third out.

Nomo went on to pitch six innings, allowing four hits and matching a season high with seven strikeouts. He threw 110 pitches, and his velocity was, for the most part, where it should have been.

All that was missing was the victory, something Nomo (3-11) hasn't experienced since April 21.

``Walking two batters in a row had a big effect on the loss,'' said Nomo, speaking through an interpreter. ``That was my biggest mistake. There's nothing to explain about it. It's just what happened. I don't worry too much about the numbers on the radar gun, but compared to before I went on the (disabled list), I was able to throw a little more smoothly.''

The Dodgers mounted a rally in the fourth when, with two outs, Adrian Beltre hit a grounder to third and reached when Tracy bounced the throw. Beltre stole second, and Webb walked Green. Hee-Seop Choi followed by beating out a slow roller through the right side of the infield, apparently loading the bases. But West ruled that Green interfered with Cintron as the second baseman tried to field the ball.

The call ended the inning. This despite the fact replays clearly showed Green veering to his right to avoid Cintron and despite the fact the ball ticked off Cintron's glove.

``I disagree with (West's) explanation,'' said Dodgers manager Jim Tracy, who argued the call with West. ``Shawn Green did everything he possibly could to avoid obstructing the fielder from fielding the ball and everything he could to avoid contact with Alex Cintron. He even took an alternate route to second base to allow the second baseman to field the ball.

``It was not a good call.''

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Hideo Nomo strikes out seven Diamondbacks in six innings but remains winless since April 21.

Matt York/Associated Press

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