NOMO LIFTS GIANT WEIGHT HE THROWS BETTER, SKID VS. S.F. ENDS DODGERS 3, S.F. 0.

Byline: Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - It was embarrassing and humiliating, a lost opening series that sent a city into baseball despair less than a week into another lost season.

Perhaps it's overdramatized, but that was the feeling after the Dodgers were beaten up by the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles a week ago. It's why the Dodgers put a little more credence into this three-game series against the Giants.

And it's why the Dodgers were so juiced up after right-hander Hideo Nomo and two relievers shut down the Giants, particularly slugger Barry Bonds, in a 3-0 victory in the opener of a three-game series Tuesday at sold-out Pac Bell Park.

Nomo (1-1) extended a dominant run by Dodgers starters with 7 2/3 shutout innings. Dodgers starters haven't allowed a run in their past 27 1/3 innings.

The Giants were denied their first 7-0 start since 1930. The Dodgers, winners of four in a row, gained a measure of revenge for the shellacking they took at Dodger stadium last week, when they were outscored 24-2 in a three-game sweep by the Giants.

``I think, to a man, everyone took that personal,'' said center fielder Dave Roberts, who drove in his first run as a Dodger. ``It's early in the season, but when you get beat up like that at home to start the season, then I think if you don't take it personal then there's a problem. I think, to a man, everyone did take it personal and we wanted to set the tone for this series and make a statement and come out and play well.''

Shawn Green, who hit a franchise-record 49 homers last season, hit his first of 2002 and drove in two runs. His solo shot to center field off reliever Tim Worrell gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning, and it looked as though the Dodgers would need every bit of it.

Nomo breezed through seven innings, allowing just two hits, but was in trouble after a pair of two-out singles in the eighth.

Bonds, who brutalized Dodgers pitching last week with four homers and nine RBI in three games, went 1 for 4. But with two on and two out in the eighth, Bonds grounded out to second on a 2-0 pitch against reliever Jesse Orosco.

``He always pitches well against me,'' said Bonds, who is 3 for 23 lifetime against Orosco. ``He got lucky tonight. He got away with a good slider. I would have waited him out.''

Said Orosco: ``It's probably respect. He's probably one of the best power hitters in baseball and those kind of guys scare you, so it brings out the best in you.''

Eric Gagne pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his second career save and second in as many games.

Nomo, whose last victory with the Dodgers came April 28, 1998, against Milwaukee, struck out three. His effort was a big change from his first start, in which he lasted just three innings and had control problems.

In that start against the Giants, Nomo walked six and allowed six hits and four runs, but he was much more efficient this time. Of the 29 batters he faced Tuesday, he threw 14 first-pitch strikes and faced few 2-0 and 3-1 counts.

``I think there's any number of instances where one of the first two pitches were strikes,'' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. ``If you're an offensive player, it puts you on the defensive because his split-finger is so good. To me, that was the complete difference in him from his first start. He pitched ahead and it makes his forkball that much more effective.''

Staked to an 1-0 lead on Green's RBI groundout in the first inning off loser Russ Ortiz (1-1), Nomo retired 12 of the first 13 batters, including 10 in a row. Before running into trouble in the eighth inning with two outs, Nomo had retired nine consecutive Giants.

``I felt not only the forkball was working well but also the fastball,'' said Nomo - who is 6-0 with a 1.04 ERA in San Francisco - through an interpreter. ``I was able to locate those pitches at opportune times and catcher (Paul Lo Duca) and I worked really well together.''

DODGERS vs. SAN FRANCISCO

Time: 7 p.m., Pac Bell Park.

TV/Radio: Fox Sports Net 2; 1150-AM, 1330-AM (Spanish).

Dodgers update: LH Odalis Perez (0-1, 4.76 ERA) makes his second start as a Dodger and second against the Giants. Perez allowed five hits and three runs in a loss last week to Giants RH Ryan Jensen (1-0, 0.00), who pitches again for the Giants. Perez held Barry Bonds homerless last week, an accomplishment in itself for a Dodgers pitcher. Bonds is 3 for 5 with a homer lifetime against Perez. Jensen will make his ninth career start. In his eighth start he shut out the Dodgers for seven innings.

- Brian Dohn

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Hideo Nomo scattered four hits in 7 2/3 innings Tuesday in San Francisco, winning for the first time as a Dodger since April 1998.

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS vs. SAN FRANCISCO (see text)