Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 16, 1995 TAG: 9507170081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Ramon Martinez first took the mound at Dodger Stadium as a 16-year-old pitching for the Dominican Republic in the 1984 Olympics.
Even then, he was uncommonly cool under pressure despite being the youngest baseball player in the Games. He came on in relief with the bases loaded and one out against Taiwan, which went on to win.
``I told him the main thing was to throw strikes,'' said Ralph Avila, who managed the Dominican team and later scouted Martinez for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
``When he finished, he told me, `If you give me a chance, then I'm going to be pitching on this mound for the Dodgers.'''
Avila watched Friday night as Martinez pitched a no-hitter for the Dodgers from that mound. Martinez struck out eight and walked one as the Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins 7-0.
``I was very excited. Since the seventh inning, I felt like I was pitching myself,'' Avila said. ``It was really a joy to see Ramon do this, because he was struggling a little bit.''
Booed off the field in his last Dodger Stadium start for giving up 10 runs to Colorado, Martinez had 30,988 fans behind him with a perfect game going into the seventh inning.
Then Martinez cracked slightly, walking Tommy Gregg on a 3-2 pitch.
``I get a little shaky,'' he said. ``When I went to the eighth, I said, `Man, don't throw it right there. Don't try to overthrow, just throw a strike.'''
Martinez still was going strong at the finish of the season's first no-hitter.
In the ninth, he struck out Charles Johnson and got Jerry Browne on a hard grounder to second before Quilvio Veras lined a 90-mph pitch to Roberto Kelly in left field for the final out.
Martinez (9-6) threw 114 pitches in completing the first no-hitter for the Dodgers since Aug.17, 1992, when Kevin Gross beat the Giants.
Martinez's little brother, Pedro, almost threw a perfect game earlier this season for Montreal. Pedro retired 27 straight batters against San Diego before giving up a leadoff double in the 10th inning.
The no-hitter eclipsed Martinez's other big moment at Dodger Stadium. On June4, 1991, against Atlanta, he struck out 18 batters to tie Sandy Koufax's club record.
Catcher Mike Piazza had the best view of Martinez fooling Florida batters with fastballs down and away. Martinez gave up on his breaking ball after the third inning.
``That was one of my goals when I first became a catcher - I'd really like to catch a no-hitter - and now it's come true,'' Piazza said.
by CNB